SHOT SHOW, DAY TWO
Thursday, January 15th, 2009The Show officially opened today. I for one prefer the Orlando venue to SHOT Show’s traditional haunt, Las Vegas, where they’ll be for the next several years after this one. More room in the aisles, for one thing, less sense of being packed in like sardines.
The “miles of aisles” take their toll early on us geezers, and I still have a podcast interview to do tonight. Producer is down with a bad cold, host/moderator is stuck on the other side of the city, and I got elected to run the microphone, God help us all. Like giving a monkey an AK47…anyway, I don’t even have time to put things in alphabetical order by manufacturer tonight. So, please forgive the “potpourri” approach.
There is, overall, a definite sense of foreboding about the incoming anti-gun administration that pervades this gathering of firearms professionals. Lots of the heavy hitter gun rights players are here. Over at Second Amendment Foundation, Dave Workman notes that while he personally feels the new administration will come in early with all guns blazing (so to speak), director Alan Gottlieb has cautious optimism that President Obama will have his plate too full to come after us from the get-go. Time will tell. My friends at Sabre Defence, manufacturers of one of the finest lines of AR15 rifles, are taking orders hand over fist from the attending retailers, as are their competitors. Sabre’s Charlie Shearon told me today, “We took orders for more guns in November than we’ve sold in the last three years.”
At Taurus, CEO Bob Morrison showed off several new handguns, all geared for concealed carry and personal defense. They had on display a new little polymer frame .380 pocket pistol to compete with the hugely-in-demand Ruger LCP and the pistol it appears to have been almost cloned from, the Kel-Tec P3AT. Weight will be 10 ounces with a steel slide assembly atop its polymer frame, and a mere 8.5 ounces with Titanium slide. It will be produced in Miami and Taurus USA will be hiring some 70 new people to carry out their plans. Taurus’ biggest seller right now is their unique Judge, a revolver that can hold a .410 shotgun shell OR a .45 Colt cartridge in each of its five chambers. The recently introduced version that takes a 3” Magnum .410 shell is now joined by a small frame revolver (the size of an S&W J-frame or Taurus’ similar Model 85 .38 snubnose) that will take .410 shells. The Judge series is particularly popular among outdoor folks who live in poisonous snake country, for obvious reasons. Second in popularity is their PT1911, a well-executed, low-price clone of the classic Colt 1911 .45 pistol.
Blog reader Erich (welcome to this place, bro!) asked about the new little SIG .380. Played with it today. It’s a scaled-down 1911 that does indeed resemble the late, lamented Colt Mustang and Pocketlite .380s. Flat metal grip panels enhance its slimness and concealability.
Smith & Wesson has sort of re-introduced the classic old K-38s to its “retro” line – I say “sort of” because the front sights and stocks aren’t quite authentic – and the .41 Magnum revolver in both the target version and the iconic 4” barrel, fixed sight Model 58 variation. A truly beloved “cult gun” among knowledgeable gun enthusiasts, the S&W .41 Magnum will earn a hearty “welcome back” from those of us who habitually carry a handgun in the outdoors.
More tomorrow…
