← The Colion Noir Podcast
The Colion Noir Podcast
The Truth About SHOT SHOW
00:28:10
Colion talks about what it's like to goto SHOT SHOW. SHOT SHOW is the largest firearms and outdoor industry trade show in the world, where manufacturers, media, and professionals gather each year to debut new guns, gear, optics, and technology.
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The first things first is this. And I always tell people this. Your very first Shot show is going to be your best Shot show. For me, this is more of the content creator side and more kind of. Me specifically and a lot of other people getting content is hard. Shot show is nothing more than a big ass excuse to go and party, kind of. Let's talk about these parties. As of now, I don't go to any Shot show parties anymore. I have my reasons for them, which I will not die. I will not talk about here. This episode of the Cole on Noir podcast is brought to you by Vedder Holsters. Welcome to another episode of the Cole on the War podcast. Oh, man. So it's gonna be another one of these solo joints. I just got back from Vegas not too long ago, I'd say about a day or two ago. And the week prior to that was Shot Show. And Shot show is the annual thing that all of us influencers, you know, we pack up and go to Vegas and we go and we, we work. We work when we go to Shot Show. That's bullshit. Shot show is nothing more than a big ass excuse to go and party. Kind of. Kind of. Okay, not really. I'm, I'm kind of overstating it. However, I'm gonna say this. So one of the things I get asked quite a bit from some of my other content creative friends, people who are just friends of mine who are in a gun space, who are outside the gun space, they always want to know what is it like to go to Shot Show. And you know, it's interesting because I, I get asked this question quite a bit and I kind of give a different answer largely based on who's asking me the question. And honestly, I don't really know what to say. I've never given a cohesive statement as to what is it like going to Shot show. Because when you haven't gone to Shot Show, Shot show is this, this kind of almost mythical event in the gun space that people just yearn to go to. And when you're a gun person, it makes total sense. Shot show is like the biggest gun show in the world, right? And it's in it, but it's like a controlled gun show. They control who gets in, they control who they let in as far as like vendors and, and, and different, and different manufacturers and so forth and so on. And it's not even just about guns. There's also the, the whole concept of all of the different accessories that are part of the gun world and all those great things. And so it is, it is. It's like the perfect place for someone who is in the firearms to go to. And on top of that, it's in Vegas, right? Whatever. Vegas. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas sometimes. So what I thought I've been going to Shot show for almost over 10 years now. And I, I remember my first Shot show like it was yesterday and I remember my last Shot show like it was two a week ago. And so for me, what I wanted to do with this episode is I kind of wanted to talk about kind of more, give a more comprehensive dialogue about what it's like the truth, the truth about Shot Show. Like what is it really like to go to Shot Show? And it's gonna be, this is gonna be kind of an amalgamation of different perspectives. Some of the perspective is going to come from me, some of it's going to come from somebody who's just going as a viewer or observer or as I like to call it, tactical voyeurism. But by and large, I'm going to try to give my best comprehensive understanding and bring you guys in with me on what it's like to go to Shot Show. So now the first things first is this. All right, so I've got to give a quick shout out to Vetter Holsters. They're now sponsoring the podcast. I've been using their light tuck Kydex inside the waistband holster. And what I really like is how adjustable it is. You can tweak the ride height and can't to get it exactly how you want. Plus they've got holsters for over 450 gun models in 75 different colors. So you can pretty much find whatever you need. But here's the thing that really sets them apart. Their customer service. I've heard so many stories about how they've gone above and beyond to make sure you're happy with your holster. And with a life Warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee, it's clear they stand behind their products. If you're in the market for a great holster, check them out@betterholsters.com and I always tell people this. Your very first Shot show is going to be your best Shot show. The absolute best. There's, there's so much in the way of anticipation, expectation, excitement because you don't really like. You've heard the stories, you see all the videos, it looks amazing. And that first time, that's your first. You pop your first cherry at Shot Show. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was awesome. I had a blast. I Wanted to do everything. We went. I was like, you get there and then you go to like, you go to the. The range day out in the desert and then you go and you'd be able to shoot all of these new guns that are coming out from all of these different manufacturers. And then you get essentially three days to just go look at shit. Look at all the guns and toys and gadgets in the gun space that you could possibly think of. It is awesome. Then on top of that, right afterwards, you do that from morning to like five. And then you kind of go rest. Depending on who you are, you rest a little bit. And then there's parties, there's events, there's shit to do afterwards because. And even if you don't have anything official to do within the space, it's Vegas, you gonna find some shit to do. So it was, it was definitely awesome. I remember I went and I was just like a kid in a candy store. I'm looking at all these different guns and vendors. And the weird thing about Shot show, what it does in a weird way, like a lot of goods I've already seen before, even have. But having seen them presented there at Shot show just kind of gives them a certain essence. It just makes it more fun to see them. And then on top of that, you get to see all of the new stuff. You get to touch it in hand and see it. You're excited. What is this company announced? You know, and I'm going to go ahead and look and I would create all these videos and all this stuff. It's. It's. It's awesome. Had a great time. You get to see all of your friends, all of the people in the, in the gun community who, who also make videos and create content. You get meet with them, you hang out, you have a blast. It's awesome. You get to chill and hang out with them and develop a level of camaraderie you otherwise wouldn't. That you can't when you just talk to them over the phone. You know, I went out with, you know, I was going out with a lot of people that I. I only watched in video and I'm meeting him in person. I remember when I met like Hikar45 for the first time was at Shot Show. I'm like, this guy is a giant and so is his son. They're huge. Huge. They're like nephilites. So, you know, but it was awesome. I was starstruck. I'm like, oh, that's, that's Hickok 45. And the crazy thing is you also, sometimes you run into people. You even could possibly run into different types of celebrities from time to time. Because, you know, some of these guys love guns too, and they. Well, they know they flock to this space. And I remember this was back when I was with the nra, so it was like. It was kind of like a group of us. It was like the NRA commentators. So it's like we went out there like a gang and it was fun. You know, we went. And then afterwards, I went to certain events. I remember I went to the cry party. The cry party is insane. I'll get to that later. You know, then I kind of hung out, smoked some cigars, do a lot of drinking. If you drink and then you. Then you go to sleep at ungodly hours, and then you wake up and do it all over again for the next two more days. It's awesome. And then, then the second shot show, the second shot show, you're looking forward to it because you're still running from the high off of the first one. And then you get there and it's still fun, you still enjoy yourself. But every single shot show subsequently after that starts to become a little bit more laborious, a little bit more laborious, more fatiguing. I'm not going to say you start not liking it, but you almost have this gleeful dread in terms of what. What you're going to end up doing at shot or going forward or going to shot. And a lot of it has nothing to do with the shot show itself. But all the ancillary you have to deal with for one shot show is expensive. It's. It's. Unless you're getting sponsored and someone is paying for your flights or your hotels and stuff like that. It's especially. Especially if you're trying to stay at the Palazzo or the Venetian. So Shacho's. The actual show is. Is at the Venetian Convention Center. But like, you know, the Palazzo is connected to Venetian, so everybody in their mama tries to stay at the Venetian in the Palazzo. If you're in the industry, you try to stay at the Venetian Plaza because you could just walk to the convention center. You don't have to deal with getting an Uber or taxi. It's so interesting. By the way, just a sidebar. It's crazy how much Vegas hates Ubers. It's nuts. They will have. You'll buy your Uber, you'll get an Uber, order Uber and think you're gonna walk downstairs to the front lobby of the hotel. And then all of a Sudden it tells you, oh, you have to walk another three miles to the backside of the hotel in order to go to the share ride section. It's, that's a whole nother video. But nonetheless you get there and it's like, it's, it's. They know shot show happens. And when I say they, I'm talking Venetian and Palazzo. They know every year the shot show is going to be there. They know everybody wants to stay at the Venetian and Plaza because immediate access, efficiency, like you don't want to have to keep leaving like, because most people don't have the stamina to be on the floor all day long. Some people do. My hat's off to them. But the weird thing is it's like you not the weird thing but that it's. These prices on these hotels are God forsaken expensive. And that's assuming and that's, and that's even with they, you know, they, they have certain blocks of rooms for like manufacturers of people at, at shot show where they give them kind of like a group, group rate. Right? So it's going to be, it's going to be cheaper than what they normally would. But God forbid you try to get a room by yourself. Oh, oh, you're going to be spending twice your mortgage just to go to shot show. Yeah, the whole, you got the flight, then there's a flight. Most people are late with booking their flight and don't think you're going to be able to and don't think you're going to try to book your room early, really early in order to kind of like mitigate the cost. It's not going to do much because they know every year it's a shot show so you can try to book it three years ahead, but they know every year from these days to this day it shot show so that they're going to price it accordingly. And so when it comes to that, that side of it, it's just expensive. And then, then there's, then there's the idea, then there's food, right? So you have a couple of options. You can either order room service, which is ungodly expensive. I mean you're talking like just my breakfast sometimes. And I'm talking, I'm ordering egg whites, egg whites and oatmeal type shit. And it's like 70, $80, 78 for shit like that, the room service. Then you're like, okay, I'm gonna go downstairs and go get breakfast. But downstairs is a, is a zoo. It's a freaking zoo. So it's like you're gonna go downstairs and have to deal with the chaos of trying to order food. You can't Uber Eats because again, they hate Uber. So like trying to get an Uber Eats to come, you're gonna still walk through the zoo, gotta go meet it with Uber Station is which is three miles away from where you are. It just was a shitso. So you're stuck paying either $80 for egg whites or paying $50 for the food that they have down there. Or if you, if you're smart, you, I guess you go shopping beforehand and try to get some stuff. But no, I don't. Nobody does that. So then you got, so it's like you got the hotel, you got the, you got the food that's expensive as shit. The flight that's expensive as shit. Because they flight. These people know, these airlines know every year shot show, same time, same place, right? Nothing different. So at this point, and I'm not going in any particular order, I'm going, I'm doing this off the cuff as it comes to me. So then there's the travel. God forbid you decide to leave the hotel, the convention center. If you decide to do that, then you gotta, then you gotta do. You gotta pay for cabs and Ubers and so forth and so on. So that's the stuff you gotta pay for. Then if you're a drinker, then you're going to drink. And to keep in mind, this is Vegas. You're here. If you come to Shacho, you're coming. Let's say you come for, let's say you come for the, the Monday of, let's say you try to go to the range day, which is that Monday. Typically I like to get to places a day before, so I go a day before and then I go there for the. So you're basically there for a week, essentially is what I'm getting at. And like nobody wants to go to Vegas and just rough it, right? Because you're there for a week as is. Everybody knows, really you only should do Vegas two to three days tops, right before it starts weighing on you. So you kind of have to pace yourself, but you also want to enjoy yourself because you're out there in this dry ass desert that they call Vegas, right? And that's another thing too. If you're not used to the Vegas air, man, you're not even. So, so if you go out and you drink the night before and then you go to sleep late, you're not even gonna get good sleep because the air, the AC units In these places are terrible. Everyone's smoking in there. So then they have this crazy H VAC system which filters the air, makes the air feel. Feel like ass, essentially. Ass. You wake up in the middle of the night. You can't breathe because your throat is dry and it's itching. Then you got a sore throat because you've been heaped. It just like. It's just the worst. And then on top of that, everybody gets sick. Almost 80% of the people who go to Shacho gets it. It's so bad. They have a name for it. It's called the Shot Show Crud. You. Everyone gets sick at some point. And the thing is, what's fucked up about this? You think you made it out safe, and then four or five days later, wham, you're sick as hell. And you're like, what the hell happened? I thought I made it out. You can try. You can try to take all the zinc and magnesium and vitamin C you want. You're gonna get. Chances are there's 80% chance you're gonna get the Shot Show Crud. I don't care what nobody says now, I didn't get it this year, but 80% of the time, you're gonna get the Shot Show Crud. Everybody gets sick. It just. It's just the way it is, the way the air circulates. All of these people in one place. You're meeting so many people, you're touching, you're shaking hands. The only time I can honestly think where I didn't get sick, which is hilarious, was during COVID during COVID I didn't get sick. And I think a lot of it had to do with everybody was kind of wearing masks. I don't know what to tell you. So, like. And then with me, because sometimes when doing booth appearances, I'm definitely always getting sick because I'm shaking so many people's hands. So many people's hands. If I'm standing at a booth for an hour and the line is wrapped around the booth, I mean, I'm shaking upwards of 50 to 100 people's hands at any given point. And then I have to, like. One of my good friends is always telling me the. The shoulder line. He's like, when you're a shot, do not let your hands pass your shoulders, because that's how you get sick. You start touching your face, your nose, ears. He's like, if you can remember not to do that, no matter how many hands you shake, you'll be good. I never do this successfully. I naturally Just touch my face and my nose unconsciously. I even tried this year. I tried to do, like, beforehand. I tried to, like, train myself the week before for this week before shot show. Don't go. Don't go past this point. And I was good. I was solid. I was doing great. And then as soon as I get there, I'm just massaging my face unconsciously. You see? You see that? That. That is Vegas. This was Vegas. I didn't get sick. But what happened is the air got me. The air. That dry ass air. And then I tried to. I tried to deal with it by getting, like, a nasal spray and some. And then it made it worse. So I had a rebound effect in this. So now it just made all my sinuses go nuts. Right. Thank you. I didn't get sick. That's a good thing. So. So there's that. Now for me, this is more of the content creator side and more kind of. Me specifically and a lot of other people. Getting content is hard. Like, I always go there with this grandiose plan of how much footage I'm gonna get. I'm gonna do this epic thing. Like, I'm like, I'm either gonna, like, do this, do this, and get, like, all these podcast episodes, or I'm gonna. I'm gonna get all of this content of all the new stuff that's on the floor. And, you know, I'm telling Peter, all right, this is dark plan. And our strategy never works. Never works. Like when they say everybody has planes that get punched in the face, that's that shot show for you from a content creator standpoint. And the reason that. And the reason that is, is. Is largely because you. You're just navigating too many different things, especially with me. Like, there's a lot of people who want to stop and shake your hand and talk to you. And I try to give everybody as genuine as an encounter as I possibly can. So. And then a lot of times people just want to meet you, and they're not realizing that, oh, I'm filming something right now, and then they kind of want to stop and talk to you, or you film something and trying to go to the next booth, which will lead me to my next thing. And, you know, you get stopped like, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 times on the way there. And it's not to the fault of anybody else. Like, it mean, this is amazing. It's. It's absolutely humbling to experience it to. The problem is, is, though. But that is going from one booth to the Next takes about 25 minutes and shot show is huge. Huge. You are not going to make it to everything you want to see in all three days. I don't care how hard you try, it's not happening. Shot show is massive. Massive. So the benefit, if you count steps, you. You gonna get your steps. You will absolutely get your steps. It's the weird thing about shot show is you eat like a fucking pig, but for some reason, you don't really gain much weight because you're. You're walking so much, it's like you're counteracting those calories, right? Like, if you track it with your Apple watch, which I do. I mean, there are days I'm getting 20, 25, 30,000 steps. Like, it's nuts. So there's that aspect of it. But for me, the frustrating part of it sometimes is like, I want to just be able to kind of go and be like a kid in a candy store and. And just kind of look at all the different guns and. But I also understand the reality that I live in, right, like with people. So. And there's people there, so it's. It's harder to get the footage that I want. And I've actually tried one of the strategies that dud was I wait till the last day, like two hours before the show closes on the last day, and then I can just bounce around in different booths and try to get. And try to. Cause there's less people, right? Cause most people start leaving. The problem with that is there's still not enough time to go see all the stuff that I really want to see. Now let's talk about these parties. As of now, I don't go to any shot show parties anymore. I have my reasons for them, which I will not die, I will not talk about here. But the parties, if you go to them, you will have a good time. The parties are epic because the companies, the manufacturers that put the. That put these parties together, they really put a lot of effort behind it, right? And the most famous one is the Cry party, right? The Cry party is the party to go to. That's the party to be at. And it's psychotic. It is absolutely psychotic. I used to be a club promoter, and even I walked into the Cry Party that time and was like, oh, my God, this is crazy. They had little people fighting each other. They had a whole sled, sleigh, like ice, like sculpture slope thing that you can ride down. It was complete and utter madness. I'm like, I was in a different world. It was even over the top for Vegas. But you're going to have fun, and you're going to see all your counterparts and all the people you know, and then you probably gonna see them drunk, which could make for awesome time, because then that's like people's real personalities come out, and you get to see them, and it's. It can be rather entertaining. So there's that. So if you want to go there and have. And it's not even just about just like, the huge parties, there's also, like, the quintessential. And if you have nothing else to do, you just want to go and people watch and like. And kind of. Kind of be in the drama. Go to the Circle Bar. Go to the Circle. Circle Bar is like the staple at shot show after shot show. Like, after the. Each day, everybody kind of congregates to the Circle. I don't know if they still. They're still the way now, but I know when I was there, the Circle Bar is where it happened. That's where it went down. You saw everything. All the drama, all the chaos, all the fun. It is awesome. You have a great time. I will say, if you're a cigar smoker, Absolutely Love 8, Lounge 8 is one of my favorite places. I look forward to going there every single time I go to Vegas. Lounge eight. Absolutely love it. So if you're a cigar smoker, I smoke a cigar, like, once every three months, but when I do, I do it big. I love, love, love loud Jade. But. And there's also. There's another bar, right? I said, I don't remember the name of it, but it's in the Palazzo and that Palazzo. There's a bar right before you start going to the. To the. The suites, right before the entrance, entryway to go inside of the suites. And that's kind of like another version of the Circle Bar, because Circle Bar, I believe, is a Venetian. And then this other bar is at the Palazzo, and that's where everybody kind of congregates and you just kind of just meet a bunch of people that you know on a different level. Right? Because when you're on the floor, it's more. It's more professional. After shot show, after that day, and everybody's at Circle Bar. Everybody's got some drinks in them. It gets. It gets fun. Yeah. So there's that now range day. So Monday, usually Monday, that's the day before the actual show. Show starts. They have the range days. That's basically where all the manufacturers get together at this range out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere. Vegas and they have, they bring all their guns that you can go out there and shoot and so forth and so on. In theory it sounds amazing. You get to go there, you shoot all of the new guns and, and get, you know, if you want to get content, get content. You still see all your friends, things like that. In reality it's kind of miserable. At least for me it was when I first, when I used to go to arrange. I don't really go to range days anymore. It's cool, but it's kind of is because it's kind of far. So then I believe last time I went they had shuttles and stuff. They'll take you out there, which can be kind of cool because it's like, you know, you're on the shuttle with a bunch of other people and you don't get to talk. It's kind of a bit of a drive. But it's out in the middle of desert and if it happens to be a colder year, it's going to suck. It's going to be cold, really cold. And it's just a desert me, for me, I think the reason why I don't care for it too much is I just don't like the desert like that. I'm just not a fan of the desert. If the desert doesn't bother you, then you'll probably go out there and have a great time. But buying large, it is pretty cool to go out there and just shoot all the different guns and then kind of get the content you get from that. But just understand that your time is going to be limited because you know you're not the only one who can be there and shoot the guns. You know there's going to be a line, you got to wait and there's a lot of walking. Again, Shot show is just one big ass excuse to get your steps. That's all I'm going to say, hands down. All right, let's see here. Let's see. Ccc. I think that's pretty much it. Like it's, it's by and large like I said before, Shot show is one of those things where you love it the first time and then progressively you love it less. But it's again it's not just, it's not the Shot show, it's just the ancillary. If there was a way I could teleport to Shot show, boom, get there. Now I have to spend eons amounts of money. Shot show is actually pretty fucking cool. It's pretty, pretty, pretty damn cool. I think everyone, anyone who can get the opportunity to. You need to go to Shacho. You have to go to Shacho. I think it's, I think it's like a gun's rights. Like it's like a rite of passage, right? You got to go to Shacho at least. No, you got to go shot show at least three times. I say three times because the first time you go, you're kind of overwhelmed with everything, so you're trying to take it in. The second time you go, you're still kind of trying to take it in also because you're kind of, you're still going to try to do too much. Your third time, you kind of learn what you, what to expect and you're still in that fun stage where it's always really fun to you still. And. But now you can be more strategic about how you go about doing it. And so that's where I think you should, you should. If you can go three times, go at least three times. I think after the third time, after the fifth time, I think you, you kind of get the gist. It's either for you or it's not. But I go at least three times. That's what I, that's what I say. If you can go to Chateau at least three times, because I think you'll have a great time. Great time either way. Now I'm looking at it more from a cynical perspective because I've been going to it for over 10 years now, so I kind of have that kind of like, oh, like veteran shot show cynicism. But I'm still going to go every single year, by and large. So it's just now I become a little bit more strategic about how I go about doing it because, you know, I just, I just know more. It's kind of like I know I'm gonna be doing a lot of walking. So even the way that I pack, even packing for Vegas, Vegas can be. Packing for shot show can be a pain in the ass because you're there so long and at the same time and you never know what you're gonna get into. You're packing for so many different things on top of that. So it's like you're packing for the shot. So floor you're packing for going out, you're packing for parties, you're packing for meetings. All these things you're packing, packing back all this stuff. And you gotta. Yeah, so, you know, paying 200 because your bag's overweight and you can bring your three bags just nuts. I mean, some of you people, some of you people, y' all can get away with bringing a backpack and call it a day. I'm not one of those people. I pack like a little girl. So for me, the packing aspect of it is really what drives me insane as well. But that. That's pretty much my. My kind of my take on it on Shot Show. I think, by and large, if you can go, go, I think it's worth it. I think they do a great job in how they put on Shot show, and they continue to do it every single year. It. And I think they've done a good job on keeping it contained. I know at one point, Shot so started kind of feeling like it was getting out of control, but now I think they've really got a. They got their hand on it and it's. It's become a thing where it's like, it's. It's controlled chaos in the most best way possible. So if. If you have the opportunity to go to Shot show, definitely go to Shot show, because I think you'll have a blast the first three times and then everything after that. It's up to you. That's all I gotta say. So that was my episode of Nicole Noir podcast. Until we meet again.