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The 2015 Texas Firearms Festival was a big success. Some 2100 ticket holders shot guns from over 30 different manufacturers and browsed the expanded The Range at Austin Retail Village. The changes to the SB Tactical rifle range worked a treat; the lines were short and ticket holders happy. Our Facebook and Instagram pages tell the tale; they’re lousy with compliments. The 2016 Texas Firearms Festival will be bigger, better and earlier (October 15 and 16) than this year’s event. (Early bird tickets on sale by the end of the week.) A huge thank you to everyone involved, including patient TTAG readers. See you next year! Meanwhile, here are some pictures from this year’s Festival . . .

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40 COMMENTS

  1. Robert et al:

    Thank you for putting on a fantastic event. My wife and I had a great time – I knew it would be great, but she was skeptical, and thus very pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was. She was even more surprised to see herself on the front page of TTAG on Saturday night!

    Two suggestions for next year:

    1) Start handing out the VIP wristbands at 8:30, that way more people can enter at 9am when the gates open.

    2) Schedule some “availablities” with the TTAG writers for the VIPs so we can have a place to meet and greet – maybe twice a day for 30 minutes in the VIP tent? I got to meet you while in the entrance line-up, and Dan at one of the displays later in the day, but would have really liked to meet some others.

    OK, a third suggestion – FN needs to have SCARs on the firing line.

    • I thought it was weird that FNH didn’t have any SCARs on hand to shoot. However, HPR ammunition had two (one suppressed) on hand.

      • Indeed!

        Last year FN had P90’s on hand, but didn’t let us shoot them. This year, no SCAR? So weird.

        It was nice to find a SCAR in the HPR/HK booth. And the people there were super nice, too.

      • My sons missed the fiveseven pistols from last year, would be nice to fire a rifle (I didn’t really appreciate the pistols).

      • I was really looking forward to shooting a Five seveN. I asked the rep why they didn’t bring any. Apparently since they have no trouble selling them as soon as they are made they aren’t particularly interested in marketing them and just bring the new stuff to push. Would assume that is why they also didn’t bring the PS90 or SCARs. That and the fact that all KelTec brought was their goofy shotgun were the only disappointments I had in the show. Which of course is no reflection on the festival itself which was awesome.

  2. I attended Saturday with my brother and nephew. We enjoyed ourselves very much and will attend next year.Check-in for VIP should be changed so that it runs from 8:30 to 9:00 and ranges are open to VIP from 9:00 to 10:00. The “Full auto fun clip” is a little deceptive. By the time we got through check-in and up to the firing line the RSO’s had stopped all full auto. That was sorely disappointing to a 13 year old boy who had traveled from Dallas.

    • As for the registration, agree completely. Please see above and consider that done for next year.

      Sorry about the change in who was able to offer full auto. Next time you and your son are in Austin, let us know and and the full auto fun will be on us.

  3. As for the registration, agree completely. Please see above and consider that done for next year.

    Sorry about the change in who was able to offer full auto. Next time you and your son are in Austin, let us know and and the full auto fun will be on us.

  5. This year was so much better than last! All the suggestions I emailed in when TTAG asked for feedback were taken to heart and the festival was a huge improvement in every way from making it more family-friendly to better positioning the vendors.. it was great. Overall Sunday was amazing.

    FYI, if you wanted to shoot FN SCARs the HPR ammo/HK tactical bay had them, and one SCAR16 was suppressed. My wife loved it. I now have permission to get one… 🙂

    Next year I’m going to have to pop for VIP because it was a *little* frustrating waiting in the very long line at the rifle range and watching VIPs walk by after I’d been waiting for 30+ minutes. I couldn’t hate them because I had the chance to purchase a VIP pass and didn’t, however I think for next year I’m going to pony up so the wife & I don’t have to wait anywhere.

    I’m not sure what the deal is with the “full auto” missing. I shot the fuck outta the full auto MP5 in the SilencerShop tac bay #18.

    • I love Silencer Shop, but I gotta tell you, by the end of Sun, guns which were NOT suppressed were really obnoxious. If we could just get the entire US Congress to spend 3 hours there next year, suppressors would be off the NFA in a week after they went back to DC. Several places seemed to have lotsa guns, all suppressed, and they were SOOOO nice. Then you hit the rifles, for example, where you might be sitting down to a suppressed rifle, but the rifle next to you was not only unsuppressed but had a brake on it, just about blew you out of your socks.

  6. Attended Saturday. In terms of organization, I believe vast improvements were made over last year’s event.

    Had a blast being able to fire so many different guns in a single day. The major disappointment was not being able to fire several guns or configurations I had anticipated would be on-hand.

    H&K
    They promote the heck out of their LEM trigger, but didn’t have a single example on hand to try out. What gives?

    FNH
    Boring. Where was the SCAR? Who needs to fire another AR?

    IWI
    Loved getting to shoot the Tavor, but where was the Galil?

    SIG
    God bless them. As they did last year, they provided the best cross-section of their product line to try out.

    STI
    Let you try everything on their table. Pretty good representation of their line.

    CZ
    No CZ. Come on CZ! Drop the TTAG boys a line and request a bay for 2016.

    Sportsman’s Finest
    My favorite local gun store. Offered excellent prices and handled the crowds well. Emptied my wallet once again.

    ’nuff said

    • They were great – and very helpful about coordinating a [tax free] sale and shipping to a restricted state, and gave me some nice swag to make up for the mags I had to leave behind (sniff, cry).

  7. I’m glad to see the date will be moving up next year, even if just a little. I ended up going to a technical class that, for 35 years, has been scheduled for the 2nd weekend in Nov, and it was possibly (dare I say it) more fun that the TFF. The earlier weekend should give me a chance to get to both next year.

    The pictures say that it was a ton of fun and the 1st and 18th post-jump picture tell me I won’t be the only not-so-caucasian there (over the last 14 years, I’ve learned to be a little wary every time there is a high-profile terror event).

  8. My brother and I drove down from Fort Worth for Saturday. Had a great time over all, got to demo a lot of nice guns and my brother bought a new pistol.

    Our only gripe is the food situation. We waited in line for 1.5 hours at the blue and yellow stuffed burger truck, paid $37 for 2 burgers and 2 fries only to be served cold burgers and cold/limp fries.

    If we go next year and the embargo on brought in food still stands we will probably just leave and get lunch elsewhere. Will take at or less than 1.5 hours and be much better.

    Other than that snafu we both really enjoyed it.

    • Well, it was Sunday, but my sons and I had no such problems at the steak frites truck, with steak, burger, and reuben dog for less than $47 and all hot on delivery. We loved all of it! Don’t let them go!

    • I was also in the same blue and yellow truck line, probably right next to you. And to make matters worse, just as I got my burger served, the rain came in. I lost a good 2 hours between the ordering and pick up lines. That’s the main reason I only shot a fraction of the guns I shot last year. I will add that I saw some very good and remarkable prices on the Sportman’s Finest table. The guys from SIG, STI and Walther were awesome and you could tell they were happy to be there. Even one of them remembered me from last year(well, TBH, he remembered my gun, but the point stands). The only thing lacking were some jihadis to use as reactive targets (i kid i kid). Oh, and the exhibitors gave out a ton of swag this year in comparison to last year. I will definitely coming back next year and I will bring friends with me(I only hope that the VIP price remains reasonable).

  10. Can anyone shed any light on the banner that says “orphans” in the background of what appears to be the Winchester booth? It’s the pic just below the kid shooting the Tavor.

  11. It looks like it was fun. Maybe next year it will be scheduled on a weekend that is NOT the opening weekend of gun hunting season in Michigan so I can actually get vacation and go.

  12. Overall a great show – till do the VIP again. However, I went ready to drop some cash on a couple of new carry pieces, but by the time I tried the guns and made my selection, the Sportsman’s Finest tent was SOLD OUT of the model I wanted (Walther CCP) and did NOT offer to match show pricing if I called later.

    Real bummer on that. Plus no full Auto… 🙁

  14. The wife and I really enjoyed Saturday. I am looking to buy a Henry and was very disappointed in the selection available for purchase (they had 3). Would love to have seen more places selling guns, the 1 shop was disappointing (too little selection).

    I echo the frustration with the food trucks – the food was terrible and cold.

  16. Well Fighter Design did some good business so I as stuck in our booth selling the whole time. I was holding on to a lot of give away collars, magazine pouches and swag for TTAG readers, but none came. I ended up giving it away to the muggles.

  17. My son & I had a great time on Saturday! The STI guys were great, loved the Tavor at IWI, had a blast talking to “Dead Goose” (hope to build an AK with him soon), and shooting the suppressed rifles was a mind expanding experience for me!

    Will plan on 2016!

  18. I attended both days last year and this year. The food truck situation needed improvement both years. There are a lot of BBQ and hot dog trucks that can put out food in good volume. Those trucks couldn’t.

    The lines seemed long on Saturday at most of the booths, probably a bit too long. Until I left on Sunday (between 12 and 1), and the lines were much better and probably not as good as the promoters would like. I know that striking that perfect balance is tough. At a couple of booths on Saturday, the VIP head of the line thing made it impractical to wait. There were a few occasions that I just left the line because there were so many VIPS waiting and it wasn’t worth the time – even with them doing every other person. I’ve got no problem with opening early for them, lunch, meet and greets or any number of other perks, but the head of the line stuff could easily effect my participation in the future. It is one of many reasons I no longer visit amusement parks. Although I didn’t pony up for VIP tickets I did buy two tickets for two days, drove three hours each way, had two hotel rooms and associated meals as additional expenses, so although y’all didn’t make all that money, My investment was likewise substantial. I was also prepared to buy product, but couldn’t because they didn’t have it or were out of my size etc. in each case.

    The number of rounds offered was much more even this year and overall an improvement.

    These comments are more for the manufacturers than the promoters. No real sporting shotguns? I have a high end shotgun in my future and this would have been a good place for Beretta and Browning to show me why I need to buy theirs. I would expect to see Mossberg to show off their Texas connection. There aren’t many opportunities like this. Perhaps marketing aimed at the gunclubs would help bring in the shotgunners? Sig did an excellent job again. I understand that manufacturers are trying to push certain models, but a better representation of their product lines at the tables, ala Sig and Walther would be nice. The customer is boss. I might have bought an FNX 9, but they either didn’t bring any or were out. They didn’t have one to demo either. FN for intance has a lot of products that people would like to try. Keltec just brought the one item? Really? I’ll keep Keltec in the unobtainable category. Republic seemed to do better this year, I really liked having STI there and I think Walther did a very good job both years.

    Please accept the criticisms as constructive. Overall I like the event, and had a good time. Having done it twice now for two days each time, I don’t think I would do that again, but might do a whirlwind trip and bring a couple of buddies for a one day thing in the future. It is an interesting event and I’d actually like to see it go on the road.

    • I think that Sig, Walther, STI and IWI all stood out for for providing a quality shooting experience, especially for less experienced shooters (i.e. those poor wives and GFs who got dragged along . . . ).

  19. So were there any pro Cannabis tents or exhibits set up at the event by NORML or other hemp head or stoner groups? No? Why not? What’s up with TTAG Admin deleting the below article which proudly announced Farago and crew’s new weed website http://mjnewsfeed.com/ ?

    Housekeeping: The TTAG Team Creates Marijuana Website

    http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/10/robert-farago/housekeeping-the-ttag-team-creates-marijuana-website/

    The people who bring you The Truth About Guns have launched a new website dedicated to marijuana news: mjnewsfeed.com It’s not a blog. It’s a news aggregator – with a difference. The software contains a proprietary algorithm (thank you, Nick) that automatically personalizes the content you see based on your reading preferences. (Provided you sign in with a Facebook account. If not, the site remains anonymous.) Click on the leaf to see a blurb, then decide whether or not you want to eat some more chocolate chip cookies. I mean, read the full story. Better yet, mjnewsfeed.com’s

  20. Sunday – Great day to go and not as busy as Saturday as I heard.

    SIG Sauer – Best booth of the show and best selection. The SIG MPX SBR in 9mm and SIG MPC SBR in .300 Blackout (except for rough trigger) were outstanding guns to try in the show along with new suppressor line.

    FN – Boo for no PS90, FS2000, nor SCAR Light/Heavy, only ARs but their pistols are nice to shoot and good triggers.

    SilencerShop.com – My favorite suppressor dealer where I learned about SureFire RC2 and nice place to try a custom built MP5 clone in full-auto.

    Kel-Tec – Fun little shotgun to try on Sunday and generous with ammo.

    IWI – Nice to bring the Tavor in left and right-handed versions. The 12-pound trigger on the bullpup Tavor is quite a bit heavy and definitely something to get used to after other guns.

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