Industry Day at the Range

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SHOT Show Is Coming

December 26, 2019 by

The SHOT Show will start on January 21st in Las Vegas. It is the firearms industry’s annual trade show where they exhibit their wares to gun dealers, interested government purchasers, and the media.

Preceding the SHOT Show is Industry Day at the Range. Yehuda Remer (the PewPewJew), Shane Thurston, and I will be attending as a team.

If there is something you want us to try out at Range Day, let us know in the comments. With three people covering it, we should be able to get to most of the exhibitors.

Here is a list of SHOT Show exhibitors. If there is something from the main show that you would like us to check out, we’ll do our best.

With it being an election year and with the industry trying to come out of the “Trump Slump”, I anticipate there will be quite a number of new introductions. We have already seen Glock release their G-44 in .22 LR and Ruger release a number of new firearms including the Custom Shop Super GP100 Competition Revolver and a Custom Shop SR1911 Officer-style.

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2018 SHOT Show: Industry Day at the Range

February 6, 2018 by 2 Comments

I have finally finished my video compilation of my time at Industry Day at the Range. Bear in mind that this is my first attempt at video so be kind with the comments. The video itself runs for a bit over 12 minutes and features video taken by the Complementary Spouse and myself.

We did run into some technical difficulties. For example, shooting video sucks the life out of your iPhone or, at least, it did it to my iPhone 6. As a result, the video I shot of the Archon Type B and an explanation of its features was lost. I think a trip to the Apple Store is in my future to take advantage of their battery upgrade.

In addition to what I shot in this video, see this earlier post of mine that talked about some of the other firearms that I shot.

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Industry Day At The Range

January 23, 2018 by 1 Comment

This will be a short post as we are getting ready for the first day of the SHOT Show. Both the Complementary Spouse and I attended Industry Day at the Range. We were on the first bus leaving at 7:45 and got to the range about 8:30. Despite being on the first bus a lot of people beat us to the range.

I had planned to shoot video of everything I saw. I did get some video which I’m in the process of editing but I think the Apple slow battery problem struck early. Under 5 minutes of video zapped the battery and I had to recharge it twice over the course of the day. So the bottom line is I got some video but not a lot of video. I will be taking advantage of Apple’s replacement battery offer sooner than later.

Some of what I shot:

  1.  Archon Type B in 9mm – very nice pistol coming from Germany with a very, very low bore axis.
  2. Ruger PC Carbine – loved it! Still, it was a bit heavier than I expected and not as light as the original M1 Carbine.
  3. Ruger Security-9 pistol. The trigger was very decent for a hammer fired double action pistol and was comparable to most striker-fired pistols at a lower price.
  4. Rock Island Armory Baby Rock – a downsized 1911 in .380 ACP. It still had a bit of a bark to it but was very slim.
  5. Rock Island Armory 1911 XT in .22 Magnum – this is a fixed barrel 1911. I found it very easy to shoot and very accurate. For someone who has trouble racking a slide due to arthritis or other malady, this could be a real winner.
  6. Tracking Point System – not cheap but very interesting. It does most of the work and decides when the optimal point is to actually fire.
  7. Mossberg Shockwave in 20 gauge – I didn’t think firing from the hip would be as accurate or effective. Once you get the feel for it and realize that you have to aim lower, you start hitting the target with regularity.
  8. Inland Manufacturing M1 Carbine clone – they were better than I expected. Still love the M1 but will stick with my own IBM for now. In a head to head battle between this and the Ruger PC Carbine, I’d go with the Ruger. More modern, cheaper ammo, and about $500 cheaper.
  9. Brownells Retro AR’s – Brownells has now manufactured their own period-correct retro ARs. This is a first for them in that they never manufactured their own firearms before. I shot the A1 version from the latter part of the Vietnam War. It was nice.
That concludes this for now. I’ll have small updates throughout the day (I hope).
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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.

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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.