Any Ah ha! moments?

[Vlad the Impaler]

I'm kind of hyped about the two magpul AR tools. Curious how they hold up to current tools.

Double that!
The Magpul AR wrench was nice but the vise block, with the bolt lugs to keep the torque on the barrel vs. the upper, is the cat's ass.

My biggest revalation was comparing 1X4 - 1X6 AR optics. The Steiner 1X5 rapid dot was outstanding, but way out of my league on price. Another favorite was the Vortex Razor 1-6 followed closely by the Bushnell Elite 1X6.5 SFP. Then, knocking it down in my price range, I had to go with the Vortex Viper PST which I favored to the Burris and Millet offerings. I wasn't impressed with the Leupold, which wasn't two eyes open friendly at its 1X setting.
It was a fantastic opportunity to check a bunch of optics side by side. I bought the Viper PST from Allen after deciding.

There were some cool ideas for ARs, some well executed and some not. Adcor Defense's piston with reversable charging handle was well done. I don't recall the manufacturer beside them with the switch barrel system, which bloodied my knuckles executing the clumsy set up. I noticed one of the guys running the booth with his torn up hands too, so I guess it wasn't just about practice.

Handled a Tavor for the first time. The thing is compact and somewhat heavy, but it has great balance especially when shouldered. Once I got the knack of swapping mags and dropping the bolt, I started really enjoying the lay-out. I'd like to fire one sometime.

 

[Motorhead302]

i wanted to check out the tavor, but their booth was small enough and crowded enough i didn't get to. i stood there for about 4 minutes, and the same two people wouldn't put them down and move on, so i moved on.

 

[JollyMon]

My biggest Ah ha moment was playing around with the hidden compartment furniture (which also happened to be my favorite booth) and finally having to ask the lady to show me.

 

[Citronman1980]

I liked the satellite phone booth. They have a new prototype device that is a "hotspot" and will allow any smart phone to become a satellite phone. They rent them as well. Could come in handy for boating or deep wilderness hiking/hunting/fishing.

Do you recall the name of the company, by chance?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

i wanted to check out the tavor, but their booth was small enough and crowded enough i didn't get to.

They had the a Tavor at the Timney booth as well.

 

[spitfire51]

My biggest "ah ha" was seeing just how tall hickok45 is.

Other moments: realizing how badly I want a Sig P226 after seeing how well it fits my hand. Finding a good option for a holster to use while jogging (now I just need a gun to go with it). Helping a friend select her first pistol (she was very drawn to the Ruger LCR). Trying out the anschutz rifles and finding out what a 120-gram trigger pull feels like. Visiting the Outdoor Channel booth and feeling how amazing their flooring was and how great it felt after being on my feet all weekend.

 

[David D]

My biggest aha moment was when my wife declared that she liked the boberg 9 Short. Unfortunately I then learned the list price $1,349. This will definitely be a deal breaker for me. I am anxious to check out the Walther CCP the OP mentioned, but that I missed at the show.

I was sorry to see that there was no INGO booth.

 

[88E30M50]

They had the a Tavor at the Timney booth as well.

My son and I tried the Tavor booth and after there was nobody moving away, went over to the Timney booth and played with their Tavor. I was also impressed with the trigger pull you can get with a Timney trigger in a Mosin.

 

[87iroc]

My biggest Ah ha moment was playing around with the hidden compartment furniture (which also happened to be my favorite booth) and finally having to ask the lady to show me.

Is that legal in Ohio?

 

[VERT]

My wife fell in love with a Kimber 9mm compact that was a blue sapphire color. She played with that thing for 10 minutes. Even told me to order her one. Then she figured out our local gun shop was not a Kimber dealer and she will not buy from the other shop in town. So instead she bought some blue Eagle Grips for her gun.

 

[87iroc]

Speaking of grips...I bought some VZ? Grips for my 1911. I was just looking for old school grips and they had some neat looking ones. threw them on there and love the traditional look of it(it had Hogue Rubber grip on it before)...took it out and loved how it shot with them. Ran 50 rounds through it and it was awesome!

 

[VERT]

VZ had all their grips there and ready to roll. $50. Wish I would have waited a couple months before ordering mine.

edit: Hogue had a hotline setup. Pick your grips and they shipped free at the discounted price.

My wife got a kick out of meeting the owner of Eagle grips and his wife. She picked them out but they need cut for an Ambi safety. Raj assured us he would take care of that detail and ship them to is this week.

 

[GNRPowdeR]

I was blown away with how so many of the key players for their businesses were so easily approachable & seemed to enjoy making time to visit with "the little guy / gal" like you & me... Some people have earned consideration for purchasing simply because of how they treated me for 5 - 10 minutes at this conference.

 

[Streck-Fu]

Giessele trigger demos, and the Timmeny trigger in the Tavor. Shouldered a Barret .50 and watched the blonde at the Aimpoint booth play with their "shooting gallery" in her tight black dress..... damn!

I was standing right behind her she was doing that. Not sure who had the better view....

 

[87iroc]

I was blown away with how so many of the key players for their businesses were so easily approachable & seemed to enjoy making time to visit with "the little guy / gal" like you & me... Some people have earned consideration for purchasing simply because of how they treated me for 5 - 10 minutes at this conference.

Yep...and some lost business unfortunately. I didn't care for the total disregard for a 'stranger' that the people working the Cimarron booth had when I walked up. They continued talking to their friend. The guy at the Uberti booth broke away from a 'friend' to talk to me and payed just enough attention to me to show me the guns, say they were 'fresh out of the box' and not reworked, etc. Then went back to what he was doing to not annoy me with his presence.

 

[tatic05]

My Ah Ha moment was meeting Michelle and Gabby.....

I really liked the WWI firearms, and how nice and approachable everyone was. It was my first time going and only went on Sat...next year I will be there for the weekend.

 

[jimbo-indy]

Major Ah-Ha moments. Got selected as a volunteer on the firearms inspector team Thursday night (Kirk, thanks for the heads up). My team got to play in the FN, Barretta and Benneli booths. This trap shooter was in total heaven inspecting all the Benneli shotguns while the others played with the rifles and handguns. Now to figure out how to come up with $$$ for a DT11 trap gun. Thursday night made the next two days of sore feet at the registration booth worth it. GREAT CONVENTION, can't wait for Nashville. Looking forward to seeing all my new friends again.

 

[wtburnette]

I was blown away with how so many of the key players for their businesses were so easily approachable & seemed to enjoy making time to visit with "the little guy / gal" like you & me... Some people have earned consideration for purchasing simply because of how they treated me for 5 - 10 minutes at this conference.

I agree. Couple friends and I sat talking with one of the designers at Apex for quite a while about their trigger kits. Very approachable and acted like our feedback was valuable.

 

[88E30M50]

VZ had all their grips there and ready to roll. $50. Wish I would have waited a couple months before ordering mine.

edit: Hogue had a hotline setup. Pick your grips and they shipped free at the discounted price.

My wife got a kick out of meeting the owner of Eagle grips and his wife. She picked them out but they need cut for an Ambi safety. Raj assured us he would take care of that detail and ship them to is this week.

Almost all them anyway. I was looking forward to picking up a set of black cherry double diamond grips for my compact 1911 and that seemed to be the only one they did not have in stock. Oh well.

 

[GNRPowdeR]

I agree. Couple friends and I sat talking with one of the designers at Apex for quite a while about their trigger kits. Very approachable and acted like our feedback was valuable.

I have yet to understand how I missed their booth! Totally needed to grab a FSS for my M&P... Maybe I should call them & ask if I could still have the deal???