The Gun Blogs

I like to shoot a little of everything, but when it comes to handling and buying guns, the cowboy in me comes out, and my gut reaction is always to head towards revolvers. Blame it on Clint Eastwood or Robert Conrad, but I just can't help but get excited over the prospect of handling hundreds of revolvers, as I did at SHOT Show.

I could write for hours about the colossal number of individual revolvers I saw at the show, and still barely scratch the surface of what was there. Besides, much of what was on display was the same stuff you could go into a local gun store and purchase. Which is not to say that they were bad or boring, but I'd rather focus on what was new, and what caught my eye.

First, and likely my favorite at the show (a favorite of all the Kallini Brothers, I believe), is The Ruger New Vaquero. A beautiful gun in its own right, it handled flawlessly. A clean trigger pull, smooth cylinder rotation, and tight hammer combine with the case-hardened bluing to make on amazing handgun. And it is newly available in .357 Magnum, as well as the original .45 Colt. Truly a gun worth owning.

Second, Taurus has introduced their .410/.45 revolver in a new longer cylinder "Judge" model, capable of loading .410 3-inch Magnum shells, which just makes me want this even more. My first firearm purchase (and still my carry piece) is a Taurus CIA revolver, and I love it. The Judge showed similar quality in manufacture, with the potential for a whole lot more fun at the range.

Third, North American Arms introduced a whole line of Black Widow, Mini-Master, and Holster Grip revolvers that were just really, really fun to play with. A Derringer style revolver that shoots .22 Magnum, but with a four inch barrel and overall eight inch length? It was hilarious, and actually incredibly comfortable to hold and dry fire. The entire line was well-made, and the price makes them easy to pick up, either singly or in sets. I never thought that I would be a fan of such small, relatively "useless" revolvers (from a practical sense), but NAA has made a line of Revolvers that just seem too fun to pass up. Add to the unique charm the fact that NAA supports these guns with custom holsters, cases, grips, and other merchandise, and you've got some very cool potential gifts for people as well.

Those were definitely my top three finds at SHOT Show. Some others that deserve mention are:

Magnum Research - Matching the obscene glory of the Desert Eagle, Magnum has released a line of revolvers that are chambered in .45/70 and .30/30, which must be so much fun to shoot. I don't know if I want one, but it would make a great pairing to a Desert Eagle .50 if you happen to own one already.

Smith & Wesson - S&W has their Performance Center Revolvers, which are excellent, excellent firearms. But I'll be covering that in a future post, since I am now the owner of one since Christmas, and I want to include pictures and range report.

And two final ones I need to mention separately, because I actually missed these while at the show. I may be kicking myself now, but next year I will make up for it.

Benelli was apparently featuring A. Uberti revolvers, since I am looking at all of them in the product catalog I picked up from Benelli's booth. These are some fantastic looking revolvers, and could potentially sway me from my desire to own the Ruger New Vaquero. I would definitely want to handle them first, but they are worth looking at if you have any love for classic firearms.

And finally, STI, whom Chris covered in more detail in his 1911 post. While mainly a 1911 company, they do have one revolver, The Texican, which we all missed because we were too busy drooling over the rest of their line, and talking to their reps. If this revolver is as well made as their 1911s were, then this one will definitely end up on my "guns-to-buy" list, which has just gotten much longer in the past two weeks.

Honestly, I wish I could do justice to all the companies that were at SHOT Show, and to all of the individual products they had on display, but that could be a blog in itself. Suffice it to say, I was impressed by even more than what I am posting here, and next year I'll be sure to get even more information to share.

Cross-posted at The Kallini Brothers