Your AR For Carry in The Old And Wild West

For a one-of-a-kind AR for the AR owner that has everything, but still needs an AR to carry alongside his Colt SAA and not clash, the NRAAM had a display from Turnbull Restoration and Manufacturing Co that had just the thing.

Turnbull Restoration and Manufacturing Co offers an all-wood stocked, color-case hardened AR-15, named the TAR-15:

It's an impressive, visually stunning and heavy beast for an AR, with the price tag to match.

They may need to open up a steampunk division in SASS matches for this bad boy. Call it the Cowboys and Aliens division.

Howdy Howdah

Dixie Gun Works at The NRAAM had quite the large bore pistol for sale:

It's a reproduction of the Howdah pistol.

The Howdah pistol was carried in the eponymous Howdah, the platform used for deluxe travel mounted on the back of an elephant.

It was carried as a "Get Outta My Howdah" pistol by British colonials hunting from their Howdahs. The pistol was there as a last-ditch weapon to stop wild animals in India and Africa that had the temerity to be so impolite as to enter the Howdah while they were busy hunting game, traveling or what have you.

This finely crafted reproduction is in 20 Bore, or .625 in diameter, and it was one of the more unusual firearms at the show.

Fine Bloggers I've Newly Met At NRAAM

At NRAAM I had the chance to meet up with some bloggers that I had previously not had the pleasure of meeting.

These are all great people, with some great blogs which have been duly added to my blogroll and are well worth your perusal:

Tom of DaddyBear's Den - If you haven't read his Tales of the Minivandians, you really, really need to do so, now.

I'll have a full review up once I'm done, but I'm too darn busy laughing at the tales and enjoying the fine writing style of the book.

LawDog of The Lawdog Files. Another fine gentleman who gave of his time to make the Shooter First Aid Seminar a success.

Peter and his charming wife of Bayou Renaissance Man

JB of JB on the rocks. Yet another fine gentleman who gave of his time to make the Shooter First Aid Seminar a success.

John of No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money

It was an honor and a true pleasure meeting all of you, and I hope to do so again at the 2016 NRAAM if not before.

Sebastian of Shall Not Be Questioned. How I had failed to put him in my blogroll previously is quite an oversight.

NRAAM First Aid For Shooters

This year Kelly of Ambulance Driver Files along with help from Murphy's Law, EMS Artifact, and Jeff B, gave his most excellent First Aid for Shooters class. The class was followed by a presentation from LawDog, who gave a short (due to room booking limitations only we could have stood to sit and gain much more wisdom from him had there been time) but very informative talk on Critical Incident stress.

Here's Kelly demonstrating the right way to do CPR, and yes he has "Staying Alive" queued up in his iPhone and ready to play should the need arise.

Quality slides helped keep the presentation moving along, and his suggestions as to what works and what's derp in the first aid realm was very helpful:

Boys! Tourniquet! - We learned how to both self-apply tourniquets and apply them on other people to stop arterial bleeding:

Here's LawDog giving his talk:

If you have an opportunity to take this class, Do It.

Kelly and his assistants are great instructors and the vital info and hands-on practice under their expert eyes may one day save your life or the life of another.

As I had taken the class last year it was a great refresher and the additional first aid kit will be put to good use as well.

Hopefully LawDog's portion of the class can be enlarged as he was very much worth listening to and I expect we would learn much, much more had there been time.

The class was also a great opportunity to give The Most Interesting Man in The World the shirt I had mentioned that was a secret:

Yes it says "The Most Interesting Dinosaur In The World". Click to embiggen and read the rest of the shirt.

Remington R51 Redux

The R51 is back and is claimed to be better than ever, which given its lackluster showing last year, shouldn't be all that hard to believe.

It certainly felt better than ever and the fit and finish certainly looked better than last ywear.

They also had the new RM380 if you're in the market for a smaller .380 with a 2.9" barrel and all-metal construction weighing in at 12.1 ounces and a magazine holding 6 shots.

In a bright move, they're offering some with a Crimson Trace lasergrip already attached right from the get-go.

Radoms At NRAAM

What is likely the largest collection of Radom VIS pistols, including rare prototypes was on display at the show:

Consecutive serial numbered pistols made just prior to World War 2:

One of only five surviving Radom VIS prototypes:

Radom in addition to the VIS pistol also made K98s for the Polish Army:

The gentleman pictured is the owner of these many Radoms and is wearing the uniform of the Polish army from the pre-war and World War 2 period. Being Polish himself, he's traveled back and forth to Poland and over time has amassed quite a fantastic collection.

Activities Outside The NRAAM

There was quite a bit to see and do around Nashville during the occasional break from the Firearms Law Seminar, The First Aid for Shooters class and touring the show floor. In other words, little of the time was spent in places other than the convention center until it had closed for the nights.

So once the show ended we went a wandering.

Broadway had it's charms - many bars with loud music, often so loud you could not hear yourself think, and crowds aplenty.

There were also many strange sights on Broadway, such as this strange duo of a Horse and a Horse's ass, you guess which is which.

Unfortunately many establishments on Broadway had "no guns allowed" signs up:

So we didn't go into Legends and give them any of our money accordingly to obey the sign.

Many bars on the strip however did not have the signs up and you could go in and listen to live music so long as you didn't drink. So, I ended up consuming a lot of Diet Coke. Since it was Passover until Saturday night, beer was off the table for me anyways so it was no big deal.

Printer's Alley, located off of the main Broadway strip was a bit quieter place for some good food and the ability to sit at a table and actually hear yourself and whoever was with you.

Located in Printer's Alley was the awesome Fleet Street pub, a bar with a very very English theme:

I need one of those posters.

The fries with Stilton on them were quite awesome indeed, a combination I had never considered before, but they certainly went well together.

There was also on Saturday night a gathering of many of the bloggers and their SOs present, great people all, and much interesting conversation was had,

This gathering on Saturday night at the Sole Mio Italian restaurant beat the gathering on Friday night that was in a bar that was so loud you couldn't hear the person next to you. Also we had waited over an hour to be seated even after having our group listed and watching others being seated ahead of us so the excellent service at Sole Mio was a welcome change. It also beat it as Passover had just ended and there was bread on the table, pasta on the menu and I engaged in some serious carb loading.

After the dinner some of us stopped by one of the hotels where many of the bloggers were staying (unlike our flea-bag Econolodge with its spotty to non-existent wi-fi and spotty overall condition) and had some further excellent conversation. This was quite a bright bunch of bloggers indeed, as you can see from Old NFO's description of the group.

A great bunch of people and I can't wait to meet up with them again at the NRA's next annual meeting scheduled for Louisville, Kentucky in 2016 or sooner at other events.

IWI At NRAAM

Finding the IWI display at the NRA Annual Meeting proved a bit of a challenge. For some unfathomable reason, most likely an oversight, the IWI display was not listed in either the printed maps nor the NRAAM mobile app.

With perseverance and asking multiple others at the show we finally found it.

First there was a nice assortment of the new Galil Ace rifle and pistols, including a pistol ACE with an arm-brace attached.

The Galil Aces all felt solid and the fit and finish seemed excellent. Much nicer than any other AK variant that I saw on the floor. If you're looking for what will most assuredly be a rock-solid reliable AK-type action rifle, the Galil Ace is for you.

Of course there were Tavors on display.

Most impressive were the Tavors and Micro Tavors that had the happy-fun switch. Sadly I couldn't take any home with me as they're Law-enforcement only sales. There were also full auto Uzis on the same table.

Just holding one of the micro Tavors was happy-making.

Sadly we can't buy them, nor did the lights at the show go out permitting a clean getaway.

But, one of the reps told me a civilian-legal SBR Tavor design is in the works, albeit without the happy-fun switch. Yes, I can see a tax stamp transaction for an SBR-Tavor in my future. These small Tavors simply rocked.

NRA 2015 Annual Meeting In Nashville

The NRA's 2015 Annual Meeting is coming up fast, April 10-12 in Nashville, Tennessee.

To pre-register and get your attendee badge ahead of time go here and sign up.

Yes, you can carry at the NRA's annual meeting at the Music City Center in Nashville if you have a valid CPL recognized by Tennessee.

As stated by the NRA:

During the 2015 NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Music City Center with the proper license in accordance with Tennessee law. Bridgestone Arena prohibits the possession of firearms. When carrying your firearm, remember to follow all federal, state and local laws.

Be sure to check out the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security page on Handgun Permits to get the law to ensure you comply with Tennessee's rules while you're visiting Nashville and don't carry in the very few no-carry zones that they have listed.

While civic centers in Tennessee are typically off limits to carry under TCA 39-17-1311, an exception under 39-17-1311(b)(J)(iii) exists for gun and knife shows and this is indeed a gun show of gun shows.

Looking forward to seeing many of my fellow bloggers there, as well as attending the NRA's Firearms Law Seminar, which is well worth the price of admission. Besides, Instapundit will be the luncheon speaker, Mas Ayoob will be lecturing, and David Hardy will be in attendance.

Should be a great time, and we should be able to organize some blogger get-togethers during that weekend.