Kevin – TacDaddy, invited me along to check out a new training tool in a private showing. This was a really awesome experience, which I can’t thank him enough for including me. This tool called SPOTTR, has yet to hit the market and will start in beta testing soon.
Monthly Archives: January 2016
((BigGunner81 LIVE!)) SHOW 2016 – RE-CAP
Talking with Ryan Wiggins, Patrick from 1ShotKillitMediaLLC, and “Nightstrike” from GunChannels.com About our Shot Show Experience as first timers…
Shot Show 2016 – Tips from a NOVICE
Well Shot Show 2016 has come and past, and I am now a Shot Show veteran LoL. I want to share several things I learned, some of which I picked up from others who have attended shot show many times in the past. So here is my list of recommendations and things to consider if you are planning to attend your first shot show.
1)- Shot Show is only open to registered members of industry, if you have proper credentials register before attending the show.
2)- Comfortable walking shoes, you will walking miles everyday one friend tracked his mileage and he was doing over 10 miles a day.
3)- The Shot Shot crud, many people find themselves catching the bug you will be traveling and shaking hands so wash your hands, carry some hand sanitizer with you. Some people also bump up their vitamin C and other vitamin a couple weeks before in attempt to boost their immune system.
4)- Stay hydrated, with all the walking and talking this is easy to loose track of your water intake. This will help keep you focused, your mouth from being dry, and may help flush your system to avoid the said crud aka shot show plague.
5)- Gold Bond, I thought about skipping this one but several people mainly men mentioned this one. So I’m going to include it to keep your self dry and from getting chaffed it might be something to pickup. That’s all I’m going to say about that one.
6)- Make a plan & map it out, figure out who you want to see and what booths you would like to check out and map out a plan and time frame. Remember to make it adaptable because as one marketing rep said we operate on a sliding time schedule. You never know how things will work out, and the show is larger then you can imagine. (You will not cover the whole show in 4 days)
7)- Business cards make sure to bring enough of them, I have a business card holder I use, however I found one of the best places to carry your cards is on the back side of your lanyard / I.D. Carrier (which I suggest you bring one but sometime vendors give them out)
8)- Make notes, bring a pen and a sharpie so you can make notes on business cards if your doing it right you will have a thick stack of cards from people you meet and talk with. Notes help you keep track for later follow ups, they also work for signatures you will have the opportunity to meet many known people in this industry.
9)- Travel to from airport, this one I found there are shuttle services you can buy a round trip however you have to know exactly when and where you will be when you are ready for a pickup 24hrs prior and setup a pickup time. For me next time I’ll skip the round trip and just go with the one way shuttle service as I couldn’t guarantee myself a specific time.
10)- Swag & product bag, plan on bringing an extra bag or have room for swag and products you might be taking home with you. One thing to note gun parts and magazines can go in your checked luggage, I have no issues transporting projectiles (just the lead), Bullet Key Chains, Gun Key Chains, AR-15 magazines ect. in my checked bags. Also note while at the show travel light as possible especially media crew because the more you carry the quicker you will become fatigued.
Those are just a few of my tips for surviving #SHOTSHOW , if you have some thoughts on this please let me know if the comments below…
SHOT SHOW 2016 – Cobalt Kinetics NEW Competition Rifle!
I have to say this was one of my personal highlights from Shot Show 2016! The Cobalt Kinetics competition rifle, this rifle automatically drops your empty mag and closes the bolt upon installing a loaded mag. This rifle is technically a prototype and is not out just yet. The expected date of release is around July/August 2016, MSRP is unknown at this time. Note our friends at MGS Firearms just signed up as a new Cobalt Kinetics dealer, so keep an eye on their social media for more info.
Applied Arsenal Finishes & Gun Works – New Show Sponsor
I’ve very excited about this, we recently teamed up with Applied Arsenal Finishes & Gun Works out in Waterman, IL. AAF for short is a firearms coating company, that specializes in Cerakote as well as Hydro dipping. They have a really nice little facility and do some top notch work. In fact I choose them to do the coating on my F-1 Firearms receiver set for my 3-Gun Rifle. I am really looking forward to showing you all their work, hopefully soon after I return from #ShotShow 2016! In the mean time, visit them on facebook ( facebook.com/appliedarsenalfinishes ) “Like” their page and thank them for supporting the BigGunner81 YouTube Channel!
1-5-15 ((BigGunner81 LIVE!)) Annette Evans & Jacqueline Janes
Somehow this didn’t get posted earlier… Not sure what happened there? This was an excellent show, we have been really blessed with having some awesome guests show up for ((BigGunner81 LIVE!)). These 2 lovely ladies are both sponsored by Sig Sauer, and they were so much fun to talk with. I have to say as I personally am partial to Sig’s (And have been shooting my P226 in competition), it was very refreshing to see these two running the P320 in competition. I can’t thank them both enough for joining us and sharing their stories as HASHTAG’s with us LoL. I’m going to throw my favorite hash tag in here, (which came from my friends teasing about my sig) #SigSugar. #SigSauer
1-12-15 ((BigGunner81 LIVE!)) Jay Carillo & Dr. Darren Hancock talking health & Competition
This was a great idea that Jay had for a discussion, we had Dr. Darren Hancock of Chicago Sports & Chiropractic Medicine on with us talking about health and ways to avoid injury while doing what we love to do! Jay also mentioned a his story of how he injured himself during a match, and surprisingly it didn’t happen while he was shooting.
UPDATE: 3-Gun Competition AR-15 Rifle Upgrades
Now, I’m not a pro level shooter or anything like that. However many of you out there have asked me various questions about my rifles. Particularly my competition setup I run for 3-Gun. So I made a video showing what parts I ran on my 3-Gun Rifle for the 2015 Season, you can see that video below. Having said that I have a few nice upgrades I am working on, the 1st being the F-1 Firearms 3-Gun receiver set. For details on this awesome setup, see my video below.