New Product Highlight: Best of April Fools

Each year, the second quarter opens with a frenzy of new products, futuristic technological wonders, and questionable business decisions.

For better or worse, none of them are real.

April Fools Day gives manufacturers a chance to lighten up a little, show some personality, and share a laugh or two. If I’m being honest, I always wish one or two of the product launches were genuine. 

Let’s kick off some comedy with the best April Fools products of 2025!

Smith & Wesson Volcanic 2.0

Our most visually horrifying entry comes from Smith & Wesson. 

You probably know Smith & Wesson for the M&P series of pistols and the company’s long line of excellent revolvers. On April Fools, they conjured up an unholy bastard inspired by the Model 1 and named after the Volcanic.

The unholy bastard that assaulted my eyes via Instagram looks like it has a polymer grip, an aged brass frame, a revolver cylinder, and a Trijicon RMR sitting on a Picatinny rail instead of sights.

It’s ok, the Volcanic 2.0 isn’t real; it can’t hurt you… I hope.

Springfield Armory 1911 TS

Here at Pew Pew Tactical, we love our 1911s. We love a double-stack 1911 or 2011, too, so you can imagine our delight when we opened Instagram to see the next evolution from Springfield Armory.

If one is good and two are better, three must be the best. That’s the logic behind the 1911 TS – or triple-stack – anyway.

Springfield played it off with slick marketing imagery alongside a comically fat 1911 grip. I don’t know if I could even get my hands on that thing, but part of me kind of wants to try.

Are we sure this isn’t a prototype, Springfield?

Magnum Research Desert Quail

Pocket pistols and micro-compacts are all the rage these days. Companies like Sig Sauer are packing more and more ammo into tiny magazines, but what if we increased stopping power instead of round count?

Magnum Research has the answer: a micro-compact chambered for .50 AE.

The Desert Quail (tiny cousin of the Desert Eagle) is perfect for people who only want to have four or five rounds but insist that they hit really, really hard.

Some of you must be real gluttons for punishment because the comments section was full of people wishing it was real. What do you think, would you give it a try?

Hi-Point Pistol Drone

You know, the problem with home-defense guns is that they require you to square off against what is presumably a group of armed intruders. Hi-Point has a safer alternative this year.

The Hi-Point Pistol drone lets you dispatch threats and rid your garden of rascaly rabbits from the comfort of your own couch.

The April Fools press release claimed that the drone earned a $100 million military contract and would be available with chrome trim as a $5,000 civilian version. Oh, and you get a keychain!

Why do I feel like having this Facebook post in my browser history put me on a watchlist?

Q Honey Badger 9mm-SD

Never one to miss fun and games, Q got in on the April Fools action with a suppressed PCC based on the Honey Badger.

But this prank is so crazy, it just might work. The responses in the comments section were unanimous – we want it!

Is there going to be a 9mm barrel with 1:3 twist? No. I trust Q to actually pull off the rest, though, and I think they’d sell truckloads of these damn things.

Norma Pikestrike

This year, the ballistics wizards over at Norma decided that if their ammo works so well in the air, why not try it underwater?

Pikestrike is a bullet modified with an eyelet tip and a treble hook in place of the primer, It’s designed specifically for capping — sorry, catching — pike (the fish, not that Pike).

It’s available in calibers from 6mm PRC for smallies to .50 BMG for the big trophy fish. Except, again, it’s not real.

Vortex Muck-E

Fancy reticles are nice, but how the heck do I know which holdover to use?

Vortex finally delivered on the other half of the shooting equation with rifle scopes that dole out evelevation and wind holds in the soothing, dulcet tones of Ryan Muckenhirn’s voice. 

Muck-E also delivers helpful advice and fun wildlife trivia.

Is that buck a shooter or a nice buck next year? How much more sensitive is a black bear’s sense of smell than a Labrador retriever’s? We finally have answers in real time.

We’ve seen smart reticles in real life, but none of them lull us into a sense of peace and confidence quite like Muck-E.

Holosun HS-BOOM

Our own devious editor-in-chief, Jacki Billings, teamed up with Holosun to pull a fast one on us.

The HS-BOOM is a bifocal red dot for shooters of a certain age. If you’re reading this page at more than 100% magnification, that’s you.

Age-sensitive features include a bifocal reticle that offers 1.5-power magnification in the lower portion of the window, BoomerMode Auto Adjust that matches the shooter’s head tilt, and Bluetooth audio integration so you can listen to World War II history read to you by Clint Eastwood.

And don’t worry, you can buy this fictional optic with a personal check.

Beretta GT

It wouldn’t be unheard of for a firearms manufacturer to build a car. Ruger tried it, and Royal Enfield is still churning out motorcycles by the trainload in India. And then there was the Chevrolet Beretta of the ’80s and ’90s.

Beretta channeled this idea for an April Fools gag, the Beretta GT.

The satirical concept car comes with features like Picatinny roof rails, a gun safe in the trunk, a navigation system pre-loaded with shooting ranges and Beretta dealers, and a two-tone metal finish inspired by the 92X.

Here’s the thing, this joke is better looking than most of the concept cars I’ve seen in recent years. Leave it to the Italians!

Typos, Dirty Pictures, and X-Rated Features

The Holosun collab was so much fun that everyone at Pew Pew Tactical wanted to let their freak flags fly.

Editor Wyatt Sloan joined in with a satirical leak showing that the Army wanted to pick the Sig Sauer P230 as its next sidearm but got the P320 thanks to a typo. Read the full story to catch all the unclassified memos and .380 ACP jokes!

And the scandals get worse. As suppressors become more popular, so do unsolicited S-pics. Pew Pew Tactical founder Eric Hung has all the evidence you could want… or don’t want.

Open your group chat carefully.

Last but certainly not the least uncomfortable is a YouTube short on the Wheeler Digital FAT Wrench that’s been tainted by the derelicts on our video team, Sean Curtis and Jonny Villanueva.

Who needs beeps and clicks when you can have seductive moans every time you reach your desired torque setting? Do we look like R2D2? Let’s get personal, baby! 

What do you think of these April Fools jokes? Which one do you wish was real? Let us know below. For actual new products, stay up to date with our (real) New Product Highlights every Monday and Friday.