All the New Guns and Firearms News from IWA in Germany
We recently packed our bags and headed for Europe to attend the IWA Outdoor Classics show in Germany and have a quick rundown of some of the cooler things we came across.
Like Europe's version of SHOT Show, the Internationale Waffen Ausstellung (International Weapons Exhibition), is an annual trade fair held since 1974, making this year the event's 50th anniversary. In that half-century, over 1 million have attended an IWA show. With that, it was clear that Guns.com had to swing by and check it out.
Held in historic Nuremberg, this year's event saw more than 40,000 visitors from 120 countries trekking through halls filled with 1,072 exhibitors.
IWA has traditionally been held in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, which dates to 1050 and is filled with landmarks and history. (All photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
The 1.8 million square foot Messezentrum convention center is the home of IWA.
Being German, it has a distinctive jazzy feel to it and great food, as well as free mimosas at the entrance.
And, like SHOT, there is no shortage of characters and awesome doggos.
One of the nine halls at IWA was dedicated entirely to Airsoft, an industry that has gotten incredibly good in recent years when it comes to making high-quality "civilian legal" clones of guns that are often unobtainable for interested consumers – particularly in restrictive markets such as in Europe.
There are even 84mm Carl Gustav sims, such as the green gas-powered VF5 MAAWS, a 1:1 scale version of SOCOM's M3 MAAWS, which hits the scales at 9 pounds and fires a 65mm "Titan" launcher module shell that is filled with 6mm airsoft BBs, because: awesome.
I mean, you can even get a belt-fed airsoft MK19 that fires 40mm BB-filled shells. Of course, it weighs 130 pounds and costs $8,000, but still.
Anyway, we are Guns.com so let us talk about some guns.
The exquisite Haenel HLR 338 PRO. Guess what caliber it is in?
How about these superbly finished J1 rifles from Bavarian gunmaker Andreas Jakele? The J1 is a bolt-action rifle that uses what is termed a "Relax" system attributed to Meinrad Zeh, the father of the Blaser R93.
Meanwhile, the more field-ready synthetic stocked Jakele J1 All Terrain is available in .222 Rem., .223 Rem., 6.5 Creedmoor, 7x64, .308 Win., .30-06, 8x57 IS, 9.3x62, and .300 Win. Mag.
From Taiwan comes a remote gun system that can be used for rifles, machine guns, etc.
Tisas was on hand with its regular line of 1911s as well as what looks to be a reboot of the well-liked Regent Hi-Power, labeled as the ZIG 14.
Speaking of Turkish Hi-Powers, we found another Turkish gun maker that is close to sealing an import deal with a Nevada firm to import its own Hi-Power clone: the FP-14. Watch Guns.com for more on this story.
Bersa, formerly best known as an Argentine maker of compact .380 blowback pistols, has in recent years opened a new factory in Georgia. New for 2024 is a line of American-made 1911s in five assorted flavors. Expect more on this in the coming days.
Janz revolvers from Germany are modular, much like the older Dan Wessons, in the respect that they can easily change their screw-in barrels and swap out the cylinder across various lengths, profiles, and calibers.
They are easy on the eyes as well.
The Turkish firm Adler, which has acquired importer Adkal in the U.S., is gearing up to start sending its AD9 pistols to America. With a very Glock 17/19 look, they take Beretta 92 mags.
And they have it in a ton of different models ranging from the retro to stuff that is more, well, 2024. We will have more details on these coming up.
Merkel Helix and K5 rifles.
Now that is some serious grain.
You have to love these Korth revolvers, at the Nighthawk booth.
A German revolver line, Arkansas-based Nighthawk has been importing these to the states for years and was at IWA.
That's so money, baby.
Girsan's Regard (92 clone) in both versions fit for Florida Man and Imperial Stormtroopers...
In some big news from CZ this year (besides the Shadow 2 Compact, of course), the company has partnered with MDT for a chassis system version of the proven CZ 600 rifle. This thing is feature-rich and we will have the full details in a separate article.
As at SHOT, Holosun's booth was packed with folks trying out the company's new offerings.
We ran into Taran Butler and got the details of the development of his new Taran Tactical Canik 9mm. You're going to want to watch that video.
Federal Premium, along with sister brands CCI, Remington, Speer, and Hevi, which are soon to be European-owned, gave us the rundown on new loads they have for the market this year. Stay tuned for more information.
Stopping in at Zastava, they had lots of sweet engraved and high-touch models on display, such as this CZ999.
But the big story is the M07M, a big .338 LM magazine-fed bolt gun that has just been adopted by the Serbian military for precision rifle purposes. You can expect this in the States very soon, and Guns.com has the story inbound.
And – in what could be a super interesting turn of events – Zastava had this lightweight M57 Tokarev with a polymer frame, the M57P. It is not in production (yet), so don't haunt Zastava to order one. On second thought, maybe drop them a line to tell them this needs to happen.
Celebrating the legacy of more than 25 million pistols made, Glock honored the late Mr. Gaston Glock while his widow, Kathrin, who chairs the company's supervisory board, is promising a "continued commitment to perfection."
They also had a threaded barreled G17 Gen 5 MOS on display, which is a good sign for the future.
Beretta continues to flesh out its new BRX1 line of straight-pull bolt-action hunting rifles such as this .308 Win example with Grade III walnut stocks. We also saw a blaze-orange boar gun and a Western Hunting model in .300 WM with a carbon-fiber barrel. The full story soon.
Some Austrian Scheiring GesmbH Bergstuzen twin-barrel rifles in 6.5 CM/22 Hornet and 8x75RS/6x50R.
Located in Ferlach, each hand-made Scheiring rifle has its individual, unmistakable character with the highest quality standards and is pitched to Tyrolean hunting in the Alps – but can be appreciated by anyone.
It wouldn't be IWA without a Bastille Day-themed 1911.
Walther had an impressive array of PDP Steel series pistols, which we reported on earlier this year at SHOT Show, as well as engraved pistols produced via its in-house Meister Manufaktur program.
We'll be reporting much more on Walther in the coming weeks as the Guns.com team is stomping around Europe and visiting the company's facility in Ulm for a factory tour.
We had an extended visit with Czech firearms designer Jan Lysak and got the details and history behind his Creapeiron company, which has spent the past eight years developing the Elysium and System pistols.
Going past the numerous innovations including a triangular barrel for rock-steady lock up, a free-standing optics mount, magnet-infused grip panels, and trigger return, these guns share a lot of Czech excellence under the hood. They certainly are striking. This is the limited (seven guns) Elysium model with a distinctive chrome DLC finish.
They will also be making 99 less flashy System models. Further, we may have talked Lysak into a run of 333 guns especially for the U.S. over some shots of plum brandy. Guns.com will have many more details on this fascinating pistol in an upcoming article.
Stay tuned to Guns.com for more details on these stories in the coming days and weeks.
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