NRA Convention Report

[Bruce Day]

Here are some photos from last weekend's NRA convention in St Louis. A fuller report will be in the Parker Pages for PGCA members, but the general public might be interested in these.

We had 42 Parkers from a near new Trojan to the gold AAHE Czar's gun .

The nephew of William Hernden Foster came by, tall fellow pictured with Charlie.

A direct descendent of Charles Parker came by.

Lots of visits from our friends in Pheasants Forever management .

Photo 043 is something people might be interested in. Its a B hammer lifter with a photo of how it looked before metal restoration. Corroded with chunks gone.

70,000-80,000 people.

we made more in raffle ticket sales than ever before.

Browning management enjoyed our old guns.

Hundreds of people with tales of family Parkers.

CH and I have engraved and ivory Colts in progress so we were talking to the Colt custom shop people. Robert Lee and Larry Wilson were there with a new engraved Colt book so we got to meet them and obtain limited edition book sets.

A dealer we knew was there with a pair of late Rem Parker DHE 28's , one good condition, the other poor, but intact. Both sold there as a pair for $55,000.

Excellent relationship with many of the top people in the sportsmans gun community . NRA management could not have been better to us. We'll have Parker's on display at the NRA Arms Museum.

Many thanks to stalwart PGCA members Charlie Herzog, Dave Weber, Ed Morgan, Wes Stueber, and Wayne Drury for manning the booth. Lots of work and a person is pretty tired at the end of the day.

Great relationship with our friends the L C Smith crew. Frank and Mary Anne Finch had a booth right across from us. Mary Anne had their's garden club decorated, so we will ask her to get our's fancied up next time. She had trees. We had empty soft drink cans.

We got a very nice award and several of the judges stopped by to tell us how much they liked our exhibit. In truth, we didn't know the awards existed and were pleased when it fell on us.

A couple outdoor writers dropped their cards off to come hunting with us and write articles. I think they just want to go to my favorite hunting spots.

Next year is in Houston Texas. It takes a crew and an area our size takes at least 25 nice guns and a lot of display set up work. We got a lot of national and industry attention. I don't know what it all means and where it might lead, but good/better things could happen. We put all this together in a couple weeks but maybe with more planning we could have done better.

[Richard Flanders]

Very cool Bruce. Thanks. Wish I could be there for such a show.

[Blind Dog]

Thanks Bruce. Great job, great post. Guess I am not entitled to use the thumbs up.

[Bruce Day]

Thank you Fred. There is a little thumbs up thingy/symbol on the lower right corner of the message box. Should be there, if not John D can check I suppose.

This was the first NRA convention I had been to, and in truth I had some apprehension because I have no affection for black plastic spray and pray guns, 50 cals and survival gear, and while I am a Republican, I am not fervently anti-Obama and believe he has done some things right and is trying to correct a bad situation. But I found lots of moderate people there and many who appreciate fine guns, and I could not have met more polite, nice people anywhere. One of the food service managers mentioned to me how polite the huge crowds were and I asked with what crowds he had problems with, and he said too often the church conventions are the worst for rudeness. Go figure.

I saw lots of people I knew from all over, west coast , east coast, Alaska, Japan, Germany, people came a long way. I'd go again, in fact I look forward to going again.

[charlie cleveland]

you fellasare the best...wish i coulda been there.... charlie

[Autumn Daze]

Thank You Bruce,Charlie, Ed and all for doing the work to put this great display together. Looks like you gentlemen did a great service to the PGCA as usual.I takes a great deal of work to put on a display of this magnatude and that effort is greatly appreciated.

[John D.]

Absolutely OUTSTANDING!!! As well - not sure how many noticed the NRA award?

Guys, all of you do a phenomenal (and thankless) job representing the PGCA at so many events... But, I always see the same faces - you (Bruce), Charlie, Ed (who did a BANG UP JOB at selling tickets!!! ), Dave - and the "new guy" (Wayne)..

From all of us to just a few of you...

Thank you!



John

[Dean Romig]

A great job guys, as usual.

I'll echo what Dave Suponski said and I'll add that we'd really like to see a "high traffic" event here in the Northeast so we could shine like you all do.

Again - we all thank you for your dedication and hard work.

Dean

[Bruce Day]

Originally Posted by John Dunkle

....
Guys, all of you do a phenomenal (and thankless) job representing the PGCA at so many events... But, I always see the same faces.....

Well John, Charlie does get thanked on occasion. And here is a different face.....the face, John, look at the face.

[Paul P.]

Really nice, Guys. I know i'm new to the Assn. but i really liked what I saw in the pics. Houston is close. Next year I can go and meet some new friends from our group. I hope that I can partisapate and help.