More than 1,600 exhibitors from 50 states and 100 countries - including several Arkansas companies - are showing wares this week at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas.
Representatives of relative newcomers to the state, Walther Arms Inc. and Thermold Magazines, along with Arkansas’ mainstay Berryville’s Nighthawk Custom and recent startup Overwatch said the show is a great way to promote the latest products to the more than 62,000 attendees and keep current with the marketplace.
Commonly called the SHOT Show, the event is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade organization for the industry. The event started Tuesday and runs through Friday.
“I got my hair blown back,” said Joe Saumweber, chief strategy officer for Bentonville-based Overwatch, who attended the show for the first time Tuesday along with Josh Moody, the company’s chief executive.
Overwatch is developing a mobile application and hardware that combines game features and technologies from combat video games to enhance live-action airsoft, paintball and laser-tag competitions. In September, Overwatch was one of three startup companies to win the ARK Challenge, obtaining $150,000 in seed funding. The ARK Challenge is a coordinated initiative by Winrock International, the University of Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville to advance regional competitiveness.
The company was at the Las Vegas show with its partners CyberGun, a world leader in the airsoft market. Airsoft guns shoot plastic pellets, can be used indoors and require eye protection when used in competitive games in which opponents target one another.
“This is a huge opportunity for us,” said Saumweber. “All the major airsoft retailers are here, and we’re getting to spend some time with them. We look forward to all those opportunities.”
The event is not open to the public. Attendance is restricted to the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade as well as commercial buyers and sellers of military, law enforcement, and tactical products and services.
While the industry doesn’t directly track firearm sales, the country had 14.8 million criminal-background checks for possible firearms purchases in 2013, a 7.4 percent increase compared with 13.78 million for 2012.
According to a report from market research group IBIS World, a major impetus of gun and ammunition demand by civilians in the past year has been the perception that recent mass shootings will spur more gun regulation. The buying surge is the result of fear that consumers have a limited amount of time to purchase arms and ammo.
In early 2013, there were runs on some types of firearms - particularly military-style semi-automatic rifles - ammunition, and some ammunition magazines. Since then, panic buying has subsided, but demand remains strong.
The combined revenue for gun and ammunition manufacturing in the United States for 2013 was $14.7 billion, an increase of 20.2 percent from a year ago, according to the report. Growth of an average 4.5 percent annually is expected over the next five years to $18.4 billion by 2018.
In 2013, 30 percent of gun and ammunition revenue came from sales to the military and law enforcement, 34.8 percent was from civilians and 35.2 percent came from exports.
At this year’s show, Fort Smith-based Walther Arms unveiled several pistols in its striker-fired PPQ range. Its .22-caliber PPQ M2 will be offered with 4-inch and 5-inch barrels - the 5-inch model sporting a fiber-optic front sight.
Mark Thomas, director of marketing for Walther Arms, said Tuesday at the show that he expects 2014 will be a good year for the industry, predicting steady demand rather than the buying binge that hit in 2013.
“Things will be more normal this year,” he said.
In November 2012, Walther Arms, the U.S. unit of German gun maker Carl Walther GmbH, moved its headquarters to Fort Smith. Airgun maker Umarex USA moved to Fort Smith in 2010. Both companies are owned by Arnsberg, Germany-based PW Group and share space in the Chaffee Crossing development.
Umarex USA also is at the show, offering 500 individually numbered Colt 1911 WWII Commemorative Edition airguns.. The company’s booth also features Rossi Morreale, a former University of Arkansas wide receiver and host of American Airgunner, which is produced by Umarex and aired on the Pursuit Network and can be seen online.
Fort Smith-based Thermold Magazines is highlighting its Pink Mag series for AR-15 style rifles at the show. The polymer magazines hold 10, 20 or 30 rounds of .223-caliber ammo and, of course, are a bright pink. A portion of the proceeds will go to a breast-cancer research hospital, according to a company spokesman.
Thermold Magazines moved its headquarters from North Carolina to Fort Smith in September and now operates in space shared with River Bend Industries in Fort Smith, which engineers thermoplastics and engineering resins.
With more than 10 years in the market, the ownership of Nighthawk Custom of Berryville changed last week from four owners to one - founder Mark Stone.
“I have been truly blessed in the opportunities that the Lord has given me throughout my life,” Stone said in a release.
The company produces 28 different models of the classic 1911 pistol, along with custom shotguns, knives and handmade holsters. It’s a high end gun maker, known for its craftsmanship, with each firearm worked on by a single gunsmith who puts his maker’s mark on the product. Pistols start in the $3,000 range.
Sales in 2013 hit record numbers, according to Travis Noteboom, marketing director for Nighthawk Custom. He said that during the boom times the company received 18 months of orders in one month. He said the company is backlogged at least three years on pistol orders.
He said at the Las Vegas show the company’s stainless steel T-4 pistol was popular, as well as triggers, hammers, magazine wells and beaver-tail safeties.
While Nighthawk Custom doesn’t mass-produce firearms, the table always gets a lot of attention, Noteboom said.
“Most people can’t afford to buy a Ferrari, but they sure want to look at them,” he said.
Business, Pages 25 on 01/15/2014