The coveted Golden Bullseye Awards, now in their 22nd year, were created as a way for us to publicly recognize the firearm industry’s best-performing, highest-value and most innovative products from the previous year. Some years there are runaway standouts, but more often than not, there are numerous contenders worthy of accolade within a given category, and the selection process to nail down a slate of recipients can require no small amount of rigorous discussion on the part of the editors. This year we were blessed with a sizable crop of great new guns that could have won an award, but below you will find our consensus winners.
“Last year was one of massive new-product introductions from the recreational shooting sports industry,” said NRA Publications Executive Director Doug Hamlin. “As a result, the editorial staff had some tough decisions to make to identify the best all-new products.”
2024 Accessory Of The Year: MDT .308/6.5 Creedmoor Polymer AICS 3-Round Magazine
The magazine developed by Accuracy International for its chassis system, the AICS, has become one of the most prevalent and reliable single-stack magazine patterns in the rifle industry, however, low-profile it is not, with even five-round examples extending far enough beneath the host gun’s receiver to spoil comfortable prone fire.
Fortunately, MDT—best known for its own chassis-style bolt-action-rifle stocks and precision bipods—now offers shooters a solution to this dilemma with its .308/6.5 Creedmoor Polymer AICS 3-Round Magazine, a detachable box that sits flush or near-flush with most AICS-compatible rifles. Weighing just 1.3 ozs. and molded of high-strength, glass-filled polymer, the magazines can accommodate most .308 Win.-family cartridges, including: 7.62 NATO; 7 mm-08 Rem.; 6.5 mm Creedmoor; 6 mm Creedmoor; .243 Win.; and .22-250 Rem., among several others.
In a “Product Preview” of MDT’s new magazine (September 2023), one of our editors discovered that its trim profile also aided “one-handed carry at the balance point by the user’s side,” greatly simplifying a hunting rifle’s unslung carry.
For identifying a significant need in the magazine market and developing a quality, low-cost (MSRP $35) product to meet that need, we selected MDT’s .308/6.5 Creedmoor Polymer AICS 3-Round Magazine as our Accessory Of The Year. For more information, visit mdttac.com.
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