2009 Shot Show in Orlando

[No_1]

Good morning members,

I am off to the 2009 Shot Show in a couple of hours. I plan on touching base with as many vendors as possible to express the things we have talked about on our forum with hopes to encourage their participation in our site. So far I know of 2 members that will be there, HATCH and myself. If you are going to be at the Shot Show please let me know via PM (and contact phone number) and we can try to meet up. If you want to meet up today, contact Ken (45nut) and he can provide my phone number. I will update my progress tonight from the hotel with pictures hopefully.

Robert

[RSOJim]

I was at the Shot Show yesterday. NO cameras allowed. Lots of stuff. Lee Precision was not there. Talked to RCBS about their dies, you know the ones that have the depth adjustment stick up and cause me and others to scratch their fore arms and bleed. They are considering a small rubber cap to eliminate this problem. Mine was not the first complaint. Lots of good looking girls. They like to hug. So do I. Too much stuff to look at in one day. It seems as though the products we are interested in are located in one large room of the convention center. There are 4 rooms. I was told yesterday that if a person walked all isles of displays that would be 16 miles. I think I got 5 or 6 yesterday. I ask all gun manufacturers and bullet makers for some free samples. Yea, right. I did not see any Cast Boolits anywhere. Oh yea, a hamburger and fries and pepsi were only $15.50. I live about 20 miles from the convention center. I came home and was worn out from all the walking. Went to bed early. Will go back tomorrow. Thanks Jim Allen

[HATCH]

Pm sent. We are arriving at show now. I am bringing my camera in anyway. Also have my blackberry and it has a camera.

[Gunload Master]

Have fun!

[AZ-Stew]

Someone please ask for .243 and .41 (revolver) gas checks. I have a small stash of .243s, so I'm good there. I don't, personally, use .41s, but I know others who do. All my .41 moulds are plain base. I think there are a couple of other calibers that have been dropped over the last year or so. With the increased interest in casting, the manufacturers should support us.

In addition, I'd like to see Lyman resurect the Loverin designs in as many calibers as possible.

If you pass this along, I'll appreciate it.

Regards,

Stew

[No_1]

What a day!

We arrived at the Peabody hotel which was conveniently located directly across the street from the 2009 Shot Show entrance at around 10:30. The show started at 9:00 am this morning and being a little late gave the vendors plenty of time to get into full swing. We checked in then took a leisurely walk across the street.

Arriving at the entrance of the Orlando Convention Center is was hard not to notice the fact that something BIG was going on. Convention workers were buzzing around making sure everything was in order for the 2nd day of the show. The aisle leading into the main area was lined with vendors who were selling holster, safety glasses, hearing protection. As I passed these by one vendor's display caught my eye so I swung back around to take a closer gander. What I thought I saw was real. They had a display which contained semi automatic .22 RF miniature version's of military weapons. These were fine looking belt fed weapons that came with a linking machine. Prices starting around $11,000 ensured me that these were toys for rich men.

We walked a little further then entered through the main doors of the show. Stepping through those doors was like walking into Santa's toy land during Christmas. There were weapons displays as far as the eye could see in any direction. Directly in front of the main doors was the Springfield Armory display. Every version of the M1A1 was there to handle as well as all other weapons they have available. I spent a few minutes there before I swung to the left and made my way down the side aisle in the same manner as we do when at the local gun shows.

My first stop was the Forster display where I met the president of Forster products Ron Hartman. He is a very personable man who took genuine interest in the comments I made of the products I now have in use. We talked about the current line and the new items available. One item of particular interest was a new neck size set that is just a little different than what I have seen before. The bushings are removable as before but the new products allows you to set the shoulder back .001 while neck sizing without touching the body of the case. The other thing he pointed out was a modification of the CO-AX press which allows the use of other vendors dies, specifically micrometer adjustable dies.

Next stop was Wolf ammo. I talked briefly with the rep about the primers. He has indicated they will continue to provide those primers to all the major vendors and to keep an eye out for upcoming articles from all the major magazines. I thanked him for his time before continuing on.

At this point I was almost overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on hand. I stopped in at the Remington display where a person could see and handle almost every product they currently sell. I must admit they have some fine rifles on hand. I was looking at a heavy barrel varmint rig when the Hornady display located across the aisle caught my eye. I made a b-line into their section and was greeted by Steve Johnson. The display included the lock-n-load and many of their other products but nothing really new so I continued on.

Dillon Aero was a great display. The first thing I noticed was the M134 Mini-gun display. This is the same weapon system seen here: http://www.dillonaero.com/content/p/9/catid/1/pid/1 compete with vehicle mount. All there usual stuff was on hand but one thing that caught my eye was the case feeder system on the 550B. They also had their new progressive 50BMG press on hand. This thing is a huge chunk of iron that will do the job at hand with ease. I will have to take a closer look at all their products tomorrow when I go back.

Next stop along the way was Lyman's area. As soon as I walked into the area Karen Griffin, their customer service manager greeted me with a sturdy handshake and a big smile. We chatted a little about Cast Boolits and Lyman's interaction with our website. I believe we will be hearing from them in the future. As I glanced around the one thing I noticed was the absence of the familiar Lyman orange color which has been replaced by "Hammer tone Grey". It does look different but not in a bad way. Two new products in their line are the Pachmayr rubber grips. These slip onto your existing grip and are gun specific. I handled a few guns and think this soft grip might be just the ticket in recoil reduction. The other item was their new gun cleaning vise. Their new design allows the rifle to be tilted 45 degrees in either direction and is adjustable for length. At ~$89 MSRP is it not very expensive.

My last stop for the day was the RCBS display. Every press they have was on display and set up to run dummy rounds through them. I spoke with Kent Sakamoto who is their product line manager while looking around their display. I had many more question but it was slowly approaching 5:30 which is the closing time for the show. I sure am glad I will be able to continue looking around tomorrow. There is so much to see.

Robert

[AZ-Stew]

Excellent report, Robert. Thanks for keeping us up to date and discussing new items you've found. These won't show up in the gun press for months.

Regards,

Stew

[Maven]

"Talked to RCBS about their dies, you know the ones that have the depth adjustment stick up and cause me and others to scratch their fore arms and bleed. They are considering a small rubber cap to eliminate this problem."

RSO Jim + all others with scratched forearms: You can thread a large wire nut over that depth adjuster and solve the problem in a trice.

[No_1]

Good evening members,

Please excuse me for not posting my final update of the show tonight. Today was a long day for me since I attended the show then drove home. I will post my final update of the show in the morning when I get up. I can say I spoke with Hornady, Redding, S&W and a air gun vendor who's products are off the chain!

Robert

[No_1]

The second and final day proved to me once and for all that: 1) I was way out of shape and 2) there is not enough time to talk with everyone or see everything there is to offer.

My first stop of the morning was JGS Precision Tool MFG. (http://www.jgstools.com/mainfram.html). The owners were on hand and were very knowledgeable of the precision required by the rifle / pistol community. There business not only serves the gun community but also our military side by providing precision reamers to those that manufacture equipment for our military.

ATK Ammunition Systems Civil Ammunition - Known as RCBS to us. Like everyone else they had their presses set up and operational with plenty of components (sans primers / powder) available to dry run the equipment. I spoke with Kent Sakamoto who is RCBS's product line manager about our website and he has committed products from their line to be used for "RCBS sponsored Site Benefit Auctions". All proceeds will be used help keep us alive. I will contact him in a few months once he is gets off the show circuit and back in the office to get the ball rolling.

Hornady had all their stuff on hand also. Their new case prep center is a fantastic piece of machinery. It is a one stop all inclusive system that includes a cam lock power trimmer, powered inside / outside case mouth chamber / deburr tool, inside neck brush, large and small primer pocket cleaner and a primer pocket reamer, all in one bench mountable unit. It is a must have for anyone who is tired of finding all the different items that get lost. I spoke with Steve Johnson who is Hornady's Marketing Communications Manager. He was very impressed with our site and has committed sponsor support by providing Hornady items for "Hornady Sponsored Site Benefit Actions" beginning with 2 Lock-n-load AP presses.

I had to take a break from the show so I stepped out to grab a smoke. While enjoying the weather I struck up a conversation with Ariel Smith who is the business to business administrator with Pyramyd Air (http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/show.pl?cmd_rifles=show_menu) Pyramyd Air offers all kinds of air pistols and rifles but what sets them apart from most is their line includes air rifles in 25 cal, 9mm, 40, 45 and 50 caliber.

The Redding display had lots of equipment on hand including items from their Saeco line. I handled the Saeco hardness tester and must say that it is a must have. I left some information with them and hopefully they will get back with us.

In closing, I went to have fun and got some sponsors. In alphabetical order we have commitments from: ATK (RCBS), Hornady and Lyman. Getting 3 out of the 4 major casting manufacturers on board with us is just unbelievable. As they come on line you will begin seeing their banners at the top of our pages. When you wish to find info or get technical support on their equipment please click through their banners at the top of our page so they can see we are visiting.

I had a great time and look forward to the 2010 Shot Show that will be in Las Vegas!

Robert

[No_1]

A friend sent this Photo of me and one of our new sponsors from the show.
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p206/no_one_photos/Lyman%20Karen%20Shot%20Show/Rob-KarenLyman.jpg

[waksupi]

Geez, Rob, you clean up pretty well! Almost look respectable!

[No_1]

It was the cast boolit shirt and hat that made me look so good! :groner:

[HATCH]

so I have been downgraded from 'brother' to 'friend' now?

LOL the picture doesn't do Karen justice. She is MUCH better looking in person then the photo shows her to be. She was very up with the current Lyman offerings. Of all the reps we spoke to, I enjoyed her conversation the best....