Western Hunt Expo 2026

[Brandon.miller.4]

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Cash bought the Sierra B14 wilderness 6.5 PRC on a writer’s discount last year (he will have a story on this hunt coming up ) but we didn’t take a suppressor. This was the bull he took with it. But we’re gonna probably add one of these suppressors this year.

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^read the verbiage about the vented versus the sealed end cap. The sealed end cap will be the maximum sound suppression

And they have nailed the muzzle indexing to make sure your POI is minimally affected, and carbon buildup on your threads is a non-issue

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Cima Pro and Cima came out last year, hoping to do a review on one of these this year. 5.5lbs! In 7PRC, 300 PRC, 25 Creedmoor, 22 Creedmoor. Etc. 22 inch barrel on magnums and 20 on standard., Suppressor compatible.

5.5lb 300 prc sure would be fun to shoot....

 

[Scottyboy]

Is Argali there with their new clothing line?

 

[atmat]

Bino connection option or just spotters?

Good question, only ever used with spotters.

 

[muddydogs]

I went Friday. Sure are a lot of outfitters in the main hall this year, most of the cool stuff is in the side hall. All in all it's just the same old expo and if your not into the new trendy gear or wanting to look at something specific it's just a lot of walking around in a crowd.

My big want was a Vortex scope, went to the booth and they didn't have the one I wanted but they gave me a show coupon good until Sunday via ordering online from Sportsman's. Got home and went to order the scope only to find out that Sportsman's doesn't have them in stock for online ordering and there isn't a Sportsman's within 400 miles that has one in store. Go figure.

Suppressor's are all over the place, bet there are 20 booths selling one brand or another.

Ran into some typical cool guy vendors where the whole staff was to busy talking to one cool guy to pay attention to anyone else. Picked up a business card from a vender selling fake skulls to mount horns onto but both guys were to busy talking to one of the Utah local jack wagons to talk to anyone else, they were so up his rear that they hardly noticed when I flipped the card back on the table.

On the other hand if you don't want to get tide up at a booth I would avoid the Vortex and Utah Air Gun booths, them guys sure upped there customer interaction game this year. Some of the lesser know suppressor vendors want to make sure you know everything and anything about there goods.

It was a fine Expo all in all, $40 for parking is a little much I think. Yep street parking is cheaper until you figure the gas driving around for an hour or two looking for a spot to open up.

One last thing, bring water or something to drink unless you want to spend $50 per gallon for water. I about crapped when 3 16oz bottles of water cost me $18.

 

[twall13]

Is Argali there with their new clothing line?

Yes. The pants look nice, especially the lighter weight option for archery.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[mwoolsey5]

Anyone got pictures and/or initial thoughts on the Raven action? Will be there tomorrow morning, but curious what others think so far.

These are the booths I’m most looking forward to this year:

Unknown Munitions (Raven & S2H scope)
MRC (Marshall)
Wiser precision (Ridge Warden)
Aziak Backcountry Tripod
RRS Tripods
Zero tech Optics
Exo Backpacks
Argali
Bench made knives
Airlock Suppressor (Not sure if at show)
Sierra Bullets (New TMK)
Hatch bipod
Spartan bipod

Thought I would provide my thoughts on a few of the companies and products now that I’ve been through the Expo. I’m going off memory, so please correct any incorrect information.

Unknown Munitions
Raven: Incredibly smooth and essentially done with development outside of some minor tweaks. With it being a Tikka clone with upgrades, I do think they will need to strongly hit on what differentiates it from a Tikka to justify the price difference. Sounds like it will be available this summer for $1,200.

S2H scope: As advertised. Industry disruptor scope. Incredibly happy with the glass and reticle. Got to see it by itself and mounted to a rifle at the ZeroOptics booth. Preorders open Monday at 9 AM PST.

*It was emphasized that the THLR reticle version of this scope will ONLY be available from UM/S2H.

New UM Bottom Metal/Mag:
Didn’t get a chance to see it in person, but got a good explanation from Ryan on how it fixes the issues with a lot of the current products available. It will also be available in a flush fit option which has been my biggest dislike of the current UM bottom Metal. Should be a really solid option for anyone doing a build in the near future.

Wiser precision
Ridge Warden: Loved it. Bought one and look forward to using it this coming season. While a prone shot would be be ideal whenever possible, not having a tripod in certain scenarios sucks and directly negatively impacted my hunt last season. It’s incredibly light and can be used to shoot with - exactly what I was looking for. I was told frankly by Aziak that it’s better than what the head that comes with their backcountry tripod.

Aziak and RRS Tripods:
I played around with the tripods of both companies pretty extensively at the show. I ended up buying the Aziak Backcountry. RRS makes a phenomenal product, but it’s also at the expense of bulk, weight, and most importantly price. I just don’t think they are worth what they are charging. I just don’t see $800 of improvement over competitors.

Exo
Still the best packs on the market. They were kind enough to let me have a peak at the K4X and it’s damn impressive. Shockingly light. They are still finalizing the exact design and where pockets will go and what not, but this pack is going to make a lot of people happy. Should be available towards the end of the year after they do extensive testing. 1.5k lbs difference won’t matter to some people enough to switch, but I think it’s worth it. I do want to see if the new material is noisier in practical use, but that’s the only potential downside I can think of right now.

Argali, Benchmade, MKC
This was the disappointment of the show for me. I wanted to like the knives offered from these companies so bad, but I just couldn’t find a fixed blade that felt right. I think the quality is there for all 3 companies, but I just didn’t love any of them. I’ll keep using the replaceable blades for now until I find one that stands out.

Airlock
I got a brief look at one at the Exo booth. Not a whole lot else I can say, looked like a suppressor. I do hope black becomes a standard option if it’s not already. I continue to hear nothing but good things and the new 30 can sounds (pun intended) incredible.

I’m torn with suppressors right now because I want a new one for the upcoming hunting season, but there are SO many new damn models from so many different company’s that part of me wants to wait for the sound summit or pewscience.

Sierra Bullets
Had a chance to see the new 116g and 88g TMK’s. Still on schedule to release in March. The 88g does require a 1:7 twist according to the rep.