Top 5 New Shooting & Hunting Tech Finds From SHOT Show 2025
SPYPOINT Game Cameras, Dark 30 Vehicle Thermal, Techy Ammo & More
Every year at SHOT Show, we see a wide variety of new products come to market, and they range from “perfectly serviceable yet mundane” to high-tech offerings. This is a look at some of the more high-tech shooting and hunting gear showcased at SHOT Show 2025.
Trail camera technology has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years and there’s no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. The ability to capture quality images at night has been made possible by low-glow LED lights that do their best to avoid spooking animals that walk into view. However, sometimes that low-glow is just bright enough that it can throw off more wary fare. You might get one picture of that monster buck but never see him again because he saw the LED.
SPYPOINT has eliminated this issue with their new FLEX Dark series of cameras that made their debut at SHOT Show 2025. Not only do they offer the low-glow LED lights that are available on other FLEX models, but the Dark cameras now offer a no-glow LED option. You can switch back and forth between no-glow and low-glow right from the app.
The Dark series keeps everything from the FLEX lineup that users have come to know and love: 40MP photos, 1080p videos with sound, 100’ flash and detection range, multiple photo capture modes, and more.
Continuing with the thermal theme is the Dark 30 Defiance, which is a vehicle-mounted thermal camera. It’s not uncommon for predator hunters to spend a good amount of time cruising around using handheld imagers looking for heat signatures before they get out, grab their guns, and start to hunt. Dark 30’s Defiance does away with the handhelds and lets everyone in the vehicle see what the thermal camera sees.
Multiple mount options allow you to swap the camera, which offers 360-degree rotation, to multiple vehicles, rigs, or other setups. There’s even a built-in direction indicator so that you don’t get turned around in the dark - literally.
Each unit comes with a wired screen powered by a 12v adapter so that you can easily view the camera whether you’re hunting alone or in a group. For added visibility, you can also get another view through a phone app. Operating the Defiance is done easily with a remote control and you can change the rotation, tilt, pan, magnification, and more all from right there.
Dark 30’s Defiance makes it easier than ever to do property observation, wildlife management, predator control, and more.
Quick to turn heads at SHOT Show 2025 was the SIM-X SUBMASS Ammo. The long-standing formula for self-defense ammunition has been a lead core inside of an alloy metal jacket. SIM-X SUBMASS ammo has done a 180-degree turn on ammo components and construction and they’ve got proof that it works.
Instead of lead, SUBMASS ammo has a patented synthetic core inside an alloy metal jacket. Because there’s less actual metal in the ammo, there’s a huge weight difference. While standard 9mm bullets often weigh 115 grains, the 9mm SUBMASS bullets weigh just 45 grains. Traditional .45 ACP bullets weigh 230 grains; the comparable SUBMASS bullets weigh 72 grains. That’s a 53% weight savings for the .45 ACP ammo.
Traveling at 2,249 fps, the SUBMASS 9mm drops just two inches at 100 yards - that’s fast and flat. The patented core material allows the bullets to achieve a routine depth regardless of which caliber is used, and the permanent wound cavity is larger than that of traditional ammo. Since they are traveling at such high speed, the jacket petals separate almost immediately on contact and the kinetic-ceramic core material goes on to create a larger permanent wound cavity.
Available in both RANGECORE and DEFENSECORE loads, SIM-X offers SUBMASS ammo in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP with rifle calibers coming soon.
Lever-action rifle shooters fall into two camps: those who adhere to the wood-and-steel aesthetic and those who have adopted a more tactical look. With the new Bravado from WOOX, you can have the best of both worlds.
Built with highly polished walnut wood as the backbone of the design, the Bravado is available as a stock and handguard kit or as individual pieces for virtually all Henry models. The wood has a built-in textured grip design to ensure that proper control of the gun can be maintained no matter what the circumstances.
All of the other features that are built into the WOOX Bravado are blacked out, so that they provide a nice balance of wood and metal that doesn’t immediately scream “tactical” to all who see it.
There are multiple M-LOK attachment points on both sides of the buttstock and all along three sides of the handguard. These are the perfect places to mount ammo quivers, lights, lasers, and whatever else you might want.
For added comfort, there’s an ultralight recoil pad and an adjustable cheek riser to keep it right where you need it, each shot, every time.
If there's one thing that we took away from SHOT Show 2025, it's that thermal optics are all the rage these days, but they’re all geared toward use on long guns. That changes now with the InfiTac Fast Mini FMP13, a thermal sight designed for use on handguns.
On the surface, the FMP13 looks like a closed emitter red dot, but inside is a thermal scope with 256x192 resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate on a 1.4-inch 360x300 display. Waterproof up to ten meters and weighing just four ounces, the FMP13 can run for five hours on a CR2 battery. That’s pretty darn good since thermal optics are known for burning through batteries.
While there are standard buttons for operating, the FMP13 stands apart with a touchscreen operating option as well. Depending on how much light there is in your environment, the display will automatically adjust the brightness to the surroundings.
Another thing that many thermal optics are known for is the wide variety of reticle choices available to shooters. The same holds true here, too. Shooters can choose from a 6 MOA dot, 6 MOA dot inside of a 65 MOA circle, and a 6 MOA dot inside of a 130 MOA circle. Multiple thermal color palettes are also available to fit individual needs.
Utilizing the standard RMR footprint, the FMP13 can use adapter plates to fit other footprints on pistols and a variety of other mount types for use on carbines, rifles, etc.
