ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 6—With SHOT Show 2009 slated to run Jan. 15-18 at the Orange County Convention Center, there’s a lot getting ready to happen.
Spanning more than 700,000 square feet of exhibition space, the show will bring together exhibitors, buyers and media from around the globe.
Besides the deluge of new product announcements coming out this week, there’s other happenings slated for the show.
Of most interest to gun owners, two auctions will honor America’s firearms traditions.
The 2009 package features one-of-a-kind offerings from Bianchi, Colt Manufacturing Co., Marlin Firearms, Hornady and Remington Arms.
The Bianchi-Colt offering features a one-of-a-kind, custom silver trimmed double gunbelt rig fitted with two fully engraved Colt Single Action Army pistols.The Bianchi double gunbelt rig was originally handcrafted by legendary custom holster maker and Bianchi Founder, John Bianchi. It is now offered in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Bianchi brand.The handgun component of the package are two Colt .45 Single Action Army 4 ” pistols handcrafted by Colt’s Manufacturing. The nickel plated revolvers feature wraparound ivory grips and full-coverage hand engraving from the Colt factory.
The rifle component of this SHOT Show offering features a cased of Serial No. 1 of the Marlin 338MXLR Custom in the new 338 Marlin Express cartridge-plus Serial No. 2 of the same Model. The actual serial numbers are 33800001 and 33800002.Past SHOT Show auctions have featured Serial No. 1,000,000, 2,000,000 or 5,000,000–but never Number 1–and certainly never a No. 1 and No. 2 in the same package.The Serial No. 1 is engraved by Baron Engraving in a traditional Marlin 5 (4) pattern, which features a gold-engraved bear on the right side of the receiver and a gold engraved elk on the left. Appropriate and traditional gold lines and scrolls highlight the trigger and lever. In contrast, Serial No. 2 is an “out-of-the box” example.The package also comes with a case of 10 boxes of Hornady 338 Marlin Express signed and documented by Hornady President Steve Hornady, to be the first 338 Marlin Express made available to the consumer market and reserved for the high bidder of this auction.
View this year’s auction items at GunBroker.com.
Elsewhere, National Shooting Sports Foundation Director of Industry Research and Analysis Frank Briganti will lead two press conferences providing the latest research in two key areas.
At the first, on Thursday, Jan. 15, from noon to 1 p.m., Briganti, along with Southwick Associates, will cover the buying trends of consumers in a session called, “Consumer Trends: A Profile of Today’s Hunter and Target Shooter.”
At the second, on Friday, Jan. 16, from 9 to 10 a.m., Briganti will address the “Future of Hunting and Shooting” and provide research presented to industry leaders at the NSSF Shooting Sports Summit, distributed free of charge, and detail the goals of Task Force 20/20.
