Tuesday, April 24, 2012

NRA 2012


This year marks the first year I was able to attend the NRA show.  It’s usually manned by our Law Enforcement and longtime friend Don Alwes, but this year I had some other business to take care of with some clients and marketing partners so I took that opportunity to do so.  St Louis is a short 5 hours from my house, so it seemed like the perfect chance to finally get to the show.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived at the convention center on setup day was the huge amount of people on hand already.  Most of them were exhibitors, but a lot of public was already in the building.  There was a booth set up specifically for signing up new NRA members as well as renewing or upgrading existing members.  It was packed full of people!!  There was a bell that rang every so often, signifying new members.  The crowd cheered every time the bell rang, like a boxer had knocked out the evil champ.  It was great to see so many new members in one place.
Our booth was a small 10’x10’, so setup took about 10 minutes.  Don brought his training weapons and I brought along the small prototype bobtail 1911 as well as a fully customized 300 Blackout.  The rest of the guns were tricked out variations of the AR15, including the Marksman model, which is a definite show stopper. 
Friday morning it didn’t take long for the aisles to fill with anxious members wanting to see what the next big thing was going to be and who was going to sell it.  It reminded me of a scaled down SHOT show.  Maybe 1/3 the size of SHOT, exhibitors brought their nice displays and their newest products to show.  I was never able to get out and move around the show floor because our booth was stacked with people wanting to see what we had to show.  The crowd was blown away by not only the bobtail model, but the shooter 1911 Don uses with over 15,000 rounds of 45 ACP through it.  It’s still a crisp, tight pistol.  I was impressed with how well it held up to being thrown around in training and seeing that many rounds.  It was definitely a strong testimonial for our Combat Pistol.  Saturday was the same.  There were people from all walks of life in to see what was hot. 
The biggest thing I have noticed over the last 6 months worth of trade shows is how most people even though they don’t know a lot about us had at least heard about us.  We have been trying very hard to advertise and put products in the places the most people would see them and get to shoot them.  The DoubleStar name has gained a lot of ground in the last two years and we hope it continues to do the same.
I had to leave Saturday and head back for a family event, but we were busy enough that instead of leaving at lunch as planned, I stayed until close to help Don field the masses.  It was a busy show for us.  I feel like we got a lot of traffic and great feedback from DSC customers.  The thing you can always count on in this business is someone telling you what you did wrong.  That’s a good thing for a manufacturer because it keeps us on top of our game.  We will continue to build great guns and come out with new products until someone says we can’t.  With the upcoming election, there are no guarantees that we will have tomorrow in this industry.  Take advantage of the liberties that we have now.  Go to a gun show, buy a gun, sign up for the NRA if you aren’t a member.  There are a lot of great people in that organization that really want what’s best for our industry.  Do your part to keep our freedom in tact.  No one is going to do it for you.

Keep your mags full and your trigger finger loose!
-Nick