SHOT Show 2023 has ended, and it is a bittersweet goodbye for those who were there.
On one hand, it was great to see all the new products hitting the market and making new friends. But it was a long week. The show is on multiple floors of two buildings and has around 14 miles of aisles to walk. You read that correctly; if you wanted to see it all, you had better dress comfortably and better be ready to do a lot of walking.
What is SHOT Show?
The SHOT Show, which stands for the “Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show,” is a convention that takes place once a year, and professionals working in the hunting, shooting sports, and firearm manufacturing industries attend it. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) owns and sponsors the show, which is the largest of its kind in the world. SHOT Show is not open to the general public and is only accessible to professionals working in the shooting, hunting, law enforcement, and outdoor industries. The show only lasts four days. There is a pre-show day in the desert called Industry Day At The Range, where many manufacturers bring out the latest guns they offer.
The SHOT Show’s History
St. Louis, Missouri, was where the show first opened in 1979. This marked the forty-fifth year of the show, and this year’s location was in Vegas. There were only 5,600 people in attendance in 1979, but they expected close to sixty thousand people to come through the doors from all over the world in 2023.
How big is the SHOT Show?
It took around 350 tractor-trailers to move everything into the exhibition. That does not include the equipment that people deliver by regular vehicles. The show takes up a total of 800,000 square feet, which is equivalent to 170 regulation-sized basketball courts.
The NSSF sent out this picture of the semis waiting to be unloaded, which required shutting down one of the major streets off the strip.
Everybody that was there from Crossbreed had to put in some long days, and I snuck in to see how things were going during the setup.
Crossbreed was there showing off some of their newer products, like the Rogue appendix inside the waistband (AIWB.) AIWB is becoming increasingly popular, and the CrossBreed Rogue is a holster you can wear as a standalone or coupled with an added mag carrier. It comes complete with two steel clips that secure it to your belt. Thanks to the two-clip design, the holster is less likely to move around as you go about your day. You can select J-hooks, V-hooks, or Ulticlips if you would rather have a different way to attach it.
The primary goal of this show is to bring the decision-makers together in one spot, and this is the only show that does it for the firearms industry. A lot of planning goes into executing an event of this magnitude, which is not easy. It was great to see everyone in person at the show, and we are all looking forward to next year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brian Armstrong grew up in a small farm town in rural Indiana and learned to shoot before he learned to drive. His career began as a firefighter and medic in Ft Wayne, IN. Throughout the years, he has owned multiple businesses, from construction to technology. His life has come full circle, and he is back to his emergency services roots, teaching emergency first aid and firearms courses.
Brian believes that the best way to learn “HOW” to do something is to first answer “WHY” you do something. He is an average guy with views like yours and is now sharing the knowledge gained from teaching, learning from others, and researching the topics you don’t have time to explore. Follow him at @LetsTalkDGU
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