The Auction’s On—Place Your Bid

If there’s a SHOT Show going on, there must be an auction. This year is no exception. For the 2008 auction, three fine items are up for bidding: a Ruger 10/22 (the five millionth ever made, no less), a James Klein flintlock and a one-of-a-kind knife from the award-winning William Henry Studio.

The SHOT Show Auction has been a part of the show since 1984. Over that time span, auction donations have totaled more than 0,000. That money has gone toward preserving and enhancing America’s hunting and shooting heritage. This year, proceeds from the Ruger 10/22 and the William Henry Studio knife will be donated to the 4-H Shooting Sports program, which each year helps 300,000 young people participate in shooting with the help of some 40,000 volunteers. Participants in 4-H Shooting Sports have opportunities to develop and test their shooting, hunting and sportsmanship skills in county, regional, state, and national competitions. The program promotes the highest standards of safety, sportsmanship and ethical behavior, helping young people become responsible adults.

Proceeds from the muzzleloading rifle will go to the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association. The NMLRA promotes and preserves our nation’s rich historical heritage in the sport of muzzleloading through recreational, educational, historical and cultural venues. Auction proceeds will help the NMLRA finish construction on its National Muzzle Loading Education Center. “We want to teach early American heritage crafts at the center,” says NMLRA president Winston Roland. “Gun building, stocking, engraving, powder horns, knife making. If we don’t teach these skills, who will?”

Gavel to Gavel

Auction items are located at the NSSF booth. “The auction is all done online, on GunBroker.com,” explains Dave Miles, the NSSF’s marketing director. The auction site will have a representative near the bidding station to help people register so they can bid.

“What’s great about GunBroker.com is that we know lots of people will see it,” says Miles. “The website helps our auctions reach well beyond the show floor. Each of the items for last year’s auction were viewed more than twenty-two thousand times, and it was a tremendous success.”

Excitement? Last year’s auction had it in spades, especially when it came to the bidding for the Smith & Wesson Model 500. Miles notes that less than an hour before the auction was set to finish, the high bid for the revolver stood at ,500. Yet by auction’s end, the S&W 500 went for an amazing ,000.

“Most of the bidding happens right at the end,” says Miles. “The bidding goes up by leaps and bounds, as people try to scare each other off the item with large increases. So that last hour of the auction is where you see the buzz really happening.”

There is no low or minimum bid. “There’s no reserve on any of our auctions,” says Miles. “What it sells for is what it sells for.”

One GunBroker.com feature of note is that each bid extends the auction by another 15 minutes, giving other bidders time to respond. That, says Miles, makes the final minutes of the SHOT Show Auction virtually a live auction.

If you want to bid, go to Gunbroker.com or stop by the NSSF booth (located in the Central Lobby of the convention center) before noon, February 5.

This Year’s Auction Items

1: Ruger 10/22. Proceeds to benefit the 4-H Shooting Sports Program. Full-cover engraving enhances the nickel-finished receiver, featuring scroll designs and a banner that reads “Five Millionth” highlighted with 24-karat gold. Hand-cut engraving adorns the barrel and barrel band; the buttplate features full-coverage engraving and the monogram of William Batterman Ruger. The rifle was hand-engraved by Rob Bunting of the Ruger Studio. Baron Engraving coordinated production and donated their custom finishing services.

2: James Klein Flintlock Rifle. Proceeds to benefit the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association. The .50-caliber flintlock, created by master gunsmith James Klein, is built in the 18th-century style of Peter Berry. Berry, who died in 1795, studied under the old masters J.P. Beck and Jacob Dickert. The muzzleloader features a Colerain barrel, Siler lock and double-set triggers (assembled by master lock builder Walter Cain), sterling silver inlays, a handmade brass patchbox, relief carving and hand-engraved mounts.

3: William Henry Studio Knife. Proceeds will benefit the 4-H Shooting Sports Program. The button lock’s blade is honed from a 45-layer “wave” Damascus steel hammer-forged from ZDP 189 steel. The knife’s graceful lines are complemented by hand-cut scroll designs by the world-renowned Italian engraver Lorenzo Gamba and 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth tooth scales. The one-hand-opening knife is adorned with diamond inlays on the thumb stud and lock button, and 18-karat rose gold fittings provide the final elegant touches.

This year’s donors include Baron Technology, Ruger Firearms Company, the Ruger Custom Shop, William Henry Studio, gunsmith James Klein and the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association.