Hey everyone, here’s a taste of the Big Bang party from SHOT this year along with the first of a few “mini-skinnies” from our man Mers. Enjoy!

Skinny from Jason AAC on Vimeo.

FEATURE

Night Life At SHOT Starts With A Bang…A Big Bang

Editor’s Note: Very little reporting is ever done on the events outside the hours of SHOT Show. As we ring down the curtain on SHOT 2010 (and we’re all ready, I promise) Dealer Wire editor Paul Erhardt takes a look at one of the hot ticket events of this year’s show.

Nightly receptions are a staple of any good convention. And the best events…well let’s just say there are many that would give up their first born for an invite.

When Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC) announces their Big Bang party for the 2011 show, there will be people ready to offer their first, second and third born children just to be considered for an invite.

What’s the Big Bang you ask? It’s only the best party at this year’s SHOT.

Each year the SHOT Show reception schedule kicks off with the State of the Industry Banquet and this year that event was sold out, partly due to comedian and commentator Dennis Miller’s appearance as the evening’s entertainment. And this is usually a stellar event.

But it was the Big Bang party hosted by AAC and its Silent Army (Remington, Magpul, Leupold, Maxim and others) at the famous VooDoo Lounge atop the Rio Hotel & Casino that generated all the buzz.

AAC is known for its hip, counter-culture branding that garners legions of rabid, tattooed fans willing to do most anything to promote their favorite brand, including getting one of the company’s many logos tattooed on their body.

So it was no surprise that the Big Bang featured scantily clad dancers gyrating on side stages, throngs of Maxim models in tight babydoll tees and a KISS cover band made up of midgets billing themselves as Mini KISS. Oh, and of course there were plenty of complimentary drink tickets.

Even the list of attendees ran contrary to the normal SHOT Show events. There were coat-and-tie executives, presumably from Cerberus Capital, the new owners of AAC and a handful of other prominent firearms companies. There were silencer community insiders. And there were so many tier one operators in the crowd that taking over Vegas from the rooftop patio with its panoramic view of the city was a distinct possibility.

So how did all this come together?

Well one AAC exec explained to me that the entire event was the brain child of AAC’s President and CEO, Kevin Brittingham. Brittingham is AAC’s “generalissimo of cool” who leads a devoted staff and injects an overly healthy dose of fun into everything AAC does.

This year’s Big Bang was nothing but fun and an incredible kickoff event for SHOT Show. Judging by the crowd’s response Tuesday night, I can guarantee that the 2011 Big Bang will be bigger, better and definitely cooler than anything else that SHOT Show has to offer.

So start planning your campaign of groveling, pleading and begging to get your invite, because if your job title doesn’t include the word “seal” or “delta” in it, or you aren’t one the silencer industry insiders, you’re probably what we affectionately term S.O.L. – and if you don’t know what that means then you’re probably going to be going elsewhere on opening night.

For my part, a very special thanks to a really great friend who hooked me up with an invite. If you need me to mow the lawn, wash the car, babysit the little one or just simply wait on you hand and foot, just let me know. I’ll be attending the 2011 SHOT Show and will be free opening night….hint, hint.

- Paul Erhardt

Mini-Kiss; Maxi-Party

Clickable images below!

Kevin and his favorite girlfriend, Trey Knight, fight for the “prettiest of the party” title belt at our Silent Night 2010 party held at the Voodoo lounge Tuesday night. Trey wins. Hair always wins.

oof, that was one looooong week. Saw a lot of cool stuff, caught up with a lot of old friends, and made a whole bunch of new ones. Sleep sounds good. And maybe a diet. “Talk” to you all soon!

Day 3 was busy again- lots of deals being made, products being shown and faces being put to names.  Our friend Forrest Griffin came buy for a while to sign autographs and meet fans. Here he poses with our Rachel and Jeremy from the Wounded Warrior Project.

And here is the Mers. In all his hair-trimmed and sweater-vested glory. He can handle any question you can throw at him, and make it look good.. We got some great mini-skinny interviews during the BigBang party and I’ll be posting them over the next week.

PS- I’ll be posting more in-depth looks at all the updated and new releases from AAC, but here a few quick shots-
Matt Hughes came by the AAC booth to sign autographs for fans, and he took a little time out to take some pics with some of the lovely ladies from AAC.

Rachel was there all day also signing autographs for fans-

Overall, it was a really busy day- it was nice to see old friends, make a lot of deals, and put faces to the names of some online folks. We had a few new goodies on the wall, like the upcoming AAC BLACKOUT rifles- custom Remington 700′s with threaded barrels, and subsonic-optimized twist rates, etc…  More on those later. And PS- Mers was rocking a sweater vest and khakis.

Well, my ears are ringing, my head hurts, and I’m late getting down to the show floor… but last night’s party was awesome.
We’d like to thank all the additional sponsors- Magpul, Knight’s Armament, Remington, Crye Precision, Leupold, and Maxim!
We’ve got pics and video of it all that’ll be posted in time, but here’s a snapshot from my phone while I was taping. Those little guys rocked!

Gotta run to the party, but I’ll leave you with this little beauty- the RGP (Remington Gas Piston) Upper! It’s a drop-in monolithic upper that uses similar operation to the ACR, with it’s own proprietary gas regulation system. Pretty sweet! More later!