Contributed photo / Larry Case"To achieve big things, you have to have big dreams." - Conrad Hilton
LAS VEGAS - I've never seen a blue whale, the great pyramid of Khufu, Mount Everest or the Pacific Ocean, but I hear they are big. Things that are huge in our world tend to astound and inspire us, and sometimes they overwhelm us. I know because I just got back from SHOT Show 2017.
The SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show is held annually in Las Vegas and is sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. In the world of firearms and anything remotely related to hunting and the shooting sports, this is it - the center of the universe, nirvana and the greatest show on earth.
This was my third visit to the show, and just when I thought I might start to think of myself as something of a veteran, I came down with the first-morning jitters. Every year when I start the down the hallway from the Venetian/Palazzo hotels complex into the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the old self-doubt monster climbs on my back. What am I doing here? You can't compete here! You'll never get to see the people you need to talk to! Go home, you hillbilly!
Somehow I shake it off and venture forth into the show to look at what they have.
Here are a few SHOT Show vital statistics. It is the largest trade show held in the Sands Convention Center and the fifth-largest held in Las Vegas (and there are a lot of trade shows here). The exhibit space under roof for this show is about 11 acres, with twelve miles of aisles to walk (roughly equivalent to the Superdome or the pyramid I referred to earlier).
More than 70,000 people attended this year to see about 1,600 exhibitors. I was told if you wanted to visit every booth once during the show, you would have about 22 seconds for each. Herein lies the first rule I had to learn: No matter how hard you try, you can't see it all.
Exhibitors and buyers from 50 states and 100 foreign counties attend the show with 2,400 members of the media. (I wish a few of the media guys would stay home and give me a break.)
The question I'm most asked by fellow hunting and shooting chums when I return from the show is this: What did you see that you really liked? Here are a few things from this year:
* Chiappa Firearms. The history of the Chiappa Group (chiappafirearms.com) began in 1958, when Ezechiele (Oscar) Chiappa opened his company and called it Armi Sport. Initially an artisanal workshop, the company has grown over the years to become an industrial group, though still wholly owned by the Chiappa family. The Chiappa group makes many types of firearms, but those made by Chiappa Firearms USA may be of the most interest to those reading this terribly informative column. While Chiappa makes several shotguns from over-and-under to side-by-side to pump to semiautomatic models, the ones that caught my eye are in the Triple Threat line of triple-barreled shotguns.
That's right, a shotgun with three barrels. Until I get to play with one, to those who say "Why a three-barreled shotgun?" I am going to say "Why not?" Chiappa is making these guns in several configurations - 12- to 28-gauge, from a turkey-and-waterfowl version with 3 1/2-inch chambers and Realtree camo to a shorter-barreled 20-gauge for home defense. And for all of you old shotgunners out there thinking about the firing sequence on this gun, it's right barrel, left barrel, top.
* Outdoor Edge Knives. Outdoor Edge (outdooredge.com) has many different knives in its inventory but may be best known for its Razor-Lite line of replaceable blade knives. If you are like me and more or less gave up on learning to really sharpen a knife, these may be for you. This is a scalpel-grade knife blade that you replace after you have used it for a while and want to return to ultra sharpness. I am not sure you can sharpen any knife as much as one of these blades. How sharp are they? Let's just say when you get one, you better have some Band-Aids around.
* Koola Buck Game Coolers and Game Bags. Some of our big game seasons around the country now occur in very warm weather and hunters process animals in less than sanitary conditions. Warm weather and dirty environments filled with leaves, hair and other debris contaminate the surface of our game meat. Spoilage organisms begin their growth on the surface. Koola Buck (koolabuck.com) cotton/polyester game bags are permeated in a proprietary blend of all-natural flavorless acids derived from fruits and other bacterial inhibitors. These inhibitors pledge to protect your meat by reducing bacteria eight times more than standard bags. Koola Buck also offers a line of portable game coolers in which to hang deer, elk and other game animals, which at times could be extremely valuable.
Somehow I fought off the old self-doubt monster and had a pretty good SHOT Show. Got to check out some great guns, see some old friends and make some new ones.
The outdoors, hunting and firearms industry is alive and well. Isn't this a great country we live in?
"The Trail Less Traveled" is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.