#ShotShow

I was disappointed last year when an ARX160 or a semiauto variant wasn’t on display. Hype had been that it was coming soon. This year the rifles rested atop a folding table, with the wind blowing the tablecloth over them; ignored wile the crowd was magnetized to the company’s pistols. Assuming I got lucky and didn’t have to wait, I approached the table.

Steyr is celebrating their 150th anniversary, having first established 1864 in Austria. They have also recently moved into a new facility. Thirdly, they are offering a new AUG A3 receiver design, currently titled the “M1”.

Umarex USA will sell 499 individually numbered Colt 1911 WWII Commemorative Edition airguns at the 2014 SHOT Show.  The slides will have an engraving on an aged metal finish.  A 500th gun (serial number 1) will be given away in a drawing.  Only dealers buying a gun are eligible for the drawing.

Smith Enterprises announced the company would introduce a number of new products at the 2014 SHOT Show including:

HiViz is known by many shooters as a company that makes fiber optic sights.  One of their handgun products allowed a maximum amount of light in, as it had little protection around it.  The other version did not let nearly as much light in, but provided a greater degree of protection to the sight.

Two of the new pistols that Smith & Wesson announced heading into the 2013 SHOT Show were Performance Center 1911s.  I had a chance to shoot them at Media Day, and they were impressive.

In 2010 the BATFE arrested 21 people, including Smith & Wesson executives for beaching the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law which prohibits US corporations, citizens and residents from bribing foreign officials. Those arrested were charged with conspiring to bribe officials in the African state of Gabon as part of a deal to sell $15 million of equipment to the 1,800 man strong Gabon Presidential (Republican) Guard.

Announced just before the 2011 SHOT Show, the Ruger LC9 made an appearance at the Media Day at the Range.  The gun apparently was very popular with the media as I shot the last two magazines of ammunition Ruger had at their station.

[Richard Johnson is a firearms instructor, law enforcement veteran, contributor to Guns and Patriots, and the publisher of Guns Holsters And Gear.]

Three well known gun photographers allowed me use of their SHOT Show ’09 photos on the blog. Without those photos my SHOT coverage would not have been nearly as interesting for you to read and for me to write. A big thanks to, in no particular order …

Ed was working at SHOT.

A few days before SHOT I made seven predictions on what would and would not be launched at SHOT. SayUncle agreed to take on the prestigious role of unbiased judge and has given me my score: