More SHOT Stuff...

Don't worry; don't fret...announcement forthcoming...paperwork sucks!

Meanwhile, am home; am tired. Here's a few of the things I liked...

Liked Bill Laughridge's tour-de-force of 1903/1908 Colt "Pocket Model" in .45 ACP...give the guy a flat file, and he goes berserk and creates the world's coolest pocket pistol. Will try to get the video up this week.

REALLY LIKED that weird little Kriss Super V .45 ACP subgun that looked like a stealth-painted cereal box mated with paint sprayer and had pret'near zero muzzle rise in the videos. Gonna take it to Blackwater in the spring and shoot it in the houses there.

Liked STI's Escort .45 — forged aluminum Commander-length frame and Officer's length slide, with 3rd gen STI Recoilmaster (ne: Detonics) spring system. I asked when I could have an STI LW Commander and Skinner said, "Jeez, Michael! Is there no pleasing you?" So I asked for one with an S&W rear sight, too. Retro is cool.

Para's shorter-framed .45 GAP minigun was nifty, although I shutter to get .45 GAPs mixed in with the billions of pieces of .45 ACP brass around the ole rancho d-lux. Going out to Idaho when it thaws to shoot the Chey-Tac ultra-longrange .408 blasters. Ted Nugent bought two...if it's good enough for the Ted, it's good enough for me!

I liked the SIG 556 pistol, but only because I don't have any sense. Check the video on the 556...I have one on order. I find the gas-piston guns deflect slight to the right shot-to-shot for me because of the slight gas venting to the left out the front of the system...especially noticeable on the full-auto Leitner-Wise guns...probably take 100 rounds to get used to it. No big. Didn't get a chance to mess with the MagPul's Masada, the Next Big Thing in gas piston guns...not to worry, though. Am arguably more interested in the Century Arms Galil-clone, which I want to get my hands on ASAP.

Like Michael Janich's "Jani-Song" new-gen balisong...no more "tactical" than the old balis, but too kool for skool — you've seen the video! Ditto James Williams CRKT folder, which is beefy enough to drive through a concrete wall.

Prize for On-going Entertaining Weirdness goes to Bob Morrison at Taurus for the 3-inch Magnum .410 revolver, which appears to have been left in the washer too long and stretched, and the magnesium .38 snubbie, which if left untethered will float away.

As usual, Tactical Solutions had the trickest trick stuff...there are so few suppressor manufacturers who understand the utility of candy colors! Their totally de-bugged (yeah, they're making the mags, too)1911 .22 conversion unit is the bee's knees, especially the threaded version fitted with one of their ultralight .22 suppressors. I'm gonna suck it up and put the paperwork through on that one. They're also making an STI/SV version with hi-caps. Their 10/22 receiver is a thing of beauty, too...especially the magazine release lever...it's elegant, something I didn't see much of in Orlando!

I liked all the "great military sweepstakes" guns, like the S&W M&P .45 (and the super-cool CT laser system for it); the Taurus 24/7 OSS (which is Taurus' ticket into the big leagues, I believe) and the FNH .45, which I'll be shooting and filming in April. Under duress, though, would still default to the SIG 220 Combat 'cause it has been around in one form or the other the longest and I have the most rounds through the system. The Taurus, however, is a beauty and I can't wait to het mine to test. Since I like the M&P .40 and 9mm, I fully expect to like the .45...Brother Ayoob says they "shoot light," which was certainly my experience with the .40.

I didn't have a chance to handle the Kel-Tec .308 Bullpup that has everybody barking, but it's not due until 2008 anyway.

I REALLY liked the "assault weapons" with the interchangeable barrels that wouldn't interchange, the bolts that couldn't be drawn back, etc. I remain amazed that beavers can be trained to gnaw out rifle receivers.

PS: Was saddened that EAA when to an American model instead of the dissapated Eastern European chicks of yore...somewhere in Mother Russia, a mother is crying...

PPS: Am thinking of having myself Dura-Coated...that way, I can be submerged in salt water — something a lot of people at SHOT would have liked to have seen happen, at least on Thursday! — and not rust...