Check out the Geiselle booth and play Plinko at 11am and 3 pm. They giving away tons of stuff.

Check out the Geiselle booth and play Plinko at 11am and 3 pm. They giving away tons of stuff.

Darn missed it.  Are you here too?

Darn missed it.  Are you here too?

Its daily at 11 and 3.  I follow them on IG. 

Today I ran across Dave from Mojo Tactical perusing the aisles.  It's good to see a friendly face from home out of the 65,000 attendees.  There is so much to see in so little time.  There are 1,600 exhibitors spread out over 630,000 feet of exhibition space and you would walk 12.5 miles if you went through all of the aisles.  I don't have much photos to show since photography is prohibited inside.  There's hundeds of firearm, optics, and accessories manufacturers there and it seems like they sell pretty much the same thing so I haven't paid much attention to them. I'm more of a train with what you got type of guy.   I did checkout the new line of Vortex PST Gen2 3-15x scopes(http://www.vortexoptics.com/category/viper_pst_gen_ii_riflescopes).  Very nice and a good value.  I plan on putting one on my Remington 700.

I've been focusing on training related equipment.  The MantisX (www.mantisx.com) is a cool gadget that attaches to the handgun or SIRT pistol rail and links with a smartphone app.  It measures movement and diagnoses your shot, and provides suggestions on how to fix your problems.  It can be used dry or live fire.  I'll have a demonstration at the upcoming gun show.  Laserammo (www.laser-ammo.com) demonstrated drop in laser barrels for KWA airsoft guns to provide recoil for dryfire training.  A good poor man's alternative to CO2 gas conversions for actual firearms which cost $400 to $2,400 dollars (www.dvorakinstruments.com).  Laserammo also had a cheap "smokeless range" simulator which projects targets using a projector and used with a PC, webcam, and laser trainer.  At $400 its the most affordable system of it's type. (http://store.laser-ammo.com/software/smokeless-range/smokeless-range-r-judgmental-and-marksmanship-shooting-simulator.html).  Virtra systems had more professional scenario projection systems that can use up to 5 screens for a 270 degree experience, but those cost $7,000 for a single screen and up.

I've been considering doing CCW courses in the future.  I've heard good things about being a USCCA (https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/) instructor as they have a very good lesson plan and referral bonuses, but not as well known as the NRA Personal Protection or Utah CCW instructor certs.  The NRA will have their first ever NRA Personal Protection Expo (www.nrappe.org) on August 25-27 in Milwaukee, WI.  They'll have exhibits by defensive firearms and accessories manufacturers and self-defense related seminars and workshops.  I might look into attending that especially if the National Reciprocity bill gets passed.  There is also the NRA Annual Meeting (www.nraam.org) which is free for members and hosts exhibitors and the conference in Atlanta, GA on April 27-30.

I attended a couple of seminars.  One was on suicide awareness and prevention which the NSSF will be pursuing in the future.  21,000 people commit suicide with firearms each year which make up about half of all suicides.  Studies show that people usually focus on one method of suicide and don't switch methods, so it's important to find ways to prevent them.  Also firearms is the method of choice for veterans in 70% of the cases.  The other seminar I attended was about air guns (air rifles/pistols).  They are a good way to practice away from the range and are cheap and convenient to use.

Lastly, I met with Kris who is the manager for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action and talked about Hawaii's RAPBACK and how we need help.  I was surprised that he didn't know much about it.  I figured he should since the NRA published articles about it and I'm sure the HRA must have contacted them about it.  He's going to send me the contact for the regional ILA rep for Hawaii so that we can discuss it more.  They'll also help give us some tips on how to create a successful grassroots program.

One more tidpit, someone stole an Aimpoint scope from a display a couple days ago.  Guy was caught on camera and is a wanted man.  https://www.facebook.com/AmericanDefenseMFG/photos/a.313118222156053.1073741832.307182156082993/951253515009184/?type=3&theater

I got to see Jerry Miculek and Top Gun Tori today.

I had a great trip completing my primary objectives of passing the NRA Training Counselor's course and attending Shot Show.  I learned new teaching and presentation skills not only from the class, but also from the other students, that I can use to help teach new NRA instructors in Hawaii and to help existing instructors too.  I was able to meet the people running the different departments at the NRA which I found enlightening and will be useful in future endeavors here.  I met a lot of experienced people in class, and also at Shot Show, which helps to give me all around knowledge where I can be a good resource in the firearms community.  Unfortunately I didn't get to play in the snow since it was too warm and I was sick for almost the whole trip which really sucked.  I missed out on a dinner night with the AR15.com group which I really wanted to do.  Fortunately my illness limited my gambling losses in Vegas.

1.  Pass the Training Counselor Course PASSED 1-15-2017
1.  Meet with the NRA Youth Hunter Education Coordinator about starting a program in Hawaii. DONE 1-13-2017
2.  Talk to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action or Civil Defense Fund about gun rights in Hawaii.  DONE 1-19-2017
1.  Play in the snow.  Bolo, no snow in DC or Vegas
2.  Pay my respects to the US Constitution. DONE 1-16-2017
3.  Get a special tour of Battlefield Vegas range. Bolo, no call back.
4.  Meetup with the gang from AR15.com at Shot Show.  Bolo, got sick.

What are my next adventures?  This year I'm planning to:
1.  Become an Appleseed instructor
2.  Get my NRA Rifle instructor cert
3.  Get some kind of CCW instructor cert (NRA PPOTH, USCCA, or Utah)
4.  Get my Sig Master certs
5.  Attend the Front Sight Precision Rifle and Long Gun Tactics courses
6.  Attend the NRA Annual Meeting and Personal Protection Expo.

note:  If you're interested in attending these classes too, we can split the travel costs.

In other news, I received my shipment of the MantisX trainers.  These are tiny gyroscopes that you attach to a rail for dry or live fire practice.  It beams information to your smartphone and analyzes very fine movement prior to and after you press the trigger.  Heavies did a short review earlier (https://2ahawaii.com/index.php?topic=24356.msg217991#msg217991) and I liked it when I tried it at Shot Show.  It looks like a great tool shooters and instructors can use to self-diagnose problems that can work alongside the SIRT pistols and Lasrapp that I use.  I'll give it a try at Koko Head tomorrow.

Is the MantisX comparable to a SCATT?

Is the MantisX comparable to a SCATT?

Seems like it does the same thing, except SCATT uses a camera versus MantisX uses gyroscopes.

Its daily at 11 and 3.  I follow them on IG.

I wasn't able to make it for this, unfortunately I was sick in bed so rushed through the show for a couple hours a day.

And no walmart ammo as I had about 25 pounds of NRA manuals and shot show brochures to bring back home.

Is the MantisX comparable to a SCATT?

One major difference is the MantisX only detects movement, so it does not help with sight alignment/picture.  It is very easy to use though.  I'm continuing Heavies review in the Firearms forum.