Shot Show 2023 booth update with Brandon of Senex Arms — not a purchased T&E or range review. Design details below are as stated on the booth floor; production timing was still TBD at the time of filming.
Squat Squad — back on the Shot Show floor for a booth that unofficially won the People’s Choice vibe last time around: Senex Arms. I’m with Brandon again, catching up on the AR-component bullpup chassis people fell in love with… then got a little sad they couldn’t buy yet.
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What it is (in one sentence)
It’s a bullpup chassis that runs normal AR-15 guts — barrel, bolt, gas system, modified trigger path, grip, magazine — so you’re not stuck buying proprietary caliber conversions that cost a third of the gun.
Brandon’s pitch: buy a normal AR-15 barrel and bolt that fit a standard upper / BCG envelope, drop them in, and keep your caliber options open (springs may need attention for some calibers down the road).
Year-over-year progress
Last year’s show gun was roughly 90% SLS 3D-printed. This year Brandon put it closer to 50% printed, with the important operating parts moved into metal, designed for manufacture. He linked up with a reputable industry engineer around May, did a design review / tactical pause, then shifted hard into finishing the utility patent (he was on a provisional the prior year) — so real hardcore update time into the show sample was only about five months.
No name-dropping on manufacturing partners yet. Fair.
Quick-change barrel & handguard
On-camera teardown highlights:
- Charging handle locks to the rear for safe clearing / work
- Pop, rotate 180°, pull — barrel comes out (normal AR-15 barrel with Senex barrel nut)
- Plan: each gun ships with two barrel nuts (one installed, one spare) so your first caliber change doesn’t require a trip back to Senex
- Handguard quick-removes on its own pin — barrel and handguard can come off independently
- Show rifle: 18″ barrel, overall length just over 26″
Why independent handguard removal? Purchase on a short protruding barrel stub when yanking it out — plus options for hunters / competitive shooters who want different lengths or setups (SPR vs carbine vibes) without presuming one end goal.
Roadmap (honest, no vaporware dates)
Brandon was deliberately cagey on calendar promises after last year’s optimism. The line that stuck: by this time next year he’ll know when pre-orders open — maybe sooner, but he’s giving himself buffer. First live-fire of the new parts was planned right after Shot Show; a bunch of components only landed about six days before the show.
Find him at senexarms.com, Facebook (where he’s most active), and the mailing list for pre-order news only — not inbox spam.
Bottom line
Shot Show 2023 booth update: the People’s Choice energy bullpup is still an AR-parts playground in a compact envelope, with real metal progress on the operating bits and a quick-change barrel/handguard story that makes caliber swaps less painful. Not shipping yet in this video — but it’s further along than the almost-all-printed show gun from the year before.
Keep squatting.
Would you run an AR-parts bullpup if the caliber swaps stayed this simple — or do you still want a fixed-caliber dedicated bullpup?
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