SmallCaliberCentral

Wow, had a great day skipping work and going to the NRA Annual Meeting and Show. Missed Melvin Eades and his buddy Darrell going in, they got lost somehow, but we met up before they left town and had a better visit than we could have, walking around, anyway.

All the good stuff was there, Savage, Remington, Ruger, all the AR makers, BerettaUSA/Sako/Tikka was there, Hodgdon Powder, all my favorite pistol makers, HECK, everyone was there!
They are guessing a crowd of 70,000 will make the show altogether, I'll be guessing MORE than that number, because the weather is good and the Fairgrounds went all out to host them. Monstrous crowds, all of them civil and acting human, try that at any other gathering of that size!
I got to bend the ear of two of our favorite guys, Ron Coburn of Savage, and Chris Hodgdon, of the powder company, both are really great people, and fun to talk to.


I'm going back tomorrow, somehow I missed Sierra's booth, and CZs, so I have more visiting to do. It's definitely a trip you should make, sometime. Maybe tomorrow, I'll remember I have my camera with me .

As Glenn said, It's was a Great show.

Friday morning I got up at 2:00 am and went to meet my friend Darrell at his house. We left there at 3:30 and headed for Louisville. We arrived at the show right at 10:am. We were going to meet Glenn on the way in, but got caught up in the heavy traffic and missed our stop. Saw some interesting people on the way in and snapped a picture of one of them.




Darrell and I were like two kids turned loose in a candy store and not knowing where to start. We stopped by the Ruger booth and talked to Kelly Glenn-Kimbro and saw Joe Bowman, trick shooter.




Also had a nice visit with Joel Hutchcraft, Shooting Times editor (center), and (can't remember his first name) Stutler (right), recently retired from Ruger and my friend Darrell (left).




Stopped by the Savage booth and had a real nice visit with Effie Sullivan, from Savage's custom shop. A very nice, intelligent lady that took the time to answer our questions and talk about their new products.




Check out this rig for hunting. This model pulls like a wagon and the dealer said he pulled it 70 mph to the show. It has a generator and solar power, stove, refrigerator, etc. You can pick one of these up for a mere $27,000.00.



We also found out that since the announcement that Centurion is bringing back the "Re-energized" 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum that CZ is chambering their 452 for this round. Centurion states it will push a 30 grain bullet at 2300 fps.

We left the show and met Glenn at Burger King and had a great visit which lasted almost two hours. We headed out and I got home at 1:00 am. It was a long day but I would do it again after a little sleep.

If you ever have the oppurtunity to go to one of these shows, do it, you don't know what you're missing.

I had to go back, since it's so close. Met up with Ricochet, from here and another board, and three of his buddies, and his two daughters. The girls thought they were at a track meet, but I slowed down enough to bend an ear or two

I walked up to the ATK/Speer/Federal/Alliant booth, and politely asked about their .20 bullets. Their rep got a confused look on his face, got out his bullet chart, pawed thru it, and then did the same thing with their lucite-ed bullet displays. "Hey, we don't have a Twenty Caliber bullet!" I smiled and said, "Why not? The other guys have 'em". He got his buddy, apparently a bigger wig at the plant, who immediately got out a notepad and told me "You know, you're the third or fourth guy to ask about them today. I'm gonna have to get up with the Tech division and get things moving on one."
I noticed that someone had suggested a 35-37 grain bullet, as that's what he'd written down, so I suggested that a nice hollowpoint or softpoint would be just dandy, maybe along the lines of those TNTs............... Hey, every little bit helps.......
CZ confirmed that they'll be making the 452 and 452 Varmint in 5mm Remington Magnum sometime this year (.20 rimfire) too. That will make a slew of folks real happy.

On the handgun side, Colt is bringing back the Delta Elite 10mm 1911, and Springfield's XD is available with a thumb safety, which will make us 1911 guys a little happier with them. Taurus has some nice stuff in the works, a lightweight 1911, 5" and a 5mm Rem. Mag. Tracker revolver, and S&W had a huge display, too, but with Steve's kids in a hurry to leave, I didn't have a chance to scope them out.

Glenn,

Darrell and I are the ones that talked to the Speer guy and that's when he pulled out his pad and asked what kind of bullet we would like to see them produce.

Great minds think alike, Melvin!