GOSA Festival held on the 14th and 15th of April

[Speed_Freak]

Just a small take on my personal experience of the show.

As many of you may well know, I got involved with GOSA as a member quite a long while ago and have maintained my membership annually. I have however become more involved in that my Missus is the Admin lady :)

From the outset, the Festival idea was something we as a community wanted with a sore heart, the ability to go out and shoot a wide array of firearms, be it for personal curiosity or for comparative purposes. Me, I fall into the former in that I have a burning curiosity for all things that go bang.

The logistics behind the festival however, were Mammoth! Insane! Stupid! Tedious! Frustrating! Maddening!
I cannot imagine how the organizers kept it together, kinda like herding cats. But kept it together they did. I got there at 7 on the Saturday morning and the running started, within 30 minutes a line had started at registration. First rounds went off seconds later!

I was truly like a kid in a candy store, not only could I play with the Truvelo 50BMG, I could shoot it, with Tracer ammo mind you at a 1 Ton, 32mm Steel Plate 100 meters down range! I ran from there to the Colt stand, where there were rifles and a Colt 1911 Rail Gun, heaven! From there to Southern Arms, where a wide array of Glock Pistols were there for me to play with shoot and fondle, with the smell of burnt powder in the air and the ringing steel down range.

One stand over and Dave Sheer was teasing with all manner of pistols and shotguns, again, with targets freshly painted purely for our entertainment.

There was someone showing off Olympic Level air rifles and pistols, attracting attention to a sport very often glossed over in favour of more tacticool sports but exceptionally interesting all the same.

There were sport demos', all manner of sports from IDPA Pistol, IDPA DMG, Steel Challenge, IPSC, PPC and even ICORE (run by myself)

A range over and you get to play with Bellum Arcs' toys, ranging from custom pistols to ultra short 300BLK AR Pattern rifles and even a 458 SOCOM Rifle. Added incentive was a boerie to keep the tummy full!

One range over was a Smith&Wesson booth, pistols and revolvers enough to make you drool and call mommy! All accessible, all within reach and most importantly, all shootable.

Food and drink were on offer, medical assistance at hand, and not a single face that was not smiling!

Man alive, what a show! I cannot thank GOSA enough for the huge amount of work that was put in, for giving us gun gals and guys a festival we can be proud of. I will so be at the next one

[KnifeOfWar]

I regret missing the show big time!!

Thanks for the write-up, and all the hard work that GOSA does.

[Paul]

Thanks Speedie!

And a sincere thank-you to all the helpers, AND specifically to each and every visitor.

Organising this show was a daunting prospect. But it all went off flawlessly. Not a single element that we had any control over failed.

We had to contend with Winnie's funeral (and the traffic nightmare that caused on the western side of Jhb (nicely centered between Orlando Stadium and Fourways Memorial Park). The area-wide power failure in western Jhb/Roodepoort didn't help, and then the Hiveld thundershowers on both Saturday AND Sunday (what are the odds?).

And a hearty welcome to all the new GOSA members!

We will be participating in Doc Willie's Ellisras Firearm Festival in August, and staging the first Western Cape Firearm Festival in October/November.

Next year we will be adding (the the three, above) a Northern Cape Firearm Festival in Kimberly (the organisation is starting already), one in Ermelo or Nelspruit, and one in PE or Durban>

2020 We will add 4 more (probably Pretoria as well as Jhb), Bloem, Polokwane, and either PE or Durban. One every month of the year except December and January.

[Paul]

I regret missing the show big time!!

Don't worry, there'll be plenty more... and we're coming to your locale!

Thanks for the write-up, and all the hard work that GOSA does.

GOSA has to do everything simultaneously. We have to engage in public outreach, we have to argue convincingly in Parliament for gun rights, we have to fight the big important/principled legal fights, AND we have to assist with all the individual licensing and appeals issues.

Outreach shows such as this make it possible to do all the other stuff.

[carleng]

Thanks Speedie!

And a sincere thank-you to all the helpers, AND specifically to each and every visitor.

Organising this show was a daunting prospect. But it all went off flawlessly. Not a single element that we had any control over failed.

We had to contend with Winnie's funeral (and the traffic nightmare that caused on the western side of Jhb (nicely centered between Orlando Stadium and Fourways Memorial Park). The area-wide power failure in western Jhb/Roodepoort didn't help, and then the Hiveld thundershowers on both Saturday AND Sunday (what are the odds?).

And a hearty welcome to all the new GOSA members!

We will be participating in Doc Willie's Ellisras Firearm Festival in August, and staging the first Western Cape Firearm Festival in October/November.

Next year we will be adding (the the three, above) a Northern Cape Firearm Festival in Kimberely (the organisation is starting already), one in Ermelo or Nelspruit, and one in PE or Durban>

2020 We will add 4 more (probably Pretoria as well as Jhb), Bloem, Polokwane, and either PE or Durban. One every month of the year except December and January.

What does the 50cal target look like after 2 days of shooting?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Paul]

What does the 50cal target look like after 2 days of shooting?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

32mm AR500...? It needs a fresh coat of paint!

Ralf did jokingly comment about armour-piercing incendiary or bringing along the 14.5mm...

[Grant9]

It was a great show! Looking forward to the next one!!

[Speed_Freak]

One day in (hope you can see the pic)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zTIskjSjy7bxX2s83

[pblaauw]

Went through Sunday around 12:30ish, swambo-lite tagging along to give swambo a few hours to have a quiet Sunday arvie nap. As a GOSA member entrance was cheap, and walked around a bit. Heard the 50 boom a few times and swambo-lite got scared of shooting anything.

Got to Dave Sheer stand, and they suggested she try the DM4 in 9mm (I know the folks well enough from DS, always a class act). Well, 25 x 9mm rounds went through that DM4 very quick once swambo-lite realized there is no kick. The instructor / helper on the line was fantastic with the little one, and made her feel really comfortable.

Next door at Southern Arms we both tried the Glock 19 gen 5's, and again, lots of patience was the order of the day, which helps when you have the next generation of shooters with you.

Finally got to meet Paul, and stood talking while it rained. Once it cleared went and found some food, found Lynette (needed her to help with some IDPA related issue) and talked more guns and stuff.

Then it was me and the 50. Handed the lady two buffalo's and sat behind the green rifle... dry fired, then 'boom'...the bark is way more than the bite! Worth the money though!

Headed home with swambo-lite beaming about the Glock 19, and how awesome it was to shoot some different guns, and how she enjoyed it there.

Massive thanks to all the stalls, suppliers, gun shops, manufacturers and of course GOSA. Had an amazing time!

[Zoo Keeper]

Went yesterday with my eldest (8). What a day!

Big ups to Paul and the GOSA team for organizing and all the guys putting up their displays and letting us bang away relentlessly.

I haven't had the courage to look at my credit card receipts!!