It's hard to find a place to start writing about the 2011 Shot Show. All of us know that the hunting and shooting industry is big, but I'm here to tell you, the Shot Show is HUMONGOUS!!!
This year was the 50th anniversary of the Shot Show and it is the largest and most recognized hunting & shooting show in the world. In fact, it is in top 10 of the largest trade shows on the planet!
The Shot Show is an industry show and is not open to the public. It's the show where a lot of yearly deals are made between the manufacturers and dealers and distributors across the country and around the world. There is almost nothing for sale that you can walk out the door with.
I've attended the past two years to build relationships between MAX and the manufacturers, it's the place for me to meet the decision makers such as PR and marketing people, and most importantly, the CEO's & owners are on hand.
Shot is also a place to meet celebraties from our industry. This week I was privileged to meet Chuck Mawhinney, Vincent Hancock and Jon Michael McGarth.
Chuck was credited with 103 confirmed NVA-VC kills and 216 probables as a Marine Sniper. Having met Carlos Hathcock many years ago, I can now say I've met two of the most famous Snipers in the World and both are American Heroes.
I was also on-hand to meet two fine young men like Vincent Hancock and Jon Michael McGrath. Both are true world class trap & skeet shooters. Vincent is an Olympic Gold Medalist and holds other world and national titles. Jon Michael currently holds 19 (NINETEEN!) World Skeet titles and 9 National titles!
These two very fine young men are not just great competitors, they are now using their status to work with youth through the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation.
We were lucky enough to be invited to the Mississippi, POMA, Brownells , Alpen & Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation Breakfast which was held at the Venetian Hotel. It was great to see old friends like Lisa Methany of Outdoor Inspirations
and to meet new ones like Matt Buckingham of Brownells
and Doug Gilmer of Gilmer Outdoors.
Catching up (and having lunch with) great friends who live across the country is a bonus, like Kevin Reese of Just-Hunt.com
and finally putting faces to people we've talked to on the phone a million times, like John Phillips of Night Hawk Publications
is really a bonus to attending this show.
Another fun part of the Shot Show is it's location: Las Vegas, NV.
So after hitting the floor hard each day for 8 hours, meeting and greeting so we can pass on information to the muzzleloading consumer on new products and upgrades on old ones, we hit the Strip! After all, what's the fun of "all work and no play"...
So after the show closed each night we explored Vegas. Kathy (my wife) had never been to Vegas before and we both had a great time, almost like a second honeymoon!
This is actually a photo of us at The Sportsmans Channel Awards Banquet, what a blast that was!!
I'll close this article letting you know that we met some great people and will share more about that over the next few weeks. The two big ones to look for in upcoming posts will be some in-sight into the new Knight Rifles and Leupold....there is a lot of good stuff coming from both of these companies!
As we’ve grown over the past year or so, MAX has started receiving more and more questions on a wider range of products than we ever expected. One of the most asked about products has been rifle scopes.
When I think back on my 35+ years of being a consumer of hunting products, one of the biggest changes I’ve noticed has been in rifle scopes. I do remember my first scope being a fixed 4x Weaver that I mounted on a Marlin 336 30/30 and my second, after being able to afford it, was a Redfield wide field 3 x 9 that I mounted on a Winchester Model 70 .270. That Redfield, for those who remember, was “the” scope to own” and for a while the one that all others were compared to. Since that time, I have purchased and used many scopes from different manufacturers and in all price ranges from $100 to $1,300. Most were worth what I paid, but some were not.
We have been getting so many requests by customers wanting to know what we thought was the best scope for a 200-250 yard muzzleloader, that we started looking at scopes more closely. Some of the questions we were getting were: what power, what size objective lens, what tube diameter, fixed or variable, BDC or not. And actually the list could go on and on. But one of the most frequentlyasked questions has been “do I have to spend a lot of money to get a quality scope?”. After attending the 2010 Shot Show, I can tell you without any doubt that the answer to that question is definitely NO.
First of all, let me tell you what “I” believe the features would be for the perfect muzzleloader scope (if you think about a factory rifle being capable of shooting 200 to 250 yards):
1. variable power of 3 x 9 or 1.5x to 6x
2. 30 mm tube
3. eye piece or side focus
4. 1 piece tube
5. 40mm to 44mm objective
6. price: $280 - $320
1.) Variable power is a nice feature for a scope used on a muzzleloader because a muzzleloader would be considered a close to mid-range rifle. It’s just nice to be able to see the power on the scope meet the need for the type habitat/area you are hunting. Lower power for close or thick situations and more power for longer-range or open areas. I’m really leaning towards the 1.5 x 6 over the more traditional 3 x 9 because of the limited range in muzzleoading rifles, plus you get a bigger field-of-view with the lower power scopes, but with still enough magnification for the longer shots.
2.) I will probably catch a lot of flack from readers on this next feature, the 30mm tube, but here we go (try to remember, this is what “I” think...but then again, I do have a great deal of experience with both 30mm and 1 inch tube scopes). To start with, until recently, 30mm tube scopes were not common in the brand names we are all familiar with. Most were European scopes that came with big price tags. In the summer of 2009, before I started thinking outside the box, the only scope I found in the $300 range that had a 30 mm tube with one piece tube was a FullField 30, which is made by Burris. When I found it on the internet, I had never seen it before but had used several of Burris’ Fullfield II 1 inch tube scopes with great results. I bought the scope and used it last summer on a new rifle (muzzleloader) we were testing and hunted with it this past winter – and I would recommend it to anyone. As to why a 30mm tube, and this is where the flack will start, I really believe that the only way to really get more light to your eye is to have the light from the objective lens, no matter how big it is, pass through a larger diameter (30mm) tube. If you read enough about 30mm tubes vs 1 inch tubes, you will find a lot that supports my opinion (and some that won’t). One more quality in the 30mm tube that I like is that you will have more clicks available in both windage and elevation if needed.
3.) Having the ability to focus or adjust the paralex of the scope from the eye piece or with a knob from the left side of the turrent is a great option. In my opinion, if you have a scope on a muzzleloader where the focus is done by adjusting a knob on the objective lens, you’ve put too much slope on the rifle.
4.) There is not a lot to say on the one-piece tube, a one-piece tube will hold up better.
5.) My reasoning behind drawing the line with a rule about having a scope with an objective lens 44mm or smaller is easy: good marksmanship skills and habits. I’m a huge believer in having the scope mounted on the rifle as low as possible. By keeping the scope as low to the rifle as possible, it allows you to properly mount the rifle to your cheek with the stock, this is called “stock weld”. This puts the rifle in a more natural shooting position which allows better shot placement and also allows you to better accept, and recover from, the rifle’s recoil. As a general rule, a 40mm to 42mm scope can be mounted using low bases and up to a 44mm can be mounted with medium bases.
6.) And lastly is the price. I found all of the above features, plus a few more, in very well-built scopes for around $300, give or take $25 each way. All of the scopes I looked at during my visit to the Shot Show have limited lifetime warranties and seem very well-built.
One company, Konus, has a scope with all of the features I was looking for, plus it had a lit redical for low light. This is a high-quality scope, it has a great price and all of the Konus sales reps were very helpful and made sure that I understood all the features of their products. I like to see confidence and superior product-knowlege in a sales rep.
Another company, Leatherwood / Hi-Lux also had a great line of products of high-quality with good prices. I met Mr. John Wu, the company president, who was very proud of his company’s proudcts and it’s staff. We spoke for a while about both and I’m expecting great things from these scopes.
We will be testing scopes from both Konus and Leatherwood this spring and letting you all know the results by late summer.
In short, high quality does not come with a big price tag, but Konus and Leatherwood will have to pass the long and rigid MAX Tests before we pass it on to you , the consumer and our customers, as a product we recommend.
There were quite few companies at the Shot Show 2010 with new powders, and now I have my work cut out for me for testing them. (not that I’m complaining!)
One company that was there, that I guess you would say is producing a relatively new and great powder, was Blackhorn/Western Powders. I was able to spend over an hour with Don Lhur, their Ballistic Lab Manager, and let me tell you, this company has done their homework on Blackhorn 209!
Don shared a lot of information on their testing of Blackhorn and their further plans that will cater to the modern muzzleloading hunter. They are very much on track with consumer needs and wishes.
If you’ve watched my Precision Fire Inlines DVD or talked with me at a show or on the phone, then you know I have personally shot a lot of Blackhorn 209 with great results. I must say that although Blackhorn is a little more costly than the other powders, it will take it’s share of the black powder substitute market. The people at Blackhorn are very in-tune with customer satisfaction and seem to be a very transparent company with no hidden agenda. All you have to do to fall in love with this product is try just one can and you will be hooked forever!
Another product I ran across was a powder called Black Mag. While talking with Al Raychard of the company, he assured me that Black Mag XP will be an up-and-coming product because of it’s reasonable cost, low corrosive properties and it’s ease of ignition. This product can also be used in side-lock rifles. Black Mag XP is a product that we are not familiar with, but are looking forward to testing this summer.
The only other powder I found at the Shot Show 2010 that I have not had any experience with is a new powder coming out from the American Pioneer Company called “Super Powder”. I was told by Brett Epstein with American Pioneer that this powder will be available on the market in late February. He was very knowledgeable, and proud of this new product. Brett claims the powder to be clean burning, easy to clean up, gives good velocities and ignites well. We look forward to testing his claims and will be evaluating it along with the Black Mag XP this summer. for information regarding our results around August 2010.
While at the Shot Show 2010, one of the many items I was looking for was new bullets. Over this last year, there doesn’t seem to be much that is new or different.
In the past, Barnes (an outstanding bullet by the way) has been, and still is, selling their main line of muzzleloader bullets with the boat-tail shape and yellow sabots. I have found that this bullet-sabot combo is very accurate and performs well on big game. My favorite choice from them is their TMZ. I think Barnes may have been having some complaints on the combo as being hard to load, but my finding was that the bullet was just nice and (very) tight, which I like. I could see where the bullet would be hard to load in a dirty barrel, but on the range, after cleaning between shots (which I always do) I had no problem whatsoever. I further found no problem loading this bullet while using the new Blackhorn 209 powder.
In any case, Barnes now offers a new bullet-sabot combo called their TEZ Line. The difference is that the bullet has a flat base and a blue sabot. The blue sabot is just a few 1000’s thinner for easier loading. The bullet having a flat base vs. a boat-tail should not have any effect on it’s accuracy because the fact is, a boat-tail on a bullet of this size is, in my experience, not really helping much in the aerodynamics at 2000 FPS + anyway. In short, I believe this was a good move on Barnes’ part.
Other than that, there is nothing new and exciting out there that I could find. Thompson Center has come out with a new 250 grain bullet that is an all copper called the “Copper Crusher”. It looks like it is made by you-know-who!
I did make it around to all the companies that produce muzzleloader bullets, all were helpful in answering any of my questions. The Hornady Company people were an especially knowledgeable group.
As always, we are on the search for new bullets, even though there are a lot of good ones already out there. If any of you knows of anything new that we missed, or something you’d like to see us research, please let us know. Till then, we will continue to watch the muzzleloading industry for information on new and exciting products to pass on to you!
MAX (Muzzleloader Accuracy Xperts) has grown to a level in which we never expected (Thank You to our customers!). It has been, we believe, due to a bigger-than-expected need for the everyday guy or gal wanting to get more accuracy out of their modern muzzleloader. Companies are, in fact, marketing their rifles and accessories to include rifle scopes to be able to perform at 250 yards. What we at MAX have done is to step in as an independent tester of these products to insure that the products can do what their company says they can (so we aren’t all led down a garden path by some paid “personality”). What we want everyone to know about us is that we evaluate these products at our own expense, no sponsors!
Here at MAX, just the research is what leads to the TRUTH.
Because this is our policy and in order for us to better serve our customers, I decided I should attend the 2010 Shot Show (Jan 18th – 23rd) in Las Vegas, NV. To date, it has been the best single investment of time we have made into our company - MAX! This has got to be the biggest Hunting & Shooting Industry Show in the world! I’m sure that there were many small companies involved in Modern Muzzleloading products that were not in attendance, but all the big companies were there, as were many small and up-and-coming manufacturers.
What I was looking for was new products from anyone, and most all, transparency in a company.
Webster defines transparent as: permitting a clear view of; easy to see through or understand; obvious.
The way I define transparency is: can a product do what they say it will do, or do they need to pay for and/or depend on big names with big tv shows to sell the product for them? What is their true intentions towards the consumer?
It took me three days, due to the shear size of this show, just to get to all the muzzleloader equipment, but my thoughts and observations are on my website by category. Here I would like to begin with my discoveries with the Rifle companies:
My first stop was CVA because we have been doing almost a full year of research on two specific rifles made by CVA for our next two videos on track for release Summer 2010. CVA is one of the several brands that fall under BPI (Black Powder Inc.). Dudley McGarity, the CEO of BPI and owner of the CVA brand, is a very grounded and approachable person. He has surrounded himself with a great staff of knowable and innovative people that are dedicated to moving CVA products to a new level. And they have done that in a big way.
Per MAX normal operating procedures for unbiased tests and opinions, I had purchased a new CVA Accura for analysis and a possible video project way before I ever met the first person from BPI. As time passed, I did meet Dudley and his staff and have found them to be extremely helpful and transparent in our testing process.
The only two CVA rifles that I have any knowledge of, or experience with is the Accura and the Apex. Both have exceeded my expectations. Dudley McGarity and his staff have worked hard to build a different CVA than we, the consumers, have ever seen before; this is definitely not the same CVA we were used to in the past. Be looking for MAX videos on these two rifles from CVA in the late spring 2010.
Another brand under BPI is Bergara. This is a barrel manufacturing company located in Spain that is turning out some of the best production rifle barrels in the world. Not only does CVA’s Accura & Apex come with these high-quality barrels, these barrel are also available as replacement barrels for Thompson Center’s Encore. I believe that Bergara Barrels have become much more in demand than BPI ever imagined as they are of a higher quality and are a much better value than the Thompson Center brand.
The person I had show me Thompson Center’s new products was very informative, and very proud of their new products. The newest product in their line, as far as muzzleloaders goes, is the new Impact.
This muzzleloader is intended to address the lower dollar market for the hunter who does not want to spend a lot of money, but still wants an inline muzzleloader. The retail of the black & blued rifle is $259 and the camo version is around $300. We will buy one and give it a try sometime in the future, maybe next year, as we already have 4 rifles planned to test this year. I also noticed a new bullet from them called “the Copper Crusher” which, as the name implies, is all copper. We will look into testing these also.
Another company I ran across and will be testing, is from MDM-Muzzleloaders.
MDM is a company out of Vermont who has rifles, cleaning supplies and scopes. Their rifles seem to be very well made and have the feel of the H&R type rifle. They come in blued and stainless with several different stock options: black, camo and wood. The president of MDM and his pro-staff members were all very helpful and I’m looking forward to working with a MDM rifle this year.
The person I talked to at the Traditions booth did not really seem to be that knowledgeable about their top-of-the-line rifle. They were busy and maybe his expertise was in another area, although he didn’t offer to let me talk to anyone that might be able to answer my questions. When I asked to see the newest and most cutting-edge rifle that Traditions has to offer, he showed me their new Vortex Ultra Lite. The rifle looks and feels great and does have a very easy to remove trigger mechanism. The only problem I could see with the rifle was in the safety system.
The Vortex is a break-open design like most other brands, but besides the hammer, it has a cross bolt-type safety, which he pointed out to me. After I cocked the hammer, I tested it by pushing on the back of the hammer (after pushing the safety to the OFF position) and the hammer fell. The staff member looked at me and told me that would happen if you pushed hard enough. ?? I guess to me, safety means safety. Why even put it on the rifle if it doesn’t work?
We will be testing a Vortex at a later date, but I’m going to go with the regular Vortex and not the Ultra Lite; I don’t mind a little extra weight with a muzzleloader.
Over all, this was one of the most productive trips I’ve ever taken in relation to hunting and shooting. The days were very long, but I gained a lot of knowledge about the muzzleloader industry and the direction it’s headed. More importantly, I made decisions on where MAX is headed in the future.
We’ve got some great ideas, videos & tools that will help you Maximize Your Muzzleloader and we will start passing them on to you as fast as we can!
