Category: NRA Convention

I think Captain Bob and the Damsel were two folks I didn’t get a chance to meet, but I’m glad it looks like they found plenty to write about on the exhibit hall floor:

One stop we had to make was at the Para booth. We wanted to personally meet Todd Jarett and Kerby Smith, both of whom helped get Damsel on the right track shooting her Warthog. It was Michael Bane who introduced us to the Para team in the first place and they took it from there. Damsel spoke briefly to Todd, who virtually gave her instruction on short barrel large caliber firearms training for women via a video that Kerby sent her. We wanted to thank them both for the training and for the extraordinary Para customer service.

Glad to hear it.  Todd is the master, but Kerby is no slouch either when it comes to shooting.  Hopefully I’ll find time this year to review some of their 1911s.

This one from JD, who attended the Annual Meeting and Blog Bash from California.  Seems someone at Charter Arms doesn’t realize that a joke you’d make over beers with your buddies isn’t necessarily the kind of thing you say to someone with a media badge.  What if it had been Reuters, CNN, or the New York Times?

US Citizen of Traction Control, who is a super nice guy for those of you who’ve never met him in real life, goes up to this guy at the NRA Banquet reception, who turns out is an NRA board member, and just starts talking to him.  It was Jim Gilmore, former Governor of Virginia.  Before you know it, they were golfing buddies.

I just posted some very random facts about the NRA Annual Meeting and Second Amendment Blog Bash^TM over at my blog. If you’re curious about exactly how many people attended, how much was raised, how many publishers participated, and more, then check it out.

I will follow up here with an in-depth report on how the NRA Board of Directors results came out. It was all very interesting, and I know that the endorsed candidates who did interviews here were very appreciative of the support and very excited to see the interest from Sebastian’s readers through the questions submitted.

The Ruger rep in the booth seemed to be pretty interested in telling me about their patented gas system.  Here are some pictures showing here:

They described this as a two stage gas piston, meaning the first little nub there gets the gas piston starting to move back, but with less impulse than a normal gas piston AR.  They claim this reduces felt recoil, since the gas rod accelerates more slowly rearward.

The Ruger rep was anxious to show me their gas regulator.  It ships on setting two, which is good enough for most commercial ammunition.  He said you could turn up the gas for lighter loads, or turn it down for higher loads.  You could also turn it completely off for suppressor use.

Now ends the Second Amendment Blog Bash for 2009, and with it the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits. Now it’s onward to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2010. Blogging will be a bit light today as I fly out, but I do still have a few more posts in the pipe about Annual Meeting.

I’d like to thank everyone who came, especially our Arizona contingent, Kevin, Exurban Kevin, Eric, Arizona Rifleman, Found One Troll, The Byrnes, Cowboy Blob, Dustin, Great Satan Inc, Primeval Papa, Danno, Desert Rat and finally, Dave Hardy. The Arizona bloggers and podcasters could not have been more gracious and welcoming hosts, and we thank them. They were awesome people, and we hope to see some of them in Charlotte next year.

We’re off to attend a portion of the NRA Board of Directors Meeting, then headed out to the airport to fly home.

I took some of your questions to the Ruger Rep, so I will go over them.  These aren’t his exact words, they are mine, but I jotted down the gist of the answers:

The MSRP seems a little high, doesn’t it?

I didn’t actually ask this, because you and I both know they will sell them at the price they are asking.  They are already backordered.

Do you have any plans to sell just the upper?

There aren’t any plans for that as of yet.  They will sell the complete rifle.

Are there any plans to offer this in other calibers?

Not at this time, no.

Do you manufacture your own lowers?

No.  They buy the receiver.  They do make their own chrome lined forged barrel.  They said making a quality lower was a skill they don’t have in house, so they ordered out.  But they did say they would not ruling out making lowers if it make sense for them in the future.

How does the rifle compare to the H&K 416/MR556?

It’s lighter, cheaper, and available to civilians now.  I’d also say that Ruger probably doesn’t think you suck, and hate you.

Will you offer rifles with Magpul MOE equipment?

There will be a variety of accessories available.

Will there be a neutered version for people who live in states with assault weapons bans?

Yes, there are plans for that.  But Ruger wouldn’t suggest when it might be available.

Kevin Baker has some pretty good coverage of our event.  He met a few famous people, saw some interesting hardware, has some pretty good coverage of our state association session, and talks about a good cause that Crimson Trace is supporting.

I stopped by the Crossman booth to see if they had any of their new air guns on display, so I could take a look at one, as I’m looking to do air gun rifle, since I figure if shooting air gun can do for my rifle shooting what it’s done for my pistol shooting, we’ll be in good shape:

Sadly, they didn’t have any of the new rifles, but I took a look at some of their other models, got some swag, and got some tips on my 2300S that I shoot air pistol silhouette with.