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According to a release from the NSSF, this year’s SHOT Show had the second-highest attendance ever.

Long a bellwether for the industry’s prospects, the SHOT Show brings together buyers and sellers from the United States and more than 100 countries. Total attendance for the 2015 SHOT Show was nearly 64,000, second only to last year’s record-setting event, where nearly 67,000 came through the turnstiles. Lower attendance reflected strengthened pre-screening of attendees to enhance the overall experience of both exhibitors and buyers.

“We know from long experience that attendance at the SHOT Show is a reflection of the state of our industry,” said Chris Dolnack, NSSF Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “This second highest attendance is in keeping with what we saw in the past year — that our industry is in good health and that manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers have a positive outlook for this year.”

I’d certainly believe it. The main hallways were always crowded and the flow of the crowd at the end of the day towards the Venetian Hotel was like a river.

The show brings big money to Las Vegas.

The SHOT Show, the fifth largest trade show in Las Vegas, pumps nearly $90 million in non-gaming revenue into the Las Vegas economy.

Those in Nevada who would push the universal background check initiative such as Wynn Resorts co-founder Elaine Wynn should keep this in mind. The firearms industry does have other options besides Las Vegas to hold the SHOT Show. While it is a popular destination for many in the industry, there are other places. I think the NSSF should start making it clear that a vote for universal background checks will come with consequences.

The SHOT Show is about business. On my flight home I sat across from Don Keadle of J.E.K. Wholesale. His company develops 37mm and 40mm grenade, less than lethal, and tear gas launchers. This was the first show they attended and it was very worthwhile. Don said the guys in the shop were going to hate him because they would be working seven days a week. He had received enough orders by the end of the first day to have made the trip profitable. Others I spoke with such as a dealer from Lubbock, Texas said he had placed a number of orders at the show. All in all I take this as good for the industry and good for the US economy.

Before I went to the SHOT Show this past week, I asked readers if they had questions that they wanted answered or products for me to check out. With one exception, I was able to check out all the companies and products. Unfortunately, Ross & Zheng Engineering was not one of the SHOT Show exhibitors do I couldn’t check out their Unimag.

Ronald W. asked about whether Robinson Armament was planning to release their XCR-L in 6.5 Grendel. Currently it is only available in .223, 5.45×39, 6.8 SPC, and 7.62×39. Representatives of the company said they have done chamber drawings of 6.5 Grendel and have the reamers on hand to do the barrel. They did say they haven’t had a great demand for this caliber so it might be a while before they release it.

Danno asked me to check out the Chiappa X-Caliber and give my opinion of it. When I stopped by their booth, I spoke with Giada Chiappa, the granddaughter of the founder, about the combo gun. She said they were aiming for the prepper market with their conversion tubes. The intent is to be able to fire just about any ammo you can find. You can see the X-Caliber with the eight barrel conversion tubes. The gun itself is chambered in 12 gauge and .22 LR.

The trigger guard is the lever used to break open the gun. While the official weight is 5.8 lbs, it feels heavier. The triggers seemed OK but the stock was a bit short for me and I’m not a tall person. I don’t know the MSRP for the X-Caliber but I found one on GunBroker.com for $750. It is an interesting concept but I think something like a Ruger 10/22 Take Down might be more useful at a much lower price.

Mark C. asked whether Winchester Repeating Arms had any intention of releasing the Model 70 with iron sights like they did in earlier years. The answer is no. The only Model 70s that will come with iron sights are the Alaskan and Safari versions.

Anon. wondered when or if Rhino Arms planned to release their AR-10 in 12 gauge. They had a pre-production model of the AR-10 12 gauge in their booth. A spokesman for Rhino said it probably would not be released before 2016. They are in the process of sourcing the magazines for the shotgun. What caught my eye at their booth was their PDW and their shotgun shell holders for 3-gun competition. You can see a picture from their Facebook page of the PDW below.

Anon. asked about the Sig P320. He wanted to know if it would be available in .45 ACP and 10mm. He also wanted to know if subcompact versions were being released. The Sig P320 is available in both full-size and compact versions now in 9mm, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. There are no plans to offer it in 10mm. Their representative said that is going to be limited to the P220. Subcompact versions are in the works. The Sig P320 is a lot like the P250 in that the chassis is the serialized item. Grips, barrels, and slides can all be exchanged on the one gun.

Finally, a bit of gossip about Glock. While they released a number of new models that were optics ready, they still haven’t released a single stack 9mm. Some people wondered if they were going to do a surprise reveal on Thursday. They didn’t but it would have been a great marketing ploy. Now for the gossip. According to one of their booth representatives, the single stack 9mm is in the works and probably will be released at the NRA Annual Meeting in April. I’m sure they will sell all they can produce.

UPDATE: One thing I forgot to add. Someone asked me and I forget who about Magpul magazines for the Ruger Mini-14. The answer is no. They don’t have any plans to develop a magazine for the Mini-14 at this time. My guess is that they will never have a Mini-14 magazine just because it isn’t popular enough.

Day One of SHOT Show is over and Day Two is about to begin.

It was different than what I expected but certainly not disappointing.  I think I expected the exhibition area to be like the NRA Annual Meeting but on steroids. It wasn’t. Unlike a show in a large arena type setting, the Sands Convention Center has almost a cozy feel to it. It wasn’t held in two gigantic  rooms but in a series of smaller (but still large) rooms separated by hallways.

The highlight of the day was not a new product. It was a documentary put together by the Outdoor Channel called “Safe Havens”. Produced by Tim Cremins and hosted by journalist Katie Pavlich, it explored the fallacy of gun-free zones. It captured both the emotions and facts behind the so-called gun free zones and their failures. Experts such as Massad Ayoob and Prof. Eric Deitz of Perdue University were featured as were victims such as Amanda Collins who was raped on campus.

The film will be shown on the Outdoor Channel without commercial sponsors. Jim Libratore, president of the Outdoor Channel, said he didn’t want anything to be used to muddy the message. For more impressions of the film, listen to our discussion of it on the Polite Society Podcast which we recorded yesterday soon after viewing it.

I didn’t devote a lot of time to checking out all the new products. I did see the new optic from Leupold called the D-evo and it looks intriguing. I will also be getting a Ergo Grip’s Delta Grip for the Ruger LCR for review. I’m looking forward to tha.

I am still working on the list of items that you submitted. For reader Ronald, I do have an answer from Robinson Armament regarding the 6.5 Grendel. They have done chamber drawings and gotten the reamer for that caliber in their XCR. They did say that they haven’t had too much demand for that caliber.

Media Day at the Range is everything people said it was and more. All I can say is wow. I got to shoot everything from the full auto CMMG Mk 47 to a .416 Rigby elephant gun.

I’ll have a lot more to post later but I have to get off to the show floor for Day 1 of the SHOT Show.