By David Draper

On the first night of last week’s SHOT Show, the Field and Stream editorial staff gathered around the table for dinner at the Las Vegas outpost of Thomas Keller’s legendary Bouchon restaurant. Remembering the damage I did to his M&E budget the previous year, Field and Stream editor-in-chief, Anthony Licata didn’t invite me to join them until he was absolutely sure I already had reservations somewhere else. And after my meal at Aureole, I’m okay with that.
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By David E. Petzal

In a wretched economic year, the pants-wetters, doomsayers, and purveyors of pessimism would be confounded by the life and vitality in the shooting industry. This year in Las Vegas, an estimated 60,000 people (all in the gun biz), many of whom look like Larry the Cable Guy, crowded into a maze of under-ventilated halls to ogle, grope and buy. Guns. What did you think I was talking about?

The most densely crowded venues were dedicated to the wonderful worlds of the paramilitary and law enforcement. Apparently there is an insatiable need for the equipment used in shooting, clubbing, and gassing people. There are suits of full body armor the like of which has not been seen since the Battle of Agincourt. There are all-black deathmobiles, equipped with lethal gear of all sorts. I’m told that Cop World constitutes fully one-third of the SHOT Show. How shooting and suppressing the citizenry ties into Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade is more than I can comprehend, but there it is.

There is also a very notable shortage of Booth Babes. In past years, you could hardly turn a corner without seeing some inadequately clothed young mammal who would cause you to stop dead in your tracks and give thanks to the forces of evolution. Damned if I know what happened to them.

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This isn’t a standard bolt action rifle, it’s a whole new concept in terms of how to have a multi-caliber platform in one system. [ Read Full Post ]

The Mossberg FLEX modular platform is the shotgun world's answer to the easy interchangeablity of the AR rifle platform. Without tools, you can literally convert a black pistol grip home defense shotgun with a railed tactical forend into a camo hunting gun in less than a minute. Check out this video to see how the whole thing works. [ Read Full Post ]

Check out the newest shotgun choke-tube system from Browning. [ Read Full Post ]

John Taranto explains how this new waterfowl-specific camo pattern from Sitka works from a bird's eye view. [ Read Full Post ]