RSA’s display at the Annual NRA Meeting in Houston
was put on by RSA VP George McAllister and J.D. Hofer.
Pictured here are (from left) Myra McAllister, George McAllister, J.D. Hofer, RSA Director
Dan Pozarek and J.D.’s son, J.D. Hofer Jr.
Report from RSA Vice President George McAllister
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Here’s more detail on the NRA show in Houston and
my take on the whole weekend. More than 75,000
NRA members and their families attended this annual
event, and many of them came over to the Gun Collector’s
Exhibit area where our RSA booth was. This year’s
RSA display was composed of antique arms from the collections
of J.D. Hofer and me. J.D. displayed E. Remington
& Sons revolvers that had been converted form percussion
to cartridge. George displayed martially marked, Civil War,
Remington revolvers and carbines. My display contained
at least one example of every model of Remington revolver
and carbine that was supplied to the Union Army and Navy
for the Civil War. As such, guns in the display were inspected,
marked, shipped and issued to troops for the war effort.
Three of the guns had been issued to known soldiers and
paper work was provided to support that provenance. The
cased Remington New Model Army revolver in my display
was one of the few and rare survivors of special guns
presented to a Union state governors by E. Remington &
Sons in an effort to influence sales for state militias.
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Various Remington revolver accouterments, pictures and relics
were also displayed.
I had tremendous support from my wife Myra, RSA
Director Dan Pozarek, JD Hofer and his son JD Jr. Myra
had my back from day one, and deserves a ton of credit for
our success. Dan took control of the RSA table, designed
the layout, and provided the setup. Dan’s involvement was
a major relief for me and J.D., and I thoroughly enjoyed
having him as a part of the team.
JD had a wonderful display of E. Remington &
Sons’ revolvers. I’m sure he was disappointed at not having
won a award, so was I. If there had been a “People’s
Choice†award, J.D. would have won it hands down. I
received the “NRA Spirit Of The Game” award that’s
presented by the NRA staff National Firearms Museum for
a “Exceptional exhibit of notable merit.” Myra and I were
thrilled. David Bichrest and his wife, June, along with Lee
Estabrook spent quite a bit of time helping us at the RSA
booth. We enjoyed having them and appreciated their support.
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Our RSA display/booth was great both visually and
in content. I don’t feel like we took a back seat to anyone.
The RSA booth was full of visitors for three solid days.
Most encouraging was the number of young people, teenagers
and kids who came through. They showed interest and
asked a ton of great questions. Most seemed amazed at
the old Remington guns. We heard a million stories from
folks about old/new guns they have or had, and we tried to
answer about that many Remington questions.
The staff and management at the George Brown
Convention center did a great job and bent over backwards
to make sure we had what we needed, when we needed it.
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The folks from GEC who managed the whole show for the
NRA were exceptionally professional. They answered every
question we had before and during the show. They checked
on us throughout the show to see that everything was in
order. They made everything seamless and painless.
All said, I don’t know how we could have done much better.
J.D. and I appreciate being given the opportunity to represent
the RSA, and we appreciate all of the great support I
received from Remington Society officers and directors.
George McAllister
RSA Vice President
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Both sides of George’s display of Remington Civil War era firearms.
