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SOFIC 2008 Report |
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Gregory Morris, 5/23/08 12:12:35 am |
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So, all you dang gunbloggers that made it to the NRA convention and had a good time pawing over all the gorgeous hardware at the show had me all jealous. 'Cept today I got to go to a special operations industry trade show. I guarantee I saw some awesome stuff there that you didn't. But wouldn't ya know, OPSEC being what it is, I wasn't allowed to have a camera with me. So all of the wicked-awesome stuff I got to play with? You'll just have to imagine it.
Of course, in addition to the super-high-tech ninja stealth robot snipers and deluxe inverse nanometer-wave radar guided bafmodads, a lot of the standard members of the Triangle of Death were in attendance.
One of the companies I won't name, but they think I suck, and they hate me. I didn't directly ask them why they thought I suck, although I was damn tempted. I did, however, in my normal passive-aggressive way make an off-handed comment to the booth guys about how us lowly civilians can't buy their rifles (not that I actually want to buy one...) Apparently one of their AR-style (416) rifles will be available in a civilian-neutered model in under a year. So now you know. Although I clearly got the impression they hated me a little bit more for asking about civilian purchases, they didn't completely blow me off (even though the trade show was not at all geared towards civilians.)
I got some cool swag from a lot of booths, although I have to tell you that Dillon Aero, by far, had the best swag. Of course, I'm talking about the calendar. If you haven't seen it, and you aren't offended by scantily clad ladies holding onto bad-ass miniguns, you may wanna go look. Unfortunately I got there late on the last day, and they were out of calendars, but the awesome booth guy gave me a t-shirt instead (which says "He who shoots the most, and the fastest, wins.") He also promised to send me a calendar. Woohoo! So, Dillon is now my favorite gun company even though I'll never be able to buy their flagship product. I like cool companies.
I also talked to the Gemtech guys. They were very friendly, and both knowledgeable and encouraging about the civilian acquisition of their products.
The LaserMax guy was cool, and we chatted about their products for a while. I like. The switches they use might take a little practice to use quickly, but I like that they don't change the look/feel of your firearm at all, and don't require different holsters (like some models equipped with a Crimson Trace laser.)
Got some S&W, FN, and Sig Sauer swag, but they didn't seem interested in talking to me since I wasn't in a uniform sporting oak leaves or better. It was the first time I got to see an FN P90 up close and personal... I didn't realize how small those are. Glock didn't have any swag (at least they didn't have anything left when I got there) but they did have all the different models out on display.
Tactical Rifles a nearly-local company that builds (guess what) tactical rifles was also there. They have some NIIIIICE gear. Really purdy stuff. Stuff I'll never be able to afford. But if I ever can, they will sell it to me. The guy at the booth was extremely friendly, and also showed that he cared about the civilian market. He had an NRA poster up in his booth, so I had to stop and chat a little bit. If you notice on their website, they have a Second Amendment section. It isn't much, but its more than you'll get from some gun builders.
Talked with the guy at the Taser booth for a while. They had all the cool toys, including their 12-gauge shotgun Tasers (he wouldn't give me any, not matter how much I begged.) Apparently they had just finished running some tests on their "taser claymore" non-lethal area denial system at the old Moundsville Prison in West Virginia. Cool. My old company (well, the company that they merged with at least) owns and operates the Moundsville prison complex, and they use it for a lot of prison-tech development and testing.
Lots of companies with amazingly LARGE and bad-ass-looking optics... Carl Zeiss, Bushnell, Leupold, et. al. I pawed over some of them for a moment, then I realized that not only could I never afford the high-end civilian-ownable stuff they had, but I'd probably never be able to afford a rifle worthy of them.
That's all of the gun related stuff I can remember right now. Of course there were tons of sniper rifles, machine guns, various M-4/AR gadgets and gizmos, and tactical EVERYTHING.
Oh, and lots of other cool stuff that I'm not gonna talk about, but believe me, you would wish you were there. All I'm gonna say is that tool who hosts Future Weapons wouldn't know where to start. I'm still trying to figure out how they got some of that stuff into the convention hall in the first place. |
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