As Vegas awakes in the morning light those working and attending SHOT Show are moving about getting coffee, breakfast and looking for the day’s copy of SHOT Daily. It’s a quick read of ads and editorial that’s located in the foyer of the exhibit hall where company employees, sales representatives, buyers, and media can get a glimpse of the newest items being promoted. In Wednesday’s copy our full page Umarex advertisement, “Power Without Powder”, was near the front of the publication. Because of the headline, you can probably guess the Hammer was in the ad. We also pictured the Umarex Synergis. “Power Without Powder” fits our new innovative march into the future, don’t you think?
Wednesday was similar to Tuesday. Content developers entered our booth seeking out the newest gear. On this day we have to give the “most popular” award to the Hammer yet again. No surprise really. A close second though is Elite Force Airsoft as a whole. Cliff, Nigel, Eric, and Evan were taking orders and standing in front of cameras all day long. There was a bit of a buzz around the Umarex Gauntlet in Prym1 Camo MP (Multi-Purpose) pattern and the Blackout pattern as well.
Airgunners spent some time in our booth today talking about all of the new stuff. The intrigue and excitement of the Umarex Synergis Under Lever Repeater has been just what we thought it would be, reinvigorating! The primary sentiment is two-fold — auto-indexing pellets into the breech as the Gauntlet does and the ability to use low-profile mounts since the magazine doesn’t stick up above the receiver more than 3/8 of an inch. Pitbull Airguns hung out for a bit already with ideas on a silencer for the Umarex Hammer. Bryan and Chad of Lethal Airguns stopped by a couple of times too.
Great reports of .25 caliber Gauntlet love rolled in from time-to-time. Lou Ferrigno spent a couple of minutes in the Airgun lodge looking at the Hammer and the Prym1 Camo Gauntlet. Later in the morning, we were honored to have Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchison and Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Tim Allen, stop in for a visit with Adam Blalock our CEO and our company President, Richard Turner. They report that Fort Smith and Arkansas as a whole are experiencing economic growth that is setting our state up for a promising future. Of course, they were excited to hear that the Umarex Hammer and RWS American Built rifle will begin production late in this quarter of the year.
Lastly, the Axeon Gauntlet Scope and anticipated Axeon EDR (Etched Dot Reticle) scope came up in several conversations. The side focus for parallax adjustment was a home run. It allows shooters, hunters, and target shooters of rimfire rifles and air rifles the ability to shoot as close as 15 yards in addition to their desired long distance shots. The Gauntlet scope is a great choice for Gauntlet owners who want to hunt. The EDR scope from Axeon Optics will be ideal for tack driving targets at varying range distances.
One last thing. Outside of Umarex USA airguns, optics, and EXUDE lights by Optical Dynamics, one of the attention-getting things we’ve seen is a 3D printed target. Using 3D glasses and a special printing method there’s a company that has created a zombie target that when wearing the glasses, makes it appear as if the zombie has sniffed out your brain and is literally coming through a hallway at you. Cool.
By JB