The 2005 SHOT SHOW is coming up the end of the month and
it promises to be another big one. For those of you that are not familiar with
it, the SHOT stands for Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade. It is literally
thousands of companies showing off their new products for the coming year. If
it has anything to do with shooting, hunting, fishing, camping, anything like
that, it is there. It is a dealer only show to show the dealers what they can
look forward to for the coming year.
The big surprises we will tell you about after the show
but here are a few of the new items that you might just be interested in.
2005 should be the year of the double gun. Over/unders and side by sides are
everywhere and coming from companies you never thought about. Marlin is
bringing back the L.C. Smith line up of double side by side guns in 12 and 20
gauge. They are using some of the reasoning that we do on some of our new
guns. In our new #6 revolver we said that if Elmer Keith were alive today this
is the gun he would be shooting. Marlin is bringing out a new L.C. Smith
over/under shotgun saying that if old L.C. were alive today this is the gun he
would be shooting. It will come in 12 and 20.
H&R, who have been known for their single barrel
shotguns for a century are introducing an over/under shotgun this year. It is
also unusual in that it is an import which is not the norm for H&R. This
one will also come in 12 and 20.
Another shotgun company is branching out into over/unders
this year and that is Mossberg. They have a new Silver Reserve shotgun that
looks good and is priced in the mid level range.
Several of the other companies that normally make high
dollar over/under shotguns will be introducing new mid level guns this year
for those that like them but can't swing $5000 for a shotgun.
The rifle market won't be hurting this year either with
quite a few new items on the slate. Remington has brought back the old XP-100
action and put it in a single shot rifle called the XR-100. It looks and feels
great although a bit heavy for everyday use.
Ruger is bringing out quite a few new guns this year, after dropping a large
amount of guns including the Vaquero, Bisley/Vaquero, most of the Redhawks,
and several other handguns. Of course they are introducing a lot of new
handguns including the New Vaquero, a snubbie Super Redhawk, a new 22 LR MK3
pistol with fluted barrel and several others. They are not neglecting their
rifle line up either with a number of new models including something new for
Ruger, a scout rifle built on their popular model 77 line up. The scout is a
short barrel rifle with an intermediate eye relief scope mounted up front on
the barrel. These scout rifles, were given birth by Jeff Cooper several years
ago and now many of the major companies have picked up on the idea.
Mossberg is bringing back a centerfire rifle for the
first time in a good while. It is the 100ATR for All terrain Rifle and from
the pictures they sent if the rifle shoots anywhere as good as it looks it
should be another winner for Mossberg.
Marlin is bringing out a new cowboy action shooting
rifle and small game hunting rifle in their 1894. This one is chambered in
32-20 and sports an unusual look with the long barrel and short mag tube. It
should be a winner for Marlin.
Winchester is dropping their 9422 which has been out for
a mighty long time. They say they will use the existing parts for a short run
of special ultra fancy 9422s before they close them out completely. But where
they are dropping one gun they are adding several others, especially chambered
for their WSM and WSSM cartridges. The main one for this year will be their
325 WSM which they say will beat the 338 Win Mag in velocity and energy. I
honestly would have to see this to believe it.
Another Winchester new cartridge is their new 500
S&W Platinum Tip ammo. This one is a 400 grain hollow point bullet they
call the 500 PTHP.
While on the subject of the 500 S&W, the company
that brought you this cartridge, S&W, are bringing out their new 460
S&W, that I mentioned a while back. This one is a stretched out 454 with
considerably more power than the 454 and suited only for the big beefy
extended frames. They are officially calling it the 460 XVR. S&W is also
really getting into the 1911's in a big way with 6 new models of 1911s this
year.
Remember AMT? The company that gave us the original Auto
Mag pistol, then the Auto Mag 2 in 22 mag, Auto Mag 3 in 30 carbine, Auto Mag
4 in 45 win mag, and lastly the Auto Mag 5 in 50 AE, plus all the other
smaller defense guns. They are back under new owners. The owners are called
the Crusader Corporation. Remember the Crusader revolver? If not, then it was
a big massive 44 magnum and 45 long colt revolver that had a short life under
High Standard ownership. The Crusader Corp is supposedly related to the old
High Standard and is planning on bringing back to life many of the High
Standard pistols and the AMT pistols. First for AMT will be the 380 Back Up.
Taurus is widening their range of Tracker revolvers. Now
they have a new 44 mag Tracker, a five shot revolver weighing only 34 ounces.
It is ported but should still be a thumper.
There are a lot of other new items coming out but I will
get into them in the next issue of Gun Notes.
Our next African Hunt is coming up in less than 3
months, scheduled for the first week of April. All my guys are getting antsy
and anxious. The area we will be hunting has produced a large amount of huge
trophy animals in the 3 years since it was opened. And when it was opened we
were the first hunters in there in 107 years. This place is hundreds of
thousands of acres, not some little 5000 acre ranch and is loaded with huge
herds of animals. And even at this late date we still have a couple of
openings should you be interested. You can join Shane Lambert, Tracy Marshall,
Keith Kallsen, Joe Butler and myself simply by giving me a call at
928-526-3313.
Should you not be able to make it this year we are
already booking next year, again in this same area called Rooiport on the edge
of the Kalahari Desert. We already have 7 hunters booked for this one and room
for 5 more. So far Bill Firman, Charlie Herf, Ray Massey, Larry Kovach, Woody
Seiders, Tom Redman, Jason Parr and I are booked for this hunt. This one will also be in
the first part of April if all goes well. I will know more about this one in
the next couple of weeks.
Joe Butler, of Wyoming, who is one of our hunters going
on this next hunt, was in my shop today and is excited about this hunt coming
up in 11 weeks and is tentatively planning to go again next year and take his
14 year old daughter. What a great experience this is for a youngster. I took
my son Kase when he was 15 and again when he was 18 and hopefully we can work
into both our busy schedules for us to hunt together over there again soon. If
you are interested in either of these hunts, give me a call.
Lots more to tell you about but it will have to wait til next time.
Gary
