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Shooting USA - The Industry Masters
 It's shooting fun and games for the folks who make the guns and gear at the Industry Masters, hosted by FMG Publications. Plus the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence awards honoring the best new products of the year.
No matter what you may imagine, the men and women at the highest levels of companies like Smith and Wesson, Crimson Trace, and more, don’t get all that many opportunities to shoot. And they rarely get a chance to shoot firearms from other companies.
 But eight years ago the editors of FMG Publications created an annual event for shooting, for relaxing, and for the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Awards. A combination of fun shooting in competition and the awards of the best products of the year.
This year is the host range was the Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Nebraska.
 Publisher and Editor of American Handgunner, Roy Huntington, describes the weekend best; “You know what this is? We give ourselves permission to relax for a couple of days. Everybody just kind of agrees. And we all say, okay, everybody good with this? Okay, two days? Okay, two days. No business, we’re having fun.”
Roy says, in the early days, a few companies sent single teams. Now, this event is the biggest gathering of Industry execs next to Shot Show, with 60 teams and 260 total shooters trying all kinds of shooting sports, from sporting clays to cowboy action shooting.
There is an element of business during the event, with the announcements of the best new products of the year at the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Awards presentation.
The Academy is made up of 400 voting members of the Shooting Industry who judge the appeal and the quality of products and services in a wide variety of categories. Their vote is secret and the awards are highly prized in the industry.
FMG Publishes Print and Free On-Line Copies
of the following magazines
The Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence
Awards and Nominees
The General and His Famous Guns
 There are guns that are famous, like the M-1 Garand, because millions of soldiers took them to war. And then there are guns made famous by the man who owned them. In the case of General George S. Patton, he both commanded big guns, and carried big guns as his personal signature.
 The .357 Factory Registered Magnum
The first .357 N-Frame Orders were built to the owner specifications and registered by name at the factory. Each arrived with a certificate signed by Col. Douglas B. Wesson, the third generation Wesson, who was the driving force behind the development of the .357 Cartridge and the revolver that could fire it.
Registration Number 506 with serial number 47022 went to the General in 1935, who then added his signature Ivory Grips with the inscribed GSP initials.
 The Model 1873 Colt Single-Action Army Revolver
This is Patton’s Peacemaker that was at his side in war. The General ordered it from Colt with the engraved Ivory Grips and silver plating. Colt’s records confirm the purchase. Later the General had the single action full-coverage engraved and re-plated. The engraver is not known.
Patton bought the Colt while serving as a Lieutenant in the Mexican Wars. He recorded two kills of Pancho Villa’s bandits with two notches filed into the left side grip
The two Patton Guns were at his side as he led his Third Army across Europe, breaking the back of the Nazi aggressors and freeing the people of France.
Now these icons of history are on display at The Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
See our Second Half Hour
Sighting In with Shooting USA - Bergara Barrels
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