Wow! Fantastic! That’s awesome! — Plus a few other superlatives could be used to describe this year’s show. Before getting into specifics, I would like to acknowledge the folks in this industry. For 4 days they have tons of people visiting their booths and the primary focus is on bringing in sales and writing up business as it should be. However, these folks are always willing to take time to sit down and share their thoughts with us in the media. It makes me proud to be a part of this great industry. And, for those pundits going around saying the shooting part of the industry is drying up, a few statistics they need to be aware of: SHOT Show is the 5th largest trade show in Vegas and this year’s show had the second highest attendance with 64,000; second only to last year’s 67,000. There were over 1600 exhibitors with 150 of them being new this year. While firearms sales seemed to have peaked in 2013, ammunition sales were higher in 2014. This is an $8 billion dollar a year industry and it is estimated that women now make about 25% of the purchases. Hardly seems like an industry that is in decline…
Moving on, let me describe some of the great stuff seen in my travels around the approximately 13 acres of items on display. The trend this year seemed to be in the direction of big bore PCP air rifles with several of the major names introducing a version. Airforce came out with the Texan, a .45 caliber single-shot capable of delivering 500 foot pounds of energy. Crosman introduced their Bulldog, a .357 rotary magazine fed bullpup design claiming 180 fpe. Daystate has added the Bullpup utilizing electronic firing controls in multiple calibers that includes a .30 version. FX introduced the Bobcat Mk2 with an externally adjustable regulator allowing the user to custom tune the rifle and it is available in .30 as well. Then there was Hatsan’s .35 caliber BT Carnivore, a rotary magazine fed model utilizing their QuietEnergy technology. I understand Marksman introduced a large caliber model as well although I did not have an opportunity to check it out. A new company out of Las Vegas was not exhibiting at the show, but I did have a chance to see their contribution to the big bore realm outside of the show venue. Innovairtech has built a bolt action single shot .357 that uses stainless steel pressurized cartridges instead of having an on board HPA cylinder. Just fill the cartridge to the desired pressure, drop a lead bullet into the nose of the cartridge and it is ready to insert into the rifle. Designs are underway to produce a magazine fed version in the future. Our friends here at Airguns of Arizona also have something exciting to unveil in the big bore arena and there will be more available on that soon.
There is so much more to cover that will have to come in other blogs, but I did want to mention a couple of stand-outs for me. UmarexUSA introduced a Colt licensed Peacemaker replica in a blue or nickel finish. This CO2 BB pistol is beautifully done and I can hardly wait to get my hands on one. Lastly, as I was passing the Wolf Ammunition booth some very good looking Russian-made PCPs with hand-checkered walnut stocks caught my eye. Very little information was available at the show and I’ll see what I can find out and report on later.
Wow, this is the first article I have read that even mentions anything about FX being present at SHOTShow 2015. A new Mk2 Bobcat was introduced? Would you mind posting some pictures of the gun? Any other info on the differences between the MK2 and the current Bobcat would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Scott
Hi Scott,
Sorry for the delayed response. I’m sure we can get you some answers and pics soon. Keep in mind that sometimes the models on display at SHOT are prototypes or pre-production and the specs can change a bit prior to release for sale to the general public. Stay tuned.
-Gordon