For the past week nearly every media outlet that attended SHOT has been doing their unofficial post-mortem on SHOT Show 2022.
Many of the harshest critics share one commonality: they weren’t there.
As I’ve read the tens of thousands of words, dozens of social media posts, and commentaries, it seems plenty of people had their minds set on SHOT being an abject failure before the doors even opened.
Hate to rain on all those gloomy parades, but not everyone’s buying your assessment. Your absence didn’t crater the whole affair
With a week’s time in the rearview mirror, many manufacturers I’m talking with tell me they’re very pleased with the results. One told me (last Friday-before the show had ended) he’d already exceeded his most optimistic forecasts.
Others offered a few observations: the smaller crowd made it easier to cover more ground; see more products; talk with more manufacturers; and locate the kinds of products that could help differentiate your business from your competition.
I totally agree.
For the first time in years, I didn’t leave feeling like I hadn’t “seen the show”. I was never late for a scheduled meeting. A first.
Despite averaging 5.5 miles of walking each day, I ended each day tired, not exhausted.
Not fighting your way through a jostling crowd apparently improves your overall disposition, too. Granted, I missed seeing many friends and acquaintances, but actually had more substantive business meetings than normal. Ultimately, doing business is the only reason you should have for going.
Waiting a few days gave more time to think about new products I’d seen. When we talk about best new products, seems I expect “bests” to be limited to those I consider disruptive not necessarily innovative.
That’s not an accurate standard, it’s a jaded outlook.
Some of the “best” new products weren’t necessarily groundbreaking. Those were there, but the ones I believe are “bests” don’t always shake up the way we do things. Instead, they improve them.
That’s why Real Avid’s new Master Vise is a $300 product with the potential to get new shooters more involved in the sport. From gun cleaning to gunsmithing, it makes the jobs simpler. Simpler is good.
As you progress in any sport, you find yourself drawn to the idea of customization. Stock gear gets you interested; but customizing the equipment to your body type, personal preferences and quirks are what hook you for life.
Trying to adapt gear when you’re forced to adjust to the equipment you’re trying to use (or learn to use) only complicates the process.
That’s why a tool that makes working on your gear easier is really one of the “best” items you can have. The Master Vise makes working on -or cleaning -your gun look simple. Simple is good.
The second item on my personal list of items will help me improve my shooting skills. When you’re trying to improve, it’s crucial you accurately measure your progress. Whether it’s practical shooting competition or defensive shooting, fractions of seconds make big differences. Whether you realize it or not, everyone leaks time.
If you’re a beginner, you probably waste seconds fumbling around to get your gun up and on target.
If you’re an experienced shooter, it’s probably fractions of a second.
Top tier professionals, whether in combat or competition, measure their time leaks in hundredths of a second. Might not sound like much to you, but hundredths add up to tenths, and tenths mean the differences between winning and finishing down in the pack.
Or not making it home from a mission.
That’s why serious shooters pour over time measurements.
The time from draw to breaking your first shot, the split times between shots, even the time between reloads are all critical pieces of determining if/where they’re “losing time”.
The best diagnostic devices (shot timers) read and record those times. At SHOT 2022, I saw a new shot timer from a company already known in shooting circles for their devices.
But Kestrel gear is highly regarded for atmospheric diagnostic and corrective devices used in long-distance shooting, not in measuring the split-times of practical shooting.
I have shot timers, and use them -sporadically. Not because I didn’t care about their information; because my hearing loss prevents my being able to hear their starting tones.
And without that tone, your information is already faulty. Squinting to read small screens only makes my irritation worse.
Not this time.
The KST 1000’s buzzer is loud. Uncomfortably loud for many (OK, it’s adjustable, but I start everything except a car radio at full volume and adjust downward). Acceptably loud enough for me to hear it -without my hearing aids. Loud enough for me to wear my digital hearing protection and still hear the starter call “Shooter ready…stand by…” followed by the start tone.
Loud enough that the first time I tried it, I visualized myself competing again. I’d all but given up on the idea.
The data screen is also larger, brighter and easier to read -even when it’s hanging from your shooting belt.
Hopefully stage officials will either have the new device- or be wiling to use the one I plan on buying- soon. The MSRP is $299 - and according to Kestrel, they will be “coming soon.”
Again, neither of these products are paradigm changing, life-altering devices. Both, however, can make your enjoyment of shooting sports better- and that’s good enough for me.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd