The ORPA has a representative at the shot show in Orlando - Frank Karl. For those of you who cannot wait to read his article in GUNSMOKE, we are bringing you day-by-day updates directly from Orlando, complete with photos.

Frank's articles are listed below:

SHOT Show Day -1 - January 10, 2007

by Frank Karl

Driving to Orlando, Florida, home of the 2007 SHOT Show makes for a long two days of driving but it is a treat to see green glass and flowering plants in January. Shortly over the Florida state line I came across a billboard --it said something like:

"Warning, Florida residents have the right to use lethal force."

I initially found it comforting that the Sate of Florida decided to warn criminals coming from the northern states that Floridians do fight back. Many of these states don’t have the same rights we in Ohio recently gained.

Then I noticed the sign was sponsored by Handgun Control. They never get it, do they?

Arriving at the Orlando convention center you can feel the energy. I got dropped off at the rear of the building and had to walk through the second floor level to get to registration. That gave me a chance to look out into the loading dock area. Wooden crates stenciled Browning and Glock were stacked up waiting their turn to be emptied. Further on in the building internal windows looked in and onto the actual trade show below. People scurried like ants carrying objects and tools in no apparent order. But displays were being assembled. Names like Nikon and Colt were visible as well as lesser known names like Wolf Performance Ammo and Lone Wolf Knives and even a few unknown names like Hastings Ammunition.

I admit to a certain child-like wonder when I attend these shows. I can get in tomorrow Jan 11. It will be hard to sleep to night – kind of like Christmas Eve –wondering about tomorrow’s toys.

SHOT Show Day 1

Arriving at the Orlando Convention Center for the SHOT Show 2007, we are greeted with what can only be considered organized confusion. Plunge in anyway. The confusion is invigorating! It is not confusion – it’s market forces at work.

One of my first stops was Rohrbaugh Pistol. They make one of smallest double action only 9mm semi automatics on the market. The gun is 5.2 inches long and 3.7 inches in height. The barrel is just under 3 inches and the handgun weighs in at 12.8 ounces. The gun holds 6 plus 1 rounds of 9mm. The gun is stripped of all protrusions, buttons, or other surfaces which would catch when drawing from concealment. The slide doesn’t lock back after the last round and the magazine is held in place with the European style mag release in the butt of the grip. The recoil spring is massive and makes it difficult to draw the slide back to check the chamber. Despite these complications, it could be a fine back-up weapon for police and the armed civilian.

Rapid Rod, a collapsible rifle-cleaning rod, has been improved with the addition of solid metal jags for most rifle calibers. Manufactured by Atsko, the maker of Sno-Seal for leather boots, the rod consists of seven 5-inch segments of metal pipe threaded with a continuous length of steel cable. To utilize you remove the folded rod from its case and allow the segments to fall away from the handle. Turning the handle draws the cable up and makes the rod rigid. A quick pass through the rifle or shotgun barrel insures there is no plug from the spill you just had crossing that mud flat. It’s fast and finally you’ll have a cleaning rod when you want it.

More and more rifle shooters have started to take more care with the cleaning of their rifle bore. Passing the rod past the action and through the bore, the brush or jag is then unscrewed to prevent any damage to the muzzle crown. In fact the military is beginning to tech this method to their snipers. Unscrewing the brush is a tedious job. Imagine, one stroke, unscrew, withdraw the rod, screw the brush on for the next stoke and so on. Boring!! Slip 2000 has designed an adapter which allows you to simply slip the brush or jag in and out of the cleaning rod, similar to the quick release on your garden hose. I’m told the military is about to use these with their .50 caliber weapons. I suspect we are talking sniper here. When you’re at a half-mile or farther target, a clean barrel makes all the difference.

I had a chance to handle the new Sigarms 556 rifle. It’s a full automatic weapon so only police and military can get their hands on it, but I liked it. Set up for the NATO version of .223 rem, the rifle has all the features you would expect of a German weapon: robust over-engineered, excessive compulsive attention to detail and extremely well made. The fire selector switch has the standard safe and semi-auto positions as well as two more positions. While bursts of 3 aren’t that unusual, a selector position for a burst of 20 is. I asked and was informed it really means full auto. The typical magazine holds twenty rounds, so you get a burst of twenty. The polymer mags clip together so you can have three mags mounted on the gun. Push the mag release and move over to the next full mag. Fast and efficient, which is import to people in the SWAT business. I suspect that two mag are enough, or the outboard weight of two filled mags on one side of the gun while number three is feeding the chamber could be a little unbalancing.

The first day was exciting and as the Pointer Sisters said, "…I’m about to lose control, and I think I like it!" More tomorrow. We only covered 27 of more than 100 rows!

Below are photos of 2 Rohrbaugh 9mms and new Sig rifle.

SHOT Show Day 2 Walking the Miles

A floor manager at the Orlando Convention Center claims from one end to the other of the exhibitions at the SHOT Show is one mile. That’s not counting all the zigzags the aisles make. I’ve been walking for two days now and I have a little less that half to do yet. It seems a lot more than a mile! Let me slip my shoes off and tell you a little about it.

One of the best-known brands of muzzleloaders is CVA. It’s going to get better known in the near future. They have released an electronically fired .50 caliber muzzleloader called the Electra. Stop saving those 209 primers and say hello to your new friend: the 9-volt radio battery. Since the trigger has no moving parts, the trigger pull can be incredibly light and smooth. One battery will provide reliable ignition for 500 shots. If you just leave the electronics on, the battery is good for 25 days! The Bergara barrel has a 1 in 28 twist and is available in blue or stainless steel. I really like the feel and weight distribution. The barrel sports an integral rail that will take any scope or dot you have.

Imagine traveling by car or bush plane in Alaska or any other remote part of the U.S. Mechanical problems could leave you stranded. In many parts of the great outdoors, man is not the top of the food chain. S&W makes a survival kit that could help you out. Packed into a waterproof, floatable yellow container is S&W five-shot .500 Magnum revolver, emergency chain saw, magnesium block fire starter as well as some other goodies. This could be the package you need to survive. Having fired the longer barrel .500 S&W, I asked about the punishment one could expect from the just under 3-inch barreled revolver. Not too bad the marketing guy told me. By the way, S&W has an urban disaster kit as well. If you remember, and I sure hope you do, many of the citizens of New Orleans were faced with urban predators after hurricane Katrina. This kit is set up to help four adults survive three days and features a 9mm Sigma. The Sigma comes with a light rail but for a few dollars more, you get a laser. For the novice shooter as well as the more experienced, placing the laser on the target and performing the indicated response could be a real lifesaver.

Speaking of lasers, the market is flooded with lasers for your handgun, rifle and bow and arrow. Lasers have become the new "cure all" for the shooting industry. I would like to go on record and say in the near future, I expect all self-defense firearms to have a built in laser. The laser diodes are here; the circuitry is here, and the miniature batteries are here. All that’s lacking is the gun manufacturers will to do it. Many aftermarket lasers were shown and the biggest drawback right now is the absence of momentary contact switches. Think of the advantage to illuminate and identify your target with white light, move to a different location, and with the laser find, challenge, and deal with the threat. Lasers – well, they aren’t just for "Star Wars" anymore.

Thompson/Center, now owned by S&W, has introduced a new line of bolt-action rifles. Judging by the crowds watching the video of the production steps and then waiting in line to handle one, it looks like a success. The rifle is available in popular calibers like .22-50, .243 and .308. The jeweled bolt has three lugs that lock the cartridge in place and unlock with a 60-degree bolt lift. The factory trigger is set at a 3 to 3.5 pounds and you can adjust it with a tool they provide. The rifle feeds from a detachable straight line 3 round magazine.

Only two more days to go, and I have so many more places to stop. I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with knives or the silly stuff, like a five-foot mirror you carry while stalking deer and turkey. I understand there is law enforcement use envisioned…. This ought to be interesting!

Below are photos of the new S & W Survival kit and the CVA Electra.

SHOT Show Day 3 Working the Show

Orlando has a reported population of 186,000 but with the enormous number of conventions (there’s a surf expo -- whatever that is -- and some kind of programmers’ convention also in town), the population must swell at least 20%. And they were all on the road I needed to take to get to and from a restaurant for dinner, so it’s later then I want it to be and my report will be shorter than I want.

I had a chance to hear Dave Spaulding, a retired police officer and editor of "Law Officer" magazine speak. I took a course from Dave at TDI (www.tdiohio.com) in southern Ohio. Dave talked about developing the "Combative Mind" and is an excellent speaker. He ran one minute over. I also heard Ernest Emerson talk about "Surviving Combat Inside the ‘Kill Zone’ -- A Seminar for Law Enforcement." Ernest owns a knife company, but he’s really all about martial arts training. I can really get into it because if I could, I’d spend all day in the dojo. He gets a little passionate about his subject and starts with "drat" and halfway into the presentation is using, words that FCC regulations prevents me from repeating. He ran over by about 45 minutes.

I like to hear these types of presentations, not because I want to become a police officer, but because I believe the armed citizen faces many of the same problems. If this is true, why not learn from the people who have been grappling with these problems for years?

Both speakers are worth hearing. Both will stir you out of your complacence, and both will make you understand the nature of criminal violence and what will happen and what you need to prepare for.

I stopped at H&K and found the perfect squirrel gun. If you’re tired of those thievin’ little rodents stealing your birdseed and digging up your flowerbed, H&K has the perfect gun for you. It’s a tripod-mounted, full-automatic 40 by 55 grenade launcher that will fit the bill. It’s currently used by special forces in Iraq by the Canadians and us. The sales guy was very proud of the special internal safeties and that it can be set up for left or right feed. The fire mode includes a full auto and a single shot mode. It even has rails for your dot or tactical light. It’s not available to civilians, but I’m sure your local army base would be happy to bring one out to solve that rodent problem. I suspect the ammo cost will be separate.

One day to go! More tomorrow.

SHOT Show Day 4 All Good Things Must End

Sunday is the fourth and final day of the SHOT Show. While the show runs to 4 PM, most of it is over at noon, maybe 1:00. The vendors are tired, the purchasers are tired, the news media is tired, and I’m pretty much beat.

Gun wise, Karen, my wife (who I trust to cover me while I reload), is looking for a new1911 .45 ACP. While we looked at, and handled, many ‘brands,’ Springfield Arms with their "Loaded" line has everything she wants. Since she wants it for shooting single stack classics as well as IDPA, she wasn’t concerned about a light rail, but she is going to get night sights. Last summer we shot several after-dark events and if a tactical light and laser are king and queen of the land of dark, then night sights are the crown prince.

Over at Spyderco, incredible things are happening! Spyderco is poised to launch their first two automatic knives. Colorado had laws against the manufacturing of automatic knives but Spyderco worked with their state government to modify these laws. The driving force is not market share but their need to be function and quality driven. Over the last two years they have worked to become GSA certified. This opened up direct sales to the military and other government agencies and created a demand for an automatic knife. Of course, Spyderco always does it right. The other auto will be called the Citadel and features a strong spring, which will lock the knife open, even if some object temporarily obstructs the initial opening. I like this feature. The Citadel has a safety right next to the open button, which is very convenient. The knife opens smoothly, fast and with the traditional Spyderco locking sound of quality. Their second knife, the Samaritan, qualifies as a bit unusual. The knife itself can be opened manually (using the Spyder hole), leaving the spring still locked, or as a traditional automatic. Even here there is a Spyderco twist. The activation button is a two-step process to open the knife. Acting as a safety, the bolster containing the button must be pushed sideways. It sounds more complicated then it is. The reality is you push the button and simultaneously slide your thumb sideways. The spring isn’t sufficiently powerful to lock the blade open if the opening is temporarily blocked. The other interesting thing about this knife is the use of a liner lock.

I can’t talk about price or delivery date, because things are still up in the air. But these two knives are going to be really popular with our men and women who are serving our country. I think they are totally cool.

The attendance seemed to be down at this year’s show. I don’t know why. It’s 30 some degrees in my hometown of Akron and I’m typing by a pool enjoying the sun and watching a small tan and brown lizard climb over decorative stone for inspiration. Go figure.

What I find interesting at the show are the people. You see everything from police in full work uniforms to underdressed models hawking products. I saw several purchasers in their single action shooting costumes (san guns) and more than one person in a tactical vest covered with pins, product patches and logos. It’s a study in people.

Speaking of models, one vendor had a line of skimpy, romantic seduction wear in forest camo displayed on manikins. If you’re crazy enough to give your significant other camo undies, you better make sure there’s something really nice included with it. I suggest the handgun she wants or something round and sparkly.

That’s all from Orlando. We hit the road early tomorrow AM. Look for my full Shot Show 2007 article in an upcoming issue of Gunsmoke.