MAKE THE CALL Retailers Leave No Booth Unvisited In Search For New Products DEALERS Story And Photos By Carolee Anita Boyles AT SHOT F irearm dealers converged on SHOT Show 2012 searching for the newest products, and greatest deals and programs to help boost profits in their stores throughout the country — and other nations. In exclusive interviews with Shooting Industry, retailers noted a number of trends. “We saw so many AR products, we were on AR overload,” said Miles Hall, president of H&H Gun Range Shooting Sports Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. “There seems to be no end to the variations of AR-15s and AR-related accessories and products.” A number of retailers mentioned the reintroduction of “tried-and-true” products, including Peter Leach, of Jon’s Sport Shop in Oshkosh, Wis. “It seems companies are bringing back some of the traditional products they’ve mar- keted for years, but they’re updating them and adding a new spin on things,” he said. And, it would have been near impossible to miss the prevalence of zombie everything. “The zombie craze is just incredible,” said Joseph Rutan, gun manager at Bill Jackson’s in Pinellas Park, Fla. “I think Hornady really started that in the industry when they came out with the zombie ammo. Guys come into the store and buy it, not to shoot it, but to collect it. Now Ruger has a little zombie LCP, which I thought was pretty creative. Birchwood Casey is only one of many companies that have zombie targets. It’s a big craze.” Dave Michniewicz, of Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine, said more militaryinspired and law-enforcement products are available to the civilian market. Firearms Joe Lucania, Devil Dog Arms, gives high marks to Nikon’s riflescopes designed for the modern sporting rifle. “I saw quite a bit of that at Smith & Wesson,” he said. “CMMG is another AR company I like a lot. There are so many black-gun companies out there right now, it’s hard to keep them straight. Now, everyone is calling the AR the ‘modern sporting rifle.’ It’s a very versatile platform that’s growing and isn’t going to stop.” For 2012, Smith & Wesson added two new models to its M&P15 Rifle Series through collaborations with Magpul and Viking Tactics. CMMG is offering the M300 in the new .300 Blackout in three-barrel length. Graham Perry with Salt Lake Guns in Hanley, Saskatchewan, Canada, said the new Browning 16-gauge Citori Heritage caught his attention. “It’s a really pretty shotgun,” he said. “Browning also has some new maple stocks that are really nice on their T-Bolts and several of the Citori models. This year, they also came out with the new A5 semiautomatic shotgun that looks just like the old A5 Browning that grandpa had. And they’ve got the new Citori 725 with mechanical triggers that I think is going to be wonderful for sporting clays shooters.” David Brown, with Fireice Firearms in Cherokee, Iowa, was enthusiastic about the new Mossberg shotguns. “I really like the FLEX System,” he said. “It lets you change out the stock and the forearm, and change the whole configuration of the gun. It’s a very neat system.” Martin Dick, with Pigeon Point Christmas Trees (yes, the name is correct), Raymond, Wash., liked the history associated with Colt’s semiauto pistols. “I’m here going down memory lane because I have a long history with Colt pistols,” he said. New Colt firearms include the Colt New Frontier in .44 Special and .45 Colt., and an updated version of the Colt .380 Mustang Pocketlite. In the Taurus booth, Neal Crasnow, www.shootingindustry.com APRIL 2012 33
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