2014 SHOT Show - Ed Head On Ruger 10/22 50th Anniversary Edition

As part of their Day Two roundup, Ed Head and Tommy Sanders of the Outdoor Channel examined the 50th Anniversary Edition of the Ruger 10/22 that was designed by customers. Instead of calling it the 50th Anniversary Edition, they could just as well name it the Appleseed Edition because it seems like a stainless and polymer-stocked version of the RWVA's Liberty Training Rifle.

2014 SHOT Show - Day One With Ed Head And Tommy Sanders

The Outdoor Channel is streaming live interviews from the SHOT Show at different times during the day. The host of it is Tommy Sanders who used to host the outdoor block of programming for ESPN. In the recap of Day One of the SHOT Show, he talks with Ed Head of Gunsite and Downrange,tv.

Ed makes the point that he really hasn't seen anything that was new and revolutionary. Rather, it has been an evolution of existing product lines. Much of these evolutionary products are aimed at the new shooters and especially those that are younger and women. These are the growth areas of the gun culture and smart companies are the ones who have responded with new products for that segment. He mentions Ruger in particular as a company that has seen good growth from their new products.

The other thing in this interview that caught my ear was Ed's description of the mood of this year's SHOT Show. He said people seem upbeat and united. He contrasted that with last year when the SHOT Show came about a month after the shootings in Newtown and the mood was gloomy. We expected to be hit with both new gun control laws and Executive Orders aimed at firearms. As Ed notes, the community rallied and beat back much of this. He says the AR-15 was the firearm that provided the rallying point. I'm not sure if I totally agree on that but it is an interesting point.

2013 SHOT Show - Day 3 With Michael Bane & Ed Head

I know the SHOT Show was over last week but I just came across this report from day three by Michael Bane and Ed Head. They discuss AR pistols, Nightforce scopes, the Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper revolver in .22LR, and the growth in reloading sales. Ed Head was saying that the manufacturers he spoke with had a 50 to 80% increase in sales. With the ammo shortage, reloading is coming back strongly as an option as well as practicing with .22s.

New Introductions From Ruger

Ed Head of Gunsite Academy and Downrange TV discusses the new firearms introduced by Sturm, Ruger for 2013. They include the SR1911 in Commander length, the LC390, new variants of the Scout Rifle, the Ruger Guide Rifle, and a number of .22 LR pistols.

New Introductions From Mossberg

When I read the release last week on the new youth/compact models of the Mossberg 500 and Maverick 88 in 20 gauge, I was very interested. I had been looking for a home defense shotgun in 20 gauge for the Complementary Spouse.

Ed Head interviews Linda Powell of Mossberg about their new introductions which includes the shotguns above as well as their MVP rifle in both Flex and patrol versions. I think they will be going head to head with Ruger when the MVP is released later this year in .308 Winchester.

2013 SHOT Show - Day Two With Michael Bane And Ed Head

Michael Bane and Ed Head return to report on day two of the 2013 SHOT Show for the Outdoor Channel. Among the firearms discussed are the Armscor MIG-22 which is an AR clone in .22 LR and the Beretta Nano which will be coming out with various colored frames.

They both agreed that the overriding theme of this year's SHOT Show was fear. That is, the fear of what would be coming out of Washington. However, after Obama made his speech yesterday, they sensed a rise in optimism along with a sigh of relief.

Some SHOT Shows feature a lot of new innovative product introductions. This isn't one of them. Ed said the industry seems to be on an even keep with nothing really different. It was more about introducing different colors, sizes, and styles of existing products. Both Ed and Michael agreed that there seems to be a renewed interest in reloading all of a sudden which they attribute to the ammo shortage and proposals coming out of Washington. They will cover this in more depth tomorrow.

2013 SHOT Show - Day 1 with Michael Bane & Ed Head

Michael Bane is covering the 2013 SHOT Show for the Outdoor Channel along with his friend Ed Head of Gunsite Academy. Among the firearms they discussed were the Sig Sauer MPX, the new Ruger Guide Rifle in .375 RM, the Rock Island 1911 in .22 TCM, and the Smith and Wesson M&P 10 which is an AR in .308. They did notice a trend of a lot of red dots being made for handguns along the ammo shortage.

Operation Fast And Furious Has Kept The Numbers Game Alive

Ginny Simone of NRA News interviewed Ed Head yesterday about the varying estimates of firearms that have been traced from the United States to Mexico. Head, who is currently the rangemaster and an instructor at Gunsite Academy, was a Field Operations Supervisor with the Border Patrol prior to his retirement in 2001.

Head made the point that just because a firearm is "sourced" to the United States does not mean it entered Mexico illegally. He pointed out that the United States sells weapons to the Mexican Army along with those of a number of other Central American nations. Head pointed out that many American-made weapons in the hands of the cartels are being stolen or diverted from the Mexican Army. Moreover, other weapons in the cartel's hands were legally sent to the militaries of such Central American countries as Guatemala. To blame border state gun dealers for this is wrong, Head said.