What’s up Party Peeps!? Jase here and this is my SHOT Show 2019 report.
SHOT Show was… an experience (a really awesome experience I might add). There was a lot to see and a even more going on. Thousands of products and tens of thousands of people. There was seriously so much going on that if you looked at any one thing too closely, or for too long, you missed a bunch of other stuff because there are only so many hours in a day. Prioritizing your to do/ to see/ to meet list is a real thing. In order to really break down SHOT Show and try to understand/explain what all went on I’ve broken it down into three parts.
The products.
The people.
And the experiences.
So here we go, SHOT Show through the eyes of a 15 year old shooter.
THE PRODUCTS
Guns, gear, and random stuff. From the useful to the straight outrageous it was all there packed into the Sands Convention Center. I saw a lot of really cool stuff, a bunch of just stuff, and even a few pieces of “What the heck is that?” stuff. But realistically the single best part about the products was getting to “play with” all of the items I had seen online or heard about from friends.
Take the Walther Q5 SF, Bill Blowers of Tap-Rack-Tactical (check him out if you want to be a better shooter, or just better at life) has been plastering the Interwebs about this gun like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Well when I finally got to hold it and feel the gun, trigger, etc… BAM! Suddenly I understood and now I’m totally hooked on it because it’s a pretty fantastic pistol.
Nighthawk’s pistols were another one of those companies that I had heard much about but not really experienced (dumping a magazine of ammo after class with Steve Fisher doesn’t really count, especially if I didn’t know it was a Nighthawk). It was nice to spend a couple of days talking to the Nighthawk crew and checking out the hardware. Ergonomics, form, function and overall awesomeness of the slides and triggers… Yep, you know I’m a Nighthawk fan now!
Knights Armament Rifles, I knew who they were but didn’t understand how great a weapon system their SR15 was until my new buddy Ash Hess broke it all down for me. I’m definitely a fan of that ambidextrous life, so KAC had me. They were ambi, balanced, and built for hard use. They were beautiful.
UNITY Hot Button & UNITY 2.26” FAST Mounts, these WILL be on my Tac rifle sooner or later… The HOT Button is genius, it’s one of those simple items that make you ask why it wasn’t developed sooner. The 2.26” high mounts are awesome and the In-Line Magnifier mount is super slick.
I’ve got an Aimpoint PRO waiting for a FAST mount and am saving up for my Magnifier for the In-Line mount. Mr. Josh was an excellent source of info at the UNITY/TNVC booth and definitely sold me on all three products (which wasn’t hard to do when I already sold myself lol). When it comes to UNITY & TNVC… Josh and Chip are definitely my go to guys!
Aimpoint optics (ACRO-P1…Want, want want!), Marlin Rifles (an 1894 in .357/ .38 with Midwest Rail is in my future… probably the distant future, but my future non the less!), B.E. Meyers MAWL (How cool is it that I got a guided tour of the MAWL from my good friend Chuck Pressberg!), Vertx Gamut bag and tourist jeans (in depth look at the products brought to you by Mr. Ron at Vertx), Victory First V43 & V17 slides(and lots of quality convo time with Mr. Matt), ect.
All of these things I had seen on the internet but hadn’t really gotten to feel and understand and work through the products. SHOT Show gave me that opportunity. You know what else SHOT Show gave me, a really long and very expensive shopping list for the next year, but that just gives me something to work towards I guess. (OK seriously, who needs their lawn cut, wood chopped or pool cleaned… anyone need a kidney?)
