SOF: Quite a Convention
By Tom Spithaler
Olympic Arms was represented at the Soldier of Fortune Convention last weekend, by
Bruce Bell (Controller and CPA), Steve Houseman (Gunsmith, sharpshooter and
resident full auto guru) and myself, Tom Spithaler.
It was quite a show, different from most, but very exciting.
The SOF Convention consists of many different facets. There was the
actual show portion which is a sort of combination between a good trade show
like the S.H.O.T Show, and a good ol’ gun show. The combination made for a
very diverse crowd with interests ranging from standard plinking guns to
full auto, class II suppressed sub guns.
As we weren’t prepared for the selling portion of the show, we didn’t
have stacks of uppers and parts laying around, we did have a full display of
arms to gawk over. Included at the show were examples of our law enforcement
guns in the OA-93 TCP, the OA pistol design with a side folding stock, and a
'Stubby' (6" barreled carbine) gun in 9mm select fire that is a sample of the
arms we will be supplying to the US Secret Service. Other attention getters
were the Ultra CSR Sniper rifle in the venerable .308 round, and the new
post ban CAR-97.
Other happenings included Steve’s participation in the manufacturers
demonstration live fire out on the range. For this he used the 9mm sub gun.
Over 1,000 rounds were fired by many satisfied shooters without a single
malfunction! Also available to shoot was a .223 AR-15 variant we call the
PCR-2 (yes, it does mean politically correct rifle!) Steve awed the crowd
with a sub ½ inch group at 100 yards, and the rifle continued to shoot in
this fashion for the remainder of the day.
Anyway, lots of fun was had, and it is always good to get out and see the
customers face to face as well as simply just make new friends! The fact
that all this takes place in Las Vegas, ("Sin City"), doesn’t hurt things at all.
P.S. The Buffet at the Rio is well worth the $10.00 it cost, and the 40
minute wait. All those people in there losing all that money pays off for
something...cheap meals!
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