SHOT Show 2021 – Gun Show Reviews

Plate of sushi rolls at dinner during SHOT Show 2017 week in Las Vegas

Stack of green ammunition crates with rifles at a booth at SHOT Show 2018

Hand holding a pistol-caliber carbine with a long magazine at SHOT Show 2018

Arsenal SLR-107FR rifles under the Arsenal booth sign at SHOT Show 2008

Engraved single action revolver in a display case with cartridges at SHOT Show 2016

Mini revolver with an orange tag on a black mat at SHOT Show 2018

SHOT Show 2021 at a Glance

Scheduled Dates	Tuesday to Friday, January 19 to 22, 2021
Scheduled Venue	Sands Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada
Show	43rd SHOT Show, cancelled
Announced	November 2020
Next Show	SHOT Show 2022, January 18 to 21, 2022

There was no SHOT Show in 2021. NSSF cancelled the 43rd show in November 2020, two months before the doors were set to open, and for the first time since 1979 the industry went a full year without its annual meeting in person. The photos on this page come from the SHOT Shows before and after the missing year.

The SHOT Show That Never Happened

SHOT Show had run every year since the first show in 1979. The 2021 show was scheduled for January 19 to 22 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, and exhibitors had already booked booths, hotel rooms and flights when NSSF announced the cancellation in November 2020. Industry events for the week moved online instead.

The missing year left a gap in more than four decades of SHOT Shows, and it landed at an unusual time for the industry: demand for guns and ammunition was at record levels, and buyers, manufacturers and media had more to talk about than ever.

Polymer rifle magazine on camouflage cloth during SHOT Show 2013

Compact bullpup shotgun on a white display at SHOT Show 2018

Our Take on SHOT Show 2021

Was cancelling the right call? It is a fair question. SHOT Show is the one week a year when manufacturers, distributors, dealers and media meet face to face, and 2021 was the year the industry needed that meeting most. Product launches went out as press releases, dealer orders were placed by phone and email, and smaller companies that depend on the show floor to be discovered had no floor at all.

A smaller show, a regional show or a modified show could have been an option. Other gatherings found ways to meet in person during the same months. The cancellation kept the 2022 show on track, but a full year with no SHOT Show cost the industry a year of the relationships, deals and discoveries that only happen in the aisles.

Show floor aisles at SHOT Show 2010 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas

Palm trees lit in red and green at an evening party at SHOT Show 2016

What Changed After 2021

When SHOT Show returned in January 2022, it was a different show. The Sands Expo had been renamed The Venetian Expo, and NSSF added the new Caesars Forum as a second venue, connected by the SHOT Bridge. The show grew to more than 800,000 net square feet with more than 2,400 exhibitors, but attendance came in at about 43,000, below the last in-person show.

Several big names were missing from the 2022 return, including Ruger, SIG SAUER, Springfield Armory, Beretta Holding, Colt and Kimber. SIG SAUER pulled out in October 2021 and made a $500,000 donation to NSSF instead. The exhibitor list after 2021 looked noticeably different, with newer brands filling aisles once held by long-time exhibitors.

Two venues: The Venetian Expo plus Caesars Forum, linked by the SHOT Bridge
More space for smaller companies: Caesars Forum gave small and mid-size exhibitors room the old layout lacked
SHOT Show eXtra: a new table-top section for small exhibitors
Bigger New Product Center
Outdoor demonstration space for hands-on product demos, the first in more than a decade

Private jet on the tarmac at night during SHOT Show 2013

Points West magazine and brochures on a teal table at SHOT Show 2018

Our SHOT Show 2021 Adventures

With no trip to Las Vegas in January 2021, the Gun Websites channel went to the archives instead. The SHOT Show 1993 Flashback series, with booth tours from Johnny Rowlands, brought back the Colt, Charter Arms, North American Arms and Eagle Arms booths from almost 30 years earlier, and the 15 Years of SHOT Show series looked back at every show the crew covered since 2005.

Driving the highway at night toward Las Vegas during SHOT Show 2015

Glock canopy tent at Media Day at the Range in the desert outside Las Vegas, SHOT Show 2010

Patches of SHOT Show 2021

Patches are a big part of every SHOT Show, from booth giveaways to the patch swaps in the aisles. There were no new SHOT patches in 2021, so here is one of the favorites from the archive: the #BraceThis patch the crew designed and had made during SHOT Show 2015.