I’ve been on the road for a few weeks and now, with the stress of a ton of partially completed projects waiting for me at the shop, I’m on my way to the Shot Show. Sort of like being off the see the Wizard… only without the flying monkeys. However, I will reserve the possibility that some manufacturer has booked them for the show.
With continued surges in sales and unit shipments, Shot promises to put a healthy firearms’ industry on display and, based upon pre show press releases and product announcements, there will be many exciting products to see. I’m excited, and that’s saying a lot from a guy who has eaten barbequed puppy on a stick with a Tequila chaser.
More firearms from fewer companies…
From what I can see, the firearm industry’s current drive toward buyout consolidation has been a good thing. Unlike the FN purchase of Browning and Winchester that has resulted in the loss of many legacy firearms and the emergence of one size fits all firearms where the difference in brands is limited to minor aesthetic changes, the Freedom Group taking ownership of companies like Remington, Marlin, Bushmaster, Barnes Bullets, etc. seems to have left brand R&D and marketing intact at the core, while bringing streamlining to overhead and manufacturing. Where some companies are using buyouts to expand market reach, others like Ruger, keep expanding their own product lines. I believe Ruger introduced a record number of products and product types over the past year with more kicking of 2010.
I am not sure where I will spend my time at Shot. I have a short tentative list and I am not much of a networking guy. I don’t get excited about meeting celebrities, but the draw of free food is hard to resist. The idea of finding rooms labeled “press only” holds no appeal. There are lots of nice industry people to meet, face to face, that I’ve communicated with through email or over the phone. There are some very interesting firearms that have not yet been covered on Real Guns that I hope to arrange to get in front of readers. Not new firearms, just interesting firearms. I probably won’t do too much “Just Announced” coverage. Manufacturers tend to get hardware to the more…seasoned publications and we don’t really cover firearms and equipment unless they are sitting on our bench and open to evaluation. That isn’t a criticism of manufacturers. They have every right to get the best and broadest coverage for what amounts to a major investment in a new product.
Fortunately, one of the nice things about the firearm industry is that good products have extremely long life cycles and each remains new to the person who hasn’t yet owned one. Subsequently, detailed coverage of a Remington Mountain Rifle, or a Ruger Hawkeye, or an RCBS Rock Chucker is as valid and informative today as it was when the products were first introduced. An appreciation for tradition and evolution are why we all still play with 1911 pistols, AR 15 based rifles, Ruger single action revolvers, and Marlin lever action rifles … I like “new”, it just doesn’t have to replace “established”.
If you have anything in particular you’d like to see, shoot me an email at joe@realguns.com and let me know. I’ll do the best I can to round up those products for a thorough review. In the mean time, we’ll be back to a regular publishing schedule in a couple of weeks..
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