IWA 2010 by Vince Bottomley
Make no mistake about it, the American Shot Show remains the world’s largest show but IWA is closing in! This year, the Shot Show had over 1600 exhibitors compared to IWA’s 1141 but remember, these are trade shows – intended to introduce vendors and dealers to new and existing products. In the USA, around 75% of shooters are hunters whereas in Europe, it’s more like 50-50. If you hunt, the Shot Show has no equal but if you are a sport shooter then IWA probably holds as much interest as the Shot Show.
I’ve done both shows and although the American version has a few more exhibitors, the floor area is two or three times greater but that just means more leg-work to get around. Given the fact that Nurnberg is just a day’s drive – or a 90 minute flight away – it’s so much more convenient and cheaper to visit IWA.
The American contingent at IWA grows year on year and in 2010 we had 158 stands from the USA which naturally included all the major rifle, scope, bullet and powder manufacturers in attendance. Although IWA is a trade-only show, visitors can attend providing they can show proof of involvement with the trade – usually, a visting card will suffice. There are six large halls and some of them will take a full day to get round so you will need the whole four days of the Show if you want to see everything. However, don’t expect to be filling your suitcase with a host of goodies – this is not a buying show and selling is strictly prohibited.
If you intend a visit next year, check out the Air Berlin flights from Stansted for a bargain £80 return. If you want to drive, it’s motorway all the way once you get across the channel but allow a full day. Expect to pay upwards of 40 Euros per night for a hotel (prices are unashamedly increased for IWA week) but public transport in the form of the Ubahn (Nurnberg’s underground railway) is a snip. A nine Euro ticket
The opening ceremony is attended by the world’s media – can you imagine this in Britain?
will allow unlimited travel for a week – for me, that represented about 16 journeys, so an absolute bargain. The Ubahn will take you to the Messe (exhibition centre) from anywhere in the city – it’s about a 10 minute ride and the trains run every few minutes.
Nurnberg is a beautiful, historic walled city with plenty to do and see if you take a non-shooter along. At night, you will feel safe wandering around the largely pedestrianised city and eating out is a joy with many reasonably priced restaurants of all types but vegetarians are not well catered for! The show brings in thousands of visitors and it’s hard to find a restaurant without a few shooters already in there.
I travelled from Stanstead on the Thursday evening flight which got me in Nurnberg for about 9.30pm. A fifteen minute ride on the Ubahn and a short walk from the station and I was in the hotel for 10.30pm. The press are treated like royalty at IWA and the press room provides drinks and snacks throughout the day for hard-working hacks like me (!) and the exhibition halls are littered with eating places of all kinds from a stand-up sausage to a full sit-down meal. Smoking is not allowed but drinking is!
The first stand I hit was the massive Umarex display. Normally, I don’t pay too much attention to all that rimfire and airsoft stuff but with my recent interest in Mini-rifle, there was plenty to see – including the ‘official’ Heckler & Koch rimfire version of their MP5. Following their successful legal stoppage of the GSG-5 rifle, H & K have now made their own and very nice it looks too. Once on the stand I got caught up in the airsoft thing and in the process, discovered another minefield for users and vendors of these
Target Shooter 45
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