by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
An Aimpoint Micro T-1 combined with a Leupold Mark 6 scope
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which originated and sponsors the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in 1979, announced recently that it has reached an agreement with Reed Exhibitions to terminate the agreement the parties had for the management of the SHOT Show®.
Accordingly, effective immediately, Reed Exhibitions will no longer be manager and producer of the SHOT Show.
The announcement said that NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition and outdoor industry, is actively engaged in the process of identifying a new show management company to manage and produce the SHOT Show beginning with the 2014 SHOT Show to be held Jan. 14-17 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Reed Exhibitions provided excellent service to NSSF and the customers of the SHOT Show for more than three decades; however, the company’s decision to restrict the sale of certain types of firearms this year at its consumer hunting and fishing show, the Eastern Sportsman’s Show in Harrisburg, PA—an event unrelated to NSSF and the SHOT Show—was in conflict with NSSF’s mission to serve the shooting sports industry. As a result, both organizations decided it was in the best interest of the SHOT Show to end their relationship.
After Reed announced that it was prohibiting the display of modern sporting rifles from the 2013 edition of the long-running Harrisburg Eastern Sportsman’s Show, many exhibitors announced that they would withdraw, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and many hunting and conservation organizations. So many long-term exhibitors withdrew that Reed canceled the 2013 show last February.
But a new outdoor show will return to the Harrisburg Farm Show Complex Feb. 1-9, 2014 with a new name and new sponsor. Called the Great American Outdoor Show, it will be the largest such show in the country and will be sponsored by the NRA.
The NRA announcement said that it will expand the presence of firearms at the new show, including modern sporting rifles, by adding a whole new firearms section to the show’s traditional hunting, fishing, archery, camping and boating exhibits which have attracted more than a 100,000 visitors.
Jeff Poole, director of NRA membership programs and manager of the annual NRA members’ meetings, will be running the Great American Outdoor Show.
For more details, visit greatamericanoutdoorshow.org online or phone 866-343-1805.
GE dumps retailers
According to the Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio, GE Capital, the financing arm of the GE conglomerate, which has been providing loans to firearms buyers through local gun stores since 2006, has decided to walk away from the retail gun business.
The news sources reported that “This month, Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan’s Outdoor Store in Bay City, Mich., said he received a letter from GE Capital Retail Bank in which the lender said it had made ‘the difficult decision’ to stop providing financing services to his store. Other gun dealers have received similar notices.” But according to the NSSF, GE Capital actually stopped adding new gun dealer finance customers back in 2008, but continued to work with local gun stores they’d already signed up for their services.
The WSJ article implied that the Newtown, CT, school shooting last December, was just too close to home. GE is based in Fairfield, CT, “and many of the GE’s employees live around Newtown, and several have children in the Sandy Hook elementary school.” GE is also where Adam Lanza’s father works.
At this point, it appears that enough large lending institutions are still available to write business with firearms retailers, so the major losers may be GE stockholders.
Military helps hunters
Aimpoint, the originator and worldwide leader in electronic red dot sighting technology, is now offering new optical mounts to give hunters and sport shooters the same advantages employed by military end users.
Recent Aimpoint military contracts including the US Navy’s ECOS-O program, and the US Army’s Sniper Quick Fire Sight (SQFS) program have highlighted the advantages of placing a non-magnified red dot sight onto magnified scopes. This same concept is now being offered to the hunter or sport shooter who wants to add additional speed and performance to their existing magnified optics.
The ECOS-O integrated system combines the battle proven Aimpoint Micro T-1 sight with the Leupold® Mark 6® 3-18x44mm riflescope. This combination of optics allows operators to utilize the non-magnified red dot sight both as a primary optic, as well as a fast way to acquire targets for long range identification and engagement using the magnified Leupold scope.
SABER® for .30-06
Ashbury Precision Ordnance Mfg. (APO) of Ruckersville, VA, is now manufacturing the SABER® modular rifle chassis for several rifles in the ever popular .30-06 caliber. Shooters can now get long action SABER chassis models in right and left hand operation for the Remington M700, McMillan G30 and Stiller TAC300 with a detachable 5-round box magazine for the .30- 06 family of cartridges. Around for more than 100 years and originally a military cartridge, the .30-06 Springfield is perhaps one of the most popular and versatile of big and medium game hunting cartridges in American history.
For hunters and recreational shooters the SABER Composite Series “Sporter” is a drop in, torque down and shoot upgrade for .30-06 rifles with 1.200 to 1.300 inch barrel shank diameters (from light sporters up to a #4 barrel contour).
The entire rifle chassis installation takes just several minutes with simple tools on your home workbench, or at the local gun shop.
Other models are available for practical rifle competitors and target shooting enthusiasts and other consumers who rely on the aught-six. For more information, visit online at: ashburyprecisionordnance.com, or phone: 434-296-8600.
