From Todd Jarrett while giving a pistol demonstration; some joker said Todd had won 12 National championships (he’s won 9) – Todd said “Ask that Robbie Leatham guy about that”, but then he proceeded with the following:
“I should have killed that guy in the 80’s when I had then chance, then I’d be the best shooter in the world!”
I lol’d.
Day 2 of SHOT SHOW 2009 was spent in search of things that are by definition “awesome”. You know exactly what I’m talking about – it’s when you see a product or item on the rack and your immediate reaction is to say out loud “sweet/cool/rad/awesome”. Luckily for me, “things that are awesome” are not in short supply at this year’s SHOT SHOW. Honestly though, I’m going to start with the most awesome thing I saw all day: this AR15 receiver from DSA, Inc.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
That’s right, it says “Molon Labe” on the side of the gun. You really can’t get much more awesome than that. However, there was plenty of other really cool stuff to see as Greg Morris and I cruised the floors of SHOT. For example, there was the STI booth, where I got to fondle molest dry fire the STI “USPSA” edition. One side of the slide is engraved with the logo, and the side towards the camera says “USPSA” on it.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
This next gun will probably only appeal to 1) Purdue fans, or 2) Steelers fans, but the coloring of the gun made me need to pick it up right away. It’s from Charter Arms, who were by the way extremely nice and welcoming to new media types, and it’s anodized black and gold. That’s right, it’s a Boilermaker .38 Special.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
For me, the coolest thing about walking the floor at SHOT SHOW is seeing the kinds of ideas that people come up with. That’s why a trip to ATI is always in order, so you can see neet things like their 5.7×28 AR 15 upper, or their new guns in .50 GI (more on those later), a neat aftermarket Glock trigger safety (more on that later as well), but today the neatest thing was the .410 Shotgun. The AR15 .410 shotgun. I honestly didn’t know what to say about it, so instead of saying something, I just took pictures.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
Words fail me.
But even with all of that, the most awesome thing I saw today wasn’t a gun. John Snow, the shooting editor for Outdoor Life Magazine was kind enough to invite me to a reception they were having to honor the retirement of Jim Carmichael, who had been the previous shooting editor of Outdoor Life. I had lots of Jim’s work when I was younger, and still enjoyed his columns to this day. It was a great pleasure to be a fly on the way in that room – especially the part when in a gesture extremely fitting with the show, DPMS presented him with an AR15 pattern rifle chambered in a catridge Jim helped develop, the .260 Remington.
Day 2 was great – check here tomorrow for an “all black rifles” post. And don’t worry, just because the show’s over on Sunday doesn’t mean that the goodies will stop. I’ve got so many guns and pictures that you won’t believe it.
Taken by Greg Morris
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
The rifle is a Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM II, which has been equipped with Crimson Trace’s new laser/light vertical foregrip. This is what SHOT SHOW 2009 is all about, it seems – the tactical rifle.
Head over to the Gun Nuts blog for a look at the new Sig Sauer P238 .380 ACP.
I wanted to let you know that Smith & Wesson made a revolver for you. While they say it’s part of their “Night Guard” series of revolvers, I’m going to call it the Robb Allen Special. Why? Because it’s a 6 shot, 10mm revolver (it also takes .40 S&W if you roll that way). For 2009, S&W has added a 3 inch 10mm revolver to their line up, which if you ask me is a great carry/nightstand/woods/you name it revolver.
You know you want one.
This entry crossposted at Gun Nuts Radio under Smith & Wesson MP-15 .22 LR
While I was stymied in my search for information on the new Colt/Umarex .22 LR carbine, I headed over to the Smith & Wesson booth to check out revolvers, 1911s, and their M&P-15 series of AR style rifles. While over there, I noticed that they had an AR15 enclosed in glass and surrounded by .22 LR ammo. Needless to say, the camera immediately came out.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
Make sure you click all pictures to view them in their full glory. According to the placard posted next to the carbine, it’s a “dedicated .22 LR platform”, which I take to mean that it’s not going to be interchangeable with your existing AR uppers and lowers – it’s a .22 first, foremost, and all the time.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
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Information on this carbine is pretty scarce right now – I’m planning on swinging by the S&W booth today to see if I can scare up anything on MSRP and planned release date. There isn’t anything included in their press kit about this rifle, which leads me to believe that it’s so new that they just threw it up there for SHOT SHOW 2009.
Smith & Wesson’s M&P-15 rifles have gained a pretty healthy following in the black rifle community. If you’re looking for a dedicated .22 LR training platform that will integrate with your other tactical accessories (like that new Crimson Trace vertical grip) then you probably won’t go wrong with the S&W MP15 .22 LR.
Welcome to SHOT SHOW, indeed. One of the first things I saw when I walked into the exhibition hall was the Kahr Arms/Auto Ordnance Booth, where they had this gorgeous Harley-Davidson on display. What a welcome!
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
Like I said, welcome to SHOT. Just for you gearheads, here’s another picture of the bike.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
There were some guns there, but honestly, the motorcycle was pretty distracting. That was just the beginning of my day. My first real stop was at the Ruger booth – I wanted to see their new Ruger LCR revolver, the partially polymer wheelgun that they announced. I also wanted to get a look at their new tactical Mini-14.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
I spent some time handling the new Ruger, and I have to say that it’s possibly one of the lightest .38 Special revolvers I’ve ever played with. Surprisingly, the trigger pull was excellent. Michael Bane has a video up at DownRange.tv of him firing the new Ruger, and the recoil looks..stout to say the least. Crimson Trace has a laser grip available for the new Ruger – so if you want a “Brilliant Aiming Solution” for your new plastic wheelgun, Crimson Trace has it.
Speaking of Crimson Trace, I swung by their booth to grab a couple of pictures of the new vertical foregrip for guns that are equipped with a rail. Sadly, the pictures don’t do it justice.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
I spent some time playing with it, and one of the first things I noticed was that when I was playing was that I could co-witness the laser through the optical sight of the weapon. I can’t tell why that’s cool, you just have to see it for yourself. The foregrip comes with an integral light as well as the laser, and the light and laser can be set to strobe or to emit a constant beam. Now, the first thing I thought when I saw the grip was how much I’d like to mount it on my Remington 870 – so one of my goals is to find a foregrip for the 870 that has a rail built into it so I can mount this piece of hardware on my gun.
Of course, that’s not the most tacticool accessory I saw at the show. No, the absolute must have tacticool accessory is the new pistol bayonet by Laserlyte. I was walking through the show after lunch, and I saw this banner – words failed me.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
That’s right, a pistol bayonet. I know that CZ did one for their Shadow, but this one fits all your guns with a rail. Here’s the same bayonet exhibited on a dummy Glock.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
You’re just not tactical enough without it! Much more to come tomorrow, including a look at the 4th Generation Glock, Sig Sauer, and the SHOT Spotlight series kicks off tomorrow as well, which will focus on different companies and their products. More exclusive SHOT SHOW coverage coming tomorrow!
Check out the Gun Nuts Radio blog for a first look at the new Walther PK380 – a polymer framed carry gun from Walther chambered for .380 ACP. Check out the Gun Nuts Blog for more info!
After some…tribulations getting here and getting parked, I’m finally at the show. I’ve been walking the floor of SHOT SHOW 2009 for about 2 hours now, and have managed to collect quite a few pictures of various products that are out there, but more so than that, I’ve managed to almost develop a plan of attack for the next three days.
The most important thing about Day 1 is to get a feel for the land – the map is handy, but ultimately the only way to find out where the goodies are at is to walk the floor of the show and find them for yourself.
Now, because I know of at least 1 person who is salivating for information on the new Colt/Umarex .22 LR, never fear, your humble scribe is on it. I’m actually waiting for the Umarex guy to give me a call – he’s going to give me the “special tour” of the new gun – so stay tuned for that. Now, to stem the raging hordes, here’s some gun porn. Here’s a rack of Mini-14 rifles from Ruger. From top to bottom is their new tactical version, the Mini-14 Target, and then several other rifles.
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| From SHOT SHOW 2009 |
Stay tuned for more from SHOT SHOW 2009!
Mental note: get here early tomorrow, get a better parking spot so i don’t have to ride the shuttle from bfe.