To begin with, I need to qualify my report by noting that this was my first time to attend the Guild Exhibition. It was also my first time to attend the SCI Convention - both being held in Reno at the same time. Accordingly, I would definately do a few things differently next time.
Because of some other commitments, I had only one full day to attend both the Guild Exhibition and SCI Convention. I spent Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the SCI site. It was like trying to see all the rides at Disneyland in 8-hours. I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of very fine custom gun makers at the SCI. Doug Turnbull had a great booth and I almost walked away with a wonderfully restored Parker 16 gauge. I also met a great one-man custom gun maker named Justin Sip from Touguerville, Utah. He had a very nice custom Ruger No. 1. I was also pleased to see a number of German custom gun makers at the SCI with a variety of extremely fine rifles.
I only mention the SCI to note that many fine custom rifle makers were on hand - not what I expected.
I got to the Guild Exhibition at 5:30 PM exhausted. My feet hurt and I was not as mentally prepared as I would have liked. Going from the SCI to Guild sites is somewhat of a shock to the senses. The entire Guild show was contained in an area that was not much bigger than the Jeff Rann Safari booth at the SCI. That is probably more of a comment on the excesive size of many booths at the SCI than the Guild Exhibit.
At first the size difference was discouraging; however, once I got my senses recalibrated and did some talking with the various engravers, stockmakers, metalsmith and gunmakers, I was in hog heaven. Each and everyone of these artisans and craftsman were willing to spend as much time as I wanted explaining their work. This was in stark constrast to most of what happens in the crowed and high-volume atmosphere at the SCI. I spent 20-minutes learning the finer points of crafting custom gun cases from Jim Wear. Robert Strosin spent considerable time with me reviewing the finer points of a custom A.H. Fox 16 project that is nearing completion (see photo below). I could go on and on; however, suffice it to say that you could easily spend as much time with the fine folks at the Guild Exhibition as I did at the SCI. A great opportunity to get ideas and connections for a custom project.
Below are some photos I took before they closed the Guild Exhibition on Friday night.
I highly recommend the Guild Exhibition to anyone that has not been to this wonderful gathering. I did have one criticism, it never got warmer that 30* while I was in Reno. A warmer local would have been preferred for this thin-blooded AZ boy.
