I have not posted here in a while, mainly because I've been living in Europe for the better part of three weeks now. First Austria, then Slovenia, and now Switzerland. I've been filming almost nonstop the entire time and have accumulated enough footage to fill an entire 4TB external SSD.

As I type this, I'm sitting in Zurich with a mild hangover. Last night I wandered into a Swiss pub where I was the only American in the bar. There was a live blues band playing. Now this isn't unusual for a New Orleanian...until the lead instrument turned out to be one of those gigantic Swiss horns from a Ricola commercial. I'm dead ass serious. I posted a video below, otherwise you wouldn't believe me. Another dude was absolutely cooking on a harmonica while this seven-foot-long horn blasted away in the background. It was one of the strangest and most entertaining things I've seen in my life. The pub was called the Aelpli. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend going here if you are in Zurich. Beer was solid too. 

Tomorrow I'm heading to Chur for the Eidgenössisches Schützenfest, the Swiss Federal Shooting Festival. If you've never heard of it, that's understandable. Most Americans haven't. It's held only once every five years and is generally regarded as the largest shooting competition in the world. Tens of thousands of shooters participate, and the event itself dates back to the early 1800s as part of Switzerland's shooting tradition. In a lot of ways, it is as much a cultural event as it is a shooting competition. I'll be there in person tomorrow before flying back to the United States on Saturday. If any of you happen to be attending, shoot me an email. I'll have patches with me and would be happy to say hello.

Anyways, since it's been a while since I've posted an update, I figured I'd give you guys the real behind-the-scenes version of what I've been up to because a lot of this stuff will never make it into a YouTube video: So let's start in Austria.

The trip started in Austria with Austria Arms Action Days. To be completely honest, Action Days was a little less exciting for new stuff this year than in years past. I mean, the show was bigger, just the new products were OK. I filmed about ten videos covering what I thought would be the most relevant things for viewers, but there wasn't a "holy shit" product announcement that stole the show. That said, the show keeps getting bigger and better, and I had a great time because Martin from Austria Arms and I spent most of our free time filming James Bond LARP content.

Martin somehow managed to borrow an Aston Martin DBS worth roughly a quarter million dollars so we could film a series on the best Bond guns of all time. Sounds awesome but I was honestly just scared I would wreck a six-figure British sports car that didn't belong to me. I don't know if the videos will be any good, but the experience was incredible. 

I also got access to what is supposedly the largest privately owned collection of Austrian military vehicles in the country. A group of former military guys have assembled an absolutely insane collection of Steyr trucks, tanks, armored vehicles, and military equipment about thirty minutes outside Vienna. Somehow they have enough government cooperation to keep everything running and operational. I did a full tour which will be posted to Jimports.

While at Action Days, I also got some trigger time with the new Walther PDP "Success & Comfort." The name is terrible. The gun is actually pretty good. Walther's entire goal appears to have been minimizing recoil as much as physically possible and they did a surprisingly good job. It's not the sort of thing that gets me personally excited, but if your goal is building the softest shooting defensive pistol imaginable, I think a lot of people are going to be impressed.

As a related aside: One other thing that some of you may have noticed is that Beretta "quietly" announced the 94X Performance Defensive globally this week, but not in the United States. We were specifically asked by Beretta USA to keep that one under wraps for a while. I got to shoot it in Italy earlier this year and while I'm generally not a huge gamer-gun guy, Beretta's claim that it may be the best-shooting Beretta 92 variant ever made is not crazy. I think there is a very good chance they're right. After Austria, Lindsay and I headed to Slovenia for what was supposed to be a relaxing week. 

That lasted right up until Brutality.

After Austria, I headed to Slovenia and Lindsay met me to give me a break. I couldn't be happier because the hardest part about being away for three weeks is not seeing my best friend, so it's such a pick-me-up for her to meet me midway through.

I've been to Slovenia several times now and every time I go back I wonder why more Americans don't visit. If you combined the mountains of Austria, the scenery of Switzerland, and the prices of Poland, you'd get something that looks a lot like Slovenia. We spent the trip in Triglav National Park, which might be one of the prettiest places I've ever been. I attached a couple photos below because I'm not sure words really do it justice. We hiked part of the Julian Alps trail and up from the lake to Dom na Komni, which is like a rustic lodge at 5,000 ft elevation. We hiked up a very steep 5 mile trail that ascended 4,000 feet to get to the top.

The night before Brutality, Lindsay and I met up with Danielle Valkyrie for dinner and drinks in Ljubljana. We sat along the river, drank a few bottles of cheap Slovenian wine, talked guns, travel, and life. Safe to say that having dinner and drinks with two very interesting women, I won in Slovenia, no matter what happened at Lynx.

The next morning Danielle and I were in the car at something like 5:30 AM heading for Brutality. For those of you who aren't familiar, I think Brutality is probably the best shooting competition format in the world.  Simple: It tests things that actually matter. You run, you climb, you carry things, you get tired, you spike your HR. Then you shoot.

As somebody who places a huge emphasis on fitness, I think that's important. The reality is that physical fitness is far more likely to save your life than being one classification higher in a shooting sport. I've had to draw a gun three times in my life and fire one shot in self-defense. In none of those situations would better marksmanship have made a difference.  That's why I love the format.

What I do not love is the penalties. In fact, I think they are bullshit. My actual shooting and physical performance was pretty solid for Lynx. My raw time of 1272.02 might have been in the top 15. Unfortunately, I managed to accumulate enough penalties to launch myself directly into orbit - NUMBER 72 OUT OF 110!
 
Most of them came from one rifle stage where I was using a borrowed G36. The rifle had only a rough zero, which I had been warned about by Ziga beforehand. On longer-range targets I actually did fine. The problem was a stage involving smaller targets at closer distances where I accumulated a pile of misses - and each one of them added a whole minute to my total time. I had at least 16.  SIXTEEN minutes added to my time from one stage. I had FIFTEEN minutes in penalties on another stage from missing low. That's 31 minutes in penalties from just two stages. I actually shot 4 stages totally clean but in total, I had 38 minutes of penalties. The thing that drives me crazy about Brutality is that only some misses on some stages are penalized. As a lawyer, when I see something that feels arbitrary, it immediately starts eating at me. If you miss high? Fine - no penalty. Low? One minute per miss.  By the end of the match I had accumulated TWO TIMES more penalty time than my actual raw time! The guys spent the rest of the week joking that I should make a video called "Why James Reeves Actually Won Brutality."

Despite all of that, I had an absolute blast. If somebody asked me what competition they should attend if they could only do one shooting event in the world, Brutality would be near the top of the list.

After Slovenia, Lindsay headed home. I kept going to Switzerland. 

I'm still here and this post is running long, so that will be next update. And next time I’ll tell you how TFBTV somehow became the first camera crew allowed inside the SIG factory in Switzerland.

NEW STUDIO:
The studio/warehouse is finally moving again. Construction had to shut down for about 30 days because the building is historic and major interior modifications require permits. Because of course they do. The big project right now is the wall separating the garage from the filming studio. I finally got the permit, construction has resumed, and that wall is almost done. Once that is finished, the space should finally start feeling less like “abandoned 1940s industrial building with black mold and piss stench” and more like the future home of TFBTV/Jimports.

VIDEOS:
I also have another FBI Ballistic Research Facility video waiting on approval. This one is about the best AR-15 barrel length for an urban setting. There is a specific answer. I know the answer. I want to tell you the answer. But I do not want to spoil the video. The FBI took almost six months to approve the 9mm video, so who knows how long this one will take.

I am also still editing the Austria Arms Action Days videos, including the new Walther PDP Success & Comfort, some Bond gun content, and the Austrian military vehicle collection for Jimports.

MAILROOM:
Another one is on the way. My promise is to keep turning them out as long as the $25/$50 slots are full. There are a couple of openings in the $25 tier right now if anyone has been thinking about moving up. We rely on you for support, so please consider it.

PATCHES:
New patches have been here. Kelsey has not picked them up yet (she just had a child), but that's coming eventually. 

MONTHLY 5.11:
The monthly 5.11 giveaway will happen when I get back to the United States sometime next week.

STOEGER M3000 BURNDOWN GIVEAWAY
I am giving away the Stoeger M3000 from the last burndown. This will be open to supporters at the $10 tier and above. FORM IS HERE:

If the winner wants me to autograph the shotgun, I will. If you would prefer that I not ruin your shotgun more than the burndown already did, that is also completely understandable. Drawing will happen after I get back to the United States. We will have more gun giveaways in the future.

As always, these giveaways are completely random and pulled from the active supporter list. For Top Gun Supply, we draw six winners each month: four from the $5 tier and up, one from the $25 tier and up, and one from the $50 tier. Blue Alpha winners are drawn from all tiers. You must be an active supporter with a valid email on file so we can actually get ahold of you. WINNERS ARE:

TOP GUN SUPPLY

$50 Tier Winner
 pcopley

$25+ Tier Winner
 SasafrasCollins

$5+ Tier Winners
 FroheSchwanz
 Gnawledge
 wbbh
 User#462873fb

BLUE ALPHA

Zac h
 Spike70
 Mr. E. Meat
 arp

I am saving Switzerland for the next post because it deserves its own update. Short version: TFBTV just became the first video crew ever allowed inside the SIG factory in Switzerland. I’ll tell you about that after Chur. 

Thank you guys for sticking with me through the travel, the delays, and everything else. I know I’ve been quiet here, but I promise it is because I have been out actually working to keep this dog and pony show going. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. 

James