Valentine’s Day
While much of the Midwest and east coast suffers the cold and dreary winter, the high desert at the Gunsite Ranch has been beautiful. (Yes, I know I just cursed us for February and March!) The 30’s in the early AM and the mid 60’s in the afternoon. Don’t you wish you were in the 250 Pistol Class this week?
SHOT Show was fruitful. My step counter registered over 72,000 steps. (In the words of the late Indy 500 track announcer Tom Carnegie: “A new track record!”) We had good visits with many of our industry partners and vendors as well as finding new products for the Gunsite Pro Shop. Thanks to the Gunsite Family we saw wearing the Raven!
At SHOT we hosted our press conference announcing the 50th Anniversary firearms:
- The limited edition (100 units) Steyr Scout in .308 with the original grey stock, butter knife bolt handle, Jeff Cooper logo on one side of the stock and the 50th Anniversary logo on the other and Jeff Cooper signature under the bipod and an Andy’s Leather Rhodesian Sling.
- The limited edition (50) Dave Fink (Gunsite Gunsmith) single stack 1911 with color case hardened receiver, Raven cut hammer, gold bead front sight, special serial number and Cooper signature. It is a beautiful pistol appropriate for our 50th Anniversary.
- The Ruger RXM collaboration with Ruger and Davidsons. Both are two-tone flat dark earth and olive green with 50th Anniversary logo, special serial number and more. One model is MOS so you can pick your pistol mounted optic and the other . . . with the Aimpoint COA. (The COA Model will not be available for another few months, the MOS is available now.) If you purchase from the Gunsite Pro Shop, these pistols will also have a 50th Anniversary backplate on the slide. They are also available through Davidson’s dealers.
- Aero Precision Carbine. To celebrate Gunsite Academy’s first 50 years, Aero Precision set out to build a carbine that honors proven fundamentals while embracing what’s next. Built on the flagship M4E1 Lower: featuring the limited-edition Gunsite 50th Anniversary logo, this rifle pairs a 16” 5.56 mid-length government-profile CMV barrel with an A2 flash hider for no-nonsense reliability where it counts. It comes with a padded Vickers Sling, SureFire Light and Aimpoint Duty RDS MR. It is ready to take down range for your 223 Class!Form has not been forgotten, though, which is where the limited edition Gunsite Raven ambidextrous BREACH charging handle, PRO Ambi safety selector, and 15” MOD4 (minimum optical deflection) handguard come into play. Rooted in tradition, engineered for the future – this carbine is built for what comes next.
Our partners Davidson’s, Aimpoint, Andy from Andy’s Leather, SureFire, Finks Custom Gunsmith and Steyr spoke at the presser and we are excited to move forward with these project. Contact Lindy at the Gunsite Pro Shop about these items.
More special 50th Anniversary products are available in the Gunsite Pro Shop and some special ones are yet to come.
While we are discussing the 50th, GAS enrollment is 50% full. So, if you are planning on attending, it might be wise to get enrolled soonest!
If you are enrolling in classes, The Pat Rogers Revolver Round Up is also about 50% full. Don’t wait too long to sign up.
We are proud to report another record year at Gunsite. The firearms industry overall suffered the “Trump Slump” with reduced firearms and ammunition sales and many trainers report lower attendance. Gunsite exceeded annual firearms sales as well as another student attendance record. Thanks to all the great Gunsite Staff for all their hard work to make this happen as well as the Gunsite Family Members who continue to put their faith and trust in us.
February weather at Gunsite? While it may be cold and we may receive some precipitation, we are not Flagstaff! Next Saturday is Carbine Range Day (RM Guy Coursey) for those graduates of a 3 day or more Gunsite Carbine Class followed by Shotgun 260 and Shotgun ATP with Guy Coursey, Eric Ingersol and Verlin Rector. Another iteration of Gunsite Performance Center 101 (GPC-101 Introductory Performance – Gunsite Academy) with Steve Tarani, Lew Gosnell and Guy Coursey is Valentine’s Day weekend. (Come train with your Valentine!) We continue with the Advanced 1911 Build Class (Due to popular demand, another Advanced 1911 Build Class has been added in September), and Scoped Carbine with Walt Wilkinson, Freddie Blish and Tessa Wyrick.
March will come in like a Lion with Battle Rifle with Walt Wilkinson and Schylar Cloudt. Immediately following is our first 250 Pistol Collaboration with Aimpoint. (https://www.gunsite.com/classes/250-defensive-pistol-class/)
Keep a sharp eye out as we will soon be announcing a collaboration with Aimpoint and a Gunsite 223 Class.
Time to get back at it. (Well, I need to go downrange and shoot my S&W/Lipsey’s new Night Guard .44 Spl. It is research you know!)
Let me close with some sound advice from our Founder Jeff Cooper:
Interesting times in many parts of the Republic. Stay in Yellow.
DVC,
Ken
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