Day 3 of the SHOT Show continued much as the first two did. The moment the doors opened I hustled in to get some one-on-one time with some of the distributors and owners before their booths were flooded with tens of thousands of curious show-goers. I should add that despite there being literally tens of thousands of people floating around everywhere I went for the past few days, I never once had or even saw a negative interaction with anyone in attendance.
“An Armed Society is a Polite Society” -Robert A. Heinlein
There is an interesting dynamic present when a decent portion of people in a space can handle themselves. Generally speaking, it tends to be a more polite crowd. I think that is the case for a couple of reasons; one is that many of the men and women attending the show were veterans or are still active duty military and there is a level of respect that exists between service members, despite the fact that non-stop jovial bantering about who is better always pops up. Another reason is that everyone knows that they have a decent chance of getting hurt if a physical altercation occurs…even if they “win” the fight. A third reason I think most everyone who attends shows like SHOT is respectful to one another is that no one really knows who anyone else is. You may see a yoked guy who is 6’4″ tall who never served in the military and never trained to fight, but the smaller guy who you just walked past without notice is a Delta savage and the actual person you should respect. The general public is often more intimidated by someone who is yoked, but in my experience, those are rarely the people you need to watch out for. There are obvious exceptions to this such as UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou who can put you into forever sleep with a simple uppercut, but in my experience men like that are more the exception than the norm.
SOFREP Editor In Chief Sean Spoonts and I came across untold Tier 1 guys during the week and rarely can you say they look much different than the rest of the crowd; they just are incredible at their craft. We spoke to Delta guys and SEALs and for those of you who never have spent time with these men, they look just like the rest of us; they just happen to be incredible in some – or many – aspects of life.
Another thing I discovered about some of the Tier 1 guys that I hadn’t put together before this week is that these guys are prolific learners and most of them have more motivation to succeed than any 3 college business majors combined. One of the SEALs we spoke with talked about his upcoming business idea, the current (multiple) jobs he works, and the past things he’s worked on; both for charity and an income. The guy had more ideas in an hour than most have in a decade. That is a theme with these guys. They always want to be better. More of us should take on that characteristic.
Here are some of the brands that were my highlights for day 3:
Faraday Defense
As far as the booths go for day 3, I again was not disappointed. One of the booths I visited was the Faraday Defense booth. Faraday Defense is a company that specializes in engineering products meant to protect the privacy and to prevent damage caused by EMPs. According to their website, their products include items that have, “anti-tracking & anti-spying capabilities.” They go on to say, “signals blocked include Cell signal, GPS, RFID, and Wi-fi Signal Blocking.” They make bags that fit all types of cell phones, tablets, laptops, and external hard drives. In addition to providing significant protection against outside digital attacks on your devices/passports/etc., the bags have a quality look and feel. The reality is that most people won’t carry items that work well if they look awful. I can confirm that these bags pass the style test. SOFREP.com will be doing real-world testing and reviews of some of the Faraday Defense bags in the near future, so keep an eye out for those.
MagPump
Another product booth I visited was one named MagPump. According to its website, MagPump is a “hopper-fed, loose-ammo loader is designed to eliminate hand fatigue and reduce magazine loading time by more than 50 percent. Simply load your ammo in the 90-round capacity hopper and let MagPump do the rest. The pump-action lever self-sorts ammunition in either direction and loads up to 60 rounds in less than 60 seconds.”
I spoke to Pete Crawford, the founder of MagPump, and he gave me a demonstration of its function. It not only loaded rounds quickly and without fail, but the part I thought was coolest was that it loaded the rounds correctly regardless of which direction they were facing in the hopper. That simple, but the clever design would cut down the time spent loading the hopper before loading your magazine. It’s a great design. If you are someone who enjoys saving a bit of time or in need of the MagDump because of physical limitations, then this product seems to be a great option.
Savior Equipment
Savior Equipment is a gun case brand that is determined to make high-quality cases for prices that don’t preclude ownership for the bulk majority of gun owners. According to Chris, its founder, “all hard-working Americans deserve a better quality product backed by the best service without sacrificing their valuable time and energy.” With that information in mind, Savior Equipment was created.
One of the things that stood out most to me was the design quality of the cases. Upon first seeing the cases, I just assumed that I was looking at $350 bags. I didn’t yet know about Savior’s mission or its product. I am thrilled that I was wrong. One of the things I noticed first was the variety of colors and designs they offer. They had camouflage of all colors: arctic white, urban warfare gray, dark FTE, and of course, black. They also had a case they call the “Ultimate Guitar Case.” It was super unique and is a great “hidden in plain sight” case. I think I will add that case to my collection sooner than later.
Other booths had some cool items as well. Here are some of those photos:
Liberty Safe
Freedom Cabinet
Winchester
NLVPD Bearcat
I’ll finish this up in much the same way I have the other articles…if you have a chance to go to SHOT Show, then DO IT!
