SHOT Show 2017

Last week I attended SHOT Show for my 2nd year and it was even better than the first. The first time, I was still getting my bearings and trying to get the lay of the land so-to-speak. The show is about 12 miles of ground to cover with a few hundred exhibits to see. As the husband put it, it's sort of sensory overload at first. There really is so much to see and you really can't see it all as we discovered last time. Last year SMT was still so new and I was still trying to navigate my way around this world of firearms - I still am to be honest. 

For all my fashion blogger friends out there, this is the New York Fashion Week of the firearms world except that everyone is #frow (front row) and everyone can touch & feel the products and talk to the "designers". Everyone is posting on social media about it and the folks that couldn't attend definitely suffer from #fomo from seeing all the highlights. 

While so much ground was covered and everyone has their own favorites and must-sees, I'm wanted to highlighted a few things that have been added to both mine and the husbands wishlists.

{ Heckler & Koch }

An obvious stop for this HK girl was the Heckler & Koch booth. Afterall, my heart will always belong to HK. The VP9 was my very first pistol purchase and I truly love it. This matte grey beauty (top left) is gorgeous. I'm a big fan of anything grey these days and I'm a firm believer if you love something, why not buy it in every color ;) The SP5K (top right) is actually a 9 mm sporting pistol. The husband fell in love with it and so did I after taking a closer look. It's a nice size and perfect home defense firearm in our opinion.  We were so excited about this, only to find to it's not on the approved list for DC. #womp #freakingDC Is it ridiculous to move to another state just so we can have a certain firearm?!

My other favorite at the HK booth was the P30SK. This compact beauty is on my list for sure. I loved the way it felt in my hands even being a compact size and of course the interchangeable back and side grips will make the fit even better.

{ Sig Sauer }

While I'm all about HK the husband on the otherhand is all about that #SigLife. We went back to this booth multiple times, on purpose and by accident. Mainly because it seemed that while trying to navigate the SHOT floor, all aisles led to Sig. No matter what turn we made, coming or go, it seemed like Sig was right there...so why not keep checking it out. Last year the husband was eager to see the debut of the Sig Legion series and was hooked. Once the legion series was released, he picked up the Sig Legion P226 and he pretty much shoots that exclusively now. He's also been waiting for the legion P220 (top left) to be released since last year. What's the hold up Sig?! While we were at the Sig booth, I spotted this rose gold filligree engraved Sig P938 (top right). This photo doesn't do it justice. You have to see it in person to really appreciate it's beauty. Talk about getting fancy with your handgun. The detailing is impressive and with the polished rose gold, it's almost too pretty to shoot. While I'm definitely not your pink gun kind of girl as I like my guns to look like a gun, this one is a very edgy chic. Another favorite of the husbands is the SIG MPX SBR (bottom left). Unfortunately, not on the approved DC list. Moving is sounding better and better haha.

{ CRKT Knives }

One of our must stops is always to check out the CRKT booth and they had so many new goodies. We both really like this brand as our everyday carry knife option. While there are many other great knife brands, we just kind of stick with what we like in this area. They just released their field strip technology knife on this Homefront knife (top left). Created by knife maker Ken Onion, the purpose of the field strip is to allow you to completely disassemble & reassemble the knife wherever you are without using other tools. The OD green finish is beautiful. The cosmetic features were inpsired by WW2 and really gives it a vintage but modern vibe. CRKT also debuted some of their new Forged By War series of products. The Forged By War program encourages veterans to create tools they wish were availbe in the battlefield. A portion of all sales from the Forged By War series gets donated to a charity of the veterans choice. This sugarskull tecpatl (top right) caught my eye for obvious reasons. I'm not one to shy away from having a variety of every day carry tools so this knuckle style knife with all it's amazing detail is definitely making it's way into my arsenal. 

{ Cobalt Kinetics }

One of the more fun aspects of SHOT is that often times there are "celebrities" and heroes that make appearances at some of the booths. We saw Lou Ferrigno walking the floor, Jesse James was their to promote his series of firearms just to name a couple. At the Cobalt Kinetics booth, we got to meet to Chris "Tanto" Paronto, one of the heroes that survived the embassy attack in Benghazi. He is so genuinely nice and it was truly an honor to shake his hand. It was awesome to see all the people lined up to meet and talk to this hero.

Mark "Oz" Geist, another hero from Benghazi was also at SHOT but unfortunately, we missed him.

Also at the Cobalt Kinetics booth, Taya Kyle made an appearance in honor of the Cobalt Kinetics Chris Kyle "The Legend" tribute collection of AR-15s. In partnership with Allegiant Rifleworks this four gun collection honors the legacy of Chris Kyle. These four can only be bought in a set and are on a limited run of 250 sets. They come numbered and I believe the set goes for around $18k (proceeds go to the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation). The cerakoting and craftsmanship is so beautiful that I don't know if someone would actually shoot them. 

One of the other great parts of SHOT is getting to meet old and new friends. Social media has been a great way to "meet" like-minded people in the industry but when you finally get to meet them in person it makes that connection so much more real and special. The networking, meeting, and happy hour aspect of SHOT is just as busy & fun as trying to see all the new products. It was so much fun and exhausting at the same time. We met so many awesome people in the industry and have some really exciting things coming to SMT this year. We are exciting for this year and also looking forward to SHOT Show 2018.