It’s great to be back and commencing our twentieth year of The Outdoor Wire. Hope you’ve gotten a break as well, because January always hits like a tsunami. Show “season” gets underway Wednesday as the Big Rock Sports show opens in Nashville.
Before we have much time to think about it, many of us will be crowded together in Las Vegas for SHOT 2020.
Between now and mid-February, things will be a hectic blur. So get out those vitamin C capsules, get those flu shots and start evasive maneuvers. No one wants the crud that seems to hammer many attendees every year.
And you can prepare to be prepared to be dazzled by new products - several of which were announced over our hiatus. I’ve already seen enough of the new hunting rifle from SIG SAUER -and their new .277 fury cartridge to realize they’re seriously going into the hunting game. Their unapologetic crossover from two to four-leg game means they’re out to incorporate the military technology into their hunting platforms.
Ruger’s new Easy Cocker pistol in the highly-successful LCP platform in .a 22LR will be a winner with first-time shooters, people who are very recoil sensitive and those of us who realize it’s the economical caliber for basic pistol skills. And the Ruger 57 pistol is going to add another level of fun in the small caliber category.
Not to be outdone, Thompson/Center released categories of their bolt action rifles last week. You now have grades of T/C Compass rifles, meaning you have very little excuse for not having one for work- or fun.
And the legendary Colt Python has been slithering around in the collective consciousness of shooters since they were discontinued several years ago. If you own a “snake” you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t (like me), you understand the allure.
On New Year’s Day, Colt introduced their “New” Colt Python, and the social media warriors wasted no time trying to poo-pooh the idea. Having not seen, shot or otherwise put my hands on one, I’m going to keep my opinions to myself. But… I’m really looking forward to seeing if the “new” Python is as good as people who’s judgement I trust (key thing, that) are telling me.
And I can - finally- talk about Mossberg’s new JM Pro shotgun. Having spent a couple of high-quality days with it at Gunsite at the end of the year, I know it’s going to score with competition shooters. It’s not a reach to say there aren’t many shotguns that are capable of cycling fast enough to deliver .14 second splits (lower if you’re Jerry Miculek). We put together one of our new video features called “SnapShots (tm)” about it for release this past weekend. If you’re not following us on social media, you missed it. So here’s the link: https://twitter.com/TheOutdoorWire/status/1213224093119594498. While you’re looking, you might want to follow us on Twitter as you’ll notice a lot more presence from us on social media in 2020.
Mossberg’s new JM Pro shotgun is designed for the high-speed practical competition world. Its optimized feed ramp, elevator and shell latches are specifically designed to help with the Quad loading technique. In a nutshell, quad loading means you can load four shells in the time you could load two. Lena Miculek (above) makes it look simple, but it takes a lot of practice. Jim Shepherd/OWDN photo.
In other words, there’s more than enough new stuff in the pipeline to keep everyone’s attention.
It’s also an Olympic year- and we’re ready-to-go for Tokyo. We will be offering real-time, live coverage from the Olympic Village, the shooting venues and other aspects of the Games.
As always, hopes are high for USA Shooting - especially with the legendary Kim Rhode going for an unprecedented consecutive Olympic medal record in shotgun. We’re proud to be able to bring you that story- and the surprise stores that always make Olympic Games memorable.
We’re also looking forward to seeing our archers doing their thing on the world’s biggest stage.
And in a housekeeping note, Archery Wire subscribers will not be getting their regularly scheduled edition tomorrow. That’s because this is ATA Week and we’re going to be putting out a pair of special ATA editions the end of the week.
Like I said, we’re doing plenty of things differently in 2020. Video, collaborative projects, social media, and other little wrinkles will prove -again- that while we’ve been around a while, we’re not just hanging around. We’re adding things you’ve asked for.
That having been written, we need to revisit a feature I wrote at the end of 2019.
In reporting on the ongoing battle between the NRA and New York State, I cited a confidential source in the NY AG’s office as having told me there could be as many as 90 indictments against current and former NRA Board Members on a variety of charges.
As you can imagine, that got the NRA’s attention. Unfortunately, they responded after the final edition of 2019 was released. On Friday, December 20, I we received an on-the-record response from Wit Davis, counsel to the NRA Board of Directors.
Here’s his response:
“I represent the vast majority of current and former NRA board members. I’m not aware that a single one of my clients has been told that they face indictment, and the claim that 90 Board members have been so-noticed is simply absurd.”
Hopefully, he’s right, but we’ve noticed that when it comes to guns, absurdity seems to be the rule, not the exception with “virtue signaling” politicians. Those include AGs in notoriously unfriendly states.
As we’ve done for the past couple of decades, we’ll keep you posted.
And finally, I’d like to restate what should be obvious as we begin year twenty-one: we’ve never been about building personal brands, tossing out click-bait, or trading friendships and credibility for short-term profit. We’ve always planned to be around for the long-haul.
— Jim Shepherd
