Day two for us, was day one of the SHOT show.
We started in the Venetian and worked our way through the floors. Then moved onto the Ceasar's Expo Hall (via a handy sky bridge).
We stopped at most booths, but in order to see it all, you do have to be picky.
Here are some of the highlights:
We stopped by the Magstorage Solutions booth, they had some great ways to store and access magazines
We thought this one was great, like a paper towel dispenser, but for AR mags, they can also supply high strength magnets for mounting to the side of a safe
The next stop was at Powder River Precision, they are now offering a 10/22 receiver. They did make some mods to the design, including a centered recoil spring.
The Wee1Tactical Booth had lots of traffic, they have a new AR style rifle for young shooters. It is 3/4s the size of a full size AR and has a lightweight polymer frame
Here is a picture from their website showing the difference in size
Bulletcentral.com had this nice EVH tribute rifle
Savior had one of the best booths at SHOT, not only was it well designed, but they had plenty of product and eye candy
We spotted this fellow just hanging out, we saw plenty of FJB & Let's Go Brandon signs....
The owner of Gear Head Works purchased the 1969 Mach 1 that was used in the movie John Wick. This kind of thing make you angry at first, but the fact that you get to see the aftermath of the carnage you saw on screen was pretty cool
Another Celebrity siting, It's Ian MaCollum from Forgotten Weapons
I have to explain this a little bit. Like most trade shows, the vendors will often hire beautiful women to help host the booth, give out chachkies and swag. This year many vendors didn't even show up (they hired contractors to set up their booths). Primary Weapon Systems must has asked their contractor to man their booth with some blow up booth babes....
Lipseys was one of the many vendors that didn't bother to show up
We saw the "new" FN Hi Power. Same as the original except the magazine capacity grew from the original 1935 13 rounds to 17 rounds (new style springs). They also made the gun more lefty friendly by making the slide lock/release ambidextrous and the mag release reversable. There is also an enlarged ejection port and an simpler take down procedure.
This gun had a military or carry finish, there are plans for high polish blued, nickel or stainless and a host of Cerakoted colors.
Taurus was displaying their custom shop guns, including this He-Man themed 1911
We stumbled across Dr. Sebastion Gorka again, this time he was broadcasting live.
IWI was another no show, the second day they did have a couple of people in the booth, but no guns
Another celebrity sighting, the sexy and talented Tracy Lee (tracyguns). I tried to get a good picture from a distance without her noticing.....didn't want to look like a creeper...
At the Aero Precision booth, we got a demo of their new entry into the bolt action market. Another belly button gun. Don't get me wrong, I am sure they will build a fantastic rifle, but is the market lacking in long range precision rifles built on the Rem 700 design?? I think not.
Samson was on hand, and you know I had to see the Mini-14 and 10/22 stocks, dubbed the A-TM and B-TM stocks respectively. This stock was originally offered by Ruger and made famous by the TV show The A-Team, thus the monikers.
While the stainless version has been out for a couple of years now (I will be buying one soon), they are now offering the stock in black
Springfield Armory was also a no show.....they did provide a banner and rented some couches for seating which was nice. BTW Ruger/Marlin did the same thing.
I would have rather that they showed up and gave us something new to look at.
We visited the Amend 2 Magazine folks, looked at their new designs and even gave them some much appreciated feedback.
Another celebrity sighting, I would have preferred that he show up in person...
Michael Bane, the host of Shooting Gallery and other gun related TV shows was on hand taping for his show
We stopped by the Franklin Armory booth, (which was well laid out BTW) and took a look at their Glock binary trigger. This was at the request of a WaGuns member. I really have no interest in a gun that goes bang when I let my finger off of the triger.
Norther Lights Tactical brought their remote-controlled target with them, kind of a campy item, it doesn't mimic real human movement, but it does provide training for sight acquisition and maintenance on a moving target, which is the whole point.
I figured I would see at least one clown gun...and I did
Ever the trained observer (this is what I tell my wife when she catches me looking at other women) I notice things others might miss....how about the self righteous HK slogan "No Compromises, sighting right above their section of "California Compliant" firearms......
Another sign, this one was posted outside the Venetian Expo Hall.....
That about sums it up, it was a little disappointing to see so many gun companies fail to show. I don't know the circumstances that led them to cancel, but ALL of the vendors face the same challenges, some seem better at overcoming them than others.
