Shot Show

Noticeably Absent

Posted on by Caleb

From SHOT SHOW 2009 was a group that claims to be a representative group for America’s shooters and hunters…you may have heard of them.  The American Hunters and Shooters Association?  During the election, they claimed to be “the real” shooting and hunting group, a claim which was all bullcrap.

Well, they weren’t at SHOT SHOW either.  NSSF was, NRA was, and even “hunting” groups like Safari Club were there.  The Students for the 2nd Amendment were there.  But no AHSA.  At the “SHOOTING” and “HUNTING” trade show, the group claiming to be a “Shooters and Hunters Association” was nowhere to be seen.

It’s almost like they were lying the whole time about actually caring about the hunting and shooting sports.  SAY IT AIN’T SO.

shooting/Shot Show/sports/USPSA

Practical Shooting Report

Posted on by Caleb

From Paul Erhardt at DownRange.tv’s blog, comes several interviews with top practical shooters about their sports gathered during SHOT SHOW 2009.

Chris Edwards/GSSF

Bob Vogel

Jessie Abbate

BJ Norris

Tom Hines

Julie Golob

Competitive shooting has been on a definite upswing lately, receiving more attention in the mainstream media as well as an influx of new shooters.  If you look at USPSA or IDPA, you’ll see a lot of people getting started in the Production/SSP divisions with their Glocks or Sigs or Berettas, and then they end up hooked on the game and graduate to the hard drugs – Limited/CDP/Single Stack/et al with super trick guns and high-capacity magazines.  I should point out that I’m not knocking Production guns, it just has the lowest bar for entry of all the divisions.

Shot Show

Gun Nuts Last Night – SHOT SHOW!

Posted on by Caleb

Last night’s episode of Gun Nuts Radio, after a brief rabbit trail chase down the path of yesterday’s inauguration was all about SHOT SHOW 2009.  Much like the paths I walked at SHOT, last night’s show essentially was me running around chasing shiny objects and talking about them, getting distracted by the pile of gun stuff on my desk, and generally being ADHD.  Greg Morris called in and testified to exactly how ADD I got during the show – we’d be walking down the aisle and I’d suddenly trail off to the left or the right to go look at Product X that caught my eye.  You can listen to my rabbit trails by clicking the player below, or by clicking here to download an .mp3 copy of the show.

Also, you can now listen to us on your iPod or Zune player, simply by following the instructions in this link: Gun Nuts Radio on iTunes. I hope you enjoy last night’s show, Breda and I very much enjoyed putting together the special 1.5 hour edition of Gun Nuts Radio. Listen in, and see if you can follow my incredibly distracted thought train through the entire show!

Uncategorized

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio: SHOT SHOW

Posted on by Caleb

It should be pretty obvious by now that tonight’s Gun Nuts Radio is going to focus on SHOT SHOW 2009, based on the extensive coverage it’s been getting both here and at the the Gun Nuts Blog.  Because of the nature of the show, we’re going to want a lot of call ins tonight – if you have questions about new products, gear, you name it, please feel free to join us live at 9pm Eastern time by calling (347) 539-5436.  If you attended SHOT and would like to offer your comments, thoughts and opinions, your call in is welcomed as well!

Again, that’s at 9pm tonight live at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts!  Join the conversation live by calling 347-539-5439!

1911/Shot Show

SHOT SHOW Day 4: Walking with JMB

Posted on by Caleb

The “last day” of SHOT SHOW 2009 was a walk with John Moses Browning – a day at SHOT dedicated to his finest pistol, the venerable 1911.  I was not disappointed. The day started at the Charles Daley booth, which had a bunch of 1911 pistols on display. Coming in (hopefully) 2nd quarter, Charles Daley will begin to sell their line of 1911s, which are imported from Bul M-5 Industries, an Israeli firearms manufacturer. Previously, Charles Daley had only imported the polymer pistols from Bul, however this year they’re going to be importing the more traditional 1911s as well (at least according to the rep at the booth).

From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009

Speaking of 1911s, S&W had their new “Pro Series” on display, which in addition to the new M&P Pro, also includes a series of 1911 pistols chambered in 9mm, as well as a compact .45 ACP 1911.

From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009

Not to be outdone, Sig Sauer has introduced a 1911-Blackwater pistol, presumably to go with their P226 Blackwater Tactical.

From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009

Not to be outdone, for 2009 Taurus is introducing not one, not 2, not three, but five new 1911 models for the consumer. In keeping with Taurus’ corporate philosophy of “throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks”, they’re introducing a high-capacity double-stack .45, as well as standard an high-capacity single stack 9mm and .38 Super guns. Neat!

From SHOT SHOW 2009

I’m definitely excited about these guns from Taurus, as it’s always a good thing to see more “sub-caliber” 1911s on the market.  This from a guy who doesn’t own any 1911s chambered for .45 ACP.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my friends at ParaUSA, who this year officially introduced the new Para USA GI Expert. While not a true “GI” pistol, the GI Expert comes from the factory with many features that you would not expect on a mid-range 1911, including a Commander style hammer, lowered and flared ejection port, and dovetail cuts in the slide for the sights.

From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009

Also from Para is their new “special edition” series. They took 12 of the popular handguns in their catalog, and made them into monthly special editions – 1 series will be made and sold each month. The March Special edition is a “wantwantwant” for me, as I need a .45 ACP Single Stack gun.

From SHOT SHOW 2009

1911s were extremely prevalent at the SHOW, although not to the degree that the black rifle was. A lot of the 1911 style pistols I saw were “tactical” models – black guns, or coyote tan guns trying to cash in on the current trend of the gun market towards everything tactical.

Shot Show

A little SHOT SHOW Shenanigans

Posted on by Caleb

While there was a lot of work to be done at SHOT SHOW 2009, it wasn’t all work and no play.  A little fun was had here and there.  For example, I got to meet this guy:

From SHOT SHOW 2009

That’s Dick Heller. You might have heard of him, there was a little case that went to the Supreme Court that involved this guy.

I also played around in the fog booth of death, or whatever it was called. Murdoc and I both took a turn in the fog booth, which was a demonstrator for a non-lethal area denial system. Basically, the fog gets pumped into a room, and then the strobe light kicks in. It’s kind of like having a flashbang set off inside your face. As you can see, the result is quite disorienting.

From SHOT SHOW 2009
From SHOT SHOW 2009

I also paid 8 dollars for a hot dog. Eight. Dollars. For. A. Hot. Dog.

From SHOT SHOW 2009

Some day my children will look at that picture and say “Eight dollars? Geez Dad, a Zero Carbon Footprint Meat Byproduct Snack costs $25 Obucks, you had it easy.”

The CZ-USA booth had the pimpingest (is that a word) of pimp guns – a chrome CZ-75 with a pink pearl grips…with a flame job on the grips.

From SHOT SHOW 2009

And I was struck by the ceramic punch daggers from Cold Steel. I’m sure that those are illegal in California. Speaking of which, I also made sure to snag my yearly copy of the Cold Steel “graphic proof” or Extreme Proof or whatever sword video. Nothing like an hour and a half of guys cutting up hamhocks with swords.

From SHOT SHOW 2009

SHOT SHOW 2009 wasn’t all business – in addition to hanging out with Greg and Murdoc, there were a lot of laughs to be had, a lot of good times with good people. I’m continually impressed with how the majority of us “gun folk” are all around good people.