Hi Guys!
I am SO late with this, I am embarrassed! I have numerous reasons: the trip took a lot out of me; I left lots of undone biz back at the office; I changed computers and lost some settings and emails (I know they're in here somewhere!); and I've been occupying some of my time shooting skeet, my new found love.
What can I say about the show? WOW!!!
I arrived too late on Friday to track down Eric and Karl. It was 5:30 before I walked in the doors and I had to go fetch my friend, Les de Asis, owner of Benchmade Knives, so we could go to dinner with his wife and friends at Emeril's at the MGM Grand. And it was Grand! The jokes and stories were flying like fish tails. And some of them were told, too. I ended up being invited to go sail fishing in Costa Rica with those wild men and I'm told it'll be a thrill. I know it wil!
Anyway, it wasn't till Saturday that I finally discovered the location of the Rohrbaugh booth. It's a good thing my jaw is attached to my skull because when I walked into the exhibition hall, it quite literally could have dropped on to the floor. Imagine 4 Home Depots in one room. I looked and looked and when I finally asked someone to direct me to the gun area, he told me to go out this hall to the one next door. Yikes! Another monster hall. I had to sit down and let the blood in my legs settle down;^)
When I got to the booth, I recognized the Brothers R, who were there with their designer/engineer/partner (I forgot his name, but a really cool guy!) and Eric's wife, who is a professional Auctioneer!!
They were even more engaging and entertaining than I imagined, and we talked for an hour or so. Eric says the factory should be up and fully functional by the end of this month (Yay!).
Dig this: the R9 is featured in the new Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie about to come out. How's that for cool? He gave me an 8x10 promo print of the movie with Angelina sporting an R9 on her thigh (is this getting too hot for you?) which was prominently displayed through a slit up her gown that almost went to her waist. (Calm down, ya'll!) Brad's standing next to her with a 1911 in his hand. I can't wait for this movie!
If you've never been to a Shot Show, it is gun heaven. It's knife heaven too. It's a lot of heavens rolled into one.
Have you ever seen camo thong bikinis? I have! Have you ever seen bright orange hunting thongs! I have. And these weren't for men! (Euuww!) Well, apparently there is a market for this stuff.
Now, despite my undying love for my R9S, I DO like other guns. I was impressed that so many captains of industry were there, like Les Baer, Ed Brown, Dave Beretta (OK, there is no Dave Beretta;^), everyone was there. And we could talk to them. It was like walking in the Hollywood of Guns. And knives. And thong bikinis.
I drooled almost the whole time I was there. All this eye candy, but you couldn't take any home with you. It was strictly wholesale order taking. And lots of orders were taken. I happened one day to drive past the private part of Mccarran airport and there were dozens of corporate jets waiting to take guys richer than us away to the wild blue yonder. I was jealous. But it was great just to be there with all the pistoleros and all those expensive guns. I went to the Beretta booth and decided on an over/under I just had to have, and found one used when I got back. I just shot it for the first time yesterday and it is sweet! I'm so lucky to have found one that I actually could afford. (It's one month old and the guy that bought it originally traded it in on another, fancier Beretta O/U.)
I had the stock shortened at a local gun shop and I was talking to a sales rep there and he heard all about Rohrbaugh. He was the first gun shop guy I talked to in Atlanta that actually heard of us. I was impressed. He knew a lot about them, so the word is spreading my friends.
Hey, listen: all you wafflers out there ought to go ahead and put your name on some list to get one. My suspicion is that you can keep it for a while and if you still don't like it, you'll get your money back out of it. I'm buying a second one, if I can sell some other stuff to get one (who needs 5 guitars anyway;^)
One last thing, I took one of our listers advice and bought a Coronado leather concealment vest. What an in-vest-ment, so to speak;^) It smells incredible, looks fabulous (makes me more handsome), and conceals the R9 perfectly. In fact you can conceal two guns in the vest and look fairly normal. (OK, I'll NEVER look normal, but close!) My pal is encouraging me to carry a .45 AND the R9 as a back up gun. Hmmm. Might be a plan...
Gotta go back to work. Life's short...
Calvin Cooledge
