The weird stuff is where SHOT Show shines — weird guns, weird accessories, and just plain weird stuff. Sadly, a lot of the weird never makes it to market, but at least SHOT shows us what could be. Today, we are going to take a moment to appreciate the weirdest guns of SHOT Show 2025.
BSD Fab works VSS Vintorez
Until yesterday, the only time I’d ever touched a VSS Vintorez was in video games. I’ve still never shot one, but I’ve touched one — or the Americanized version of one. The VSS Vintorez is a Russian rifle that they classify as a sniper rifle, but it fires a heavy subsonic 9x39mm round through an integrally suppressed barrel.
The 9×39 isn’t widely available here, so when BSD Fab Works created the American VSS, they utilized the .300 Blackout cartridge. This cartridge is also a specialized, heavy subsonic cartridge that can be loaded with supers or subs and would work great through an integrally suppressed barrel.
The US-made VSS has tried to keep the gun as true as possible to the original, which I imagine was a challenge. BSD Fab Works built the gun, but B&T did the suppressor, making this a collaboration and further proving that B&T is what HK could be if they were cool.
This gun features a folding stock and wears what I assume is a VSS-accurate scope. It’s certainly a Russian optic. Overall, it’s weird but ultimately impressive, and I bet they sell every one they make.
Fightlite Herring Bandito
Fightlite has always been a fan of doing weird stuff with the AR-15 platform. They made stuff like belt-fed uppers and then modified lowers to create a traditional, pistol-grip-free stock. The newest Fightlite mixes a few weird concepts to make one weird AR pistol. The lower receiver has been modified extensively to use a lever action design and a traditional stock.
Since the Herring Bandito is an AR pistol, an actual stock is a no-go. Instead, we get an odd pistol grip similar to the Shockwave grips you find on 12-gauge firearms. This blends in well with the lever action design and makes it easy to work the lever back and forth.
So, we end up with a lever-action AR-15 pistol with a bizarre pistol grip. We all agree that’s weird, right? While it’s weird, it feels good in the hand and is easy to manipulate. Overall, the layout works, even if it’s extremely weird. The lightweight design makes it easy to aim even without a stock.
The magic is that it keeps most of the AR-15 caliber options. You can drop on any standard mil-spec upper and use .350 Legend, .300 Blackout, and so on and so forth. I imagine this to be nice and quiet in .338 ARC with a suppressor.
Hera H6
The Hera H6 isn’t new, but it’s new to America. Hera is the same company that made the AR furniture made famous in the film The Tomorrow War. They aren’t afraid of being weird, and the H6 represents one odd rifle.
The H6 is a bolt action rifle, which isn’t odd, but Hera found a way to make it so. The H6 series feeds from an AR magazine and that AR magazine sticks out of the side of the rifle.
The magwell is a lot like a Sten gun. The benefits of this odd feeding style are twofold. First, you can get super low to the ground without the magazine getting in the way. Second, you can reload the rifle with very little movement. These are small benefits, but it’s only fair that I point them out.
Ultimately, I think Hera made the H6 to be different. Different can be fun. More than the magwell, the rifle has an extended M-Lok handguard that’s very AR-like. The stock is more traditional in its design, but it can fold – a surprising revelation to me. The ergonomics are very odd but functional. The rifle would be a nightmare for left-handed shooters.
The Hera H6 was a lot of fun to shoot. It fires .223, and a .300 Blackout version is on the way. The barrel is threaded, and it would be a solid suppressor host. As a weird guns enthusiast, I’m a fan of this odd little thing.
KelTec PR57
Does KelTec make anything that’s not weird? It seems like every time the SHOT Show comes around, the Florida men from KelTec come out of the swamps and bring us their latest weird creation. The PR57 is only the latest in a long line of weird guns. As the name implies, it’s a 5.7x28mm handgun, but it gets weirder after that.
The PR57 parties like it’s 1896 with a fixed magazine. The fixed magazine is fed from clips or can be handy-loaded from the top of the gun. The gun comes with two 10-round clips that can rapidly charge the gun. The clips aren’t quite stripper clips but rather purpose-built devices for the gun.
The PR57 uses a rotary delayed blowback system with dual recoil springs to keep the slide sitting low. Itcomes optics-ready and with a rail to mount all your favorite accessories. The uniquely rounded slide gives the gun a unique look.
The PR57 has a very light recoil and runs well. It’s fun to shoot and proved to be super accurate. The optics-ready model is most assuredly the best way to go to take advantage of the 5.7x28mm round.
ATI Triple Barrel Shotgun
Did you think two barrels were enough for a shotgun? Hell no. Let’s do three. ATI turned the dial to three and will be importing a Turkish-made triple-barrel shotgun. Admittedly we’ve seen guns like the Chiappa triple threat, but the new ATI imports are even weird because it’s trying to be so damn normal.
If you saw it with a passing glance, you might think it was a shiny, fancy double gun, the type of gun you’d use at a skeet shoot. The ATI Triple Barrel has that chrome and wood look that you expect from a fancy double gun. It’s only when you stop and give it a good, hard look you realize it’s something different.
At the bottom, you have two barrels side by side, and a third barrel sits on top of the gun. It’s odd, and heavy, but surprisingly not as bad as I expected. I’m curious if the various barrel positions will impact your point of aim and point of impact.
ATI didn’t have a name for the gun and had it tucked away behind a door away from prying eyes for whatever reason. They mentioned shorter, coach gun versions and even a pistol grip-only version would for sale. Hopefully the cost will be a bit lower than the Triple Threat. At under a grand, it might sell quite well due to the novelty factor.
Keep SHOT Weird
The weirdest guns of SHOT keep things interesting. As you clamber through AR-15s, 1911s, and Glock Gen 3 clones, things start to look bleak. Then, something weird comes in and shines bright through the drag that SHOT can become. Let’s take a moment to celebrate the weird and appreciate how they keep things interesting.
