My aimless wandering at SHOT Show, likely brought on by dehydration and sensory overload, landed me at the booths of new and old friends alike. I stumbled into IWI’s booth and took a look at their Tavor TS12 shotgun, among other cool guns.

The Tavor TS12 is quite the interesting beast. As per IWI’s website:

“The Tavor TS12 12 gauge shotgun is a gas regulated bullpup shotgun that can be configured for either right or left side ejection and operation. It feeds from one of three (3) individual magazines which can hold four 3 inch shotgun shells or five 2 ¾ inch shotgun shells each. This means that the potential overall capacity from all three (3) individual magazines is 15 rounds plus one additional round in the chamber. The TS12 has a unique feature that automatically loads a round in the chamber once the subsequent loaded magazine is rotated into position. It can be fed and unloaded from either side and is easily convertible to left hand operation.”

I found the TS12 to be relatively light and easy to shoulder. I have it on good authority that the gun will be offered in OD Green and FDE.

Ruger, a company that TTAG readers know I am quite familiar with, has released some new rifles and pistols. Most of these have been announced prior to SHOT. They include a new custom shop line featuring 1911 pistols and some .22LR rifles.

In addition to those products, Ruger has also released new Ruger Precision Rifles in .338 Lapua and .300 Win Mag. These are large, powerful rifles geared for the long-range shooter and based on the wildly popular RPR in .308 Win. New also this year are 17 HMR and 22 WMR versions of the Ruger Precision Rimfire.

 

Stoeger came out swinging this year with the surprising new STR-9. This is a 15+1 round, polymer framed 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

I was very impressed with the quality Stoeger has brought to the table- for a stunninglu affordable price.

The MSRP is only $350, which means street price will likely be about $300 new.

The STR-9 has a number of features including interchangeable backstraps, a loaded chamber indicator, the usual trigger-mounted safety, 3-dot sights, and a 5 year warranty. You finger groove haters may be disappointed.

This is a budget priced gun, but you’d never know based on the feel and the features. I was truly expecting it to be in the price range of other similar guns, around $500.

The trigger is quite literally better than those on guns costing twice as much, I kid you not. The Stoeger reps I spoke to were very proud of it.

I fired a simulation course with a modified STR-9 and you can see my score above. If you are at SHOT, I suggest you go try your hand and beat my score.

You’ll get twice the reward, as not only will you get to brag about besting a guy who gets paid to shoot guns, but you’ll also get to handle the STR-9. It’s a win-win for sure.

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33 COMMENTS

  3. Has TTAG requested a T&R sample of the Stoeger STR-9?

    • My guess would be a Turkish manufacturer, perhaps Canik? I know some of Stoeger’s shotguns are made in Turkey.

      The price point would suggest that, as well.

    • Stoeger entered into a relationship with parent company Beretta many years ago, producing the Stoeger Cougar 8000 and 8040. These pistols were made in Turkey on Beretta tooling previously used to manufacture the Beretta Cougar. Rumor was that the first production runs were completed by Beretta staff as they trained the Turks on the process. The 2 Cougars are identical in every way except the roll stamp. Based on the similarity to the Beretta APX, it would appear that use of some design components are more than coincidental.

    • Exactly. Not a bad looking gun either. I have no use for another 9mm, but the more the merrier in the market-place.

  10. Given Turkey’s rapid change to a strict Muslim country, they are no friends of ours and I for one will never buy a product of theirs, no matter how well-made or low-priced. No Chinese either. Plenty of good products from the USA and friendly EU nations. No need to support those sworn to destroy us.

    • This! One million times this! I’ve been preaching this my whole life. While it’s not always possible these days, I go out of my way to buy American even if it costs more. Employee your neighbors, not some asshole in another country that hates you.

  11. Well I know what my wife’s going to want for Christmas 2019. I never should have talked up IWI around her.

    • Cheaper than a lot of jewelry options. Count your blessings. (plus, wife’s guns get to be shot by husbands – usually)

      • “plus, wife’s guns get to be shot by husbands – usually”

        In my case that’s if I take it and sneak off to the range when she’s doing something else.

  12. Another copy cat of the unsafe Glock with no manual safety, no grip safety and this one appears to have a trigger safety although I will admit the trigger safety is a useless joke that does not work on any of them anyway.

    Did you notice you have to pull the trigger to take the gun apart, an accident waiting to happen and happen it does with tragic regularity. Yes the price is right but then again how much is your life worth? Obviously not much if you buy one of these, I have no wish to spend the rest of my life in a wheel chair, undergo years of painful corrective surgeries or even end up being buried in the grave.. Sorry I have been around too long not to know an unsafely designed gun when I see one and I have read so many stories of unnecessary tragedies with this type of weapon I should have recorded them all and published a book on it.

    I will stick with my H&K P30S and my P30SK S both have manual safeties, are double/single action, have decocker’s and can be loaded and unloaded with the manual safety in the on position and can be carried hammer down with safety on. You cannot get much safer than that as compared to a pistol like this latest plastic fantastic that goes off if you so much as accidentally bump or snag the trigger when trying to handle it or even shove it into a holster.

    The P30 series does not require you to pull the trigger to take them apart either. No one is immune from making a mistake and when you make a mistake with a Glock or copy cat Glock it can be fatal instantly to you or worse to an innocent bystander. On the news tonight yet another case of a Police man that accidentally shot another policemen with his pistol. Wanna bet what kind of gun he was using? I will give you a hint, it was not an H&K P30S because they are a safe pistol to carry and handle. Yes they cost way more money but again how much is your life worth or your bank account if you accidentally shoot another person. I am sure the warning about losing your bank account got your attention faster than losing your life.

    I might add try finding parts or spare mags for some of this offbeat foreign made stuff as well. What looked like a good deal to the frugal buyer ends up in the long run costing him way more money if the gun needs repair or spare parts or mags that may end up costing almost as much as the gun when it suddenly gets dropped from importation as so many of them do. I have seen mags for odd ball guns that were dropped from importation go as high as $175 bucks which in this case is approaching the price of the entire gun.

    And remember the average time it takes to work the bugs out of a newly introduced gun is usually a full two years because manufactures in their blind greed to market a gun seldom if ever bother to test them out before flooding the market with them and that even includes U.S. made guns, Remington being a good example not too long ago or the Caravelle a few years ago which if I remember correctly came from Turkey just like the gun in this review or the plastic fantastic from Australia which was recalled and then they were all destroyed as being not fixable to make them safe to use.

  13. Want like a Glock but with a safety and more svelte = Ruger SR9(c) or S & W Shield. Want it fat like a Glock but with a safety = XD series. All of the above less $ than the Glock. Lots of choices. More than I can name. BTW I don’t hate Glocks, just not for me.

    TTAG I also have a request. How about a review of some of the AR and AK lookalike shotguns? Many pretty cheap and as far as I know of Turkish origin. They are heavily advertised and I am sure people are attracted by the look and the low price. Whether any good is another question and I agree with many of the others that if you buy a new gun, it should be made in US or a reliable foreign country, and Turkey is no longer that.

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