2017 SHOT Show

Uncategorized

A Humorous Look At Etiquette For SHOT Show Attendees.

January 25, 2017 by

Shawn from We Like Shooting.com and Sara of Kitfox Design Group have collaborated to produce a humorous video on etiquette for attendees at the SHOT Show. It looks at stuff like spreading germs, producing noxious gases, those infernal rolling milk crates, slow walkers, and other stuff.

The only thing I might partially disagree with is “patch whores”. The old Boy Scout in me loves patch collecting and I actually do have a couple of patch displays from past NRA and SHOT Shows. I would agree with them on those who are greedy about it and take piles of patches. They are just greedy.

It’s fun to think of the SHOT Show as one big gun show where you get to handle all the new cool stuff and a fun time is had by all. However, the SHOT Show is about business. It is about selling product and getting orders that could range into the millions of dollars. Even media is there on business whether it is about getting a new sponsor for their podcast or a freelancer arranging the evaluation of a new product that will lead to multiple story placements.

So with that in mind, enjoy this video from Shawn and Sara.

H/T Ben Langlotz

Uncategorized

SHOT Show Through Foreign Eyes

January 24, 2017 by 3 Comments

Sometimes it is better to look at something familiar through different eyes. Polenar Tactical is a group of shooters from Slovenia who produce some pretty cool videos on YouTube and Full 30 which have  found a following here in the United States.

Zigo, Samo, and Manca (she’s the cute one) are first time visitors to both the US and the SHOT Show. This video is a record of their journey from Slovenia to Las Vegas and their experiences at Industry Day at the Range. You will see some other familiar faces such as Ian and Karl from Forgotten Weapons as they traverse the range.

There are only two comments I would make. If you ever start to feel jaded and bored by the SHOT Show experience just watch this video to recapture some of that newbie enthusiasm. The other comment is that I think the first English adjective learned by young Europeans must be “fucking” as it is used a lot in this video. Tender ears be warned.

Uncategorized

SHOT Show Day Three – Gunblast.com

January 22, 2017 by

The highlights of Jeff Quinn’s third day at the SHOT Show include the Sig Sauer P320 X version, Rob Pincus’ Avidity P10, and a unique barreled rifle from the Italian firm Sabatti. I will say I learned something about rifling as I had never heard of multi-radial rifling which sounds quite intriguing as it helps increase velocity and reduce bullet drop at longer ranges.

Uncategorized

SHOT SHOT Day One – Gunblast.Com

January 19, 2017 by 1 Comment

Jeff Quinn in this report on Day One of the SHOT Show starts off with a great interview of Ruger CEO Mike Fifer. The other highlights were a Colt representative talking about the reintroduced Colt Cobra and a discussion by Linda Powell of Mossberg’s new 590 Shockwave shotgun. This latter product is quite interesting in that it is a pistol-gripped 14″ shotgun that does not require a NFA tax stamp.

To read more about the Mossberg 590 Shockwave, go here.  Ammoland.com does report that the shotgun is sold with this disclaimer:

Disclaimer: Although the Mossberg 590 Shockwave is classified as a “firearm” under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), and is not subject to the provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA), state and local laws may be more restrictive. Even though, it is legal federally, the 590 Shockwave may be considered a “short-barreled” shotgun or “assault weapon” by certain state and local laws; and therefore illegal to possess. Please check with your local authorities concerning the legality of possessing a firearm of this configuration.

Checking North Carolina law, 14 NCGS § 14-288.8.(c)(3) classifies a shotgun as a “weapon of mass death and destruction” if it has “a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length or an overall length of less than 26 inches.” If you have a Federal tax stamp then possession of such a shotgun is permitted. As I read this – and I’m not a lawyer – the shotgun must be both greater than 26 inches overall in length and must have a barrel of 18 inches in length or greater. By using “or” instead of “and” in the description of such a prohibited shotgun the legislative intent is that both conditions must be met. This leads me to say that this is a law that needs changing as I’d like one of those shotguns!


UPDATE: Regarding North Carolina law and the legality of possessing the Mossberg Shockwave, I received this message on Facebook from fellow blogger Chris Maynard.

It is not a shotgun because it never had a stock, rather a pistol grip from the factory… If it was under 26″ in length, it would be an AOW… But over 26″ makes it a “firearm”… Per federal law…

So that should mean that it is not restricted by NC law supposing they follow the federal definition of “shotgun”

But the same statute also restricts ” Any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell of a type particularly suitable for sporting purposes) which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter” so this gun should qualify under that.

Uncategorized

Industry Day At The Range – Gunblast.com

January 17, 2017 by

The SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range (former Media Day) was held yesterday. It is the opportunity for the media and dealers to actually try out the new guns that are being introduced at the SHOT Show.

Jeff Quinn of Gunblast.com always does a great job of covering a wide range of guns. I’ve used his videos over the year’s to show the new firearms. Jeff doesn’t just cover the big names but also devotes some time to smaller manufacturers. This year he seemed to give a good deal of time to Standard Manufacturing of Connecticut. They introduced a number of firearms including an engraved, color case-hardened Single Action Army as well as a 1911 with similar engraving and a charcoal and bone case color-hardening.

Among the other firearms covered include the Ruger Precision Rifle in 6mm Creedmoor, the Cobalt Kinetics AR-15, the Mossberg 500 short-barreled any other weapon, and, of course, the Colt Cobra. The Cobalt Kinetics, by the way, uses their double forward assist to also drop the bolt. That is innovative.

Uncategorized

SHOT Show Begins

January 16, 2017 by

SHOT Show begins! While for reasons covered elsewhere we had to cancel our trip to Las Vegas, I hope to bring you a daily compilation of reports from the show. Keep checking back as I will be adding new stories throughout the day.

Starting off is Jeff Quinn’s pre-SHOT Show video.

Soldier Systems Daily has three reports on SIG Media Range Day:

On new SIG pistols.

On a new SIG suppressor for .22 LR.

On camo from TYR.

Michael Bane has his SHOT Show preview in his latest podcast. You can listen to it here.

Mas Ayoob has his report from the SIG Media Range Day here. He discusses the new SIG pistols and the Razor XV BT active hearing protection from Walker.

Mike Rowe responds to a critic who is aghast that he will be at the SHOT Show. Priceless!

The Shooting Illustrated staff reports on the SIG Media Range Day and includes info on SIG’s new thermal sight.

Mark Keefe of the American Rifleman has a look at the SIG Sauer P320 X-Five from SIG Media Range Day.

Meanwhile, also from SIG Media Range Day, Tam gives her impression of the US-made SIG P210 in this report.

Richard Johnson of the Gun Holsters and Gear blog has his report on SHOT and the Industry Day at the range here. He is impressed by the crispness of the trigger of the Hudson H9 which is the striker-fired 1911 clone.

Courtesy of GunHolstersandGear.com

More detail on the Hudson H9 in this video from Patrick R. at The Firearm Blog.

Just a little bit more on the Hudson H9 including its designer talking about the differences between the prototype and the production models. My friend Rob Reed has the story here and in the video below:

Uncategorized

Life Causes A Change In Plans

January 10, 2017 by 8 Comments

The Complementary Spouse and I had plans to attend the SHOT Show and the Media Day at the Range. We had our plane tickets and our hotel reservation. We had received our badges that would allow us into the SHOT Show and to Media Day. We have been getting dozens of press releases by email daily. I was excited to get my hands on the Colt Cobra and see how it differed from the older Colt revolvers. We had started to map out who we planned to visit and on what day.

Then real life interrupted.

Sunday a week ago the nursing home where my mother-in-law Grace resided called to let us know she had what they suspected was a stroke of some sort. She wasn’t able to hold her head up and had some weakness on one side. From there, her health started to rapidly decline. After a consultation with her care team, it was decided that she should be transferred into hospice care. Hospice care doesn’t mean that death is imminent but rather that the person’s life expectancy is six months or less. That said, there are many elderly in hospice care who live over a year. This was not to be our case.

On Wednesday we were told that she was declining even more rapidly than we expected. My sister-in-law Cindy who was with her said we needed to get there sooner than later. We used Thursday to make work arrangements for being gone and left for St. Louis on Friday. Though we tried to get ahead of the snow storm that swept across the Southeast, we still had to slog our way through slick roads and snowy conditions a good part of the way there. Fortunately, we missed some of the big wrecks that virtually closed down Interstate 40 in places.

We arrived in the late afternoon. It was obvious to all that Grace was in the end stage of her life and that it was good that we arrived when we did. Soon after we arrived, we were joined by some of Grace’s grandkids who had driven over from Kentucky to say their goodbyes. We spent the evening in the room reminiscing about Grace’s life and how she enjoyed her children and grandchildren. Eventually, all of us except Cindy and the Complementary Spouse went to where we were staying. The two daughters had decided that they would keep watch over Grace throughout the night.

Grace died on Saturday just after noon. She was surrounded by many of her family as she took her last breath. It was a quiet, peaceful, and dignified passing.

I am one of those lucky people in that I got as good a mother-in-law as one could ever hope to have. Grace treated me as much like a son as a son-in-law. I remember her saying to the Complementary Spouse that if we didn’t hurry up and get married, she would just have to adopt me. She loved me and I loved her.

As to the SHOT Show, it will be there next year. Family will always come first.

The obituary for Grace is here. She was a wonderful and kind woman and I will miss her terribly.

May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Uncategorized

Are Colt Double Action Revolvers Coming Back?

December 30, 2016 by 3 Comments

I think the perennial question for revolver lovers is when or if will Colt ever resume making their double action revolvers. According to the Blue Book of Gun Values, Colt ceased regular production of double action revolvers in October 1999. The Colt Custom Shop did however have a run of Colt Python Elite and Anaconda revolvers from 2002 to 2006. The problem for Colt is that their old craftsmen who assembled and hand-fit parts on the old double action revolvers are long retired.

With the SHOT Show beginning in little more than two weeks, I’ve been cruising Instagram to get clues about new production introductions. I’m not an industry insider invited to special showings so I have to glean info where I can. While that can be a disadvantage, it also means that I’m not under any sort of non-disclosure agreement prohibiting me from writing about what I find.

Last night I happened across this picture of an ad that Colt reportedly will be running for the Colt Cobra revolver in .38 +P. The revolver will also have a fiber optic front sight and a steel frame.

A photo posted by Freedom GunCo (@freedomgunco) on Dec 28, 2016 at 5:03pm PST

The original Cobra introduced in 1950 was an alloy framed revolver similar to the steel framed Detective Special. Only the King Cobra and Combat Cobra revolvers produced from the mid-1980s until the Nineties were steel framed. Looking at the ad for the new model Cobra, it appears that Colt has also changed the cylinder release button from the more traditional version. Otherwise it is very similar to the second issue Cobra.

Colt’s Manufacturing is listed as an exhibitor to Industry Day at the Range so I anticipate that if they are actually releasing the Colt Cobra I will have a chance to try it out. If so, I will report on it then. It will be interesting to see whether they have changed the internals to eliminate the traditional Colt trigger stacking.

Uncategorized

Why Are These Official Hotels For The SHOT Show?

October 16, 2016 by 7 Comments

The SHOT Show always has a number of “official” hotels where their travel company has negotiated special rates for attendees and exhibitors. One of the pluses of staying at one of these on-the-Strip hotels is that there is shuttle bus service to the Sands Expo Center.

For those that are not aware of it, Question 1 on the ballot in Nevada is on universal background checks. It would criminalize the sale or transfer of a firearm between private individuals unless a background check was performed by a FFL. While there are limited exceptions to this, the first offense is a gross misdemeanor and the second offense is a Class C felony.

This initiative was proposed by Nevadans for Background Checks which is a front group for Michael Bloomberg and his Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors. Tara Paone is a listed as a director of this group. As Jeff Knox notes, she is also the Treasurer for Everytown and was listed as a director in Washington State’s I-594 universal background check initiative.

I am firmly of the belief that if this initiative passes that the SHOT Show, Safari Club International, and other firearms related organizations should forever move their trade shows and conventions out of that state. You don’t reward states that don’t respect your civil rights. The LGBTQ community is very good at this.

That got me to questioning who was financially supporting the initiative and who was funding the opposition. Here is where it gets interesting. There was the big money (over $100,000) donations from Everytown and from Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer. Hanauer spent over $1 million in a successful effort to pass Washington’s I-594 initiative. These type of donations were expected. What I would not have expected were substantial donations from a number of the casino and hotel companies.

  • MGM Resorts International – $25,000 – 1/22/2016
  • Caesar’s Enterprise Services LLC – $25,000 – 12/29/2015
  • Wynn Resorts Ltd. – $50,000 – 9/29/2015

There is nothing like biting the hand that feeds you. Just so you are aware, let’s see what hotels and casinos belong to each of these groups. I’ve noted whether it was an official hotel or not as well.

MGM Resorts International 

  • ARIA
  • Bellagio – Yes
  • Vdara
  • MGM Grand – Yes
  • Skylofts at MGM Grand
  • The Signature at MGM Grand
  • Mandalay Bay
  • Delano Las Vegas
  • The Mirage – Yes
  • Monte Carlo – Yes
  • New York – New York – Yes
  • Luxor – Yes
  • Excalibur -Yes
  • Circus Circus – Yes
  • Anthology Suites & Villas
  • Bally’s – Yes
  • Caesars Palace – Yes
  • The Cromwell
  • Flamingo – Yes
  • Harrah’s – Yes
  • The LINQ – Yes
  • Paris – Yes
  • Planet Hollywood – Yes
  • Rio
*Caesar’s Enterprise Services LLC is a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment. It was set up in 2014 to protect the company in case they had to declare bankruptcy.
  • Wynn Las Vegas
  • Encore
So what does this leave in the way of official hotels whose owners have not donated to Bloomberg’s universal background check initiative?
  • The Ventian – owned by Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands
  • The Palazzo – owned by Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands
  • Elara – owned by Hilton
  • Hilton Grand Vacations – owned by Hilton
  • SLS Las Vegas – owned by Sam Nazarian’s SBE Corp.
  • Stratosphere – owned by American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC
  • The Cosmopolitan – owned by Blackstone Group (investment bankers)
  • Treasure Island – privately owned by Phil Ruffin
  • Tropicana – owned by Hilton
  • Trump Las Vegas – owned by you know who
  • Westin – owned by Marriott International
If you are staying in one of these hotels, you have a decent assumption that you are not subsidizing the anti-gun forces. It makes me glad we finally settled on the Westin instead of Bally’s.
There are plenty of other hotels, motels, and casino properties where you can stay in Las Vegas that are not part of the cabal trying to steal your rights. You might want to go here to check on alternatives.
This leaves the opposition to the initiative. The NRA-ILA has been very active from what I have read but Bloomberg has bought most of the air time. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the NRA Nevadans for Freedom has spent about $140,000 on ads. This contrasts with the $800,000 spent by the Bloomberg group. I have read that the NSSF’s #GunVote is doing some work against the initiative but I’m not sure what. I do have a question on various Nevada shooting forums asking about it.