If you are not a member of the NRA I encourage you to join and help defend our Second Amendment right. I also encourage you to attend an annual meeting, there is nothing like it and I promise you will not regret it. This annual NRA show has come and gone with over 550 exhibitors covering 450,000 square feet of interior and exterior exhibit hall space, and seminars, concerts, and meet and greets. It was an all around freedom lovers paradise.

Attendees numbered  78,695. One of the big concerns from the media and people who are ignorant of responsible gun owners was that legal concealed/open carry was allowed. There was even a protest by the Mom’s Demand Action crowd, and to be completely honest I saw them by the river, but it was so few people I did not take notice so I did not get any photos. Hell, there were more folks walking across the river foot bridge than “protesting” so I doubt if many folks even noticed. With that said, there were zero incidents and I called that before we hit the road to Nashville.

The show was excellent, I saw a lot of good friends, plenty of firearms, some solid seminars, and made several new contacts.  The only thing I saw that really disappointed me was Yellow Freight lost all the guns for Charter Arms. As I am a fan of Charter Arms I had hoped to see their line up. I did get to visit with the President and he is a super nice guy and knows his stuff so all was not lost.  I felt bad for them and what happened and I hope they get the guns back.

The Colt booth was very nice as was Hornady, CZ, Kahr, Kel Tec, Hi-Point, Ruger and Glock. I also met the crowd from Boberg Arms, who make an interesting concealment pistol, and a test sample is secured. Also I met the guys from Devil Dog Arms who make a nice looking AR style rifle. Review for that is pending as well. Several more reviews scheduled for the upcoming year.

Here is a collection of photographs from the show there were a few new items introduced since the SHOT Show from 2015, which you can read that post here. 

Man, we had a good time and drank some quality tequila. A huge thank you to Clinton Jamieson and Philip Gibson for the help in making this happen.

 

By Hunter Elliott

I spent much of my youth involved with firearms and felt the call early on to the United States Marine Corps, following in my father's and his brother's footsteps. Just after high school I enlisted and felt most at home on the rifle range, where I qualified expert with several firearms and spent some time as a rifle coach to my fellow Marines. After being honorably discharged I continued teaching firearm safety, rifle and pistol marksmanship, and began teaching metallic cartridge reloading. In the late 1990s I became a life member to the National Rifle Association and worked with the Friends of the NRA. Around that time my father and I became involved with IDPA and competed together up until he passed away. I began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 2000s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. Continuing to improve my firearms skills and knowledge is a never ending journey in which we should all be committed. I am also credited as weapons master on a few independent films.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *