by I know the SHOT Show was over last week but I just came across this report from day three by Michael Bane and Ed Head. They discuss AR pistols, Nightforce scopes, the Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper revolver in .22LR, and the growth in reloading sales. Ed Head was saying that the manufacturers he spoke with had a 50 to 80% increase in sales. With the ammo shortage, reloading is coming back strongly as an option as well as practicing with .22s.
Michael Bane
2013 SHOT Show – Day Two With Michael Bane And Ed Head
Michael Bane and Ed Head return to report on day two of the 2013 SHOT Show for the Outdoor Channel. Among the firearms discussed are the Armscor MIG-22 which is an AR clone in .22 LR and the Beretta Nano which will be coming out with various colored frames.
They both agreed that the overriding theme of this year’s SHOT Show was fear. That is, the fear of what would be coming out of Washington. However, after Obama made his speech yesterday, they sensed a rise in optimism along with a sigh of relief.
Some SHOT Shows feature a lot of new innovative product introductions. This isn’t one of them. Ed said the industry seems to be on an even keep with nothing really different. It was more about introducing different colors, sizes, and styles of existing products. Both Ed and Michael agreed that there seems to be a renewed interest in reloading all of a sudden which they attribute to the ammo shortage and proposals coming out of Washington. They will cover this in more depth tomorrow.
2013 SHOT Show – Day 1 with Michael Bane & Ed Head
Michael Bane is covering the 2013 SHOT Show for the Outdoor Channel along with his friend Ed Head of Gunsite Academy. Among the firearms they discussed were the Sig Sauer MPX, the new Ruger Guide Rifle in .375 RM, the Rock Island 1911 in .22 TCM, and the Smith and Wesson M&P 10 which is an AR in .308. They did notice a trend of a lot of red dots being made for handguns along the ammo shortage.
2013 SHOT Show Media Day – Outdoor Channel
Michael Bane gives an overview of the 2013 SHOT Show Media Day for the Outdoor Channel in the video below. I love the ending shot of the smile on a guy’s face after shooting an AR-15 with a bumpfire stock (corrected).
As I find more reports from Media Day I will be posting them today.
I Know That Guy
Just got to the America’s Center and was greeted by this poster.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
More Confirmation Of The Vitality Of The Firearms Industry
Sturm, Ruger announced today that they were suspending the acceptance of new orders because they had already had orders for the first quarter of over 1 million units. If one needed more confirmation that gun sales are strong and that gun ownership is expanding, this is it. While there is no breakdown of the orders, sales of Ruger’s pistols for the concealed carry market such as the LCP, LCR, and LC-9 have been strong. As Michael Bane has noted many times, these pistols are very popular with Gun Culture v. 2.0 who want a pistol for personal protection.
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. Reports Strong First Quarter Bookings
March 21, 2012
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR), announced today that for the first quarter 2012, the Company has received orders for more than one million units. Therefore, the Company has temporarily suspended the acceptance of new orders.
Chief Executive Officer Michael O. Fifer made the following comments:
The Company’s Retailer Programs that were offered from January 1, 2012 through February 29, 2012 were very successful and generated significant orders from retailers to independent wholesale distributors for Ruger firearms.
* Year-to-date, the independent wholesale distributors placed orders with the Company for more than one million Ruger firearms.
*Despite the Company’s continuing successful efforts to increase production rates, the incoming order rate exceeds our capacity to rapidly fulfill these orders. Consequently, the Company has temporarily suspended the acceptance of new orders.
*The Company expects to resume the normal acceptance of orders by the end of May 2012.
The Company will announce its results and file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2012 on Tuesday, May 1, 2012, after the close of the stock market.
I know it borders on rudeness to keep poking the gun prohibitionists in the eye with the truth but I hope Josh Horwitz chokes on this press release.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I am a very happy shareholder in Sturm, Ruger and Company)
2012 SHOT Show – Day 3, Downrange.tv
Michael Bane has finally bought his first handgun at the SHOT Show. It is the Sig P938 which is the slightly scaled up P238 in 9mm. Other things he mentioned were the new modular Mossberg shotgun and their tactical lever-action rifle.
You can see his whole report here.
2012 SHOT Show – Day 2, Downrange TV
Michael Bane continues his video coverage of the 2012 SHOT Show. Some of the items he featured for Day 2 are the Heizer Double-Tap derringer, lasers from Crimson Trace, Windham Weaponry, the Sig 938, and a knife from Remington that uses 1911 grips.
Speaking of Heizer, when I was in St. Louis over the holidays I passed a small industrial building near Arnold that said “Heizer”. I am wondering if this was where the Doube-Tap is made or some facility. I’m thinking a request for a factory tour may be in order.
2012 SHOT Show – Downrange TV, First Day Report
Michael Bane has posted a video on his impressions of the first day of the 2012 SHOT Show. He calls it the “Year of the .22LR” with everything from a M-1 Carbine by Chiappa to the Ruger SR22 to a .22LR version of the Sturmgewehr 44.
You can see it here.
Michael Bane On Polymer Service Pistols
Michael Bane examines the different varieties of polymer-framed service pistols in this segment from an episode of last season’s Best Defense TV program. He looks at the Glock, the Ruger SR9, and FNH FNP to illustrate the differences.