2010 SHOT Show, Last Day!

22 Jan 10

2010 SHOT Show, Last Day:

Last time the SHOT Show was in Las Vegas (2008), it was at the spacious Hilton/Las Vegas Convention Center. That venue was popular with just about everyone.

This year, and for the next several, it is being held at the far-less satisfactory Sands Convention Center. I heard legion complaints from vendors and attendees alike. Of course, complaints are normal at trade-shows, but this year we had vendors spread out over many isolated ballrooms, as well as the main halls. Booths were difficult to locate, and the "lower level" had a ceiling so low, many displays could not be used, as they did not fit! Restrooms were inadequate, and the roof leaked!

Several major vendors, who have always maintained a presence in the past, were conspicuous by their absence this year. The SHOT Show is an important industry event, and I surely hope more do not elect to drop out next year!

On the positive side, nearly all vendors with whom I spoke reported excellent traffic. Everyone was upbeat!

Next year's SHOT Show dates are 18-21 Jan 2011 (Tues-Fri).

Notes:

Para-Ordinance (formally from Canada, now headquartered in NC) had on display their TTR ("Tactical Target Rifle," an inherent contradiction, but what do I know about marketing?). Currently available only in 223, it looks like an AR in profile, but employs a unique operating system that is neither, in the strictest sense, the original Stoner system, nor a gas-piston system. A gas-delivery probe, extending rearward from the barrel's gas-tap, fits inside a hollow "op-rod" halfway down the forend. As the rifle cycles, the two never separate completely. It is called the DIGS (Delayed Impingement Gas System). Soot, and other garbage associated with combustion, never make their way back to the receiver. Plus, the receiver does not heat up as much as is the case with the Stoner System.

Recoil spring surrounds the op-rod, so there in not one in the stock. Hence, the rifle has a legitimate folding stock, not the traditional telescoping one.

I'll have a copy to test before long!

Barrett's contender for the AR market, the "RET-7," is well and truly a gas-piston gun, but both piston and op-rod are bigger and more robust than is the case with most of the others. The copy I got my hands on was in 6.8mmSPC. Everything Ronnie Barrett makes is top-drawer, and I'm sure this rifle will demonstrate itself to be no exception.

Rohrbaugh has added a 380Auto Pistol to its line of extremely small 9mms. The 380 is the same size as the 9mm, but recoil is much reduced. My copy of the Rohrbaugh, which I carry as a backup, while not fun to shoot, has proven itself to be extremely reliable.

My old friend, John Kline of Sage International, continues to come up with innovative ideas! This year, he showed me a drop-in, telescoping stock for the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 pump-shotguns. These will be helpful to trainers tasked with effectively combining shotguns with small-statured students! Most shotgun stocks, as they come from the factory, are suitable only for average, to large-sized, males.

The "DUOStock" replacement AR stock maintains superior body-contact as the Operator moves and fires. I have a copy on an AR, and students love it!

Long-time friend, Ed Taylor from Advanced Training Systems, showed me his " Ranger" animated target. It is a three-dimensional mannequin, mounted atop a four-wheel drive, electrically-powered, low-profile, remote-controlled trolley. It goes forward and backward, neutral-turns, and can be controlled (no wires) from as far away as one-thousand meters. It makes an ideal rifle target. Before the Ranger, something similar cost $5,000, and up. The Ranger can be had for half that!

Folks at Blue-Force Gear showed me the most useable trauma kit I've seen. It is compact, but contains everything necessary to treat gun-shot wounds in the field, and it deploys so that you can get at what you need fast!

A company called SOLKOA demonstrated a product called "Fast-Fire." It is an innocuous, white, odorless cube the size of a moth-ball. When you touch a match to it, it burns with a hot flame for five minutes, sufficient to get a fire started nearly anywhere. It now enjoys a permanent place in my range bag!

Gerber is marketing a compact tool that should be in the hands of every AR-owner! It is called the EFECT, and it is a Leatherman-like device that has a front-sight adjustment tool, stiff brush, pick, scraper, and pin-punch. It also will soon reside in my range bag!

The foregoing are my notes on products that garnered my attention. While by no means complete, I still hope they inspire everyone to personally attend the next SHOT Show and, in so doing, advance the Art and support our politically-vulnerable Arms Industry.

/John