Shotgun 9

Daniel Defense Booth

Yesterday was the first day for the SHOT show. I would have had this blog post up last night, but well… you know, it’s Vegas and all 😉 Anyways, the show is held at the Sands Expo and Convention center. It’s in like 6 different rooms across 3 floors, and I’m pretty sure I might have only been through 40% of it in the first day! Please excuse the cell phone pics, as I wanted to be able to give you guys a teaser without having to offload everything from my big camera.

There are so many vendors here, it is unbelievable how anyone can even make it through all of it and remember where they are. So we started in the Law Enforcement section because I wanted to visit my friends at the Daniel Defense booth. They have nearly 5 20×20 booths, with all kinds of new products, including their new line of Ambush products, geared towards the hunting enthusiasts. We’ll have more pictures of that when I offload everything off of my good camera.

The law enforcement section was actually pretty great to walk through. I do a lot of work with local law enforcement and it was great to see the new and latest offerings, not only in firearms, but in gear and other products. It definitely made me feel good to see that there are so many great companies supporting the boys in blue.

Pelican Multi-Gun Cases

Also, in law enforcement, was the Pelican booth, displaying a ton of their great multi-gun cases, along with several new flashlight offerings for 2011. Their products are always quite innovative, and if it weren’t for the price, I’d have the 6 AR case in Flat Dark Earth!

Also in the law enforcement section was LMT, KNS Precision, Precision Reflex Inc, EOTech, Magpul, Vortex Optics, Nightforce Optics, Phoebus Flashlights, Stag Arms, Voodoo Tactical, Meprolight, and a few others.

LoKsak, Inc had a booth in the LE section as well and they were demonstrating some high end waterproof bag solutions for phones and other gear. They had an iPhone in their bag, down in a fish tank. The phone is still completely usable through the bag, which makes the product great for people using their phones near water. Look for a future review from us on their products.

We stopped by the Accuracy International booth, which was also in the LE section, to check out some of their kick-ass chassis systems for R700 rifles, as well as their complete long rage rifles offered in .308, .338 Lapua, and .50BmG. They had a very nice booth, and their rep was very helpful in giving us a rundown on their new products. We hope to be reviewing one of their R700 chassis in the near future!

Accuracy International Booth

Mike with Desert Eagle

After making our way through the LE section, it was time for a small break because even though the section we were in was “small” it was probably almost of mile of walking between looping down the aisles. We wanted to get into the main section, but we weren’t prepared for how big it was going to be….

When we crossed over into the main section of the SHOT show, an overwhelming feeling came across all of us… “We have to walk this?!?!” Considering the fact that the main part of the show was probably over 100,000 square feet, it was quite the daunting task to think about having to walk the entire thing! Well, we complained a little bit more and then went on our way.

As we started going up and down the aisles, trying to fight the urge to skip through them, and just run up to the fun-looking booths, or the ones that gave out free candy, pens, or keychains, we noticed that Magnum research had a booth, so we stopped by to handle some Desert Eagles and baby DE’s.

Having never personally held one of these before, it came quite apparent that I need to purchase one to take some pistol training. However, I think Brian Hartman from PFC would kick my ass if I did. The first impression from holding the gold plated Desert Eagle in

NRA Booth

.50AE was one of absolute coolness. I don’t think I’ve ever looked this cool as I did when holding a gold plated Desert Eagle. It was about halfway through my daydreaming of fame when my wife, Erica, smacked me and said put it down and lets go. I put it back, we moved on our way, but not without asking if they made them in anodized Pink (uhh, for her).

In the main section, there are so many booths, it was hard to keep track of which ones we were stopping at. We had stopped by the Walther booth to check out their new handgun, the Hogue booth to see their new knives, and the Allen booth to yell at them for discontinuing the tactical rifle bags. There were many booths that had hunting supplies and the like, but being I am more a black rifle kind-of guy, we didn’t stop at very many of those.

Along the way we stopped at the LaRue Tactical booth so I could introduce myself to Mark LaRue. We snapped a couple pics, and I checked out some of his new products. Seems like they have a few new, noteworthy products that we may save for some reviews in the future.

We also stopped in the “Made in Germany” section where they were showcasing various manufacturers from Germany, and their respective importers. We met a company that has a great add-on to turn a glock/1911 into a carbine. While it may not be legal for a civilian to own, it seemed like a very innovative product for law enforcement and military. We are going to do some more research on the product and it’s respective laws. Also, we will probably be receiving some samples to write some reviews on as well.

Another German-based company that we ran into was Ballistol. The product, which is environmentally friendly, is a multi-purpose lubricator/protector/preserve for your firearms. It seems like a great “green” product, and we are going to write up a review on how it holds up to some of the others.

Mike with Bushmaster ACR

We decided to stop at the humongous NRA booth to talk with them about recruiting. We found some great information on how we can help recruit members to the NRA as a club for NYFirearms.com. We decided to sign up and we’ll be providing information on the site where you guys can renew your membership, add a year, or sign up your wife/girlfriend/friend/etc. It will help us raise some money for the site, so we can bring new enhancements, better hosting, etc. The team at the NRA made it easy for us to sign up as recruiters, and we’re very excited to be able to offer it directly to our members. As we get more information on it, we’ll post it up and let you guys and gals know!

After finishing up at the NRA booth, we walked through the Beretta booth, and a few others before stopping by the Bushmaster booth to check our the ACR and some of the Carbon-15 AR pistols. The ACR is quite a cool rifle, despite it’s higher price tag. Obviously if you have a need for the interchangeable barrels, then it might be a great deal for you. I grabbed one off the wall, made my coolest face I could, and we snapped some pics.

The Freedom Group, which owns several large firearms companies, amongst them DPMS, Remington, Bushmaster, and Advanced Armament, had a huge display of their firearms and different products. However, Advanced Armament had it’s own booth and display, showing many of their suppressors, including some complete rifles using the new .300 Blackout round. Their marketing and their booth display was quite impressive, and their products back up their ability to market well. We certainly will be reviewing some of their products this year as well!

Colt Booth

We also stopped by the KABAR booth where they had some brand new “Zombie Knives” which were a set of their large knives with neon green handles. They were pretty cool, and should be on any zombie-enthusiasts shopping list. Other than those, KABAR didn’t really have any other new products. They had some products that had been discontinued and were now reintroduced, but I wasn’t really all that impressed with their products.

Sig Sauer had a great booth at the show as well. They were featuring some of their new pistols, including the P290. We had a chance to hold and feel their new products along with their entire line of pistols. I also was able to meet Max Michel Jr., a new addition to the Sig Sauer shooting team, and we discussed some of the new handguns and other new products. I was definitely impressed by his knowledge and their booth display as well.

FNH USA had a very impressive booth at the show as well. We were able to handle the SCAR 17 as well as the P90, along with several other of the rifles they manufacture. The quality of their rifles show in the sample models, and they too had a very informative and well-setup booth.

As we were getting ready to head out of the show we stopped by the Glock booth and Colt booths. Both companies had very large booths, displaying all of their handguns and other products. It’s not surprising that some of the two largest handgun manufacturers had probably some of the biggest booths in the show. While we rushed through them, we will probably stop by there again today to check out some of their products.

Mike with Dillon Aero

Before we headed out of the show for the night, we wanted to stop by and see Mega Arms, which was located at the Adam’s Arms booth on the lower level. On our way there we came across the Dillon Aero booth, where I couldn’t help but test out their Minigun mount for vehicles, just in case I need to get one for my Jeep. We stuck around for a little bit longer to watch the videos on the miniguns in action before heading over to the Adam’s Arms booth to see the Mega Arms team.

When we got to the Mega Arms booth, we had a warm welcome, as we have been talking to Mega for quite some time now. They had their new MATEN receiver set there for us to check out as well as their brand new MATEN .308 monolithic upper. Both were absolutely gorgeous products.

Overall our passage through the show yesterday was pretty good. We made some great contacts for new products to review and companies to feature on here. We’re also super excited to be able to offer you guys the NRA memberships that will help keep this site going! Stay tuned for more pictures and blogging about our trip through the show today! We’ll also be adding a gallery with better pics from the good camera! Thanks for reading!

Mike with the Mega Arms Team