Fals from DS Arms:

More from the convention. I forgot I had more. 10/22s:

Click to ginormisize.

Wall of Beretta’s:

Masada:

They’re now up on youtube.

And Jindal for president.

Nice shot. Or five.

And this report from the floor.

1911s from the convention.

Brugger & Thomet TP9 from DSA:

ARs from somebody:

It’s interesting but I met so many people there. And I can’t remember them all. But here’s a few more.

I met Jacob of Gun Legislation & Politics in New York. He has some write-ups on the convention here, here and here.

I also got to hang out with Tom King of Gun Talk. Tom is a nice guy and he’s about twelve feet tall. I asked him what it was like tilting at windmills err talking about guns for a New Jersey paper and he said his blog was the second most visited page on their site. Cool.

I also got to spend some time with Mike W. who thinks we need to remind convention attendees about the rules of gun safety. Tam concurs.

And I met JR. He’s got some gun porn from the show here, here, and here. Also, a write up on the American Values speeches here.

Update: I see Squeaky is having the same issue.

At the NRA convention, I learned that ParaUSA was getting into the AR game. Check them out:

Click to embiggen.

They have no info on their page and have done no pressers. So, you can consider this an almost exclusive. Or rather, as exclusive as it can be when 70K other people may have seen it at the convention too.

Anyway, some interesting bits (and these are from memory so I may be wrong). You’ll notice that the stock folds, which is odd for an AR. They use a short bolt carrier assembly with a spring already in it. This, in addition to allowing it to be fitted with a folding stock, also means that the firing cycle is shorter. As such, a full auto version can likely fire much faster. And if I recall correctly, it has a gas piston system instead of a gas tube. This keeps its insides cleaner and enhances reliability. And they look cool.

Update: Probably not a piston system. See comments. I said I could be wrong.

Ooh, Kimbers:

The US Army Marksmanship Unit was there and they displayed some of their handguns:

Maddened Fowl with the Glock girls.

Tam pokes fun of HK. We were actually going to get Squeaky to walk up to the HK booth and ask them why they hate us while we videotaped the encounter. That would have been instant youtube gold. But I could never get Squeaky and a camera together at the same time. Bummer.

Rusty has more pics.

I was also unaware that PDB was there.

Joe:

I spent probably 15 minutes talking with Jarrett and he got really interested in Boomershoot and told me he wanted to blow up a car. He wants to be able to shoot bullets into it and have it lift about four feet off the ground. I gave him my card and told him I thought I could do that. He seemed interested in exploring that further. Cool!

Lots of stuff from Bitter, including Facts from the NRA Convention and Facts on NRA Voting.

A write up at the Outdoor Wire. (scroll down to NRA Reflections):

And it’s true, the “blogosphere” was a phrase tossed out like it was nothing – and the NRA took what I think may be one of the most daring steps by the firearms industry to reach out to the new media.

There were plenty of main line media folks in attendance. But there were also credentials bearing accredited titles that were getting more than a few double-takes from attendees and fellow writers as well. After all, Snowflakes in Hell, Say Uncle and Bitter (won’t write the whole title), were there this year as well. These were the bloggers who for the first time were welcomed as accepted media members.

Booth babes.

I alluded to it earlier but here it is:

Bloggers who registered for & attended the Second Amendment Blog Bash are eligible to win a weekend in August training at the Blackwater USA facility with practical shooting champion Todd Jarrett.

Thanks to Para USA and Michael Bane for doing this!

Also, I met Kerby from ParaUSA while there. Heckuva guy.

Being gun owners, we didn’t have a happy hour. We had a bitter hour.

Pics of famous gunnies Kevin met.

That was neat, I have to say. Also, I met a few blog readers like Carl in Chicago, JFMan, and ParatrooperJJ. And that was just as cool. Those guys know their stuff.

Rusty has gun porn.

Thoughts from Thirdpower.

Semi-auto gun porn.

SCAR Video.

David E. Young meets the gunbloggers.

Man, the truthers always ruin it for everybody.

Ashley from NRA while watching Joe Huffman’s Boomershoot videos:

Do it again!

Rifles from Sig Sauer:

A bunch of Smiths:

Squeaky: I have perfect pitch.

Me: I have good-enough pitch.

At the NRA Convention, they gave Glenn Beck a rifle. It was a musket of some kind and I’m sure it was quite nice. At a mixer after, I told Cam Edwards of NRA News that they should give future speakers Evil Black Rifles. I even told him that I’d build an AR-15 for the event. Can’t go wrong with that. After all, service rifles have changed. I think in terms of symbolism, such a gesture would be huge. After all, the AR-15 is the most popular sporting rifle in the country.

FN SCAR H and SCAR L (though they have the signs switched):

Chiappa Firearms:

John Snow (who I met) has a pic of the new Bushmaster 338 Lapua magnum.

20mm Rifle.

Pics and video of the Kriss Super V.

Some serious gun porn.

Write ups and pics here. Just keep scrolling.

A write-up from Michael Bane.

More pics from Rusty.

More pics and another write up here.

Text of speech here:

I opposed the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” which was first proposed after a California schoolyard shooting. It makes no sense to ban a class of firearms based on cosmetic features.

I’ve had my disagreements with McCain but of those running for president, he’s the only one to say that. Hell, he’s one of the only Republican contenders to say that.

Of course, it’s also important to note that he buys the gun show loophole nonsense only he doesn’t call it a loophole. And it looks like he’s sticking with his support McCain-Feingold, which he’s reportedly violated.

Roberta, who I’m sad I did not get to meet, has some notes here and here.

I was also bummed that I didn’t get to see Tam.

There were other bloggers at NRA Con. Ol Broad has a couple of pieces with pics here and here.

At Michael Bane’s blogger get together, I met Todd Jarrett, who has tons of shooting titles and championships. I walked up to him and said:

Oh, you’re the GLOCK guy.

It was a joke, of course, because he had a bright neon shirt on that said Para USA. I don’t know if he realized I was kidding or not. But I hope he did. Speaking of Para, they have a new line of AR-15s coming out soon that I got to handle this weekend. I don’t see them on their webpage though. I have pics and they are coming soon. But not today as neglected to put the pics on my laptop.

A few notes:

First of all, Bobby Jindal for president. Though I have to confess it was odd seeing an Indian-American with a southern accent.

I’d never heard Glenn Beck before. He was very entertaining and expressed a sentiment shared by many at the convention: disappointment in both political parties (you know, those three Democrats running for office).

Up next, despite how the press and some bloggers are spinning it, carrying weapons was allowed at the convention. However, the room where McCain was speaking had a prohibition on the day McCain was speaking. And I didn’t drop my weapon off in the room which is why I didn’t go see him speak. NRA says it was McCain’s call. McCain says it was the secret service’s call.

Also, there was a pretty cool announcement there that I’m not sure if I can release yet.

And next time, I’ll have to geek out and make SayUncle business cards or something. Everyone wanted a URL, Email, etc. And I’d have to write it all down.

Airforce Air Gun’s Talon SS. It’s a suppressed air rifle:

Couple of ARs from Yankee Hill Machine, who I highly recommend. I use their forearms and flip up front & rear sights.

Report from Joe.

A couple of reports from Michael Bane here and here. BTW, Michael is a helluva guy.

Thoughts on the convention from Glenn Renolds.

A list of attendees.

Videos from the event.

Denise watches a reporter work.

Another video.

One of the cool things that happened at the convention was when Sebastian and I hit the GLOCK booth. Sebastian and I both carry GLOCKS. Sebastian was checking out the booth when the gentlemen working the booth says something to the effect of Snowflakes in Hell, I read your site. Sebastian continues talking to the guy who also says he reads SayUncle too. Then Sebastian tells the guy that I was right behind him.

That guy turned out to be Chris Edwards, GLOCK’s director of training.

Speaking of GLOCK, here’s one made of Legos.

From Xrlq.

The David Trifecta.

I kept running into David Kopel, David Young, and David Hardy. Every time I did, I thought I immediately became a blithering idiot, like some teenage girl who just met a member of her favorite band. I must have thanked each of them for their work no less than 1,200 times. For them, it probably got old after a while. But it was cool to meet those guys.

Squeaky has some here.

The local paper notes I covered the NRA convention. In other news, the term gun porn is used by the media.

Squeaky says: I’ve arrived! I’ve been mis-quoted by the media!

Got in a few hours ago. Napped. Lots coming but later.

Pics here and here.

For the gunny who has everything.

I see famous people.

Update: more pics here

For a Beretta.

At Kevin’s.

Heh: The theme seems to be “I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.”