SHOT Show 2015 Report

Another successful SHOT Show is in the books, and this year was just as busy as any with nearly 64,000 industry professionals attending and more than 1,600 exhibiting companies. The show, which takes place at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas every January is the largest firearms tradeshow in the world and is a great place to show off new products and make connections in the shooting and hunting industry.

Here’s a look at some of the big events from this year’s show:

SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range

Action Target and its subsidiary Law Enforcement Targets once again sponsored SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range which is held every year at the Boulder Rifle and Pistol Range in Boulder City, Nevada, the day before the show starts. Industry Day at the Range is an integral part of the show and allows both media and buyers the opportunity to try out new guns and shooting accessories.

This year, more than 1,100 media members and 500 buyers converged on the outdoor range complex where everyone got the chance to shoot a few rounds and try out this year’s new gear. All of the targets used at the range were provided by Action Target and Law Enforcement Targets and included an array of steel and plastic targets.

SHOT Show Industry Day at the Range Action Target Safety Award

More than 160 Industry Day exhibitors were judged on their firearms safety practices by a panel of safety auditors from DOA Tactical. The scores for each exhibitor were determined based on specific safety criteria such as the handling of firearms, ammunition placement, and maintaining a safe environment at their shooting stations.

Smith & Wesson was the winner of this year’s award for holding the highest standard of safety during the event. The award was presented in Action Target’s booth to Smith & Wesson’s Director of Marketing Jan Mladek.

“Safety is paramount for events like this,” Mladek said. “We wanted everyone to have a fun and safe experience, so we had range safety officers providing one-on-one instruction with the people who came to our shooting bay.”

ATAC Range Day

This year, for the first time, Action Target was the official target sponsor of ATAC Range Day which is put on by ATAC (Advanced Tactics and Countermeasures) Global as a way for military and law enforcement personnel to test new products in the tactical market. Much like Industry Day at the Range, several exhibitors sponsored shooting bays where attendees could shoot everything from service pistols to turret mounted machine guns. Action Target provided steel targets for all of the exhibitors at the event and displayed products in the exhibitor area.

New Booth

This year, Action Target moved to a new location where we were able to expand to a whopping 40′ x 70′ booth and combine with Law Enforcement Targets to demonstrate the full capabilities of our turnkey shooting range solutions. The booth included a steel target kiosk with new releases, a range design station where clients could print custom plans, a bullet trap deceleration chamber display, and a four-lane shooting range with functional target retrievers.

New Products

Action Target debuted two new steel targets at the show: the E-50 Silhouette and the PT IDPA Practice Torso.

E-50 Silhouette

Bring out the big guns for this military-grade steel target capable of handling .338 Lapua and .50 BMG from as close as 100 yards.

The E-50 Silhouette is the first commercially available target from Action Target capable of handling .50 BMG and is the only steel target on the market made from 1/2” AR550 armor steel. Designed according to U.S. Marine Corps steel target specifications with a 20-degree angled shooting surface and standard military E-type silhouette proportions, this target is made for everything from heavy military firearms training to long-range rifle shooting. With a patent pending stand design that keeps the target grounded even with the biggest of ammunition, you don’t need to worry about using sand bags to keep it upright or going downrange to reset it.

PT IDPA Practice Torso (coming soon!)

Hone your competition skills with the official IDPA steel practice target.

The PT IDPA Practice Torso is the official steel practice target of the Independent Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) and one of the most effective training tools for competitive shooting. It features a regulation torso shape including the -1 and -0 scoring zones with reactive swinging plates for the -0 head square and center mass circle which are both reduced 2” to encourage more accurate shooting. The reactive plates are gravity reset which means you can spend more time shooting and less time walking downrange. The PT IDPA Practice Torso also helps reinforce good shooting habits. For every shot that is on target, you get instant feedback from seeing the target react and from hearing the distinctive “clang” as the bullet makes impact. This allows your brain to make a connection between the exact muscle movements you made and the reward of positive feedback.

Wednesday Night Client Event

On Wednesday night of the show, we hosted a client event at the Las Vegas National Golf Course with excellent appetizers, open bar, driving range contest, and some celebrity friends. More than 350 people attended including Rich Wyatt of Gunsmoke and Ted Nugent making for a great night with our clients and friends.

Thank you to everyone who visited us at SHOT Show! If you weren’t able to make it this year, we hope to see you next time.