http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19Cameron Hopkins goes inside to bring you the latest information about the firearms, shooting and hunting industries. (c) 2010 All rights reserved.5http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/outdoor-industry-preference-surveyMon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-size: small;">Southwick Associates, a market research company specializing in the outdoor industry, has announced the brands hunters and shooters purchased most frequently in 2011. This list has been compiled from the 41,923 internet-based surveys completed by hunters and target shooters who volunteered to participate last year in <a href="http://www.huntersurvey.com/" target="_blank">HunterSurvey.com</a> and <a href="http://www.shootersurvey.com/" target="_blank">ShooterSurvey.com</a> polls.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Rather than simply list the categories, I wouldn&rsquo;t be the Insider if I didn&rsquo;t comment on each to offer some (hopefully) interesting insights.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">In 2011, top brands included:</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top rifle brand: <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> (16 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">This shows the strength of Big Green&rsquo;s brand because, truthfully, Savage is the best value for a bolt-action rifle. Ruger is selling a heck of a lot of M77s too.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top shotgun brand: Remington (no figure provided)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Once again Big Green is cruising on its brand because Mossberg not only sells more smoothbores, but offers a much more compelling selection of models.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top muzzleloader brand: <a href="http://www.cva.com/" target="_blank">CVA</a> (37.2 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Good job to take nearly 40 percent&nbsp;market share. I would&rsquo;ve thought T/C and the various in-line &ldquo;modern&rdquo; muzzleloaders would do better.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top handgun brand: <a href="http://www.ruger.com/index.html" target="_blank">Ruger</a> (17.1 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The world loves a great .22, which is the only reason Ruger could&rsquo;ve beat top-sellers Glock and XD.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top scope for firearms: <a href="http://www.bushnell.com/general/" target="_blank">Bushnell</a> (16.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Show me the money&hellip; or rather, don&rsquo;t. Bushnell is by far the leading value-priced optical brand and it shows.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top rifle ammunition brand: Remington (25.5 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Wait a second, did this survey take place in Remington Country? Hornady is rocking right now and Winchester is usually a perennial best-seller.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top shotgun ammunition brand: <a href="http://www.winchester.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Winchester</a> (32.1 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Okay, that&rsquo;s more like it.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top handgun ammunition brand: Winchester (20.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">And again.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top blackpowder brand: Pyrodex (47.9 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The black powder substitute owned and marketed by <a href="http://www.hodgdon.com/" target="_blank">Hodgdon Powder Co.</a> is &ldquo;the&rdquo; propellant for smokepoles.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top balls, bullets, or shot brand: <a href="http://www.hornady.com/" target="_blank">Hornady</a> (31 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">See? The &ldquo;red&rdquo; ammunition and component manufacturer is gobbling up market share like there&rsquo;s no tomorrow.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top reloading bullet brand: Hornady (33 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">This seems redundant, but it certainly supports my point.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top reloading powder brand: Hodgdon (36.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">And that figure of nearly 40 percent&nbsp;is nothing compared to Hodgdon&rsquo;s real cut of the propellant pie. I won&rsquo;t divulge too much here, but suffice it to say that no matter what it says on the can, it&rsquo;s Hodgdon product inside.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top binocular brand: Bushnell (31.3 percnet&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Back to my point on scopes: it&rsquo;s not the money, it&rsquo;s the money. And it doesn&rsquo;t take much to step up to a Bushnell product.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top holster brand:&nbsp;Blackhawk (15.1 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Ever since the midnight raid when <a href="http://www.blackhawk.com/" target="_blank">Blackhawk</a> hired away the best engineers from <a href="http://www.unclemikes.com/" target="_blank">Uncle Mike&rsquo;s</a>, the tactical nylon conglomerate has produced some exceptional holsters. No surprise here.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top knife brand: <a href="http://www.buckknives.com/" target="_blank">Buck</a> (19.1 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">In every other survey I&rsquo;ve seen, Benchmade rules. It could be that Buck is making a come-back for they surely were the dominant brand for many, many years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top cover scent brand:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wildlife.com/" target="_blank">Wildlife Research Center</a> (25.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Whatever. Don&rsquo;t now and never will douse myself in deer pee.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top shooting target brand: <a href="http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Targets.aspx" target="_blank">Shoot-N-C</a> (29.5 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Way easier to see than plain paper. I always carry some in my rifle case on travelling hunts to sight-in when I get to camp.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&sect; Top clay brand: <a href="http://www.whiteflyer.com/home.html" target="_blank">White Flyer</a> (42.4 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">That&rsquo;s it? Only 42 percent market share? I didn&rsquo;t know there was any other maker of clay targets. Then again, I&rsquo;m only a casual sporting clays shooter.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The marketing data presented here is a summary of a 239-page report that details consumer behavior including what products and brands are purchased, where they are bought, how much customers spend, and demographics of hunters and shooters broken out by each product category. Current information about what gear and brands hunters and shooters prefer, how many days they spend afield and what type of hunting and shooting they enjoy most is vital to businesses trying to build their customer base. To purchase a report or subscription, contact John DePalma at&nbsp; </span><a href="mailto:jdepalma@brandintelligent.com" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">jdepalma@brandintelligent.com</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/outdoor-industry-preference-survey#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/what-german-engineering-means-in-gun-tradeTue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;German engineering&rdquo; is a phrase we&rsquo;ve come to associate with high-performance automobiles like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but the concept applies to firearms every bit as much, if not more. This was brought home to me recently as I took a long look at the guns of Heym and Blaser.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ve long admired the hunting rifles from both companies (along with Sauer) but I finally bought a new Heym Express rifle and&mdash;I must have been on a roll&mdash;also a Blaser R8.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">My first encounter with Heym was in 1988 when the appropriately named Model 88 double rifle was introduced. Craig Boddington and I got the first two that came into the country. I bought my sample and hunted with it, but eventually traded it to George Caswell at Champlin Arms for something I wanted worse.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Heym was one of the few gun companies that chambered my wildcat, the .425 Express, so of course I had to buy an SR-20 in &ldquo;my&rdquo; caliber. I still own that rifle.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, I stumbled on a heck of a deal on a highly ornate, lavishly engraved Heym 88 at auction a year ago, so I snatched it up for about $.20 on the new gun&rsquo;s dollar. Like my first Heym, it&rsquo;s a .470 Nitro Express.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The R8 will be my first Blaser. It might be instructive to look at what drove me to &ldquo;buy German&rdquo; when neither brand is my favorite for a hunting rifle (Winchester gets that nod). In the case of the Heym Express, the answer is because I think this newly revamped model is one of the finest executions of a classic Mauser sporter on the market.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The Express rifle is a pure-bred Mauser design with controlled-round feeding thanks to a claw extractor, double square bridges for the most tasteful of all scope mounting options and a three-position safety borrowed from Winchester&rsquo;s Model 70. However, what struck me was Heym finally saw fit to offer the Express in a classic American-style stock.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The lines of the Express, thanks to the new stock design, follow those of the immortal &ldquo;American classic&rdquo; school as exemplified by both the Model 70 and perhaps the epitome of the form, Ruger&rsquo;s Model 77 with its Lenard Brownell designed stock.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Now Blaser. If the Heym Express is a Mercedes, the Blaser is a Porsche. It&rsquo;s going 100 mph just sitting still with its sleek lines and ultra-cool bolt mechanism. I ordered the the R8, which is a fully convertible design with drop-in triggers, left- or right-handed bolts, almost any caliber you could want with the switch-barrel setup (I chose three: 6.5-284, .300 Wby. and .458 Lott.) and some of the best wood this side of the Black Forest.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">While the Heym features a traditional Mauser action, the R8 sports Blaser&rsquo;s signature &ldquo;straight pull&rdquo; design. I&rsquo;ve been told that you will have problems trying to pull the knob off a Blaser until you get the hang of not lifting the bolt, so I&rsquo;ll have to watch that.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Heym is quoting September delivery (all Express rifles are built to order) but the Blaser should be in stock if I&rsquo;m lucky. All I need is some Pilsner to celebrate.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/what-german-engineering-means-in-gun-trade#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/rigby-gunmakers-acquire-recordsWed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><!--StartFragment--> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">Famed English gunmaker John Rigby &amp; Co. has weathered a driving storm of controversy the past few years, tossed from one owner to the next amid lawsuits, a bankruptcy and even a second &ldquo;John Rigby&rdquo; firm&nbsp;claiming to be the original, but it&rsquo;s all in the past now that a Dallas-based pair of investors have bought the storied brand.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">John Reed, a businessman, and his partner have acquired all rights to John Rigby Gunmakers and, for the first time since 1997, has reunited the historic Rigby archives with the gunmaking assets. The Rigby archives include handwritten sales and gunmaking records of John Rigby &amp; Co. from Dublin and London dating back to the 1700s, as well as historic firearms and artifacts. The ledgers, which had been in a private collection, consist of more than 80 handwritten volumes, many 700-plus pages long. Selected ledgers and artifacts were displayed by John Rigby &amp; Co. at the 2012 Safari Club International Convention last week in Las Vegas.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The Rigby ledgers, which survived the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and two centuries of upheaval, were nearly lost after being moved for safekeeping during the Nazi firebombing of London.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">Paul Roberts, Rigby&rsquo;s authorized agent in the United Kingdom and owner of Rigby from 1982 to 1997, recalls that it took patience and some luck for him to find them again, more than 40 years after they had been removed from the city:</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;During the Blitz, in 1940, John Rigby &amp; Co. was at 43 Sackville Street, London, just 150 yards from Piccadilly. This is the center of London&rsquo;s upscale West End, which was a prime target for Nazi bombers. It was decided to move the company ledgers to safety.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;My predecessor at Rigby, David Marx, had heard rumors about their movement from his shop manager, who&rsquo;d been told by his predecessor, Frank Wallace. The story was that W.A.A. Greenwell, Esq., a Rigby director in 1940, owned a farm in West Sussex and that the ledgers, apart from the double-barreled guns number book, went there for safekeeping.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;However, after the war ended the books had not been returned to London, and since then Rigby had moved three times and no one was sure of their facts. I contacted Mr. Greenwell&rsquo;s widow, who told me that her son William had inherited the West Sussex farm. Subsequently, William told me that he had seven or eight wooden boxes full of &lsquo;old Rigby papers.&rsquo; These were indeed the 80-odd volumes of sales ledgers, invoice books et cetera which I loaded into my car and brought back to London.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The old ledgers are fascinating reading and mention many historic customers: kings, counts, barons, prime ministers, maharajas, adventurers and explorers.&rdquo;</span></p> <!--EndFragment--></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/rigby-gunmakers-acquire-records#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/big-game-hunts-sell-at-sciMon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-size: small;">Checkbooks were flying and pens were racing at the biggest gathering of hunters in the world this past weekend at the <a href="http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/home" target="_blank">Safari Club International&rsquo;s</a> 40th annual convention where every exhibitor visited by the Insider reported land-office sales.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We took 29 deposit checks yesterday,&rdquo; effused Dave Fulson of Safari Classics. &ldquo;Twenty-nine! And I don&rsquo;t mean for plains game safaris; I&rsquo;m talking about lion and elephant and buffalo, lion/elephant, leopard/buffalo, all high-end safaris.&rdquo;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Greg Rodriguez of Global Outdoor Adventures concurred. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s happened to people, but everyone is buying. The low-end safaris aren&rsquo;t selling&mdash;you know, the $4,000 plains game packages&mdash;but the expensive safaris are going like crazy,&rdquo; he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like everyone is just sick and tired of being told the economy is in the toilet. After holding back and being cautious these past two years, people are finally spending money,&rdquo; Fulson opined.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Bruce Martin of Royal Uganda Safaris is sold out for 2013 and nearly so for 2014. &ldquo;My safaris are for the collector who wants species like Ssese Island sitatunga, Uganda kob and Nile buffalo. A Uganda safari is not for the beginner, but I&rsquo;m not having any trouble selling,&rdquo; Martin commented.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Shaun Buffee of Shaun Buffee Safaris in Zimbabwe said he is totally sold out for 2012 and virtually full for 2013, but is taking bookings for 2014. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like it. We&rsquo;re totally sold out of lion through 2014; the next available is 2015. Everyone here is like that [sold out],&rdquo; Buffee said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m as flummoxed by the situation as these safari operators: why now? Is it that well-heeled hunters have a crystal ball into November and see a Republican victory in the White House? Is the economy really not as bad as the pundits say? Has everyone hit the lottery?</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ll leave the interpreting to others. Me? I&rsquo;m just glad to have attended this incredible showcase of hunting, wildlife art, fine guns and artistic taxidermy. The SCI show is a must-see for anyone who loves to hunt.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/big-game-hunts-sell-at-sci#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/para-usa-bought-by-freedom-groupTue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-size: small;">Rumors of the Freedom Group looking to buy a handgun maker have been bantered about by industry insiders ever since the holding company (owned by Cerberus Capital) began gobbling up gun and ammunition companies several years ago. The buzz centered on European handgun makers, specifically <a href="http://us.glock.com/" target="_blank">GLOCK</a> or HK, however, the card has finally dropped and Freedom Group now owns Canadian-owned, but&nbsp;U.S.-based Para USA Inc.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">The sale of&nbsp;<a title="Para USA builds both single-stack and double-stack 1911 handguns." href="http://www.para-usa.com/" target="_blank">Para USA</a> is not entirely a surprise to the Insider. Originally known as Para-Ordnance of Toronto, Canada, the company was formed in 1985 by Thanos Polyzos, an entertainment lawyer, and Ted Szabo, an engineer. Lifelong friends and business partners, Polyzos and Szabo were a classic odd couple: one scholarly, urbane and sophisticated, the other hard-charging, blunt-spoken and churlish. Szabo died in 2007, leaving Polyzos and his wife Katherine to step into the breach.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, the company had <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2306&amp;cid=19" target="_blank">relocated from Canada to North Carolina</a>. Polyzos, a longtime friend of the insider, confided that the move was far more taxing than he had expected in terms of setting up a manufacturing plant, and&nbsp;the local labor pool was a major problem. With Szabo&rsquo;s tragic passing, the onus of getting the new factory running fell squarely on Polyzos. The sale comes not as a surprise, then.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">According to a Freedom Group press release, &ldquo;Para has built a solid and enviable reputation for innovation, performance and reliability. Firearms enthusiasts, serious shooting competitors and law enforcement agencies choose with confidence from a wide and growing variety of Para pistols.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Para&rsquo;s revolutionary high capacity frame and light double action (LDA&trade;) trigger systems, are part of the innovation that Para has brought to the world famous 1911 design.&rdquo;</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">And now for the rest of the story.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">In 1995, Para-Ordnance sued Spanish gunmaker Llama and SGS Importers for violating its U.S. Patent for a high-capacity 1911 frame. Shockingly, the Canadian manufacturer lost on the grounds of &ldquo;obviousness,&rdquo; therefore invalidating their patent. Para appealed, but also lost the appeal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Another big black eye came when Para&rsquo;s P14 was adopted by the FBI HRT unit with disastrous results. The gun jammed epidemically, giving rise to a scathing indictment from HRT Commander&nbsp;Scott Warren.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">When high capacity magazines were outlawed under the Clinton Administration, Para stockpiled a vast cache of &ldquo;pre-ban&rdquo; magazines that enabled the company to weather the storm. Still, the pendulum swung back to single-stack 1911s and Para was forced by the market to adapt. Then,&nbsp;the unthinkable happened when the company introduced its own single-stack 1911.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Finally,&nbsp;a succession of brilliant solutions to nonexistent problems followed:&nbsp;A different type of extractor for a pistol known for reliable extraction; a double-action trigger mechanism for a pistol known for its superb single-action trigger. Para was trying to overcome being out-marketed by Kimber and Springfield Armory by &ldquo;innovating&rdquo; things like a Power Extractor and the Limited Double Action.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Most recently, Para brought to market the LR-300 developed by Alan Zitta. After several years of lackluster sales, Para dropped the gun. It was their only attempt at the&nbsp;tactical gun&nbsp;market.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Going back to the Freedom Group&rsquo;s press release for the final word:</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">"We welcome Para into the Freedom Group Family of Companies,&rdquo; stated. E. Scott Blackwell, chief sales and marketing officer of Freedom Group Inc. &ldquo;Para USA is a leader in handgun technology and their fine products exemplify quality, innovation and performance. Para is a perfect complement to our industry-leading family of brands, and our success in 2011 with the Remington R1-1911. We look forward to deploying both human and financial resources to continue to develop and supply current and future handguns for consumers and our channel partners.&nbsp; We also wish to thank all its employees for their continued dedication that has made Para a success.&rdquo;</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/para-usa-bought-by-freedom-group#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-show-sets-attendance-recordMon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">More than 60,000 attendees flocked to the SHOT Show last week, a record-setting number of shooting industry professionals. Upbeat is the best word to describe the overall mood at the show, which represents firearms manufacturers, retailers, distributors and media as well as a host of ancillary professions attached to the industry, everyone from advertising salesmen to patent attorneys.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The show was held in the Sands Convention Center, which is a smaller venue than the traditional location of this, the sixth largest trade show in Las Vegas. Normally the SHOT Show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but remodeling prompted the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) to move location.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">There were records set within the overall high water mark of 61,000 attendees: of those, 36,383 were registered as buyers and 2,466 signed up as media. Though show organizers deliberately reduced the size of the show to better accommodate attendees at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, still some 1,600 exhibitors filled booth space covering 630,000 net square feet. The show attracted industry professionals from all 50 states and 100 countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SHOT Show is owned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry. Revenues from the show support NSSF's many programs that carry out its mission of promoting, protecting and preserving hunting and the shooting sports. "The SHOT Show allows NSSF to do many good things for industry, shooting and hunting," said NSSF President Steve Sanetti. Added Chris Dolnack, NSSF senior vice president and chief marketing officer, "We have worked hard to make sure SHOT is a great selling and buying experience, and it has resulted in our best show ever.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The NSSF estimates at the shooting and hunting industry generates $4 billion in sales and represents a bright spot in our overall down economy. NSSF claims the industry supports 180,000 jobs associated with the shooting sports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 2011, the FBI reported a record number of background checks, a reliable indicator of sales, including the most ever in a single month (December) and single day (Black Friday). Many in the industry believe, however, that Americans' interest in owning firearms will continue to grow in 2012.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">That growth will likely come from mainstream firearms and not things of a more exotic nature, which I saw at the show. For instance, &nbsp;Colt is offering a reproduction of its 1877 &ldquo;bulldog&rdquo; model of Gatling gun (made by a Colt licensed vendor) at $44,500 a copy. For bargain shoppers, Accuracy International&rsquo;s .50 BMG bolt-rifle (previous model) is being moved out for a $15,000 &ldquo;discontinued price.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What you will see moving are guns like the new Mossberg Flex, a modular shotgun that can be easily configured for any application or ergonomics, without tools. Finally &ldquo;one gun&rdquo; can do it all, at least in the realm of the 12 gauge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the NSSF State of the Industry Dinner, NSSF President Steve Sanetti said, "I have never seen us so unified and united in our purpose." As evidence, he pointed to NSSF's fast-growing membership, which now tops 7,000, an all-time high.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Many awards are presented at the show. NSSF presented Larry Potterfield of Midway USA with its Ken Sedlecky Achievement Award for his generous and longstanding contributions to programs that promote youth target shooting. The Professional Outdoor Media Association and NSSF honored veteran communicator and best-selling author S.P. Fjestad with the prestigious POMA/NSSF Grits Gresham Shooting Sports Communicator Award. Fjestad publishes "The Blue Book of Gun Values," a widely consulted database.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Celebrities at the show included American Idol judge and rock star Steven Tyler, and NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann. Of course the Insider was there but for some reason the paparazzi ignored me.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Parts of this report were taken from an NSSF press release. If you have any &ldquo;inside tips&rdquo; for the Insider, e-mail me at nraindustryinsider@gmail.com</span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-show-sets-attendance-record#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-shot-conincides-nssf-50thThu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT<p><!--StartFragment--> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The shooting industry&rsquo;s annual trade show begins next Tuesday in Las Vegas. The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show is always a spectacular event, but this year is special because it marks the 50^th Anniversary of the founding of the SHOT Show&rsquo;s owner and sponsor, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The mission of the NSSF, ostensibly a trade association for firearms, ammunition and hunting merchandise of all descriptions, is: &ldquo;To promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.&rdquo; There are about 6,000 members of the NSSF. The organization&rsquo;s president is Steve Sanetti, formerly the corporate counsel of Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The original mission of the NSSF, as stated in its bylaws written in 1961 at the organization&rsquo;s forming during the Second National Conference on the Shooting Sports was: &ldquo;To create a better public understanding of and a more active participation in the shooting sports.&rdquo;</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The first SHOT Show was held in 1979 in St. Louis with 290 exhibitors. The idea of a &ldquo;guns only&rdquo; trade show was a risky one, as for many years the firearms industry had been a part of the broader National Sporting Goods Association&rsquo;s annual trade exposition. The name &ldquo;SHOT&rdquo; is credited to Ted Rowe, then president of Harrington &amp; Richardson, who came up with the acronym. &ldquo;The show committee was fiddling with other combinations of the letters and then &lsquo;SHOT&rsquo; just seemed to be a natural,&rdquo; Rowe recalls in a <a href="http://issuu.com/nssfpublications/docs/50thanniversary?mode=embed&amp;layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&amp;showFlipBtn=true" target="_blank">history of the NSSF</a> written by its former director, Doug Painter.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">The SHOT Show is the NSSF&rsquo;s highest profile event, however, the organization is involved with so many initiatives, from hunter safety to shooting range development to youth programs, it&rsquo;s impossible to summarize the totality of the Foundation.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m a member of NSSF as a Media Member. I pick my organizations carefully, and the fact that I&rsquo;m an NSSF supporter is not casual. I don&rsquo;t agree with everything the NSSF does, just as there are a few issues with which I differ from NRA (yes, I&rsquo;m an Patron Member). But on the vast majority of topics, I&rsquo;m 100 percent behind NSSF.</span></p> <p class="BodyCopy"><span style="font-size: small;">There are various levels of membership in NSSF, but you can join as an <a href="http://www.nssf.org/join/" target="_blank">Individual Member</a>. It&rsquo;s a worthy cause so please consider supporting the shooting sports through NSSF.</span></p> <!--EndFragment--></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-shot-conincides-nssf-50th#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/last-minute-gift-the-glock-bookTue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even if you don&rsquo;t need a last minute gift, buy this book because it&rsquo;s a must-read for anyone with an interest in the inside story of the most fascinating firearm since Eugene Stoner invented the AR180, which became the AR15/M16 family. What gun could as dramatic in its impact as the M16? What else? The Glock.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Glock: The Rise Of America&rsquo;s Gun<em>"</em> is written by Paul M. Barrett, an investigative journalist (formerly with <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, now with <em>BusinessWeek</em>) who examines Gaston Glock&rsquo;s eponymous pistol through a variety of filters. First, Barrett reveals how the <a href="http://www.glock.com/GlockLanding/index.html" target="_blank">Glock</a> has become an icon of pop culture, named specifically in rap lyrics, used on movie posters and celebrated in the &ldquo;gansta&rdquo; lifestyle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And, if an inside look at Glock is not compelling enough, the book is available on pre-sale only at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Glock-Americas-Paul-M-Barrett/dp/0307719936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1308234626&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a> for 40 percent off retail ($15.95 versus $26) for delivery Jan. 10, 2012.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The mere fact of how an Austrian handgun can become embedded in American pop culture icon is just the entry point into what follows, a detailed, meticulous account of the rise of the Glock, which Barrett terms &ldquo;America&rsquo;s Gun&rdquo; in an intentional (I assume) double entendre. Obviously the Glock is Austrian, not American, yet it has become the quintessential American pistol, Barrett argues, by leading a wholesale movement in American law enforcement from revolvers to semi-automatic pistols.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reason to buy this book is to learn the fascinating true story behind the popular myth, not so much the &ldquo;what&rdquo; of Glock&rsquo;s meteoric rise in the handgun industry but the &ldquo;how.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Barrett grabs the reader by the lapels and hauls him along on a non-stop eye-opener of a ride down a Glock road never before travelled. You&rsquo;ll learn the true story of how Gaston Glock, by pure luck, not by artifice, eavesdropped on a conversation in a hallway of the Austrian version of the Pentagon in which he heard two generals talk about their desire to buy a new pistol, but of course it had to be Austrian-made. That meant only one thing: it must come from Steyr-Daimler-Pugh, Austria's only commercial gun manufacturer (better known as Steyr-Mannlicher).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">From that &ldquo;tip,&rdquo; Glock hired two arms experts to design a pistol that would meet the still-secret new specifications for the equally confidential pistol project. It was no small coincidence that one of the experts Glock hired, a certain Col. Dehcant, was in charge of the pistol selection process. Author Barrett then lays out how Glock manipulated his political ties to the Socialist Party (the ruling party in Austria at the time) to position himself favorably to win the pistol contract with the handgun that bore his name, yet was designed by his two hired hands.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As an example of how thoroughly the author researched this fascinating book, he locates and interviews an aide to Col. Dechant at the time, Ingo Weiser, who was then a lieutenant. It was from Weiser&rsquo;s information that the author unraveled how the Glock pistol&rsquo;s design was really created.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Designing a piece of &ldquo;plastic perfection,&rdquo; as one American gun writer called the Glock, is only the beginning of the story, however. From there, author Barrett traces how the Glock fell upon lucky stroke after lucky stroke, from columnist Jack Anderson raving about how the gun was made as a &ldquo;terrorist&rsquo;s pistol&rdquo; to evade airport X-rays, instantly bestowing national notoriety on the fledging company.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And it just keeps getting better and better as the author reveals more and more shocking details about the rise of Glock, from&nbsp; entertaining police chiefs in a strip club in Atlanta to a pathetic-yet-hilarious assassination attempt on Gaston Glock by his business partner, it&rsquo;s all there. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">From a guy who has written as the Industry Insider for over 25 years, trust me&mdash;If you buy nothing else for Christmas, buy<em> "</em>Glock: The Rise Of America&rsquo;s Gun." You deserve a stocking stuffer yourself.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/last-minute-gift-the-glock-book#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/insider-christmas-listMon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider just placed a call to the North Pole and, after assuring Santa that he does not intend to hunt caribou anytime soon, was formerly pronounced &ldquo;nice.&rdquo; Accordingly, I put together the Insider&rsquo;s Christmas Wish List and submitted it to Santa:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That Colt&rsquo;s new 10,000 sq./ft. facility in Florida, the first frolic by the rampant stallion ever outside of Connecticut, will be hugely successful. Colt has endured so many hardships since the end of World War II (when the Hartford factory shut its doors because of no more government orders). It would make me smile to see the iconic brand thrive once again.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That the Dept. of Civilian Marksmanship will&nbsp;sell .30-&rsquo;06 ammo at World War II prices.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That industry lawyers will leave firearms alone </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">(horrible rifle triggers, unsightly keyholes in revolvers, euphemisms like &ldquo;modern rifle&rdquo;). Manufacturers often don't state that a new gun model is &ldquo;better&rdquo; than a previous model because to do so, its corporate worry-wart says, is admitting a previous product is flawed. With that logic, car companies&nbsp; would never increase horsepower, add rack-and-pinion steering, improve disk brakes, invent posi-traction and make millions of &ldquo;better&rdquo; cars.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That gun manufacturers hike prices by $50 per firearm to any purchaser who is not a member of NRA, with&nbsp;the proceeds going to NRA. Life Members get a $20 per gun discount. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That the four-day SHOT Show be extended one extra day and on that fifth day, be open to the public.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That, while we&rsquo;re at it, the SHOT Show never again takes place on Super Bowl weekend.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That sound suppressors for firearms be removed from inclusion in the National Firearm Act of 1934 and be sold over-the-counter, like in England. You don&rsquo;t need a license for a muffler on your lawn mower, why for your gun?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; That, for my one really big present, Obama loses the White House in the biggest landslide since Reagan stomped Dukakis.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you, Santa, for that last gift,&nbsp; I promise to be extra-special nice in 2012. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/insider-christmas-list#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/black-friday-gun-salesMon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Black is beautiful. I stopped in Spurlock&rsquo;s Gun Shop in Henderson, Nev., on Black Friday to find a crowd of customers besieging Rance and Pat Spurlock, the husband-wife owners. Black Friday is so named for the widespread belief that retailers only go from &ldquo;being in the red&rdquo; to becoming profitable on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Such is not the case at Spurlock&rsquo;s Gun Shop, even though Black Friday was a huge day for the shop.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rance Spurlock said: &ldquo;This year in particular I think we sold something like 35 guns, which is a tremendous day for us. Normally we don&rsquo;t get the really heavy Christmas traffic until the first week in December but that Friday was nuts in here.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We were a man short that day too,&rdquo; Rance added.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked the affable proprietor if he thinks the Black Friday phenomenon affects the gun business.<br /><br />&ldquo;Normally it&rsquo;s just another day to us,&rdquo; he said. However, Rance added that he arrived at 8 a.m. to open at the usual 9 a.m. time and found a woman waiting in her car to buy a gun.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Black Friday has never been a big deal for us. I don&rsquo;t carry the gimmick stuff like air soft or accessory stuff. Black Friday has always been a day to me where I want to avoid the department stores where things are just nuts. But I don&rsquo;t think the gun business has that kind of walk-in traffic that the electronics stores have with iPhones and what have you,&rdquo; Rance said.<br /><br /><em>USA Today </em>reported that 129,166 guns were sold on Black Friday, the most ever on a single day since the FBI began conducting NICS checks in 1993; the previous record was held by another Black Friday, that of 2008.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Do you remember what was&nbsp; going on at that time? </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/black-friday-gun-sales#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/politically-incorrect-world-of-snipersTue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just returned from having an inside look at a fascinating subculture within our law enforcement community. I attended Sniperfest 2011, an invitation-only two-day training event near Phoenix, Ariz., for SWAT snipers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Political correctness would require the use of a euphemism here, &ldquo;tactical marksman&rdquo; perhaps or &ldquo;surgical ballistician,&rdquo; but I&rsquo;m cleared to call a sniper a sniper because Sniperfest was hosted by the&nbsp;Maricopa County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office. which is run by America&rsquo;s toughest sheriff, Joe Arpaio, better known as just plain Sheriff Joe.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sheriff Joe is a no-nonsense lawman. One of his first acts after being elected sheriff in 1993 was to ban sexually explicit magazines, including Playboy, in his jail. The ACLU whined about the inmates&rsquo; &ldquo;rights&rdquo; but the Ninth Circuit Court upheld Sheriff Joe&rsquo;s edict. No porn in jail.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next, he launched KJOE, a radio station in the jail that broadcasts Frank Sinatra songs, opera, patriotic tunes and educational programming. He issued pink prison uniforms to inmates and fed them PB&amp;J sandwiches. He erected a barbed-wire enclosed &ldquo;Tent City&rdquo; to accommodate the jail&rsquo;s overflow of convicts. When the temperature once hit 110 degrees, inmates complained about the unbearable heat in Tent City. The reply was vintage Sheriff Joe:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents, have to wear full body armor, and they didn't commit any crimes. So shut your mouths.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Accordingly, I have no qualms in referring to a SWAT sniper as a SWAT sniper.<br /><br />More than 15 agencies participated in the training event, which culminated in a short competition in which each sniper&rsquo;s only score was the time it took to hit five steel plates, all colored differently, all under 100 yards. Sounds easy, but the shooter began &ldquo;blind,&rdquo; not knowing what was behind a wall other than a 200-yard square range. To add to the stress and force the shooter to ID his targets, he first had to pick five cards from a bag, one at a time. Each had a different color. The targets had to be shot in the order the cards were drawn.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">With whatever gear you normally carry on a call-out (ruck sack, tripod, whatever), you had to sprint 100 yards, get down, ID the five colored plates and engage them with one hit each, in the correct order.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;In our world you have to know what you&rsquo;re shooting and you&rsquo;re not allowed to miss, so if the targets were shot out of order or if there was a miss, that shooter was eliminated,&rdquo; explained Mike Puente of the MCSO SWAT Team, the event&rsquo;s coordinator.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The competition distilled the lessons of Sniperfest succinctly: forget about &ldquo;traditional&rdquo; snipercraft of lying on your belly, relaxed and comfortable. Be prepared for a sudden, unexpected, call-out. Be able to shoot when you&rsquo;re out of breath, heart slamming, at an unknown distance&mdash;now!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sniperfest brought nationally recognized trainers to instruct in decidedly unconventional areas. How about hand-to-hand combatives while holding a bolt-action rifle? Weapon retention is a whole new game with a cumbersome bolt-gun, typically unslung. That was taught.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Low-light shooting was emphasized in another training block. &ldquo;You have a light on your pistol and on your carbine, what about your rifle,&rdquo; asked Puente. He then demonstrated how to use a small SureFire LX2 while shooting his sniper rifle. &ldquo;Two hundred lumens is plenty and you have that in a SureFire that fits in your pocket,&rdquo; Puente added.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In addition to snipers from regional agencies in the Phoenix metroplex, there were guys from three-letter agencies, as well as three shooters from arguably the best overall sniper program in the world, U.S. Marine scout/snipers. A vendor area allowed the participants to browse some of the latest high-tech and low-tech sniper gear, from thermal sights to lightweight <a href="http://www.tacticalconcealment.com/" target="_blank">Ghillie suits</a></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Puente summed up the purpose of Sniperfest as two-fold. First, to bring together multiple agencies to learn from one another&rsquo;s tactics, techniques and procedures. Second, to offer training &ldquo;outside the comfort zone&rdquo; of belly-shooting.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;More often than not, today&rsquo;s missions require you to shoot from awkward, unconventional positions, usually after some degree of physical exertion. We have the [Mexican drug] cartels in our backyard so we don&rsquo;t have a choice&mdash;we must train for the real-world and that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;re here.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Law enforcement agencies and vendors can obtain information on Sniperfest 2012 by contacting <a href="mailto:m_puente@mcso.maricopa.gov">Mike Puente</a>.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/politically-incorrect-world-of-snipers#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/mossberg-reinvents-itselfsThu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Don&rsquo;t look now, but a brand-new 90-year-old gun company is reinventing itself. O.F. Mossberg &amp; Sons has become a dynamo of innovation, far removed from the staid, stodgy pump-shotgun maker that you might have previously thought of&nbsp;the Connecticut-based manufacturer. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today&rsquo;s Mossberg is not your great-grandfather&rsquo;s Mossberg. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oscar Frederick Mossberg immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1886 and went to work for Iver Johnson in a&nbsp;bicycle plant. Iver Johnson went on to become well-known for affordable revolvers. In 1919, the senior Mossberg, with his sons Iver and Harold,&nbsp;founded O.F. Mossberg &amp; Sons&nbsp;with a four-barreled .22 caliber handgun known as the &ldquo;Brownie.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ever versatile, O.F. Mossberg branched out into manufacturing everything from target rifles to sailboats, but firearms remained its core business. Today, the company remains the oldest and largest family-owned gunmaker in America.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the NASGW Show last week, there was word that&nbsp;Mossberg would soon&nbsp;unveil two new lever-actions<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">&mdash;a tactical&nbsp;gun with rails, and a Zombie gun based on the 464<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">&mdash;</span></span>&nbsp;that will really&nbsp;show how the company is rebranding itself as a market-driven force<span style="font-family: Calibri;">.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, e</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">arlier this year Mossberg announced its MMR (Mossberg Modern Rifle), an AR-15 derivative with all the tacti-cool bells and whistles.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even more exciting things are waiting for SHOT Show in January with&nbsp;rumors of a new handgun floating around the NASGW floor. Mossberg&rsquo;s Vice President of sale and marketing&nbsp;Tom Taylor allowed a sly grin when asked about it.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;All I will say is that there are lots of rumors about what Mossberg will be introducing for 2012 at the SHOT Show,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;I get kick out of hearing [rumors about new products].&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nothing would surprise me at this stage, not from this brand-new 90-year-old company.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/mossberg-reinvents-itselfs#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-buying-seasonSun, 06 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s about that time. Yes, it&rsquo;s almost the first Saturday in November when the white-tailed deer&nbsp;season opens in Texas and, as a visit to <a href="http://www.mcbridesguns.com/" target="_blank">McBride&rsquo;s Gun Shop</a> in Austin just validated, it&rsquo;s gun-buying time. You see, the firearms business can be quite&nbsp;seasonal, like the ski business or the boat business. The only difference is that the pivotal season for the firearms business is not weather-related&mdash;it&rsquo;s mostly geared around hunting.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">While turkey season and dove season are important, the real driver is deer season. The importance of whitetail hunting to the shooting industry can&rsquo;t be over-stated. Billions of dollars change hands as hunters head afield for America&rsquo;s most popular big-game animal.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gun companies offer &ldquo;dating programs&rdquo; to wholesalers and retailers in which guns orders from&nbsp;early in the year often&nbsp;don&rsquo;t have to be paid for until deer season. Without a &ldquo;dating program&rdquo; geared around deer season, rifle manufacturers would be stuck with warehouses of guns awaiting eager hands in the fall. By allowing dealers to &ldquo;order now, pay later&rdquo; manufacturers can spread their production throughout the year. Otherwise, gunmakers would be like calendar printers&mdash;all or nothing in one or two months.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sure, there are other types of rifles besides deer rifles: Varmint hunters have specific needs as do sheep hunters and bear hunters, but these shooters don&rsquo;t compare to the number of deer hunters. There are about 11 million of us who together kill about 6 million whitetails each year&nbsp;out of a total population estimated at 30 million.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Minnesota alone, 400,000&nbsp;deer hunters took to the woods this past Saturday, Nov. 5. That&rsquo;s nothing compared to the 1.3 million Pennsylvanians who annually seek to stuff the freezer with venison. I got a head start in late October, in Langton, Kan. with Kirk Kelso of Kelso Global Adventures. I have to admit that I failed to pull my weight as a seasonal gun-buyer because I hunted with a 7x57 Mauser made from a customized small-ring 1909 Argentine Mauser action, however, I made up for it by dropping some coin in local restaurants, buying a new jacket at Cabela&rsquo;s, paying for range time at my local gun club, shelling out for ammo and, of course, boosting the local economy with a rental car and gasoline purchases.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Needless to say, I thickened Kirk&rsquo;s wallet as well, which in turn trickles down to everyone from deer feeder makers to makers of knife sharpeners. And that&rsquo;s the key to why deer season is so important to this industry&mdash;it&rsquo;s a text-book example of Reaganomics in which a &ldquo;trickle down&rdquo; effect multiplies the money spent on one deer hunt.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Did I forget to mention the butcher who will process my venison or the taxidermist who will mount the head?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, there&rsquo;s the fancy restaurant that Darlene, my wife, will choose as her consolation prize for my being away all weekend. Deer me, it&rsquo;s buying time again.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-buying-season#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/zombie-targets-ariseThu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yikes, I just got a fright! Try it yourself and see if Birchwood Casey's newest zombie target sensation <a href="http://darkotictargets.com/" target="_blank">website</a> doesn't make your heart jump. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The website is in response to the overwhelming response to their &ldquo;Darkotic&rdquo; targets, which depict a colorful&mdash;very colorful&mdash;assortment of &ldquo;living dead&rdquo; creatures that are yours to riddle with bullet holes. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to <a href="http://www.birchwoodcasey.com/" target="_blank">Birchwood Casey</a>: &ldquo;Zombie shoots are gaining in popularity as shooters look for ways to add fun to their target practice sessions. In response to consumer interest in all things Darkotic, Birchwood Casey has launched a new dedicated website [that] allows fans to upload photos from their latest zombie shoot, as well as order Darkotic targets directly online.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The new site also features slow motion video clips of Darkotic targets being shot and a "News of the Dead" section with links to online zombie games, upcoming shooting events and the all latest zombie news,&rdquo; Birchwood Casey continues.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not being a horror movie fan, I have to admit that I was surprised at the fuss zombie targets are drawing. Another target maker, <a href="http://zombieindustries.com/" target="_blank">Zombie Industries</a>, offers targets that actually bleed!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zombie Industries also sells exploding zombies. &ldquo;ZOMBOOM!&trade; Exploding Rifle Targets allow for an easy way to help eliminate the bio-degradable material remaining after pumping hundreds of rounds into the undead. By placing ZOMBOOM! in the back of a zombie, clean-up and waste disposal will be cut by 87.2 percent, guaranteed!&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The cost of shooting the undead varies from Birchwood Casey&rsquo;s&nbsp;12x18-inch color posters in packs of eight for $13.98 or full-color targets printed on plain 23x35-inch&nbsp;paper in&nbsp;packs of 100 at a price of $1.98 each to $7.50 per target for an exploding zombie from Zombie Industries.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The same maker&rsquo;s bleeding zombie targets cost $89.95 each in a realistic 3-D shape, made of life-like plastic and oozing red blood when shot.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m not quite sure what to make of the zombie shooting phenomenon, other than to prove it&rsquo;s yet another reason why I&rsquo;m not a gazillionaire&mdash;I never would&rsquo;ve thought such a thing would sell.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/zombie-targets-arise#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/smile-youre-on-cameraTue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Coming to you live from Latin Quarter of Paris, the Insider is here to check out the Milipol convention, a gathering of companies large and small who specialize in all things related to security. While FN Herstal is here with sniper rifles and <a href="http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/index.php" target="_blank">Trijicon</a> is displaying its new ACOG sight, firearms are a tiny fraction of the products shown to this semi-annual display of electronic wizardry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Most of the products on display are related to surveillance. The next biggest category, this year at least, is protective masks and suits, possibly in reaction to the Fukushima radiation disaster. Europe has long been&nbsp;a nervous Nellie over nuclear power.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As for guns, the most interesting was a new rifle from <a href="http://www.berettausa.com/" target="_blank">Beretta</a> called the ARX 160 that, if I hadn&rsquo;t paused to do a double-take, could easily have been mistaken for an <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/fn-scar/" target="_blank">FN SCAR</a>. The futuristic-looking rifle comes with a 40 mm grenade launcher (which is removable) but the stock and operating controls are SCAR all the way.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sako displayed a new sniper rifle called the TRG 110 that caught my eye. It&rsquo;s a three-caliber gun in .308 Win., .300 Win. Mag. and .338 Lapua that features quick-change barrels. No tools are required to swap barrels, only the bolt.&nbsp;The bolt-knob has a torx driver recessed into the knob and the bolt body has a spanner wrench for unscrewing a shroud that holds the barrel to the receiver. The bolt&rsquo;s locking lugs mate to the barrel itself, not the receiver, so headspacing is automatically correct. The TRG 100 features a rain fore-end and a fully adjustable butt stock. When I say fully adjustable, I mean just that&mdash;comb height, length of pull and butt-plate elevation.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, the coolest products were all the surveillance toys. I spotted a Smart car, one of those miniature things that make a Mini look like a pickup truck. It was painted with sort of a zebra stripe pattern, very hip and obviously belonging to some chic Parisian girl. Ah, but looks are deceiving&hellip; on purpose. In fact, the cute little Smarty car was brimming with hidden surveillance equipment, tiny cameras, itty-bitty thermal viewers, miniature infrared sensors. You would never guess such a cool little car was a rolling spy camera.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">All sorts of chemical/biological protective suits and masks were on display. There was even an operating &ldquo;tent&rdquo; in which a victim exposed to some toxic goo could be treated by medical personnel reaching inside with built-in gloves.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">An American company, Matisec, presented a miniaturized breathing mask with two tiny cylinders of air, the whole thing not much bigger than a pound of hamburger. It provides 25 minutes of breathable air and is designed to go into a desk drawer. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course all the usual suspects were there as well: Zodiac displayed a new&nbsp; SEAL-type boat and there were armored cars aplenty.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Purely by coincidence, there was a demonstration just outside my hotel on the night Milipol began and a phalanx of French riot police formed a line to prevent anything untoward by the demonstrators who were protesting the alleged murder of Algerian separatists in, get this, 1961. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The protest&nbsp;was more peaceful than a frat party, however, so the police were bored and stood around looking at their watches. Finally the crowd of about 100 dispersed and </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I started wondering how many cute little Smart cars were cleverly parked nearby.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/smile-youre-on-camera#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/surefire-wins-suppressor-contractMon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The U.S. Special Operations Command awarded a $23.3 million contract on Sept. 27 for suppressors, blank firing adapters and muzzle brakes to the Insider&rsquo;s alma mater, <a href="http://www.surefire.com/" target="_blank">SureFire</a>. The contract is for an indefinite period.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider rarely has the pleasure of quite literally being on the inside of a major development in the industry, but I can truthfully say I was there when SureFire founder and president Dr. John Matthews made a bold&mdash;some would say audacious&mdash;decision to start manufacturing sound suppressors for military small arms.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Previously, the California-based company had only made flashlights, weapon-mounted lights and targeting lasers. Barry Dueck, then working as the Military Sales Manger at <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/GalleryItem.aspx?cid=22&amp;gid=60&amp;id=355" target="_blank">SureFire</a>, is a natural talent at things mechanical. A self-taught gunsmith, Barry had conceived of a new suppressor design while working as a sale rep for the late Phil Seberger of Ops Inc. Barry showed his design to Seberger, but he wasn&rsquo;t interested because the Ops Inc. patent he relied on would obviously not apply to Dueck&rsquo;s new design.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dr. Matthews stepped up to the plate. Barry was thoroughly debriefed by attorneys to make certain he had not inadvertently &ldquo;borrowed&rdquo; any trade secrets from Ops Inc. A goodwill offer was made to Seberger to buy Ops Inc., but he refused not once but three times.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Conscious clear, SureFire went into the suppressor business. The manufacturing process was set up from the start on a &ldquo;lean&rdquo; basis with the help of Joel Smith, then a consultant and now COO of SureFire. No expense was spared in getting the very best manufacturing equipment, including some state-of-the-art machines that even to this day are tightly held in secrecy. Even I can&rsquo;t talk about them.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The going was rough at first. One of the biggest suppressor manufacturers sneered at SureFire, remarking that we had no business &ldquo;playing in my market.&rdquo; After all, what does a flashlight maker know about cans? A lot, as it turns out. Nibbling away at small-unit purchases in the military and expanding with exports to NATO units in Europe, the Suppressor Division grew.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The calling card was not just that SureFire suppressors are quiet&mdash;all cans are quiet&mdash;but that the point-of-impact did not shift from suppressed to unsuppressed, a huge break through. Also, the point-of-impact did not shift from removing and reattaching a SureFire suppressor. Designs for 7.62 mm followed the initial 5.56 mm for the M4 (the contract that SureFire just won). Beefed up versions for machingeguns and even a prototype for a never-to-be new U.S. Army pistol came along.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today, SureFire&rsquo;s Suppressor Division manufactures a full line of suppressors and muzzle brakes, plus a blank firing adapter than can capture up to three bullets in the rare event that live ammo gets mixed in with the military&rsquo;s blanks. The contract SureFire won is directly for the SOCOM so all Special Forces will be issued a SureFire suppressor for their M4. Also included is a .308 (7.62 mm) suppressor for sniper rifles. The award is part of the Family of Muzzle Brakes &amp; Suppressors&rdquo; program.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to a press release from SureFire, &ldquo;The FMBS solicitation was the most comprehensive modern suppressor evaluation conducted by the U.S. military to date. [Suppressor systems were] subjected to prolonged testing on a variety of firearms platforms. SureFire suppressors were chosen based on test criteria such as: Reliability, Sound Reduction, Accuracy, Point of Impact Shift, Endurance/Durability, and Operational Suitability. While these requirements reflect the suppression needs for firearms including the MK13 sniper rifle, the United States Marine Corps is already employing SureFire&rsquo;s FA762SS suppressor system on every M40A5 sniper rifle.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So a long overdue tip of the Insider&rsquo;s hat to Barry and Dr. Matthews. I knew it wasn't so audacious.<br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/surefire-wins-suppressor-contract#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/jury-deadlocks-in-gun-sales-stingThu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider first broke the news of a 2009 sting operation by the FBI against nearly two dozen gun dealers that culminated in embarrassing <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2093&amp;cid=25" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">arrests at the SHOT Show</span></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> in 2010 in Las Vegas. </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The latest news is that a U.S. federal judge in July declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked over whether four salesmen were guilty of violating federal bribery laws, namely the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, by offering bribes to win lucrative contracts in an undercover operation that ensnared 22 people, according to the Justice Department.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">According to a Reuters news report, Judge Richard Leon declared the mistrial after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict after six different votes. Read the full&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/07/us-bribery-verdict-idUSTRE7667R320110707" target="_blank">Reuters news report here</a>. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/jury-deadlocks-in-gun-sales-sting#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/para-exits-tactical-rifle-marketWed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a story about guns and motorcycles, but it has nothing to do with the Hell&rsquo;s Angels&rsquo;. It&rsquo;s a story about a rifle that begins in the last century in Aldo&rsquo;s Harley-Davidson shop in Massachusetts and, now, <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/para-usa-leaves-rifle-market/" target="_blank">ends another chapter </a>at <a href="http://www.para-usa.com/" target="_blank">PARA USA&rsquo;s </a>factory in North Carolina.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The rifle is the LR-300, an innovative conversion of an AR-15 to a novel operating system. The LR rifle (for Long Range) is the brainchild of Alan Zitta, a blunt-spoken, chisel-jawed Harley rider who owns Aldo&rsquo;s H-D shop. Zitta licensed the right to manufacture the LR-300 to PARA USA several years ago. PARA marketed the gun as the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2070&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Tactical Target Rifle</a> until last week, when it was announced that the maker of .45 caliber 1911 pistols will exit the rifle market. The reason: to focus on its core product, the legendary <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/para-usa-pxt-14-45-limited-review/" target="_blank">P14-45 pistol</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanos Polyzos, CEO of PARA, said, &ldquo;PARA has some exciting new projects in development that will continue the innovation we started with the high-capacity P14-45 pistol. We want to bring these exciting new major caliber handguns to the firearms market and we need to focus our attention on them.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Zitta has hoed a tough field with the LR-300 since it debuted in the mid-&lsquo;90s. Originally sold as an upper receiver kit to install on a customer&rsquo;s AR lower, the LR-300&rsquo;s main claim to fame is that it relocates the bolt carrier return spring into the fore-end, thus eliminating the receiver extension and allowing for a side-folding, collapsible stock.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The LR-300 also boasted a flat-top upper receiver with M1913 Picatinny rail slots for mounting electro-optics, a step ahead of the AR market that was only then discovering the M4. Zitta&rsquo;s company, Z-M Weapons, marketed the LR-300 as an accessory (not as a complete gun) but it looked like the rifle would make the Big Leagues as a stand-along rifle when Para picked up the design.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was not to be. Para&rsquo;s Tactical Target Rifle was introduced in 2008. The rifle was expensive, approaching $3,000, and it was a hybrid&mdash;not quite a piston system and not a DGI (direct gas impingement, the traditional operating system of an AR). Production was delayed and by the time the wheels were rolling, the panic buying frenzy on 2008 and 2009&nbsp;had dissipated.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The timing was bad for another reason as well. Ted Szabo, PARA&rsquo;s co-founder, had died in 2007 at the age of 60. It was an unexpected and devastating loss for the company as Ted had been the principal engineer and firearms designer. I don&rsquo;t think my good friends at PARA would be insulted if I refer to Ted as the brains of the operation, for that&rsquo;s what he was.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Without Ted to direct new product developments, taking on the LR-300 as PARA&rsquo;s entry into the tactical rifle market was the only way (at the time) for the company to enter the market.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">No one will ever replace Szabo, but in the ensuing four years, PARA has augmented its engineering team and is now focusing on its pistols. The LR-300 has thus fallen back to Zitta to try again. It&rsquo;s a good rifle, but it might be &ldquo;out there&rdquo; for the average shooter to understand. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/para-exits-tactical-rifle-market#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/s-w-ceo-steps-downMon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a surprise move, Smith &amp; Wesson Holding Corp bought out the remaining contract of Michael F. Golden as president and CEO and appointed him&nbsp;to a seat on the company&rsquo;s board of directors. Smith &amp; Wesson's&nbsp;stock (symbol SWHC on the NASDAQ) has dropped 27 percent so far this year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the same time, the board named James Debney as its new chief executive. Debney, 44, had been Smith &amp; Wesson's vice president and president of its firearm division. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Golden, 57, took the reins as CEO in 2004. He will now serve as co-vice chairman of the board. Prior to joining S&amp;W, Golden was employed in various executive positions with the Kohler Company. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Golden&rsquo;s contract buy-out is expected to cost shareholders two cents a share. His annual salary is $450,000, however, he earned $934,828 in 2010 with bonuses and other compensation. He also owns nearly $3 million in stock options.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">S&amp;W stock has dropped since 2008 from a high in the $20 range to $2.52 today. Earlier this year, the stock hit a 52 week high of $4.20.<br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/s-w-ceo-steps-down#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/magpul-bought-by-ny-investorsMon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.magpul.com/" target="_blank">Magpul Industries</a>, a manufacturer of tactical accessories and developer of the Masada rifle now manufactured as the ACR (Adaptive Combat Rifle)&nbsp;Bushmaster Firearms, has sold a 51 percent controlling interest to private equity group for an undisclosed sum along with an additional $14.8 million in secondary financing to another investment house, Triangle Capital.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill &amp; Co. (BRS), a New York-based private equity firm, announced today that it has made a significant investment in Magpul Industries Corp. Magpul&rsquo;s executive management team, consisting of founder/President Richard Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Product Development Michael Mayberry and COO Doug Smith, will continue to be significant shareholders following the transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed,&rdquo; a press release from BRS states.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Magpul, based in Erie, Colo., designs, assembles and markets a range of tactical accessories. It started with a simple &ldquo;magazine pull&rdquo; (hence the name) designed by Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Marine sergeant and company founder. From there Magpul expanded its product offerings with an ergonomic grip for the AR-15/M16 and, later, stocks for the same platform.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fitzpatrick and his design team hit their grand slam homerun with the PMAG, a polymer magazine for the AR that is more reliable than a traditional aluminum magazine.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Magpul also offers firearms training through its Magpul Dynamics training cadre. Their instructors have released a series training videos that have been, according to my sources, exceedingly profitable.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Magpul recently was awarded a multi-million dollar contract by the British Ministry of Defense for a new PMAG for the British service rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bruce Bruckmann, co-founder and managing director of BRS, said &ldquo;We are very excited to partner with Rich, Mike, Doug and the rest of the Magpul team. They have built an extraordinary company and the preeminent brand within the MSR accessories market. We look forward to supporting the Company&rsquo;s continued growth.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fitzpatrick said: &ldquo;We chose to partner with BRS because of their deep experience in the consumer products sector and ability to provide valuable strategic guidance and access to capital. We also recognized that BRS truly believes in the Magpul brand and supports our unique culture. We look forward to having BRS as our partner.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the same time, Triangle Capitl Corp.<strong></strong>(NYSE:TCAP), a leading specialty finance company that provides customized financing solutions to lower middle-market companies located throughout the United States, announced that it closed a $14.8 million investment in Magpul Industries&nbsp; consisting of subordinated debt and equity.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My understanding is that Triangle's investment is subordinate to the controlling interest bought by BRS.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">BRS is a New York based private equity firm with $1.4 billion of committed capital under management in three investment partnerships, focused on investing in middle-market consumer goods and services businesses. Since 1996, BRS has purchased over 40 portfolio companies for aggregate consideration of over $6.4 billion. In addition, BRS portfolio companies have completed approximately $1.9 billion of add-on acquisitions. Prior to forming the firm, the founders of BRS were in the private equity business at Citicorp Venture Capital where they closed 25 transactions with aggregate transaction values totaling $5.8 billion.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/magpul-bought-by-ny-investors#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/unknown-money-men-of-gun-businessTue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who are the Wall Street money men investing in the gun business? The Insider is more than casually curious about three private equity investment firms that have taken significant positions in the shooting industry. Frustrating this inquisitiveness is the operative word in &ldquo;private equity company,&rdquo; that word being &ldquo;private.&rdquo; There is precious little public information about what&rsquo;s going on&mdash;and the principles aren&rsquo;t talking.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The most widely discussed is the Freedom Group Inc., a subsidiary of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Freedom Group Inc. describes itself thusly:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We are the world's leading innovator, designer, manufacturer and marketer of firearms, ammunition and related products for the hunting, shooting sports, law enforcement and military markets. As one of the largest manufacturers in the world of firearms and ammunition, we have some of the most globally recognized brands including <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a>, <a href="http://www.bushmaster.com/index.asp" target="_blank">Bushmaster</a> Firearms, <a href="http://www.dpmsinc.com/" target="_blank">DPMS/Panther Arms</a>, Marlin, H&amp;R, The Parker Gun, EOTAC, Mountain Khakis, Advanced Armament Corp., Dakota Arms and <a href="Barnes Bullets" target="_blank">Barnes Bullets</a>.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A second private equity group with a far lower profile in the industry is MidOcean Partners, which owns <a href="http://www.bushnell.com/hunting/" target="_blank">Bushnell</a>. Bushnell is perceived by most to be a value-oriented brand of sports optics, but that&rsquo;s a gross underestimate of this behemoth&rsquo;s actual stature. Bushnell has acquired a slew of companies such as Tasco, Serengeti, Boll&eacute;, Uncle Mike's Law Enforcement, Stoney Point, Hoppe's, <a href="http://www.butlercreek.com/" target="_blank">Butler Creek</a>, C&eacute;b&eacute;, <a href="http://www.unclemikes.com/" target="_blank">Uncle Mike's</a>, <a href="http://www.fabrand.com/" target="_blank">Final Approach</a>, Simmons and Millett. Bushnell just added another company to its portfolio, <a href="http://www.nightoptics.com/" target="_blank">Night Optics USA</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who is MidOcean Partners? They say this about themselves:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;MidOcean Partners is a private investment firm that specializes in muddle market investments in the U.S. and Europe. MidOcean targets control investments with minimum equity contribution of $25 million. The firm&rsquo;s seasoned investment team is supported by an experienced executive board and its management affiliates, allowing MidOcean to be an active investor in four target sectors: Business &amp; Financial Services, Consumer &amp; Leisure, Media &amp; Communications and Niche Industrials.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In case you&rsquo;re wondering, MidOcean considers Bushnell to be a &ldquo;consumer and leisure&rdquo; investment.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The third private equity player in the gun business is Sciens Capital Management. <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/" target="_blank">Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co.</a>, <a href="http://www.colt.com/" target="_blank">Colt Defense LLC </a>and New Colt Holdings Corp. are &ldquo;&hellip;controlled largely by certain principals from Sciens Capital Management,&rdquo; according to a public filing with the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission (SEC).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who is Sciens Capital Management? Sciens cryptically describes themselves in the most broad terms possible:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Sciens Capital Management manages assets in private equity, venture capital, aviation, real estate, structured finance and [a] fund of hedge funds. Sciens' investors include financial institutions, pension funds, private banks, foundations, endowments, family offices and high net worth individuals. The Sciens Funds are managed by seasoned professionals skilled in all aspects of investment management, risk management, financial controls and client service."</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/unknown-money-men-of-gun-business#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/browning-22-hottest-gunWed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The hottest selling pistol in America right now is impossible to find. Brand-new, yet a century old, this handgun is literally flying off dealer shelves. It&rsquo;s not a self-defense pistol and it&rsquo;s not a limited edition collectible. What is it?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Your first hint is that it&rsquo;s a .22 LR plinker. Your second hint is that it&rsquo;s made by <a href="http://www.browning.com/" target="_blank">Browning</a>, or rather by a vendor on behalf of Browning. You must have it by now&hellip;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/browning-1911-22-review/" target="_blank">Browning&rsquo;s M1911A1 miniature-scale .22 LR</a>. I saw the gun at the SHOT Show in January and immediately knew it to be a winner. I asked Browning&rsquo;s Kevin Howard how many units Browning had projected for sales and he allowed that he wasn&rsquo;t privy to such information. We pinned down a Browning salesman that knew the answer but refused to divulge the precise number. I finagled and cajoled and came away with a ballpark estimate of 25,000.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That won&rsquo;t scratch the surface,&rdquo; I said to Kevin as the salesman walked away.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Probably not,&rdquo; Kevin agreed.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll sell 50,000 if they sell one,&rdquo; I continued.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s now September, nine months after that initial sneak-peek and guess what? I can&rsquo;t find one for love nor money.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The guns are back-ordered says Lipsey&rsquo;s, a major Browning distributor. I asked my local dealer, Long Mountain Outfitters in Henderson, Nev., to order three for me. Two are going to my step-sons for Christmas. Unfortunately, bad news came back: Lipsey&rsquo;s won&rsquo;t get their next shipment until November and then it&rsquo;s only 300 guns&mdash;and they&rsquo;re all taken.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Maybe you should shop around,&rdquo; advised my dealer.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">None on Guns America and none on Gun Broker, the two top Internet sites for gun buying. I also checked with Ellett Brothers, another leading Browning distributor. Their website said: &ldquo;The <a href="http://www.browning.com/products/interactive/firearms/1911/" target="_blank">Browning 1911-22</a> is the hot product of the year. What are people saying? They think it may be the best practice and training 22 ever made. This is because it works, feels and functions just like a full size 1911. It is simply scaled down and chambered in the best of all practice rounds: 22 LR. I am guessing that a huge number of Browning fans all across American will have one of these in their collection in the next few years. The consensus seems to be that it will have an extra special popularity with women and younger shooters in training and practice. No heavy recoil here, so you can focus on the fundamentals.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pivoting from Ellett Brother&rsquo;s website to one of their &ldquo;buy online dealers,&rdquo; I found another dead end. The Browning M1911A1 .22 LR is &ldquo;out of stock.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In desperation, I contacted my buddy Kevin Howard, he of PR fame who boasts Browning for a client. When all else fails, pull a string. I figured I could always &ldquo;borrow&rdquo; one under the pretext of writing a story and then buy it when the invoice came. Wrong.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kevin said all T&amp;E samples must be returned and that only a limited number are even available. And could I buy three in time for Christmas? Not likely, Kevin said apologetically. &ldquo;Try looking for one at a dealer,&rdquo; he advised helpfully.<br /><br />That turns out to be not so easy. Which is why the Browning M1911A1 .22 LR is the hottest pistol in America right now.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/browning-22-hottest-gun#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/custom-1911s-sell-fastFri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">From our Go Figure Department comes word of record-setting sales in the most expensive custom pistols offered by legendary 1911 customizer Wilson Combat. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re back-ordered more than we&rsquo;ve ever been,&rdquo; founder Bill Wilson told the Insider. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not our $2,000 guns that are selling, it&rsquo;s our top-of-the-line $4,000 models like the Super Grade.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It seems counter-intuitive that high-end custom handguns are in such high demand given the tempo of our economy, however, Wilson has a logical explanation. &ldquo;Our customer base wants quality. Our typical customer might only buy one new gun a year, but when he does, he wants the very best,&rdquo; the Arkansas-based entrepreneur said.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bill added that the Wilson Combat custom line of AR rifles is also moving briskly. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t keep up with those, either. It&rsquo;s the same thing&mdash;our customer wants the best and is willing to pay for it.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fueling the desire to own high-quality guns might be caused by a demand for tangible investment instruments, which is pushing gold and silver to record highs. &ldquo;People are scared,&rdquo; Bill added. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve seen their paper investments go to nothing while gold has risen. Guns are the same.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Indeed, according to The S&amp;A Digest&mdash;an investment newsletter&mdash;the stock of Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. (RGR) has out-paced gold for three-month, six-month, one-year, three-year and five-year periods. Ruger stock is up over 130 percent so far in 2011, a greater rise than gold itself.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">High-grade guns like Wilson Combat custom 1911s and ARs hold their value just like precious metals, collectible art or vintage automobiles&mdash;stuff has value, paper does not.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/custom-1911s-sell-fast#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/mouse-gun-respectTue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mouse-gunners of the world, rejoice. Your day is here, your time is now. The moment is at hand for your pipsqueak hero, the .380 ACP, to claim its spot on the podium of popularity. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Long scorned as too feeble for self-defense , the .380 ACP dates to 1908 as, of all things, a souped-up &ldquo;big bore.&rdquo; It sprang from the fertile mind of none other than John Moses Browning.&nbsp;Browning had designed the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/Video.aspx?vid=2412&amp;cid=23" target="_blank">Colt Model 1903 &ldquo;Pocket Hammerless&rdquo;</a>&nbsp;in .32 ACP after which he decided to beef up its potency with the .380 ACP in a look-alike pistol, the Model 1908 &ldquo;Pocket Hammerless.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back in the day, no one seemed to be bothered by its lack of horsepower, but loved the Pocket Hammerless for its small size and ease of concealability. Bonnie Parker even supposedly&nbsp;taped one to her inner thigh and smuggled it into the hoosegow for Clyde Barrow to use in a jail-break. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Early Walther PPKs chambered the same mouse-cartridge under the 9 mm Kurtz name. Later James Bond toted a PPK in an Anglicized .380 ACP. On the Allied side, Gen. George S. Patton carried a Colt Model 1908 with three (subsequently four) stars scrimshawed on its ivory grips.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today, the historic .380 ACP is enjoying a renaissance of epic proportions due to three factors. First, Americans are now living in the greatest era of firearms freedom since the first national &ldquo;gun law&rdquo; was passed in 1934. Virtually all our states have legalized concealed carry in some form, creating a massive market for small, easily concealable, defensive pistols.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Second, with the introduction of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/videos/ruger-lcp-review/" target="_blank">Ruger LCP</a> in 2008 the .380 ACP received a huge endorsement from a highly respected manufacturer, and the little pistol is priced so affordably that you can buy one for less than $300. <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001&amp;langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a>, SIG and Colt have all&nbsp;jumped aboard&nbsp;the .380 bandwagon. And lest we forget, Kel-Tec was puttering down the road in its own .380 carriage before the Big Boys followed suit. The point is: there&rsquo;s a huge volume of high-quality .380s on the market right now at excellent prices.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Third, ammunition manufacturers are now offering truly decent loadings for the .380 ACP. Hornady, Speer, <a href="http://www.federalpremium.com/" target="_blank">Federal</a> and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.winchester.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Winchester</a> all offer excellent .380 ACP self-defense loads.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">On a personal note (since this is a blog), I bought a Ruger LCP and carry it with <a href="http://www.hornady.com/" target="_blank">Hornady</a> Critical Defense. However, I must admit I far prefer to carry my J-frame .38 Spl. or customized Glock 27, but there are times when I need the utmost in discretion and for that I slip one into a pocket unnoticed.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/mouse-gun-respect#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/410-revolver-popularityTue, 09 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Slap me upside the head and call me stupid. The Insider is supposed to have his finger on the pulse of the industry to predict trends, foresee developments and anticipate changes. However, I&rsquo;ve completely missed one of the most remarkable handgun innovations in the past five years, the surging popularity of <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/taurus-judge-magnum-research-bfr/" target="_blank">.410 revolvers</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I admit that I&rsquo;ve known of handguns that fire .410 shotgun shells for a long time. <a href="http://www.tcarms.com/" target="_blank">Thompson/Center</a> offered a special barrel for the Contender years ago with the quaint idea that it could be used to shoot skeet. American Derringer offered .410s eons ago in stack-barreled derringers. The little two-shooters were marketed as self-defense handguns with the obvious advantage of a hail of little BBs being more likely to hit a would-be attacker than a single projectile. Quite frankly, I considered shotshell-firing handguns to be novelties.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And so it was that I dismissed the fanfare that greeted <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1526&amp;cid=26" target="_blank">The Judge</a> when Taurus introduced this .410 (and .45 Colt) revolver in 2006 at the SHOT Show. I thought it was interesting, but nothing more. Another novelty gun. (Yeah, and that internet thing will never catch on.)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was wrong on so many levels. First, I didn&rsquo;t think the shooting public would swarm en masse to buy an overly large shotshell-firing handgun. There just aren&rsquo;t that many rattlesnakes in Ohio, Michigan or Nebraska. I just never imagined The Judge would be accepted as a serious self-defense firearm. (Yeah, and a tiny music player with white ear buds will never fly.)<br /><br />&ldquo;Wrong&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t come close to my missing the significance of The Judge. It&rsquo;s the single best-selling line for <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/" target="_blank">Taurus</a> now (encompassing 17 different models) and is growing sales not just for the &ldquo;raging bull&rdquo; manufacturer, but also for accessory makers like <a href="http://www.crimsontrace.com/" target="_blank">Crimson Trace</a>. Ammunition companies now make <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/taurus-judge-ammunition/" target="_blank">revolver-specific .410 loads</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a deliciously ironic cap to his career, outgoing Taurus CEO Bob Morrison saw Smith &amp; Wesson copy its longstanding rival in 2011 with the introduction of a .410 revolver called <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/sw-governor-review/" target="_blank">The Governor</a>. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Taurus deserves a standing ovation for literally creating a new market for a new genre of handgun&mdash;a five-shot defensive revolver firing .410 shells and&nbsp;.45 Colt. The Insider should have known better than to underestimate the appetite of American shooters for big revolvers. I missed this one big time.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And on a final note, check out a new website <a href="http://www.410handguns.com/" target="_blank">410handguns.com</a> for a subject-specific informational site on everything to do with these popular handguns, including a very interesting section on how to measure their accuracy (traditional five-shot groups obviously don&rsquo;t work).</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/410-revolver-popularity#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/bob-morrison-lasting-legacy-at-taurusWed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Pictured left to right: Tony Morrison, Bob's son, former NFL Hall of Famer Jack Youngblood, Bob Morrison and the Insider at the NRA's Sporting Clays Team Challenge in 2003, which we won&mdash;thanks in large measures to Bob's shooting.</em></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The year is 1996 and it&rsquo;s a Wednesday. My lunch hour is booked with a very important &ldquo;business meeting,&rdquo; as it is every Wednesday. I&rsquo;m off to the Mira Mar Trap &amp; Skeet Club to shoot a round of skeet or perhaps some five-stand with a good friend, a guy whom I&rsquo;ve known ever since he was the marketing director at Colt in the early &lsquo;80s.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">He&rsquo;s a&nbsp;great shotgun shooter and I look forward to our weekly Wednesday &ldquo;business meetings&rdquo; because I invariably get a pointer on how to shoot station 4 or hit an incoming clay as well as getting caught up on what&rsquo;s happening in the shooting industry, because my buddy is a longtime industry veteran.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">His name is Bob Morrison. Bob is an independent sales rep for <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/" target="_blank">Taurus</a> working the Southern California and Western Region, but that&rsquo;s about to change in a big way. Bruce Savane, the longtime president of Taurus is about&nbsp;to step down and Bob will be named his successor.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">From the moment Bob and Claire Morrison moved from Fallbrook, Calif., to Miami, I knew things would start to happen at Taurus because Bob is nothing if not energetic. Combine that hyper-drive with a life-long career in the gun business, and you know the former West Point graduate is going to make a big splash.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Taurus International is a Brazilian manufacturer of primarily handguns, although under Bob&rsquo;s leadership the company entered into several mergers and acquisitions, such as Rossi, which led the company into the long-gun field as well. But at the time, Taurus relied on selling affordable, entry-level handguns. That would change&mdash;and change dramatically&mdash;under Bob.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bob brought a lot of innovative new products to market such as the <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/gun-selector-results.cfm?series=247&amp;toggle=tp" target="_blank">24/7</a>, but his single greatest coup was the introduction of a .410 revolver named <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1526&amp;cid=26" target="_blank">The Judge</a>. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">No one talks about such things&mdash;certainly not Bob&mdash;but the Insider has it on good authority that he grew the sales of Taurus International to approximately $400 million a year. Again, I have no hard evidence other than my intimate knowledge of the gun business, but I&rsquo;d bet a free round of sporting clays that when Bob took the reins at Taurus the company was doing less than $100 million in sales. Yes, he (at least) quadrupled the company's sales.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Along the way, Bob made another strategic decision that has had far-reaching effects&mdash;he embraced NRA and began a generous program of donations, including free NRA memberships with the purchase of every Taurus gun. I don&rsquo;t know the total figure that Taurus has donated to NRA, nor the number of members who have joined our ranks because of Bob, but it&rsquo;s definitely not unsubstantial.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Competitors of Taurus, such as Glock and <a href="http://www.kimberamerica.com/" target="_blank">Kimber</a>, saw the benefits of supporting NRA and followed Bob&rsquo;s lead with similar programs of donations. I credit Bob Morrison for starting this ball rolling.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bob hand-picked his successor at Taurus, Mark Kresser, who will take over on September 1. Another long-time industry veteran who has worked at <a href="http://www.mossberg.com/" target="_blank">O.F. Mossberg &amp; Sons</a>, <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/" target="_blank">SIG Sauer</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.berettausa.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">Beretta</a>, Mark will take the helm with the good ship Taurus steaming ahead at full speed. Bob will remain as a consultant.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wishing you and Claire a very happy and well-deserved retirement. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/bob-morrison-lasting-legacy-at-taurus#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/grandpa-gets-one-more-blastWed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">From our &ldquo;truth is stranger than fiction&rdquo; department comes this: Now you can load the cremated ashes of a loved one into live-ammunition for one last 21-gun salute. A company called <a href="http://www.myholysmoke.com" target="_blank">Holy Smoke LLC</a> is offering custom-loaded ammunition that includes the ashes of a dearly departed.<br />&ldquo;Now you can plan your loved one's final arrangements in a way that not only celebrates his or her life but also reflects that person's passions and interests,&rdquo; says a press release from </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Holy Smoke.<br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We can help you honor the deceased outdoors person with a unique memorial that commemorates his or her love for shooting sports. Have your loved one's cremated ash placed in live-ammunition so you can share one more round of clay targets, one last bird hunt or one last hunt,&rdquo; the news release continues.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Simply tell the folks at Holy Smoke what type of hunting or shooting the deceased practiced, and they can help you decide what will best suit your needs.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Holy Smoke was started by two state law enforcement officers, Clem Parnell and Thad Holmes, who realized there was a need for an individual's choice in how his or her life could be remembered or honored.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"What better way to be remembered than in a celebration of a life well spent?" Parnell asks. "We provide an ideal means for showing your love and respect for the deceased sportsman or woman. Not to mention, our services cost a fraction of what most funeral burial services cost, and they're more ecologically friendly than most of the current funeral interment methods."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once the caliber, gauge and other ammunition parameters have been selected, you (by way of your funeral service provider) will send approximately 1 pound of the decedent's ash to Holy Smokes. Upon receiving the ash, the professional and reverent staff will place a measured portion of ash into each shotshell or cartridge. For example, 1 pound of ash is enough to produce 250 shotshells. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">You will be shipped the finished ammunition, boxed in labeled ammunition boxes. Mantle-worthy wooden carriers with engraved name plates are also available. Your return shipment will also include any unused ash in a separate, labeled container.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We provide compassionate personal service, exceptional quality and a truly unique memorial," Parnell says.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/grandpa-gets-one-more-blast#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/survey-says-nra-top-organizationTue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The NRA is the most widely supported shooting sports organization in America, according to a recent survey conducted as part of Southwick Associate&rsquo;s monthly Hunter Survey. More active hunters and shooters claim membership in the <a href="http://home.nra.org/#/home" target="_blank">NRA</a> than any other organization.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The organization that received the next highest vote total was the <a href="http://www.huntingclub.com/" target="_blank">North American Hunting Club</a>. <a href="http://www.ducks.org/" target="_blank">Ducks Unlimited</a>, a purpose-driven, dedicated conservation organization, received the next highest membership. The <a href="http://www.nwtf.org/" target="_blank">National Wild Turkey Federation</a> and <a href="http://www.rmef.org/" target="_blank">Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation</a> were next, respectively.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The survey findings basically mirror each group&rsquo;s actual reported membership with the NRA boasting as many as 4.3 million members, while the NAHC claims more than 850,000 and Ducks Unlimited close to 780,000.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&rdquo;Involvement and unity has been the silver lining to all the political and conservation issues faced by hunters and shooters. No other recreational group can claim to be as organized and effective as sportsmen and women in defending their freedoms and rights,&rdquo; said Rob Southwick, president of <a href="http://www.southwickassociates.com/" target="_blank">Southwick Associates</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Southwick also pointed out that it is impressive to see so many people maintaining their membership across such a broad array of conservation groups, particularly given these tough economic times.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">To help the sportsmen&rsquo;s community continually improve, defend and advance this treasured way of life, hunters and shooters are encouraged to participate in the surveys conducted by Southwick Associates&nbsp;on <a href="http://www.huntersurvey.com/" target="_blank">HunterSurvey.com</a> and <a href="http://www.anglersurvey.com/" target="_blank">AnglerSurvey.com</a>. Each month, participants who complete the survey are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/survey-says-nra-top-organization#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/beware-label-categorize-gunsTue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Labels are dangerous. Labels make it all too easy to stereotype, which results in misconceptions and preconceived notions. That said, labels are used in gun business for good reasons, primarily to make it easy to differentiate the many different types of firearms.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Specific labels like &ldquo;waterfowl gun&rdquo; and &ldquo;trap gun&rdquo; are harmless, but we get into trouble quickly when describing guns based on a presumed function or purpose. Terms like &ldquo;tactical rifle&rdquo; or &ldquo;sniper rifle&rdquo; are particularly damaging because they are presumed to be outside the realm of a totally absurd concept that the mainstream media has invented, &ldquo;sporting purpose.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Marketers are enamored with the label &ldquo;tactical&rdquo; as it implies something militaristic. There&rsquo;s a strong Walter Mitty factor in &ldquo;tactical&rdquo; as a lot of consumers are enamored with the idea that owning a &ldquo;tactical rifle&rdquo; is the next best thing to being a Navy SEAL.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I think this is dangerous because it subtly endorses the view that there are &ldquo;good guns&rdquo; and &ldquo;bad guns,&rdquo; which is tantamount to admitting that some guns have a &ldquo;sporting purpose&rdquo; and others don&rsquo;t.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is nonsense. A prairie dog rifle is indistinguishable from a &ldquo;sniper rifle&rdquo; by any logical methodology. A Benelli R1 semi-auto hunting rifle is identical in function to a &ldquo;tactical carbine.&rdquo; And you&rsquo;ll never be able to cogently differentiate a pump-action &ldquo;tactical shotgun&rdquo; from a well-worn dove and quail pump-gun.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I set about proving this point last week by taking a &ldquo;tactical&rdquo; bolt-action rifle on a hunting trip. The rifle is a <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/ruger-gunsite-scout-review/" target="_blank">Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle</a>, which is a bolt-action rifle with a detachable box magazine (DBM) holding 10 rounds. It&rsquo;s fitted with a section of M1913 Picatinny rail forward of the action, just like my uber-tactical rifle from GA Precision. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">To make sure my Ruger turn-bolt was as &ldquo;tacti-cool&rdquo; as possible, I fitted an AN/PVS-22 Universal Night Sight (UNS) to the forward rail and a <a href="http://www.usoptics.com/" target="_blank">U.S. Optics</a> 1.5-6x &ldquo;tactical&rdquo; scope behind the UNS in high Ruger rings. I also fitted it with a flash suppressor and a SureFire 7.62 sound suppressor. The resulting rifle is identical in form and function to an M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS) issued by the U.S. Army.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I took the rifle on an African safari, about as &ldquo;sporting&rdquo; as &ldquo;sporting&rdquo; gets. No one in Customs in either Zimbabwe or here in the U.S. said a word about the gray and black rifle appearing sinister. It functioned exactly like my Winchester Model 70 in highly figured walnut guise. The Winchester looks conventional while the Ruger is decidedly &ldquo;tactical.&rdquo; Which proves once again that labels are dangerous.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/beware-label-categorize-guns#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/sarcon-features-nfa-expertsThu, 23 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Update: The Small Arms Review Convention (SARCON) has been cancelled. &nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The gun business generates all sorts of shows and conventions: distributor shows for wholesalers, trade shows for gun shop owners, an annual NRA convention for members and of course the most ubiquitous of them all, the weekend gun show. Under the radar, however, skims another kind of gathering. These get-togethers cater to a fascinating subset of the overall gun business, the NFA crowd.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The NFA crowd&mdash;those who buy, sell, collect and shoot machine guns and other firearms that fall under the National Firearms Act of 1934&mdash;are a mix of military history buffs, scholarly type collectors and guys like me, thrill-seekers who just plain enjoy shooting a machine gun. There are a number of gatherings for the NFA crowd, the foremost being the biannual Knob Creek extravaganza in Knob Creek, Ky. in which the general public can ogle, admire, discuss, learn about and shoot machine guns.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">For NFA aficionados (and anyone with an interest in military small arms) there&rsquo;s a show coming up this Sept. 15-17 in Las Vegas that mixes educational seminars with touch-and-feel exhibits and a 3-gun match using NFA firearms. It&rsquo;s called SARCON, the Small Arms Review Convention.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Small Arms Review is a monthly periodical that caters to military firearms enthusiasts, most of whom are part of the NFA crowd. One of the magazine&rsquo;s most voracious readers is American Rifleman editor-in-chief Mark Keefe who once told me that he&rsquo;ll begrudge his staff pinching his gun magazines with one exception. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t touch my copy of Small Arms Review on pain of death.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The magazine&mdash;and the SARCON show&mdash;takes a cerebral look at military small arms. Seminars for the September show include:<br /><br />&bull; M16 Gas &amp; Piston Operation by Dan Shea<br />&bull; Primary Heavy Machine guns of World War II by Robert Segel<br />&bull; The Basics of Silencers by Phil Dater, MD<br />&bull; AK-47 by Frank Iannamico<br />&bull; MG-42 and MG-34 Problems &amp; Cures by Greg Souchik<br />&bull; Bren Gun by Peter Laidler <br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; MAC by Frank Iannamico<br />&bull; M240 &amp; M249 Operator&rsquo;s Course by Matt Babb</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In case you&rsquo;re not familiar with the seminar presenters, this is a who&rsquo;s who of small arms authorities and experts. It would be like going to baseball card show with Tony Gwynn giving batting lessons, Ricky Henderson teaching base stealing and Sandy Koufax giving tips on pitching a no-hitter. These SARCON guys are NFA hall-of-famers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The registration price is $595 and includes a tour of the famed &ldquo;working collection&rdquo; machine guns of Long Mountain Outfitters, dinner at LMO, a BBQ Saturday night during a machine gun demo, an embroidered polo, cap, challenge coin, portfolio, pen and access to any and all seminars plus the exhibit floor. For more information, e-mail <a href="mailto:editorial@smallarmsreview.com">editorial@smallarmsreview.com</a>, call (702) 585-2926 or go online to <a href="http://www.smallarmsreview.com" target="_blank">www.smallarmsreview.com</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ll see you there. I&rsquo;ll be the guy at the NFA 3-gun match with an original World War II era M1A1 Thompson .45 ACP.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/sarcon-features-nfa-experts#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-m4a1Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Picking up where we left off with the Insider&rsquo;s trip to Hartford, Conn., to visit Colt, we come to the storied company&rsquo;s most distinguishing product. It&rsquo;s not the legendary Single Action Army nor the venerable Government Model&mdash;those are so last century. It&rsquo;s the M4A1, the U.S. military&rsquo;s official issue-rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A quick point of order&mdash;remember that there are two Colts, <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/" target="_blank">Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co.</a>, which manufacturers and markets commercial guns and <a href="http://www.colt.com/" target="_blank">Colt Defense LLC</a> which manufacturers military and law enforcement weapons. When I speak of &ldquo;Colt&rdquo; I use the name as a collective noun for both entities even though they&rsquo;re legally and financially independent.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Colt&nbsp;is currently the only supplier of M4A1 rifles to the U.S. military. Belgian-owned <a href="http://www.fnhusa.com/" target="_blank">Fabrique Nationale</a> has in the past been a military supplier, and still makes the M249, M2 and other systems for the military, but as of right now, they&rsquo;re not under contract to make the M4A1.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What makes Colt&rsquo;s M4A1 so remarkable is the night-and-day difference between how this gun is manufactured compared to every other Colt firearm. You have to see it to appreciate it. The area where the M4A1 is produced is physically and metaphorically removed from the rest of the factory. It&rsquo;s &ldquo;lean&rdquo; manufacturing, just-in-time parts, kanban cards, ISO quality assurance, CNC machines, conveyor belts, work cells and every other facet of Toyota-esque manufacturing&mdash;which is to say, the most sophisticated and efficient&mdash;this side of Dell Inc. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And then there&rsquo;s Greg Frost. Without Greg, there would be no M4A1 for he is the Resident Quality Assurance Specialist, a civilian employee of the Dept. of Defense. He&rsquo;s the government&rsquo;s watchdog charged with inspecting Colt&rsquo;s production of the M4A1 to assure that the weapons meet all Military Specifications as defined by Military Standards (Mil-Std).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I monitor everything from soup to nuts in [the weapon&rsquo;s] production, testing all the way down to the most mundane details,&rdquo; Frost said.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mundane details? &ldquo;Like what?&rdquo; I ask.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The shipping box, for example. Even the tape on the box,&rdquo; the inspector replied.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;In a process fashion, we inspect, test and analyze data on behalf of the Department of Defense. We have a Zero-Based Acceptance Policy&mdash;we do not accept a batch if there&rsquo;s even one failure,&rdquo; Frost explained.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;m fascinated. So much marketing malarkey has been bandied about by all the knock-off AR manufacturers about being <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2287&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Mil-Spec</a> this and <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2259&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Mil-Spec</a> that. I ask Frost his opinion.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I work for the Defense Contract Management Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense. Our Contract Management office is nearby in East Hartford. Because of the military contract and the inspections required, Colt has become one of the highest ISO 2008 suppliers, meeting all quality standards.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Well, who exactly are the manufacturers of Mil-Spec M4s?&rdquo; I ask.<br /><br />&ldquo;FN and Colt and Sabre. However, Sabre didn&rsquo;t keep up with the requirements and were dropped. Right now only Colt has a contract,&rdquo; Frost answered.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last year <a title="Specs of Milspec" href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2259&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">I wrote in a story for AmericanRifleman.org</a> that if you&rsquo;re looking to buy a quality AR, don&rsquo;t mess about, just buy a Colt 6920. Now I better appreciate exactly why Colt makes the best AR on the market&mdash;his name is Greg Frost. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-m4a1#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/swift-acquires-blackburn-bottom-metalTue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Little did I suspect this past February that the Insider had momentarily become some sort of unknowing psychic&mdash;more accuratey an idiot savant in my case. I was hunting in the Central African Republic with my favorite rifle, a .375 H&amp;H Magnum custom built on a <a href="http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/category.asp?family=001C" target="_blank">Winchester Model 70 </a>by noted gunsmith Sterling Davenport, and also shooting a handload featuring my nominee for the single-best, all-around, big-game bullet&mdash;Swift A-Frame. I had no clue that I held in my hands two entities that soon would merge in a business deal.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My Davenport custom Model 70 sports the finest craftsmanship and materials, including what is widely recognized as synonymous with best-grade &ldquo;bottom metal,&rdquo; a one-piece trigger guard and floor plate machined from a single billet of steel. It&rsquo;s called Blackburn Bottom Metal.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cue the Twilight Zone theme song. The Insider has just learned that <a href="http://www.swiftbullets.com/" target="_blank">Swift Bullet Co.</a> has acquired Blackburn Bottom Metal Co. from Ted Blackburn. Ted will serve as a consultant, in the background, to assure a smooth, easy transition to the new entity, Swift-Blackburn Custom Gun Metal. The 81-year-old machinist has been building his signature Blackburn bottom metal and a custom trigger for the Mauser 98 since 1964, however, in the past few years, custom gunsmiths have experienced long gaps in availability of Blackburn&rsquo;s beautifully crafted steel.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The quality of Blackburn bottom metal and the way it&rsquo;s made from a single piece of bat stock will not change, but three things will change with this acquisition,&rdquo; said Bill Hober, president of Swift Bullet Co. &ldquo;Obviously the ownership and physical location will change, but most importantly of all, you&rsquo;ll be able to get the product. You order it, we ship it.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">All of the machinery and tooling will be moved from Blackburn&rsquo;s facility in Utah to the Swift Bullet Co. plant in Quinter, Kan. &ldquo;This is an exciting venture for us,&rdquo; Hober added. &ldquo;It assimilates into Swift Bullet Co. very nicely with little or no disruption and no additional operating expense.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We purchased everything necessary to manufacture Blackburn products turn-key. We wanted to insure that we have the exact manufacturing process that Ted has used for years&mdash;and we do. We wanted to assure that the quality, craftsmanship, procedures, and manufacturing methods and materials that Ted has used for year all remain exactly the same.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The distinctive profile of Blackburn&rsquo;s bottom metal has attracted top custom gunmakers for nearly 50 years. The floorplate release is hidden, no unsightly visible latch, making it ideal for engraving. Additionally, the sculpted lines of Blackburn&rsquo;s clean design are completely in tune with that unique and special creation we call an American classic custom rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">For details on pricing and availability, log-on to <a href="http://www.swiftbullets.com" target="_blank">www.swiftbullets.com</a> or call (785) 754-3959.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/swift-acquires-blackburn-bottom-metal#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/insider-looks-at-insider-tradingThu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wall Street executives are scrutinized for their compensation packages, stock option plans and other bonuses. Personally, the Insider doesn&rsquo;t have a problem with a free market exchange of services for compensation, especially when the paychecks are approved by a board of directors representing share holders.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, we rarely get a glimpse into the stratosphere of executive pay in the gun business because, unlike publically traded companies, most gun companies are privately owned and thus are not required to divulge such information. The richest man in the gun business is Gaston Glock but we'll never know how much he makes because his company is private&mdash;very private.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Undeterred, the Insider, an </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">inveterate busy-body, </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">set about investigating the few players in the shooting industry that are publically owned. SEC regulations require that public companies report insider trading and (sometimes) other details of executives&rsquo; compensation.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, the salaries of our top dogs are &ldquo;not available&rdquo; but their insider trades are.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Insider trading&rdquo; is not a dirty word, even though the term is associated with such felonious misfits as Martha Stewart. &ldquo;Insiders&rdquo; are permitted to make stock trades provided certain SEC conditions are met and that the trades&mdash;usually the exercise of stock options as part of a compensation package&mdash;are properly reported.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Given that the salaries of the industry&rsquo;s highest paid executives are not available, the best I can do is report on insider trading that involves the sale of stock options. I looked at the following public companies: Cabela&rsquo;s (CAB), Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. (RGR), Smith &amp; Wesson (SWHC) and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The CEO of Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. is 53-year-old Michael O. Fifer and his exercise of stock options ranks him first with $2.88 million so far in 2011 (as of May). Fifer presided over $262 million in sales in 2010 with a healthy 10.63 percent profit margin and an EBITDA (<span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization</span>)&nbsp;of $52.14 million for a whopping 62 percent of gross profit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Coming in number two with $1.68 million in stock options so far in 2011 is the CEO of Cabela&rsquo;s, who happens to be the former CEO of Remington, 56-year-old Thomas L. Milner. The nation&rsquo;s largest hunting and fishing retailer had revenue totaling $2.7 billion in 2010 with a profit margin of 4.53 percent. The EBITDA came to $275 million on a gross profit of $1.09 billion, or 25 percent.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">By far the biggest dog on the shooting industry&rsquo;s porch is Alliant Techsystems (ATK) with annual sales of $4.8 billion yet its CEO ranks third in compensation from stock options. Its CEO is 52-year-old Mark W. DeYoung, an avid hunter and shooter who rose out of ATK&rsquo;s Federal division to become the chief executive officer. He exercised options worth $96,836 so far in 2011. In addition to Federal ammunition, ATK runs the Lake City Arsenal and owns other shooting-related companies. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Coming in last with a big goose egg for stock option compensation in 2011 is the CEO of Smith &amp; Wesson Holdings Co., 57-year-old Michael F. Golden who has not exercised any options in 2011, which is not surprising considering SWHC&rsquo;s stock has tanked to $3.54 since a high of over $20 before the Crash in 2008. For the most recently reported quarter, operating income on Roosevelt Avenue is down $55 million following a decline of $36 million in the previous quarter.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">None of these gentlemen are receiving what Fox News terms &ldquo;obscene&rdquo; compensation packages like Viacom&rsquo;s Phillipe P. Dauman and his $84.5 million. I don&rsquo;t know what I&rsquo;d do if I &ldquo;earned&rdquo; $84.5 million in a year. Oh wait, yes I do&hellip; I&rsquo;d buy Ruger stock. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/insider-looks-at-insider-trading#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-factory-futureTue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Colt&rsquo;s landmark factory in Hartford, referred to as the Colt Armory, was called &ldquo;the greatest individual enterprise ever attempted in this country&rdquo; when it opened in 1855. Heated by steam and lit by gas lamps, the factory was topped by a sapphire blue-onion dome in the style of the Byzantine churches Sam Colt had seen in Russia. Atop the dome pranced a gold-plated rampant Colt holding a broken spear, Colt&rsquo;s distinctive trademark that continues to this day.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I recently visited Colt's&nbsp;newest factory in West Hartford, as&nbsp;the Armory has long since been taken over by boutique shops and much-too-healthy sandwich shops. I walked through a maze of ultra-sophisticated CNC machining centers, polished robots amid oily, dirty, belt-driven machines that date back to 1911. It was&nbsp;like standing with one foot in the Information Age and the other in the Industrial Revolution.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I paid particular attention to how Colt makes the M1911 Government Model, referred to here as the Model O. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I marveled at the juxtaposition of the centuries as CNC operators punched LCD computer screens while highly skilled polishers applied a mirror sheen to a slide destined for the tuxedo of gun finishes, Colt Royal Blue. One is the result of a college course in CNC operation, the other a delicate touch acquired over more than a decade of apprenticeship.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The average years of service of a craftsman in Colt&rsquo;s Polishing Department is 30. I suspect the average age, period, of a CNC technician is about the same. Yet it takes both skill sets, the modern and the traditional, to make a Colt Model O.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ve toured other gun companies that manufacture M1911s and I can assure you that no one else builds a Government Model the way Colt does. Take the frame, for example. It starts as a forging which is not unusual&mdash;many makers begin with forgings. However, while others get the forging into a CNC as soon as possible, Colt begins a lengthy process of preparing a frame with vintage machinery that dates to the origin of the 1911.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The frame is surface ground and then the first of three holes are drilled into the grip. Holes are drilled (I won&rsquo;t say which ones) which will serve as locating holes for all subsequent operations as the frame progresses from machine to machine.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The trigger bow recesses are broached, not machined. The mag well is broached as well. It takes a broach over three feet long to pull through the mag well. The broach&rsquo;s alignment is done by hand, by a trained craftsman.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eventually the frame makes it into a CNC where further cuts are made and holes are drilled, but no cutter marks remain. It&rsquo;s off to the Polishing Department where it&rsquo;s sanded and buffed by arguably the most talented worker in the entire factory, save Colt&rsquo;s master engravers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Slides are made in the same way, a blend of old and new. I toured HK&rsquo;s U.S. factory once and an engineer proudly told me that once an HK forging is inserted into a &ldquo;coffin&rdquo; fixture in a CNC machine as long as a cafeteria table, it comes out finished. &ldquo;No secondary operations at all,&rdquo; he said proudly. &ldquo;Finished part, ready to go to assembly.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not so at Colt. The slide is broached, ground, honed and cut&mdash;the locking lugs and breech face require the very best of the oldest machines. And then it&rsquo;s off to the Polishing Department where everything is done by eye and hand.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">While various M1911 manufacturers are quick to brag about their very latest in metal injection molding (MIM) and how much money it saves, my Colt tour guide, Mike Guerra, looks at the floor sheepishly when I ask him how many parts are MIM. &ldquo;One,&rdquo; he admits embarrassingly, like 10-year-old caught stealing a lollypop. &ldquo;The disconnector.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Everything else is machined from either a forging or bar stock,&rdquo; Mike adds hastily. &ldquo;Or aluminum, if it&rsquo;s a Lightweight Commander.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">When I get to final assembly, I meet Lewis P. DeLuca who is putting together a Model O with a fluidity and smoothness that comes only with habit. I ask how many years of service he has and, looking up to regard me but continuing with his assembly, he replies, &ldquo;Forty-eight.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wear hearing aids, a result of too much IPSC and too many .375s in Africa, so I think I&rsquo;ve misheard him. &ldquo;I beg your pardon, sir? How many did you say?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Forty-eight,&rdquo; DeLuca repeated, smiling. &ldquo;You have a hard time hearing too?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Sure do.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Know what you mean.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s absolutely amazing&hellip; you&rsquo;ve been assembling the Model O for half of its life!&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Well, not just the Model O. I&rsquo;ve worked all over the factory. I&rsquo;ve assembled Model Ps, Pythons, all of them.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Which is the hardest?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;They&rsquo;re all about the same, once you figure them out.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;How many Model Os do you think you&rsquo;ve assembled?&rdquo;<br /><br />Lewis chuckles, a deep belly laugh. &ldquo;No way of knowing that. A lot!&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I thank Lewis for his time and apologize for the interruption except I see that it really wasn&rsquo;t much of an interruption as he finshed the slide while we were talking. I move on to another area of the factory, but I can&rsquo;t help thinking about Lewis and the greasy, old broaching machine and the rotors in the ceiling where the old fan belts used to run&mdash;next to an $800,000 CNC machine.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Colt uses a tag line in its marketing&mdash;Quality Makes It A Colt&trade;&mdash;but I wonder if a more appropriate one might be Experience Makes It A Colt.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-factory-future#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/inside-colt-a-series-beginsWed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s been at least 15 years since I last visited the Colt factory, but it might as well have been a lifetime. Three (or is it four?) presidents came in and out&nbsp;in the interim before a stellar Marine grabbed the reins of Colt and put his spurs into the faltering stallion.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">When I was last in Hartford some 15 years ago, the factory floor seethed with resentment from the worst strike in Connecticut history (according to "The Hartford Courant<em>"</em>) but the acrimony has long since healed and the plant is humming with new CNC equipment and an enthusiastic workforce, in large measure due to the leadership of one man.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone from polishers to assemblers to machinists to secretaries attribute Colt&rsquo;s remarkable turnaround to retired&nbsp;Lt. Gen. William M. Keys (USMC). The 73-year-old three-star general simply inspires people.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not anything you can pin down. There&rsquo;s just something about him that makes you want to please him,&rdquo; said Dennis Veilleux, vice president and COO of <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/" target="_blank">Colt&rsquo;s Manufacturing Company LLC</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;You just don&rsquo;t want to let the General down,&rdquo; agreed M1911 assembler Lewis A. DeLuca, a 48-year Colt veteran.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Such is the nature of a true leader. During his 34-year career as a Marine Corps officer, Keys served two tours in Vietnam and commanded at every level of operational command from platoon to division. He was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver and Bronze stars, the latter with a Combat &ldquo;V&rdquo; for valor, and&nbsp;he served as the Commanding General, 2nd Marine Division, during Desert Storm.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Keys came aboard Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co. as president and CEO in 1999, but in 2002, the company split into two separate legal entities, a government-sales entity (<a href="http://www.colt.com/" target="_blank">Colt Defense LLC</a>) and a commercial-sales entity (<a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/" target="_blank">Colt&rsquo;s Manufacturing Company LLC</a>). The General, as he&rsquo;s called, served as the leader of both companies until October 2010 when he stepped down as president and CEO of Colt Defense. He still runs the helm at Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co., but was replaced at Colt Defense by Gerald R. Dinkel.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was unable to interview the General during my visit as he was away from the plant at the time, however, I&rsquo;ve requested a telephone interview for an upcoming Insider profile of this remarkable man.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, the Insider would be out of character if I did not probe into the background of Colt&rsquo;s current ownership situation, which is complicated. First, it&rsquo;s misleading to refer to &ldquo;Colt&rdquo; as if it&rsquo;s a single entity. As noted, it&rsquo;s two separate companies&mdash;Colt Defense LLC, a defense oriented business and Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co. LLC, a commercially focused business. These are two separate, yet affiliated, legal entities, both of which are owned by private equity investors.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">For Colt Defense LLC, the largest is Sciens Management LLC (54 percent), followed by a fund advised by The Blackstone Group (24 percent), and then CSFB SP III Investments LP (9 percent). Donald Zilhka and John P. Rigas, jointly owned Colt outright on my last visit 15 years ago. At that time, Rigas and Zilhka spun off Colt&rsquo;s intellectual property&mdash;the priceless brand name and trademarks&mdash;into New Colt Holdings, which has granted an exclusive 20-year license to Colt Defense LLC and Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co. for the use of Colt&rsquo;s brands and other intellectual property.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Byzantine is perhaps too strong of a word to describe Colt&rsquo;s ownership, but it&rsquo;s not far off. That said, Colt is on the right road after over a decade of leadership under Gen. Keys. In my next exclusive report from Hartford, I&rsquo;ll tell you more about the inner workings of Colt.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/inside-colt-a-series-begins#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/wilcox-electric-rail-for-arThu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Holy Grail of tactical-grade M4 rifles (including the military&rsquo;s M4) is a chalice of electrons, a way to power any and all accessories from a single battery source&mdash;wirelessly. <a href="http://www.wilcoxind.com/" target="_blank">Wilcox Industries</a>, a New Hampshire-based&nbsp;producer of a wide range of military and commercial&nbsp;products, has finally found the sacred cup and solved this age-old problem.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s called the Fusion Rail, an M1913 rail fore-end with integral &ldquo;electric rails&rdquo; that carry power from either a small battery pack or a Wilcox Universal Control Grip, a vertical grip with dual thumb-switches and batteries inside.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Onto the Fusion Rail can go a white light or a laser targeting module, the two most commonly used tactical accessories that normally require their own separate batteries. That adds weight and bulk, two big negatives on a tactical rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wilcox teamed with <a href="http://www.surefire.com/" target="_blank">SureFire</a> to develop a small &ldquo;head&rdquo; that fits onto the Fusion Rail and is&nbsp;powered from the rail itself. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then, Wilcox developed its own visible and infrared laser &ldquo;head&rdquo; which also self-powers from the Fusion Rail.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Down the road, I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised to see optical sight modules, night vision viewers and even miniature cameras all running from a Fusion Rail.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As noted, Wilcox also offers a Universal Control Grip with dual thumb-switches into which the &ldquo;heads&rdquo; from lasers, lights or other devices can be plugged. Press the switch for momentary-on or double-tap it for constant-on.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wilcox has also&nbsp;developed other highly clever and innovative products for the military and tactical markets. There&rsquo;s a helmet mount for NODs (night vision devices like the PVS-14) that features a &ldquo;break-loose&rdquo; safety to release the NOD in case it becomes snagged or stuck. The current military helmet mount is permanent, so a snagged NOD is like face-masking in football&mdash;it jerks the wearer&rsquo;s head and neck dangerously.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then there&rsquo;s the Wilcox Patriot System, a breathing system for chemical-biological environments that runs for&nbsp;eight hours. Competing products are good for 45 minutes. Let's see&hellip; eight hours versus less than&nbsp;one hour. That's a pretty significant improvement!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another cool item is a camera about the size of a No. 2 pencil eraser that fits on a military helmet and records everything the wearer sees or hears onto a disk. Given that the President and his national security team were reported in the news to have watched the SEAL&rsquo;s raid on Osama bin Laden&rsquo;s compound, the Insider has a pretty strong hunch they were watching through a Wilcox Mission Recording Helmet System. Wilcox will never tell and neither will the SEALs, but that&rsquo;s my guess.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Look for the Wilcox Fusion Rail to become commercially&nbsp;available soon. And remember, the Insider brought you the first word.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/wilcox-electric-rail-for-ar#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/new-military-bullet-revealedMon, 16 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The U.S. military is soon to field a new projectile in its standard issue 5.56 mm NATO cartridge. There are two purposes to the new projectile: increased performance and less toxicity in the environment (i.e., lead-free).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The new round is designated as the M855A1 and it shares identical weight and velocity to the current M855, 62-grain bullet&nbsp;at around 3,100 fps. The difference is the bullet&rsquo;s construction, which while similar, is changed from the steel-shank, lead-core, copper-jacketed SS109 projectile of the M855 round.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The new A1 projectile is also tipped with a steel penetrator, but unlike the SS109, the steel tip is bronze coated to prevent corrosion (instead of being painted green) and features a more aerodynamic shape that called a &ldquo;steel arrow head.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Instead of a lead core behind the steel tip, the A1 projectile features a solid copper core. The copper jacket that encases both the cooper core and the &ldquo;steel arrow&rdquo; is of an unusual design with a &ldquo;reverse drawn&rdquo; process.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As we know from the Insider&rsquo;s favorite hunting bullet, the Barnes X, a solid copper bullet of the same weight as a lead core bullet is going to be longer since lead is denser than copper. That&rsquo;s true with the A1 bullet as well, although the Picatinny Arsenal which developed the M855A1 has not yet divulged specific details like the bullet&rsquo;s length, ballistic coefficient or sectional density. Picatinny does, however, note that the M855A1 has a higher chamber pressure than M855, but does not provide a number.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a prepared statement, the Dept. of Defense described the evolution of the new round:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;In post-combat surveys and field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, most soldiers have indicated that the (M855) works fine, delivering the desired effects against threat targets. But some soldiers have reported that the round did not perform consistently, causing concern in the ammunition community.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;In parallel, mounting environmental concerns drove the Army to consider replacing environmentally unfriendly materials such as lead. The Army's ammunition community, led by PEO Ammo, saw an opportunity to address the two concerns associated with the M855 round&mdash;lead and consistency.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The Army's solution is the new M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR). This round offers better performance than the M855 against all targets likely to be engaged with small arms. This is quite a feat, considering the long-standing solid performance of the M855.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider is trying to procure a box of M855A1, but this will be tricky. When Colt engineers were invited to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds to test fire the new round in the Colt M4, they were told in no uncertain terms that the removal of a single cartridge, or even a spent casing, would result in criminal prosecution&mdash;no exceptions.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was in the Colt factory earlier this week and Colt, even as a military contractor for the M4 rifle, still does not have any M855A1 for test firing.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">If I come up with any&hellip; mum&rsquo;s the word.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/new-military-bullet-revealed#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/is-colt-a-sleeping-giantMon, 02 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Could it be the sleeping giant is stirring? <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/" target="_blank">Colt</a> is sporting a prominent sign in its nicely appointed booth here at the NRA Annual Meeting in a vast exhibit hall. The sign says: &ldquo;If it&rsquo;s not a Colt, it&rsquo;s a copy.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">For decades, other companies had made hay with Colt designs while the historic Hartford gunmaker remained somnambulant. Dozens of M1911 manufacturers have capitalized on what began as the M1903, evolved to the M1905, M1907, M1910 and finally the greatest service gun ever fielded by U.S. troops, the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/greatest-pistol-in-the-world/" target="_blank">Colt Government Model of 1911</a>. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then, there&rsquo;s the Single Action Army. First the spaghetti guns came over from Italy in the nascent days of &ldquo;cowboy shooting&rdquo; in the 1950s, then the late genius William B. Ruger improved the design with his Blackhawk, Single-Six and Super Blackhawk. Today, the <a href="http://www.ruger.com/index.html" target="_blank">Ruger</a> Vaquero owns a now fully-galloping &ldquo;cowboy shooting&rdquo; market. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, there&rsquo;s the AR15, unquestionably the &ldquo;gun of the decade&rdquo; for the 2000s. Who is selling hundreds of thousands of the Stoner-designed, Colt-patented rifles? Everyone is selling these popular rifles, along with their brother. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s not a Colt, it&rsquo;s a copy.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Me, I like originals in everything from coffee (freeze dried&hellip; yuck) to guns. Here&rsquo;s hoping the Hartford giant is rolling over to get out of bed and finally take back its birthright.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/is-colt-a-sleeping-giant#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/the-homogenized-handgun-businessFri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">With the announcement that Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. will be introducing an <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/ruger-sr1911-pistol/" target="_blank">M1911 pistol</a> at the upcoming <a href="http://www.nraam.org/" target="_blank">NRA Annual Meetings in Pittsburgh</a>, the American handgun industry is fully homogenized.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">No longer is a Ruger a Ruger, a Colt a Colt, a Smith a Smith, each with unique, proprietary features. In general, many of the products from the big manufacturers are now so indistinguishable that you might as well close your eyes over a gun shop counter, spin in a circle and point. Whatever your finger lands on, you can be assured that it will be pretty much the same gun as the one next to it, albeit with a different logo.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">With Ruger&rsquo;s new SR1911, <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/colt-1911-history/" target="_blank">the venerable .45 ACP pistol</a>, Model Of 1911, is now manufactured by every major manufacturer. Everyone now makes a Glock derivative of some sort or another&mdash;an inexpensive, plastic 9 mm. When Kel-Tec dared to do something innovative&mdash;a very small, lightweight, plastic .380 ACP pocket pistol&mdash;everyone immediately introduced a &ldquo;me too&rdquo; model.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Imitation has replaced innovation in the big handgun companies. It used to be that every company had its signature products, guns so trademarked to their maker that they could be spotted across a room. The vent ribbed barrel and royal blue of a Colt Python. The distinctive profile of a Smith &amp; Wesson Model 29, immortalized by Detective Harry Callahan. The Luger-esque shape of a Ruger Mk I .22 LR, easily distinguished from a Colt Woodsman or a S&amp;W Model 41.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reason for this commoditization of handguns is found in Market Economics 101. A handgun is a mature product in a stable market. It&rsquo;s not an iPhone 4 with millions of new consumers. It&rsquo;s a lawnmower. The demand curve flattened out, oh, about 30 years ago. Compared to cell phones, no new technology is forcing consumers to buy a new handgun.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Because the handgun demand curve is so flat, manufacturers can&rsquo;t grow their sales with break-out new models that prompt new consumers to buy. The only way to grow sales in a flat market is to take market share away from a competitor.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider the M1911, the best case in point. The exact number is impossible to know because of the vagaries of ATF data (which is based on caliber, not model type), however, reliable estimates suggest there are between 120,000 and at most 180,000 M1911s sold annually.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you&rsquo;re the CEO of Ruger, you look at the M1911 and see a potential to sell X-percent of that number. Without a Government Model, you sell zero into that category; with it, you do.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who will buy a Ruger SR1911? Someone who is looking for an M1911 anyway but now is attracted to a combination of three things (in order): price, brand, features.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ruger&rsquo;s SR1911 is going at with a suggested retail of $799 which is in keeping with Ruger&rsquo;s value proposition that comes with everything the New Hampshire company makes. How many will they sell? I predict something in the 15,000 range per year, which is 15,000 fewer M1911s that some competitor won&rsquo;t sell.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/the-homogenized-handgun-business#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/abnormal-gun-buyingTue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Normal is a setting on a clothes drier. The Insider has never been accused of being &ldquo;normal&rdquo; and I hope you haven&rsquo;t either. How boring. How bland. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not that there is anything wrong with this portrayal, but I would expect that the average gun owner has&nbsp;a Glock 9 mm, a Ruger&nbsp;10-22, a Mossberg pump and an old Remington BDL in .30-&rsquo;06 Sprg. Or so I would suppose, but since I don&rsquo;t know anyone remotely approaching normal, I can&rsquo;t say for sure.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What I can say is that my coterie of contacts in the industry and, an even more dubious crowd, my friends, buy decidedly un-normal guns. It might be instructive to see what these characters have recently bought and how those purchases affect the firearms industry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Keith is giddy about his latest acquisition, a 1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer in 6.5x54 mm with a tang safety, a claw mount and a peculiar adjustable cheek piece.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brad latched onto a LaRue .308 semi-auto, an upsized AR that he calls &ldquo;Fat Boy.&rdquo; He topped it with a Nightforce precision optic that cost nearly as much as the rifle. Nice rig.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Darrell picked up an <a href="http://www.hk-usa.com/index.asp" target="_blank">HK</a> heel-release P7 that had come back as a German police trade-in. His was one of only about 300 &ldquo;police marked&rdquo; P7s that were imported last year, all of which were nabbed by HK aficionados in a matter of days.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jason acquired a Barrett .50 caliber semi-auto with a 20-inch barrel. I shot the 27-pound monster in an indoor range. The muzzle blast sent a concussion wave into my skull and&nbsp;a surge of range air into my nostrils. You <em>know</em> when you&rsquo;ve shot a 20-inch Barrett.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mark, who owns a gunshop, took a pristine <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/browning-hi-power/" target="_blank">Browning Hi-Power</a> on trade and squirreled it away for himself.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Donna is concerned about personal security so she bought a <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/" target="_blank">Taurus</a> .38 Spl. Value-priced defensive handguns remain strong sellers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ken spied a mint <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001&amp;langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> &ldquo;Registered Magnum&rdquo; at a gun show and made it his after counting out a sizable stack of Benjamins.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Me? I bought a Cogswell &amp; Harrison double rifle, an underlever hammer gun in .450-400 (3 &frac14; inch) made in 1912. I found it at an auction for a steal&mdash;exposed hammer double rifles remain a bargain these days. The refinished gun came with a copy of<em> "</em>Elephant Hunting In Portuguese East Africa" by Jose Pardal who hunted in what became Mozambique during the &ldquo;golden years.&rdquo; The old Coggy is shown in several photos in Pardal&rsquo;s book and he describes how he had the gun restored with an &ldquo;unusual&rdquo; beavertail fore-end.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So what&rsquo;s my point?&nbsp;S</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">erious gun folks don&rsquo;t stop buying, even in this recession. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Second, the more serious you are, the more you tend toward classics. The guy who buys a 1903 Mannlicher-Shoenauer or my exposed hammer double rifle is not exactly a&nbsp;mainstream firearm user.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So what role do guys who buy Barretts and Belgian Brownings play in the gun business? They fuel a highly active, yet unquantifiable, used gun market. The Internet has&nbsp;spured&nbsp;online gun shows, and brick-and-mortar gun shops now regularly sell on sites such as <a href="http://www.gunsinternational.com/" target="_blank">Guns International</a> and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gunbroker.com/" target="_blank">Gun Broker</a>. Even Davidson&rsquo;s, a leading wholesaler, has a gun-selling site called <a href="http://www.galleryofguns.com/" target="_blank">Gallery Of Guns</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My buddies contribute to a vital underpinning of the gun business&mdash;the buying and selling of classic, if odd, guns. Money changes hands and stays in the gun business. We may not be normal, but we help.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/abnormal-gun-buying#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/smile-when-you-buy-that-glockMon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Celebrity endorsements are commonly used to sell everything from wristwatches to coffee pots, but for a variety of reasons (which I&rsquo;ll discuss in a moment) famous faces rarely appear in promotional roles in the gun industry. A notable exception is R. Lee Ermey, the hard-bitten drill instructor from <a title="R. Lee Ermey" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000388/" target="_blank"><em>Full Metal Jacket</em></a> better known to all of us as "The Gunny."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Gunny was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for that 1987 role. He wrote his own dialog, ad libbing as he fell into character, which was easy enough as he had been a drill instructor from 1965 to 1967 in San Diego. He was brilliant.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Gunny first appeared in a promotional role for Glock several years ago at the SHOT Show. I distinctly remember the hullaballoo that surrounded the Glock booth. Correction: It was not so much hullaballoo as it was a massive traffic jam. Hundreds of fans eager for an autographed photo blocked the aisles around Glock&rsquo;s booth. I&rsquo;m not sure they could have drawn a bigger crowd If they had been giving away free pistols.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Gunny is technically not an E-7 Gunnery Sergeant. He left as an E-6 Staff Sergeant after serving 11 years in his &ldquo;beloved Corps&rdquo; including a 14 month tour in Vietnam. In 2002, he was given an honorary promotion to Gunnery Sergeant by Marine Corps Commandant&nbsp; James L. Jones, becoming the first non-active marine to be promoted in the history of the Marine Corps. I dare say The Gunny is personally responsible for more enlistments than a battalion of recruiters.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Gunny appears in ads for SOG knives and Glock handguns. According to my insider sources, his endorsements are genuine. He won&rsquo;t lend his name to a product he doesn&rsquo;t personally believe in.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I mentioned in the opening paragraph that celebrity endorsements in the shooting industry are rare&mdash;why is that? The Insider has several theories.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">First, an actor&rsquo;s career is more endangered than a banana in a roomful of chimps if he or she dares to promote an evil gun. Charlton Heston was a rare exception. His service to NRA remains a brave example of selfless dedication, putting principle above personal ambition. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Second, celebrities who publicly avow their love of the shooting sports&mdash;Ted Nugent, Karl Malone, Robert Stack, Tom Selleck&mdash;have simply never taken jobs as spokespersons or product endorsers, other than as an NRA directors or to promote their own books. Why I can&rsquo;t say. Possibly their fee is too high. Maybe no one&rsquo;s bothered to ask them.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It hasn&rsquo;t always been this way. Back in the day, the biggest celebrities proudly participated in the shooting sports. Clark Gable loved quail hunting. John Wayne owned a gun collection. Ernest Hemingway went on African safaris.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today, loving guns is worse than loving evil dictators. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I bet you that the Gunny would having something colorful to say about this state of affairs. I bet your ears will be ringing afterwards!</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/smile-when-you-buy-that-glock#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/hunting-rifles-sales-down-licenses-upWed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&lsquo;Splain this to me, Lucy. Hunting license sales in the U.S. have increased slightly in the past two years while hunting rifle sales have plummeted. Hunters bought just shy of 15 million licenses in 2009 compared to just under 14.5 million in 2008, according to a 2011 Industry Report published by the <a href="http://www.nssf.org/" target="_blank">National Shooting Sports Foundation </a>(NSSF). Less than 1 percent is not a big increase, but it&rsquo;s still moving up.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, hunting rifles are falling through the basement. Ed Brown Products, a boutique maker of custom-grade hunting rifles, shut down production in September, 2009 after sales were so bad, &ldquo;I was selling them to family members,&rdquo; Brown told the Insider.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> rifle production was down 22 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to Shooting Industry magazine. They bounced back to their &rsquo;07 number (roughly 280,000 rifles) in &rsquo;09, but it&rsquo;s not known how many of those were AR-style tactical rifles.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001&amp;catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> fell prey too. The Massachusetts gunmaker dropped production of the i-Bolt rifle after less than two years of production (2007-2009).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</a> had a good year overall in 2010, but not because of hunting rifles. &ldquo;They accounted for less than 15 percent of our sales,&rdquo; said an Insider source.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.kimberamerica.com/" target="_blank">Kimber Mfg.</a> is holding steady at roughly 6,000 rifles in the past two years. Six-thousand rifles is a drop in the bucket compared to Remington&rsquo;s production and seems to suggest that perhaps high-end rifles are doing alright. Yet how do you explain Ed Brown dropping his rifles?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.savagearms.com/" target="_blank">Savage</a> is bucking the trend, however, up almost 10 percent from &rsquo;08 to &rsquo;09. Value and performance are obviously attractive to hunters.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hunters are buying more licenses yet overall sales of hunting rifles are down. &lsquo;Splain this to me, Lucy. I don&rsquo;t get it.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/hunting-rifles-sales-down-licenses-up#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/rugers-2010-sales-dipFri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The shooting industry&rsquo;s most consistent performer, <a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</a>, saw a slight downturn in sales for 2010, but earnings per share were up, according to its annual report.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Listed on the New York Stock Exchange as RGR, the New Hampshire-based company reported net sales of $255.2 million and earnings of $1.48 per share, compared with sales of $271.0 million and earnings of $1.44 per share in 2009.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the fourth quarter of 2010, net sales were $64.1 million and earnings were 30 cents per share which is virtually identical to the corresponding period in 2009 when net sales were $63.9 million and earnings were 31 cents per share.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ruger also announced that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of 5 cents per share for the fourth quarter, for shareholders of record as of March 11, 2011, payable on March 25, 2011.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chief Executive Officer Michael O. Fifer made the following comments related to the company's results:<br /><br />&bull; In 2010, Ruger launched several new products including the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/Ruger-SR9s/" target="_blank">SR9</a>c compact pistol, the LCR-357 revolver and the SR40 striker-fired pistol. New product introductions remain a strong driver of demand and represented $62.3 million or 24.8 percent of sales in 2010.<br /><br />&bull; The estimated sell-through of the company's products from distributors to retailers in 2010 increased 2 percent from 2009. During this period, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background checks (as adjusted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation) decreased 1 percent.<br /><br />&bull; Cash generated from operations during 2010 was $32.5 million. As of December 31, 2010, Ruger&rsquo;s cash and equivalents and short-term investments totaled $57.6 million. Ruger has no debt.<br /><br />&bull; In 2010, capital expenditures totaled $19.4 million, much of it related to tooling and equipment for new products. Ruger expects to invest approximately $15 million for capital expenditures during 2011.<br /><br />&bull; As of December 31, 2010, stockholders' equity was $114.5 million, which equates to a book value of $6.08 per share, of which $3.06 per share was cash and equivalents and short-term investments. In 2010, Ruger returned $12.0 million to our shareholders through the following:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Paying $6.3 million of dividends, and<br />2. Repurchasing 412,000 shares of our common stock in the open market at an average price of $13.83 per share, for a total of $5.7 million. <br /><br />&bull; In January 2011, Ruger repurchased an additional 133,400 shares of our common stock in the open market at an average price of $14.98 per share.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/rugers-2010-sales-dip#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/wood-the-european-differenceFri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wood. If you need one word to differentiate Europe&rsquo;s shooting industry trade show from America&rsquo;s counterpart, the SHOT Show, that word is wood. I don&rsquo;t mean floors either. I refer to highly figured Turkish walnut, stunning pieces of marble-caked Circassian wood. The wood is not only sold in raw form, one- and two-piece blanks, but also adorns most of the higher-grade guns from the likes of Perazzi, Blaser and Krieghoff.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">And there are plenty of premium guns on display this week at the IWA show in Nurenberg, Germany. Some 30,000-plus visitors come to check out the wood&mdash;and the plastic, polymer, aluminum, steel and Damascus. It&rsquo;s all here, but what caught my eye (and my ATM card) was the wood.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I stopped by the booth of Van Agac Gunstock Blanks from Van, Turkey. There I met a swarthy, yet charming fellow with a cherubic face named&nbsp;Yusuk Inan. Yusuk had to step around stacks of Turkish walnut to get to me, a potential customer, as I examined a blank.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Beautiful wood,&rdquo; Yusuk enthused. &ldquo;You like?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Hmmm,&rdquo; I replied noncommittally. The last thing you do when dickering is to show anything resembling enthusiasm.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I show you the best,&rdquo; Yusuk continued. I feigned indifference as Yusuk unstacked a large pile and began culling the better blanks into a separate stack.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;How much you want spend?&rdquo; Yusuk asked, the key question of a wood seller. From past experience, I knew I had to answer carefully.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I want a nice piece with what we call marble-cake figure, but not too expensive,&rdquo; I answered.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Yes, we use same word, marble-cake&hellip; here, you like this?&rdquo; he said teasingly, proffering a highly figured blank. &ldquo;This one, it is one-thousand Euro.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">That&rsquo;s about $1,400 which would require three trips to the ATM. However, I&rsquo;ve bought a few blanks in the past from Ed Preslik, the premiere walnut man in Chico, Calif., and I knew that same blank in California walnut (not as desirable as Turkish walnut) would run anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ed had taught me the gold rule of wood selling&mdash;find out what the customer wants to spend, which then becomes the price of any blank that catches his eye. I used that trade secret to best advantage.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Perhaps this one,&rdquo; I said blandly, picking a really nice piece. &ldquo;But only with a discount of 15 percent.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yusuk raised a eyebrow, &ldquo;You pay cash?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Of course.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;OK.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">We stepped into a small storage closest in the back of his booth and I counted out 800 Euro.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Oh dear, that&rsquo;s all I have,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I can come back later.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yusuk was a great salesman and knew how to you close. &ldquo;Eight hundred, that&rsquo;s okay,&rdquo; he answered. Done deal.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">That was negotiation number one. Now I had to go back to my hotel and explain to my wife what in the heck I&rsquo;m doing with a giant piece of wood. That&rsquo;s the difference between American and European gun shows&mdash;wood.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/wood-the-european-difference#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/utah-names-1911-official-handgunTue, 22 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Honoring&nbsp;a native son, the state legislature of Utah designated the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/greatest-pistol-in-the-world/" target="_blank">M1911</a> pistol as the official state handgun. John M. Browning&rsquo;s legendary design joins 24 other official Utah state symbols ranging from the blue spruce to the honeybee.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed the M1911 designation into law last week.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">State Rep. Carl Wimmer, a former police officer and SWAT team commander, said he suggested the idea of an official state handgun last year after hearing that Pennsylvania lawmakers toyed with the idea of designating the Pennsylvania long rifle as its official state firearm.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"There was more controversy than I anticipated, but it really passed with bipartisan support," Wimmer told CNN. "One of the biggest comments from the critics was that we should not honor an implement of death. And my response to that has always been is that this firearm does not represent an implement of death. It represents an implement of freedom<span style="font-family: &quot;Verdana&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; color: black;">&mdash;</span>just the mere fact that our soldiers have used this firearm to defend liberty and freedom around the world for the last 100 years."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider has a feeling that Utah may well lead the way for more such designations. Texas Gov. Rick Perry employed a <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/videos/ruger-lcp-review/" target="_blank">Ruger&nbsp;LCP</a> to <a title="Coyote Special" href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2406&amp;cid=18" target="_blank">shoot a coyote</a> that threatened him while jogging last year, but surely the <a title="Colt Walker" href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/videos/colt-walker-revolver/" target="_blank">Colt Walker</a> should be the Texas official handgun, designed by Texas Ranger Capt. Sam Walker.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">New Hampshire should get first dibs on making <a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a> its state firearm, after all.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/utah-names-1911-official-handgun#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/uber-industry-trade-showWed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s March, time for American gun manufacturers to descend on Nuremberg, Germany for the annual IWA Show, the European version of the SHOT Show.. Here in this quaint, Medieval town over 30,000 show visitors troop through the well-organized Messe convention center to see what&rsquo;s new in the shooting and hunting industry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nearly 1,200 exhibitors display everything from traditional German hunting garb to the latest in high-tech Olympic target rifles. American manufacturers comprise about 20 to 25 percent of the exhibitors, according to my rough count. Official tabulation by the IWA organizers state that international exhibitors comprise 76 percent of the total.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SHOT Show itself was here to solicit new exhibitors and promote the American trade show. Steve Sanetti, executive director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation said that he would welcome more international exhibitors to the SHOT Show.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The mood here is distinctly European. For instance, at the SHOT Show my press badge reads CAMERON Hopkins while here it&rsquo;s a more formal atmosphere so my badge states Cameron HOPKINS. Exhibitors greet you by title, not by your first-name. Germany is the largest hunting and shooting market in Europe with a rich tradition. Hunters come to the four-day show (Thursday through Monday) on the weekend, many of them bringing well-trained hunting dogs and wearing loden green jackets with stag horn buttons.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Beer flows freely in many of the exhibitor&rsquo;s booths. The IWA organizers crowned Eva I as the show&rsquo;s Beer Queen. The atmosphere is festive while at the same time refined. My favorite part of the show is the cluster of exhibitors from the village of Ferlach, Austria, home of the top custom gunmakers on the Continent. The foremost of these, Peter Hofer, handcrafts ornately engraved double rifles for Saudi princes and European royalty. A Hofer gun costs six and even seven figures.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s also interesting to see the contrast in German gun companies in America and here on their home turf. In the U.S., Blaser and Sauer are marginal players, having trouble selling their expensive, straight-pull rifles to American hunters. Over here, however, Blaser is the dominant brand. Their exhibit is vast, taking up a massive area of Hall 1. A life-size Lord Derby eland and American bison are among the attractions in their booth.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">By contrast, America&rsquo;s top hunting rifle brands like Remington and Ruger barely nibble a few sales out of the German hunting market. The reason is simple&mdash;hunting in Europe is a sport for the well-heeled whose tastes run to more refined rifles. Similarly, Zeiss, Swarovski and Schmidt &amp; Bender riflescopes with integral &ldquo;rail mounts&rdquo; are far more popular than brands with &ldquo;ring mounts.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">But we enjoy a far bigger market in America. According to Klaus Gotzen of the German hunting, firearms and ammunition trade association, the value of hunting and sporting guns and accessories should total 255 million&nbsp;Euro in 2010. Chris Dolnack of NSSF told the Insider that American hunters and shooters spend about $4 billion a year, some 16 times more than the Germans. Nonetheless, there&rsquo;s a wonderful charm to German hunting.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/uber-industry-trade-show#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/survey-reveals-top-brandsMon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once again the world is conspiring to humiliate the Insider. No sooner had I opined that the shooting industry is lacking in market share data than two surveys surfaced, one dedicated to &ldquo;modern sporting rifles&rdquo; (MSR) and another to the overall industry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The MSR survey was conducted for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) while the overall study was done for subscribers to a market research company called <a href="http://www.southwickassociates.com/" target="_blank">Southwick &amp; Associates</a>. Both are entirely Internet-based, which limits their scope to Internet savvy shooters and hunters who participate in forums, chat rooms and are willing to give their opinions online, a group I&rsquo;ll maintain is only marginally representative of the overall shooting market.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The MSR survey was based on approximately 11,000 respondents and the Southwick study on roughly 40,000. There are approximately 2 million firearms and about 15 million hunting licenses sold annually. That said, both studies are considered statistically valid. (As a means of comparison, a mere 24,000 households are equipped with Nielson monitors and yet billions of television advertising dollars are based on the viewing habits of this minuscule number.)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Without further ado, let&rsquo;s look at the raw data from the Southwick survey:<br /><br />&bull; Top rifle brand: <strong>Remington</strong> (17.5 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top shotgun brand: <strong>Remington</strong> and <strong>Mossberg</strong> (virtual tie with 21.5 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top muzzleloader brand: <strong>Thompson Center</strong> (31.9 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top handgun brand: <strong>Ruger</strong> (16.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top scope for firearms: <strong>Bushnell</strong> (17.1 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top rifle ammunition brand: <strong>Remington</strong> (25.3 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top shotgun ammunition brand: <strong>Winchester</strong> (31.9 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top handgun ammunition brand: <strong>Winchester</strong> (22.0 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top blackpowder brand: <strong>Pyrodex</strong> (38.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top balls, bullets, or shot brand: <strong>Hornady</strong> (28.4 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top bow brand: <strong>Matthews</strong> (17.5 &nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top arrow brand: <strong>Carbon Express</strong> percent(27.6 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top fletching brand: <strong>Blazer</strong> (15.8 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top broadhead brand: <strong>Muzzy</strong> (20.3 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top archery target brand:&nbsp; <strong>The Block</strong> (10.3 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top decoy brand:&nbsp; <strong>Mojo </strong>(12.9 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top game call brand: <strong>Primos</strong> (33.5 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top reloading bullet brand: <strong>Hornady</strong> (31.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top reloading primer brand: <strong>CCI</strong> (38.2 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top reloading powder brand: <strong>Hodgdon</strong> (37.8 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top binocular brand: <strong>Bushnell</strong> (33.6 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top holster brand:&nbsp; <strong>Uncle Mikes</strong> (19.0 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top knife brand: <strong>Gerber</strong> (15.0 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top scent or scent covering brand:&nbsp; <strong>Scent-A-Way, Scent Shield </strong>(14.7 percent&nbsp;of all purchases each)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top shooting target brand: <strong>Shoot-N-C</strong> (31.3 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Top clay brand: <strong>White Flyer</strong> (51.8 percent&nbsp;of all purchases)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Notice that the survey doesn&rsquo;t reference dollars, only the number of units purchased. Bushnell, for example, holds the largest share of both scopes and binoculars, but it&rsquo;s a value brand and you always sell more&nbsp; units at $300 than you do at $600. From a pure dollar standpoint, Leupold has long been recognized as the market leader in U.S. optics with Nikon second.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Looking at firearms, again you see value brands at the top. Ruger, Mossberg and Remington guns are all affordably priced. Winchester has only now began production after a two year hiatus, so that would also affect the result.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Similarly, Uncle Mike&rsquo;s is the Walmart of holsters, offering decent quality at unbeatable prices. No wonder they dominate in number of units sold, but I would bet dollars to donuts that Safariland&rsquo;s price points are far higher.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/survey-reveals-top-brands#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/study-shows-ar-market-shareTue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bushmaster Firearms, part of the Freedom Group of companies (along with Remington, DPMS and others) holds a 12 percent market share of modern sporting rifles (MSRs), the largest single chunk of a fragmented market. The study is based on a comprehensive 2010 market research report issued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Other manufacturers each control less than 10 percent, while&nbsp;Colt owns 6 percent. The precise data from other manufacturers is not available at the time of this writing, but I&rsquo;ll update the market share information as soon as possible. Overall, 52 percent paid less than $1,000 for their MSR, but the average price was $1,083.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last time, the Insider looked at some of the &ldquo;big picture&rdquo; results of the survey in a previous story and found that a statistically average MSR buyer is a college educated married male between 35 and 54 without children in the home earning between $45,000 and $110,000 who has never served in the military.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now I&rsquo;m going to explore in more detail just how important accessories are to MSR owners. As a quick refresher, we learned last time that only 76 percent of &ldquo;most recent&rdquo; MSR purchases were in 5.56 mm with the other one-quarter scattered among various other calibers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The survey reveals that 84 percent of MSR purchasers accessorize within 12 months: 22 percent at the time of purchase and 62 percent within a year. Only 13 percent of the respondents said that adding accessories to an MSR is &ldquo;not applicable.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Given that red dot type&nbsp;optics are used on military and law enforcement rifles, I was stunned to see that a 3-9x riflescope is the most popular optic (36 percent) while an Aimpoint, another brand of red dot sight, garnered only 28 percent. Fully 27 percent rely on iron sights only!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A low power scope of between of 1x and 4x came in with 24 percent&mdash;I assume Trijicon has most of that.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not surprisingly, 83 percent of all MSRs came with a flat-top receiver (16 percent with a removable carry handle). The breakdown of fixed versus a collapsible stock was 60 percent for the M4 style and 35 percent for the traditional M16 style (the remaining 5 percent were target-style stocks).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eighty-three percent of the guns were black while only 3 percent were camouflaged, and </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Picatinny rail fore-ends came on 49 percent of the rifles&mdash;an even split with traditional non-M4 style forends.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clearly, accessorzing an AR is a very important part of the overall MSR niche. Profit margins being notoriously low on firearms, accessories are vital to the overall business.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/study-shows-ar-market-share#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/study-gives-look-at-ar-buyersThu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://www.nssf.org/" target="_blank">National Shooting Sports Foundation</a> (NSSF), a trade association for the firearms industry, has released a 2010 market research study about AR rifle buyers, revealing a treasure trove of information about the fastest growing segment of the gun business. The study was conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys, a company specializing in recreation and sports.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The survey is noteworthy for its size&mdash;11,400 respondents of which 7,300 came from verified modern sporting rifle&nbsp;(MSR) owners. An internet-based methodology was used in which banner ads and links were placed on many of the popular consumer oriented websites. An incentive was used to facilitate the process. The large response allowed the survey to cross-reference a number of different areas.<br /><br />&bull; 60 percent of MSR owners already possessed multiple MSRs.<br />&bull; Of those owning multiple MSRs (three or more), a third of the respondents made their initial purchase prior to the federal ban in 1994<br />&bull; 12 percent bought their first MSR in 2010<br />&bull; 37 percent of MSR owners have a military background<br />&bull; 99 percent already owned a gun before buying an MSR<br />&bull; The average price paid was $1,083<br />&bull; 40 percent of all MSR purchases were made in a gun shop (as opposed to a gun show or from a private individual)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the more interesting findings was that 30 percent of all MSR owners made their first purchase in 2009 or 2010, which makes complete sense when you remember the incredible gun-buying panic in the wake of The Big O&rsquo;s election.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">An equally interesting fact&mdash;and one that surprised me&mdash;is that only three-fourths of the MSRs most recently purchased were chambered in 5.56 mm. The .308 was the&nbsp;next highest chambering with 10 percent, while .22 LR was purchased four percent of the time and 6.8 was three percent of new purchases. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now we come to one of my favorite parts of the survey&mdash;why the respondents bought their MSRs. The survey showed that only 6 percent of the respondents bought an MSR for varmint shooting with another 4 percent having bought one for big game hunting. Other reasons for owning an MSR include home defense, competition and target shooting. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Who are the survey takers? Not surprisingly 99 percent of them are males and 60 percent of them earn between $45,000 and $110,000 annually. They&rsquo;re smart too. Eighty-eight percent have at least some college while 14 percent have a post-graduate degree.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Three-fourths are married and 42 percent have children in the home. The split of those with a military or law enforcement background to those without is close&mdash;44 percent have such a background while 56 percent do not.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next time the Insider will burrow further into this comprehensive NSSF survey to look at market share of the different MSR makers and what types of accessories they bought. The results will surprise you.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/study-gives-look-at-ar-buyers#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/browning-born-to-greatnessWed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Some guns are born to greatness&mdash;and the new <a href="http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/family.asp?webflag_=028B&amp;catalog_=B&amp;content=1911-22" target="_blank">Browning 1911-22</a> is one of them. Two years ago at SHOT Show the industry was dazzled with Ruger&rsquo;s announcement of its .380 LCP pistol. The Insider was among the first to get word in Ruger&rsquo;s booth that sales of the little compact pistol had exceeded 40,000 units on the first day, blowing Ruger&rsquo;s most optimistic sales projection out of the water. The show ended with over 70,000 orders in hand. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ll wager those numbers are in the ballpark of what <a href="http://www.browning.com/" target="_blank">Browning Arms</a> just saw at the recently concluded 2011 SHOT Show with the announcement of its miniature M1911 Government Model in .22 LR. The pistol was introduced to coincide with the centennial celebration of John Browning&rsquo;s M1911 .45 ACP, but instead of jumping into the &ldquo;me too&rdquo; line with so many other M1911 clone makers, Browning pulled off this brilliant stroke of duplicating Ole Slab Sides at 85 percent of the size in the ever-popular .22 LR chambering. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider asked Browning&rsquo;s Denny Wilcox how many units had been ordered at the show. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; Denny replied with an impish smile. I cajoled, I wheedled, I pleaded, but Denny wasn&rsquo;t budging on numbers. He finally conceded that: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve booked orders for about 70 percent of our annual production. We&rsquo;ll be able to supply the public with what they want&mdash;eventually.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ll go on record right here that Browning&rsquo;s neat little pistol is the <a href="http://www.ruger.com/products/lcp/models.html" target="_blank">Ruger LCP</a> plus the <a href="http://www.hornady.com/store/17-HMR/" target="_blank">Hornady .17 HMR</a> plus the <a href="http://www.taurususa.com/gun-selector-results.cfm?series=41&amp;toggle=tr" target="_blank">Taurus Judge</a> all rolled into one&mdash;a triple grand slam. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The new pistol is almost an exact replica of the original 1911, just smaller. The new Browning 1911-22 is proudly made in the USA. Guns shipped in 2011 will include a special first year of production collector&rsquo;s certificate plus a free limited edition commemorative canvas and leather zippered pistol case. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">And get this&mdash;the MSRP is $599, so the street price will be about $525 to $550! Put me down for a pair! </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The frame and slide of the Browning 1911-22 are machined from aluminum alloy with a matte-blue finish. Unlike its .45 ACP daddy, the Browning .22 is a straight blow-back operated pistol using a barrel with a stainless-steel barrel block. The &ldquo;slide stop&rdquo; lever is actually just a retaining pin to hold the barrel firmly in place. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Every part is virtually identical to the full-size M1911. It has a little mainspring housing, an itty-bitty barrel bushing and a miniature grip safety. It&rsquo;s configured like a classic M1911, sans beavertail or other modern improvements. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">It takes a detachable 10-round magazine with extras listed at $29.99. Mec-Gar will need all of 15 minutes to come up with aftermarket mags for less than $15. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The &ldquo;<a href="http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=028B&amp;cat_id=051&amp;type_id=802&amp;content=1911-22-a1-firearms" target="_blank">Government Model&rdquo; version</a> of the 1911-22 is offered with a 4 1/4-inch barrel and 5 1/2-inch sight radius that weighs 15 1/2 ounces The &ldquo;<a href="http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=028B&amp;cat_id=051&amp;type_id=803&amp;content=1911-22-compact-firearms" target="_blank">Commander&rdquo; version</a> sports a 3 5/8-inch barrel with a 4 7/8-inch sight radius weighing only 15 ounces </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Congratulations to Browning for giving birth to another pistol destined for greatness. JMB must be smiling from above.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/browning-born-to-greatness#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/100-years-and-the-1911Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Proctor &amp; Gamble had just invented Crisco, King George V had just been crowned the new monarch of England and the United States Army had just adopted a new service pistol designed by a wiry, bald-headed genius. The year was 1911.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The official date of adoption of John M. Browning&rsquo;s Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911&nbsp;was Wednesday March 29, the same month that the first U.S. troops are sent to the Mexican border to quell mayhem and violence caused by Pancho Villa and other cut-throat gangsters running amok on our southern boundary. An eventual force of 107,000 soldiers under Gen. John J. Pershing go on to clean up gangs of murderous outlaws cut from the same cloth as today&rsquo;s drug cartels.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Indeed, a lot of water has passed under the M1911&rsquo;s bridge. A &ldquo;century of service&rdquo; is flippantly easy to say, but consider what momentous events have come during the life of the big, slab-sided Automatic Pistol: women gained the vote (1920), Prohibition came and went (1919 and 1933), the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) turned Russia communist only to have President Ronald Reagan lift the Iron Curtain some 70 years later. America won two World Wars, we mass-produced the automobile, invented the computer and ushered in the Space Age.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Television invaded our living rooms while our population tripled as it shifted from rural farms to city dwellings.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The M1911 itself has undergone a number of changes during its five-score years of historical service, becoming the M1911A1, the Combat Commander, the Officers Model and dozens of other permutations: wider, thinner, smaller, bigger. Its trademark .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) cartridge has been joined by everything from a .22 LR to the .50 GI. Regardless of all other considerations, the M1911 is unquestionably the most adaptable of any handgun ever made.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">To mark the centenary of Mr. Browning&rsquo;s immortal design, manufacturers of M1911 pistols are issuing limited edition pistols in a variety of commemorative configurations. It might seem presumptuous for any but Colt&rsquo;s Manufacturing Company to mark 100 years of production, but perhaps the most flattering tribute to the M1911 is the very fact that so many different companies manufacture a derivative of the Birthday Boy. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider talked about Colt&rsquo;s three commemoratives and Kimber&rsquo;s run of 2590 Centennial editions in my last blog, so here is a peek at what custom pistolsmith Ed Brown has in store for the centenary celebration of Mr. Browning&rsquo;s immortal design. Ed Brown Products (EBP) is producing two models, one lavishly engraved with hand-cut scroll and the other laser marked with commemorative lettering. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Our tribute to the 100 year anniversary of the 1911 pistol includes a mainstream Centennial Edition Executive Elite, and an over-the-top Centennial Edition Classic Custom, which has beautiful hand-relief engraving. These limited editions will be offered for the year 2011 only,&rdquo; Kerri Brown of EBP said.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Classic Custom Centennial Edition includes the following:&nbsp;</span></span></p> <ul> <li> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; Hand-relief engraving package that includes the flats of the slide and frame, grip screws, the flats of thumb safety, grip safety, slide stop and mag release.&nbsp;<br />&bull; Centennial Edition 1911-2011 special laser engraving on the left-hand side of slide and Custom by Ed Brown remains on right-hand side of slide.&nbsp;<br />&bull; Custom rib on the top of the slide (top of slide is flattened, serrated and&nbsp;then relieved on each side to give the appearance of a raised rib).&nbsp;<br />&bull; Tru-Ivory grips.&nbsp;<br />&bull; Jewelled barrel hood.&nbsp;<br />&bull; Special serial number starting with JMB prefix&nbsp;<br />&bull; Retail: $6,995. </span></span></div> </li> </ul> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Executive Elite Centennial Edition includes the following:</span></span></p> <ul> <li> <div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&bull; Centennial Edition 1911-2011 special laser engraving on the left-hand side of slide. Custom by Ed Brown remains on right-hand side of slide. <br />&bull; Tru-Ivory grips. <br />&bull; Solid trigger. <br />&bull; Plain black sights. <br />&bull; Jewelled barrel hood. <br />&bull; Special serial number starting with JMB prefix<br />&bull; Retail: $2,495. </span></span></div> </li> </ul> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Paul Liebenberg and Bill Wilson are also working on commemorative models, but even the Insider can&rsquo;t pry loose any pre-SHOT Show photos, although I&rsquo;ll keep trying. In the meantime, plan on squirreling away some money for one of the several 1911 commemoratives this year. A century is a long time coming.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/100-years-and-the-1911#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/centennial-1911-celebration-shotFri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) show is mere weeks away, but the buzz about what might be unveiled is already ringing the Insider&rsquo;s bell. One area that stands out is the centennial anniversary of the 1911 pistol. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Colt is producing two limited edition pistols, as well as a one-of-a-kind <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/Portals/0/panels/1911%20ANV%20I%20Description.pdf" target="_blank">Custom Shop </a>pistol that will be donated to NRA for sale by auction. The NRA pistol is ornately engraved with gold inlays and ivory grips scrimshawed with Sam Colt&rsquo;s likeness. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the rest of us, Colt has created two commemorative 1911 pistols. The first is the <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/Portals/0/panels/Colt-100.pdf" target="_blank">Anniversary Model 1911</a> with gold inlays and engraving, limited to 750 units serial numbered 19110001 to 19110750. Retailing for $2,495, the Anniversary Model comes in a glass-topped walnut presentation case. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The other commemorative Colt is a reproduction of a Colt Model 1918 with U.S. Property markings like the original guns that were made for the government. The slide is marked &ldquo;Model of 1911-2011,&rdquo; and comes with double-diamond grips, retailing for $1,150. Colt will make as many as are ordered prior to Nov. 30, 2011. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, Kimber got a fast start out of the commemorative gate in 2010 by introducing a limited run of 250 <a href="http://www.kimberamerica.com/products/centennial/" target="_blank">Centennial Edition </a>pistols, which has already sold out sold through Kimber Master Dealers. The guns feature color-cased-hardened frames and gold inlays with engraving on the slides. Contact a Kimber Master Dealer to see if there might be one still in stock. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kimber also produced five special-edition pistols that have been donated to five prominent organizations in the industry: the USA Shooting Team, the <a href="http://www.nssf.org/" target="_blank">National Shooting Sports Foundation</a>, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International and, finally, the <a href="http://home.nra.org/#/home" target="_blank">NRA</a>. The only one of the five to have already been sold at auction brought $10,000. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider was surprised to learn that Springfield Armory is doing nothing for the 1911&rsquo;s centennial birthday. I&rsquo;ll get back to this matter later, but suffice it to say that this is an excellent example of how the Illinois-based importer has morphed in recent years to become, as one source put it, &ldquo;an XD company.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I&rsquo;ll look at some other 1911 celebrations in my next Industry Insider. In the meantime, I just ordered one of the Colt limited edition pistols. How can a 1911 fan not.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/centennial-1911-celebration-shot#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-show-new-venueTue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://www.nssf.org/" target="_blank">National Shooting Sports Foundation</a> (NSSF), the non-profit industry organization that owns the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade)&nbsp;Show, is marking its 50th anniversary this year and the <a href="http://shotshow.org/" target="_blank">2011 SHOT Show</a> promises to spearhead the organization&rsquo;s celebration with a strong show in a renovated Sands convention center.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last year, the Sands was widely criticized for its labyrinthine floor layout that required a GPS to get around&hellip; except neither a GPS nor a cell phone worked in the converted parking garage basement in which parts of the show were shoehorned.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to Steve Sanetti, executive director of NSSF as quoted in Shooting Industry magazine, a number of upgrades have been made to the Sands including more restrooms, additional escalators between levels&nbsp;and more places to sit down and eat. There&rsquo;s a new roof too, so if it rains like it did last year, at least the place won&rsquo;t leak!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">An estimated 1,400 exhibitors will be&nbsp;displaying everything from firearms to deer stands, while electronic show maps with "You Are Here" markers help befuddled attendees find their way. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">NSSF will host its annual &ldquo;State Of The Industry&rdquo; dinner on Jan. 18, the first night of the four-day event. There&rsquo;s also a series of educational seminars planned for retailers called SHOT Show University with informative programs on everything from how to comply with ATF regulations to figuring out cash flow and P&amp;L statements, how to set up a gunsmithing operation, maximizing profits on used guns and other useful topics for retailers.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/shot-show-new-venue#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/larry-kelly-passes-awayThu, 23 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>In the photo is Larry Kelly (left) with long-time friend J.D. Jones.</em></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Larry Kelly, founder of <a href="http://www.magnaport.com/" target="_blank">Mag-na-port International</a>, winner of the Outstanding American Handgunner Award and a pioneer of handgun hunting has died. He was 75. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelly, as he was known to friends, worked on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_spacecraft" target="_blank">Apollo spacecraft </a>utilizing a radical new technology to remove metal and form jet ports called electrical discharge machining (EDM). Afterwards, Kelly formed a company specializing in EDM work called Apollo EDM in 1969. He discovered that a trapezoidal port was the optimal shape when he worked on fuel control valves for the Apollo spacecraft. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Having found the recoil from his .44 Mag. <a href="http://www.ruger.com/products/newModelBlackhawk/firearms.html" target="_blank">Ruger Blackhawk </a>to be punishing, Kelly used EDM technology to cut trapezoidal ports in the barrel. Recoil, muzzle blast and muzzle rise were all dramatically reduced. Kelly knew he was onto something and filed for a patent, which was granted. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">After a slow beginning, Kelly's efforts started being recognized by the firearms press, and by 1973 demand for Mag-na-porting seemed to warrant a fulltime business dedicated to porting handguns. In 1974, after a year in Fraser, Mich., where Kelly operated the Mag-na-port shop as part of a small retail store, he moved to Mount Clemens, Mich. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelly expanded his handgun hunting worldwide and used the exploits to promote Mag-na-port to great effect. The only other man to ever use hunting to promote a product as effectively as Kelly was Ed Weatherby. Kelly founded the Handgun Hunters Hall of Fame and museum, and was inducted into Safari Club International&rsquo;s Hall of Fame himself. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I remember Kelly as a jovial, kind-hearted man who loved nothing more than entertaining friends. His wife Barb shared his love of hospitality and welcomed me to their home on Lake Michigan where he promised to take me Muskie fishing. I&rsquo;ve never been a fisherman, but Kelly laughed and said it wouldn&rsquo;t matter as it&rsquo;s really just an excuse to ride around the lake on his boat and drink beer. He said the average number of hours to catch a Muskie of legal length is 100. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">No sooner had we dropped my line and began trawling than the rod bent and the reel zinged. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a big one!&rdquo; Kelly exclaimed. I had no idea, but I reeled in one of the biggest Muskies Kelly had ever seen. He&rsquo;d warned me beforehand that in the highly unlikely event we caught a fish, I&rsquo;d have to decide immediately whether I wanted to land it for a trophy or release it as Muskie fight so hard, they die easily if not released quickly. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The fish was huge, over three feet. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;You want him?&rdquo; Kelly asked frantically. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Um, no,&rdquo; I answered, never having stuffed a fish and not wanting to start. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Then I&rsquo;ll take him,&rdquo; Kelly exclaimed and scooped him into a big net. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have any idea what you caught, do you?&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I admitted my ignorance. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s among the biggest Muskie this boat has ever caught,&rdquo; Kelly smiled as he pounded my back with his big hands. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelly was like that&mdash;he would far rather see a friend catch a whopper or shoot the big one than do it himself. Late in life, he relished taking friends out hunting on his ranch in Montana, letting them do the shooting while he guided and Barb cooked delicious country fare for dinner. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelly&rsquo;s son Kenny has been running Mag-na-port since Kelly retired. Kenny is a chip off the old block and was awarded Pistolsmith of the Year in 2007 by the American Pistolsmiths Guild. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kelly loved life, loved the outdoors, loved guns and loved hunting. But what he really loved most was his family and friends. God bless you, Kelly.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/larry-kelly-passes-away#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/used-guns-enemy-is-usFri, 19 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As Walt Kelly&rsquo;s cartoon character Pogo so famously said, &ldquo;We have met the enemy and he is us.&rdquo; Wrapping up this three-part series on the business of the gun business (which has focused on why the shooting industry is so hard to analyze compared to other industries), we come face to face with one of the most complicating factors that distorts what little data there is on firearms sales&mdash;used guns.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Firearms redefine the concept of &ldquo;durable goods.&rdquo; While the automotive industry also has to compete against its own products over on the Used Car lot, no other industry&mdash;not even the jewelry business&mdash;has products with such longevity as the gun business.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider once toured Beretta in Italy and I asked Christian Verhuyck, Beretta's director of international sales, whom he sees as Beretta&rsquo;s main competitor in the shotgun market. His answer? &ldquo;Beretta. We compete against ourselves, Beretta second-hand guns.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not that I should use myself as an example, but it just so happens that my most recent firearms purchase was a Cogswell &amp; Harrison underlever hammer gun chambered in .450-400 that I bought at auction for an irresistibly good price. It was made in 1912.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">As I look back on 2010, I see that my acquisitions also included a mint S&amp;W Model 40 Centennial, manufactured in 1956,&nbsp;in the original box. I also bought a new Winchester Model 70 made in 2010 by Winchester&rsquo;s newest manufacturing licensee, FN.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">If we were to use me as a barometer of firearms sales in 2010, the reportable data would show that I purchased one gun when in fact I transacted for three. You see the problem?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The question we need to address is how to gauge the significance of the second-hand market? And that&rsquo;s hard to answer because no data is collected; however, a pretty accurate picture can be painted if you talk to the right expert. I did. The expert is a broker of second-hand guns who also has a long history of sales and marketing in the shooting industry. He spoke to the Insider only on condition of anonymity.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;There are really six answers to the question,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You need to look at shotguns, rifles and handguns separately, as well as each category in utility and premium classifications.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Utility Shotguns: "The impact is significant, as utility shotguns often have either casual or hard use. Most everyone has an old 870 or 500 or something similar somewhere. It cost $200 or so, and they are more than willing to loan it out to someone who just wants to go along to shoot at a duck.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"The offset here is that a one-time loan could create a new customer. These shotguns are often cast to the used market when the kids are grown and during the time in life when men get gray hair and too many guns. It is hard to imagine going quailing with an 870 Express when a sleek little Fox is in residence."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Premium Shotguns: "The impact is huge. Why would anyone buy a new shotgun at $3,000 to $5,000 when a far better purchase awaits on the used market. Citori vs. Superposed (no contest). Model 12 vs. modern Beretta (fat chance). Wood quality, fit, finish and pure blue-pill charm just don't compare. The only place this doesn't track is in the duck blind. Steel shot has forced those who hide in the water to get a new wonder-shucker for about $1,200."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Utility Rifles: "The impact is marginal. Utility rifles are passed down or rendered to backup status, generally as an excuse for buying a new rifle. Note that this new rifle is also justified with the tandem excuse of needing a bigger caliber.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Utility rifles are usually heavy, thick and ugly, even though they can and do serve in a pinch. Most people leave them in the case until absolutely needed, and their use is justified by the most offensive words in a rifleman's vocabulary, 'Good enough.' Hear me when I say that there is no such thing as 'good enough' when it comes to rifles. As with shotguns, the long-term rifle market benefits from those moving up from utility arms."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Premium Rifles: "The impact is slight, mostly because of the wide variety of calibers sought by serious rifleman (at least those of means). Those who have fine rifles often have several."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Utility Handguns:&nbsp;"Significant, especially with revolvers. Much more so than cheap semi-autos, which are often unreliable and underpowered. This is the province of the causal shooter (if indeed a shooter at all) to whom 'a gun is a gun is a gun.' Pondering such things deeply does not happen. To these people, a handgun is a tool. And that&rsquo;s fine."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Premium Handguns:&nbsp;"Slight. Those who buy and shoot fine handguns often own many and keep them long term. They might be fond of trading around from time-to-time, but the real move is one collection to another. Today's premium pistols are literally so much better than anything offered at any time in the past that they create their own weather."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Insider offers his thanks to my anonymous expert. You know who you are.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/used-guns-enemy-is-us#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/tracking-sales-in-gun-businessThu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Continuing our look at the business of the gun business, the next component to consider is how the industry&rsquo;s distribution channels further obfuscate sales trends and product demand. In many industries, a lot of data is collected in the distribution channel, but in the gun business, virtually none of this information is available to industry analysts.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What exactly is a distribution channel? It&rsquo;s the mechanism for moving a product from the manufacturer to the consumer. There are three channels in the firearms business: two-step distributors, retailers and (by far the smallest) factory-direct sales. This latter category is almost exclusively used by accessory manufacturers and small, boutique gun companies, not major firearms makers for the obvious reason that an FFL transfer is required to sell a gun.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The primary channel used by large gunmakers is two-step distribution in which the manufacturer sells to a distributor who in turn sells to a retailer, thus making two intermediaries in between the manufacturer and the end-user. And here&rsquo;s where the confusion arises.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Generally speaking, a manufacturer books a sale when product is shipped to a customer, but in the two-step channel of the gun business a lot of &ldquo;sales&rdquo; are not actually booked because of what might be called the Wimpey Plan&mdash;I&rsquo;ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a gun today.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The correct term is &ldquo;dating program&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s a way for manufacturers to even out their production in a market that&rsquo;s highly seasonal because hunting gun sales are highly compressed into the four months of the fall. Dating programs are used for hunting rifles and shotguns to give a two-step distributor &ldquo;dating terms&rdquo; to pay an invoice. Typically, a distributor must take delivery of guns in March or April but not have to pay for them until sometime in the fall.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Accordingly, sales are not truly consummated with a dating program. For example, consider the wording of Ruger&rsquo;s most recent quarterly report or the third quarter 2010:</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Estimated unit sell-through of the Company&rsquo;s products from distributors to retailers in the third quarter of 2010 decreased by approximately 7 percent&nbsp;from both the third quarter of 2009 and the second quarter of 2010. NICS checks increased 6 percent&nbsp;from the third quarter of 2009 and 2 percent from the second quarter of 2010, indicating that the Company&rsquo;s share of total firearms retail transactions (new and used firearms) may have declined during the quarter.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">When Ruger states <em>&ldquo;Estimated unit sell-through&hellip; from distributors to retailers,&rdquo;</em> the meaning is clearly that the company doesn&rsquo;t actually <em>know</em> how many of its products moved through its distribution channel. Compare that to the automotive industry where Ford knows precisely how many blue pick-up trucks are sitting on dealer lots.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is not to pick on Ruger; in fact the Connecticut-based manufacturer has developed one of the best distribution channels in the industry as evidenced by its winning &ldquo;manufacturer of the year&rdquo; in 2010 from the National Sports Goods Wholesalers association. It&rsquo;s the fourth consecutive year that Ruger won the honor.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The point is simply that sales information derived from the distribution channel of the gun business is obfuscated with dating programs and a two-step mechanism that makes it impossible to know levels of inventory. &ldquo;Sold&rdquo; guns could well be sitting on retailers shelves or gathering dust in a warehouse.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next time we&rsquo;ll look at a highly misleading factor that makes tracking sales in the gun business so darned difficult.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/tracking-sales-in-gun-business#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-business-defies-analysisFri, 12 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What is this thing we call the shooting industry or, to put it another way, what is the business of the gun business? Unlike other industries that can be analyzed, quantified, objectified and measured, the metrics of the gun business are largely unknown. It&rsquo;s amazing how mysterious the industry is when you think about it. Even an industry analyst like the Insider cannot get hold of basic data that other industries take for granted.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consider market share, a common measure. In most industries, analysts can tell you to the second decimal what percentage Apple owns of the cell phone market, how big is Ford&rsquo;s cut of the pick-up pie or even how many orders of French fries McDonald&rsquo;s sells compared to Burger King. The best a firearms analyst can do is make an educated guess on, for example, how much market share does Kimber own of 1911 handgun sales (my best guess: somewhere around 35 percent).</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What about a broader measure like determining the market share of <a href="http://www.glock.com/" target="_blank">Glock</a> versus <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/" target="_blank">SIG</a> versus <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001&amp;catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> in law enforcement sales? I&rsquo;ve heard Glock controls everything from 60 to 85 percent of handguns sold to police agencies. If these pistols were tennis shoes, we&rsquo;d know exactly how many Nike sells compared to Addidas.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why such scanty information in the gun business? Two reasons: first, many companies in the firearms industry are privately owned, so there are no quarterly statements or annual reports available to the public; second, even though firearms production is licensed by the federal government and theoretically should be easy to track, the ATF embargoes the annual firearms manufacturing data for one calendar year, meaning 2008 data is released in 2010.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Complicating an analyst&rsquo;s job is the manner in which ATF catalogs firearms production numbers. It&rsquo;s not by make and model, but by caliber. Furthermore, as new calibers are introduced, like the .357 SIG or .40 S&amp;W, ATF does not create new categories but instead lumps the new birds into existing pigeonholes.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">For instance, you can study firearms production date and learn that Smith &amp; Wesson produced X-number of .45 caliber pistols, but it doesn&rsquo;t tell you how many of those are 1911s or other models. In fact, it doesn&rsquo;t even tell you how many .45s were manufactured because the .40 S&amp;W was assigned to the .45 caliber category when it was first introduced.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Want to compare market share of big bore revolvers? Fat chance. The .454 Casull, .480 Ruger and .460 S&amp;W are all &ldquo;.45 caliber revolvers.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shotguns are similarly lumped together. If you want to compare how Remington&rsquo;s semi-automatic 12 gauge sales compare to Mossberg&rsquo;s pump-action numbers, you can&rsquo;t. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Interestingly, the data on the number of imported firearms is not embargoed for a year, probably because ATF doesn&rsquo;t collect that data. Who does? The Census Dept., of all things. You can find out the gross number of import pistols, rifles and shotguns from a given country, but that&rsquo;s all. This can be helpful in the case of something like the XD because it&rsquo;s the only handgun made in Croatia, but it's not much&nbsp;help&nbsp;in cases like Germany or Italy where there are numerous manufacturers.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I would love to analyze the firearms market the way a restaurant industry insider can track burrito sales, but it&rsquo;s just impossible. In fact, I can only make an educated guess on the total size of the 1911 market (around 150,000 units a year) which is hardly scientific.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Without solid, timely market data, the shooting industry remains an enigma compared to other industries, but that&rsquo;s not the only aspect of the gun business that makes it so hard to plumb. Next time we&rsquo;ll look at how the distribution channel is even more confusing. <br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-business-defies-analysis#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/winchester-moves-to-mississippiMon, 08 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The shooting industry is moving south. Remington left New York for North Carolina, Para USA moved from Canada, USRAC shut down completely, then moved to FN&rsquo;s factory, and now Olin&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.winchester.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Winchester</a> ammunition factory is relocating from Illinois to Mississippi.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to the "Belleville News Democrat," Olin pulled the trigger on moving the Winchester factory after union workers twice rejected a contract offer in as many weeks.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Olin said approximately 1,000 jobs will be relocated to a new 500,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art plant to be built in Oxford, Miss. The move is expected to take several years.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This decision follows two failed ratification votes by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 9.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The "News Democrat" reported that Andy Lucker, who has worked at the East Alton plant nearly two years, said the contract that he and other union workers were presented with was the same one that they voted down two weeks ago. He said the concessions included eliminating HMOs, getting rid of a fifth week of paid vacation, a seven-year wage freeze and a reclassification of some jobs.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Olin President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Rupp said, "Unfortunately, without the cost savings and efficiencies that the [union] would have provided, the state incentives alone would not have allowed us to remain competitive for the long-term at our current location in Illinois."<br />Rupp added that Mississippi has offered "significant" incentives to build the plant there.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 2004, Olin moved its Rimfire Division and 150 jobs to Mississippi. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/winchester-moves-to-mississippi#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/parable-of-the-slingThu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave was waiting for me at The Citadel Gun &amp; Safe shop in Las Vegas where I&rsquo;d called to see if they had a Picatinny rail fore-end for a mid-length <a href="http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/" target="_blank">Bravo Company</a> AR. Dave checked his inventory and allowed that, yes, by golly, he does have a <a href="http://www.yhm.net/" target="_blank">Yankee Hill</a> fore-end in stock.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be right down,&rdquo; I said.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be waiting,&rdquo; Dave answered.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I exited 15 North on Tropicana Boulevard, turned away from The Strip and turned onto Dean Martin Way. Pulling into The Citadel&rsquo;s parking lot, I noticed I was the only car in the lot.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;You must be the guy looking for a rail,&rdquo; Dave greeted me as I entered in the store.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s me,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;A mid-length.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mid-length fore-ends are comparatively rare, the &ldquo;length&rdquo; referring to the position of the front sight post and gas block on an <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/Search.aspx?query=AR+rifles&amp;submitsearch=Search" target="_blank">AR</a>&rsquo;s barrel. Most carbines have M4-length gas blocks (7 inches) but a mid-length like this Bravo Company AR, has its gas block 9 inches from the receiver. The reason it&rsquo;s referred to as &ldquo;mid-length&rdquo; is because it&rsquo;s in between a short-length M4 gas block and a full-length gas block on a 20-inch barreled rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The theory is that an M4-length gas block is too short for a 16-inch barrel, having been originally designed for, logically enough, an M4 barrel length which is 14.5 inches. I&rsquo;m not so sure if the theory holds water, but it&rsquo;s a selling feature and, as I was soon to discover, any selling feature is a good thing these days.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave walked me over to a well-stocked glass counter display of Picatinny rail fore-ends. Unfortunately, the only model he had for a mid-length gas tube would not fit over the front sight post of my rifle. Darn the luck.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I guess it won&rsquo;t fit,&rdquo; Dave said dejectedly.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t look like it,&rdquo; I replied lamely.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave suddenly grinned. &ldquo;You know, you can take the front sight off and slide the rail on, then put it back.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave made it sound as easy as changing lug nuts, but I knew better. An AR&rsquo;s front sight post is a royal pain to remove and even trickier to get back on. Press-fit roll pins hold it in place, and the gas port in the barrel must align perfectly with the front sight post. No thank you.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave looked a bit crestfallen. Maybe his down-in-the-dumps look was because he couldn&rsquo;t close a sale for a rail.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one-forty-five," </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">he offered plaintively. "</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can let you have it for a hundred.&rdquo; </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Sorry, I can&rsquo;t use it,&rdquo; I said regretfully. &ldquo;But I tell you what, I came all the way down here, I have to buy something. Do you have a <a href="http://www.vikingtactics.com/prod_sling_VTAC-MK1-a.html" target="_blank">V-TAC</a> sling?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A guy can always use another sling.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dave looked at me like I&rsquo;d just asked for Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t carry V-TAC. We can&rsquo;t sell forty-five dollar slings! We have Voodoo Tactical. We sell fifteen-dollar slings here,&rdquo; he said with a tone of <em>&ldquo;What are you thinking, dude?&rdquo;</em></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was momentarily speechless, which is rare for me. I knew the economy was bad, worse yet here in Las Vegas with over 15 percent &ldquo;official&rdquo; unemployment, but really more like 20. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">But a $45 sling? Things are so bad a gun shop that specializes in&nbsp;tactical accessories doesn&rsquo;t carry the V-TAC brand because their customers won&rsquo;t spend more than $15 on a Chinese-made sling?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Industry watchers are expecting the tactical market to soften further in 2011, with as much as 30 percent drop-off according to one knowledgeable source. I might have doubted such pessimism before my visit to The Citadel. Now, the parable of the sling has me thinking the estimate is too low. The neon isn&rsquo;t glowing in Las Vegas anymore.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/parable-of-the-sling#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/hunting-industry-hit-by-economyMon, 11 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gearing up for this hunting season is going to be more a matter of scraping the mud off those well-worn boots rather than buying a new pair. The train wreck of our economy is sapping everyone&rsquo;s discretionary income and the money people spend on hunting has been particularly hard-hit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hunting rifle sales are particularly weak. Even established brands like <a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a>, <a href="http://www.marlinfirearms.com/" target="_blank">Marlin</a> and <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> are running consumer rebates to try and move hunting rifles.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The market is extremely soft right now,&rdquo; said a longtime industry executive who spoke to the Insider on condition of anonymity. &ldquo;Hunting rifles and shotguns are the worst hit.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even the high-end segment of the market has been affected.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The African safari industry is struggling to varying degrees,&rdquo; said Greg&nbsp;Rodriguez of <a href="http://www.mbogo.net/" target="_blank">Global Adventure Outfitters</a>. &ldquo;More established outfitters with solid reputations are still doing well, though they are not filling up as far in advance and do, occasionally, have leftover quota at the end of the season.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Smaller operations or those without a solid book of business are really struggling, and quite a few of those operators, especially in South Africa and Zimbabwe, have gone out of business or will soon be forced to fold their outfits.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The prognosis isn&rsquo;t too rosy either. Most observers think the hunting market will continue to be soft through 2011. In fact, several industry insiders think the malaise will spread to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/Search.aspx?query=AR+rifles&amp;submitsearch=Search" target="_blank">modern sporting rifles</a>&nbsp;and handguns, two categories that have largely weathered this economic storm.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/hunting-industry-hit-by-economy#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/meeting-a-legendTue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">His stride is confident, his handshake firm. He wears a Western sports jacket and a black bandana caught in a silver bolo instead of a tie. He looks you in the eye and calls you sir because he&rsquo;s a gentleman, a perfect gentleman. His name is John Bianchi and he&rsquo;s quite literally a legend in the shooting industry. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">John was a California Highway Patrolman who started making holsters in his garage for fellow lawmen. An avid student of the American West, John also built hand-tooled Western rigs as a hobby. In keeping with the American Dream, John&rsquo;s garage business blossomed into one of the largest and most successful leather holster companies in the world&mdash;<a href="http://www.bianchi-intl.com/" target="_blank">Bianchi Gunleather</a>. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today retired from his eponymous business (which was acquired by BAE Systems and is part of their family of police-related companies), John now runs <a href="http://www.frontiergunleather.com/" target="_blank">Frontier Gunleather</a> where he offers handmade Western rigs just as he did in his old garage. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">John is not only famous for his holster company and its many patents and innovations, particularly in the field of police duty holsters, but also for his collection of Western memorabilia, which is displayed at the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles. Back in the day, John appeared in ads for the Bianchi company dressed as an Old West gun slinger, complete with black stubble and a steely-eyed stare. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I caught up with John at the recent <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/Video.aspx?vid=2454&amp;cid=23" target="_blank">NRA Annual Meetings</a> and we chatted about his <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/50-Years-of-Gunleather-book-review/">new book</a>. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Read the <em>American Rifleman</em> story <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/John-Bianchi/">John Bianchi: An American Legend</a>, and watch the&nbsp;Industry Insider <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/videos/john-bianchi-american-legend/">video interview&nbsp;</a>with&nbsp;Bianchi.</span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/meeting-a-legend#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Look-at-rebatesFri, 10 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here&rsquo;s your first clue to when sales are soft&mdash;rebates. Whenever a manufacturer gives you a rebate, he&rsquo;s trying to pull his product through the distribution chain because the sales just aren&rsquo;t happening by themselves.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Right now the shooting industry has heaps of bolt-action hunting rifles piled in warehouses because of the Obama-induced recession and a bit of over-supply. <a href="http://www.nikonpromo.com/icon-plus-nikon-rebate.html" target="_blank">Thompson/Center Arms</a> is offering a $150 cash rebate with the purchase of any new Icon rifle plus an additional rebate of $75 if you add a Nikon scope to the deal. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remington is offering a $40 <a href="http://remingtonrebates.com/promocenter/remington/rebate_form.html" target="_blank">rebate on Model 700 and 770</a> rifles, plus other rebates on 11-87 shotguns and ammunition. Uh-oh. That&rsquo;s When you need a rebate to sell ammo, that's a real sign of a turnaround. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.marlinfirearms.com/news/press.asp#2010-08-2" target="_blank">Marlin</a> is kicking in $35 on select models and $25 on others. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.ruger.com" target="_blank">Ruger</a> is offering a free Carhartt jacket to keep you warm in your deerstand if you buy a new bolt-action rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now, here&rsquo;s an insider&rsquo;s look at rebates and how company&rsquo;s plan them. You know the deal&mdash;you have to include the box label, a copy of the invoice, maybe a copy of the Form 4473 and who knows what all? Your dog&rsquo;s paw print&hellip;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reason is &ldquo;breakage.&rdquo; That&rsquo;s the term for unclaimed rebates which manufacturers are keen to maximize, for obvious reasons. They get the sale and don&rsquo;t have to kick anything back.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Breakage&rdquo; is such a science that a company called Parago even has a patent on how to &ldquo;break&rdquo; as many rebates as possible. It&rsquo;s <a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;d=PALL&amp;p=1&amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&amp;r=1&amp;f=G&amp;l=50&amp;s1=7,120,591.PN.&amp;OS=PN/7,120,591&amp;RS=PN/7,120,591" target="_blank">U.S. Patent number 7,120,591</a>. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This patent describes itself as, &ldquo;The present invention satisfies a need for a more consumer friendly method for processing rebates that maintains a breakage rate ...</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The rebate processing system provides a user friendly interface, yet retains hurdles sufficient to maintain breakage."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So the next time you&rsquo;re tempted to buy a bolt-action rifle or an electric toothbrush because of a rebate, remember to dot you I&rsquo;s and cross your T&rsquo;s because whoever made that product is hoping you&rsquo;re part of their &ldquo;breakage.&rdquo;</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Look-at-rebates#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/firearms-trademarksTue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wrapping up this mini-series on intellectual property, let&rsquo;s talk about possibly the most misunderstood critter in the IP woods&mdash;trademarks.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A trademark distinguishes a product in commerce. Typically, a trademark is the name of the product (iPod) or name of the manufacturer (Apple). A trademark can also apply to a tagline (Coke. It&rsquo;s the real thing.) or a logo (Nike swish). The product can be either goods or services. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now here&rsquo;s where people get confused. A trademark is not&mdash;and cannot be&mdash;functional or descriptive of its utility. For instance, when I was consulting for <a href="http://www.tangodown.com/" target="_blank">TangoDown</a>, we came out with a new product, a heavy-duty magazine. We toyed with the idea of naming it the &ldquo;advanced combat reliability&rdquo; magazine but our IP lawyer, Tracy Crump, advised us that the name is descriptive of the product&rsquo;s function, and therefore would not stand up. TangoDown named the product the ACR magazine instead because an acronym can be a trademark even if it&rsquo;s descriptive.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked our lawyer about BMW&rsquo;s trademark, &ldquo;The ultimate driving machine&rdquo; and why that would not be considered descriptive. Tracy shrugged. &ldquo;It should be. They must have good lawyers in Bavaria,&rdquo; he said.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Which brings up another point&mdash;trademarks, like patents, are issued by the government so in the final analysis, whether you get a registered trademark is up to some bureaucrat.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now there&rsquo;s a term that throws people, &ldquo;registered trademark.&rdquo; The shooting industry in general seems to confuse a pending trademark (&trade; symbol) with a registered trademark (&reg; symbol). The &trade; symbol indicates that you&rsquo;ve filed for a registered trademark, but it hasn&rsquo;t been granted. The &reg; means your trademark has been granted and it is now registered with the <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/" target="_blank">U.S. Patent &amp; Trademark Office</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A registered trademark is good indefinitely, as long as you renew it. A patent is only good for 17 years.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The best known trademark case in the gun business involved the Chevrolet Beretta versus the Italian gunmaker <a href="http://www.berettausa.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">Beretta</a>. Made from 1987 to 1996, the Chevy Beretta was a moderately successful front-wheel drive sedan. Beretta of Italy claimed trademark infringement to which GM countered that a gun and a car can hardly be confused in the marketplace. Perhaps, retorted Beretta the gunmaker, except for one small detail: We also made cars.<br />It turns out that Beretta manufactured an automobile named the Beretta in the 1940s. In a settlement, GM paid $500,000 to the Beretta Foundation for Cancer Research in addition to paying legal expenses.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Trademarks can be granted, and then lost. When I was with <a href="http://www.surefire.com/" target="_blank">SureFire</a>, we owned a registered trademark for the name Magnum&reg; as applied to a flashlight. We were served notice by MagLight&reg; that our registered trademark Magnum&reg; was &ldquo;confusingly similar&rdquo; to the MagLight&reg; trademark on its corporate name. Rather than make two lawyers rich, we agreed to change our Magnum&reg; to the Guardian&reg;.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps the best example of the power of a trademark is the rear blade of a BoMar combat sight. The blade is serrated on the top half and smooth on the bottom half. BoMar uses an image of its distinctive blade as a logo, and registered it as a trademark. Even years after the patent of the sight expired, no one can copy the half-and-half &ldquo;look&rdquo; of the BoMar blade because it&rsquo;s trademarked.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now if I can just figure out to trademark the name &ldquo;safari,&rdquo; I might be able to go on more of them!</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/firearms-trademarks#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-business-patentsTue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Picking up with our discussion of IP (intellectual property) as it really applies to the gun business, today&rsquo;s word is &ldquo;patent.&rdquo; Unlike other forms of IP such as copyrights, trademarks and trade dress, a patent has to pass muster with the U.S. government before it is issued.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">To quote from the <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/" target="_blank">U.S. Patent &amp; Trademark Office</a>, &ldquo;A patent is an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor &lsquo;&hellip;to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States&hellip;&rsquo; for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;This right was established over 200 years ago in Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution: &lsquo;To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.&rsquo;&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A patent comes in three forms. A &ldquo;design patent,&rdquo; as the name implies, is for decorative or ornamental articles&mdash;the shape or design of a manufactured product. A &ldquo;utility patent&rdquo; is for any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. The third type of patent is called a &ldquo;plant patent&rdquo; for any new type of plant, like a hybrid tomato.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A patent is good for 17 years whereas other forms of IP, like a copyright or a trademark, is good indefinitely.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The U.S. Patent &amp; Trademark Office reviews patent applications and rules on whether or not the invention is legitimate. A bureaucrat known as a &ldquo;patent examiner&rdquo; reads and analyzes every patent application, from a new firearm to a pill to cure twitchy legs. The examiner looks at several criteria to determine if a patent will be granted, but in the gun business, the two most important are originality and something so obvious it should be obvious&mdash;the doctrine of obviousness.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you try to patent a waterproof piece of cloth to hold over your head in the rain, your invention would be rejected because it&rsquo;s obvious that you can hold any piece of fabric over your head to keep you dry in the rain. There would be &ldquo;prior art&rdquo; that you would have to disclose in your invention, showing the umbrella and the poncho.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">But let&rsquo;s say that the patent examiner was feeling in a good mood that day and he granted you a patent for your Personal Rain Shelter. You go to market with your invention and pretty soon you notice other people are copying you. You sue them for patent infringement and lose in court because, even though you have a patent, the court rules that the patent is invalid due to the &ldquo;doctrine of obviousness.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This exact circumstance has happened in the gun business more than once, which calls to mind a very important lesson about patents&mdash; they ain&rsquo;t what they&rsquo;re cracked up to be.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">First, just because you have a patent, it doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s valid. Second, just because you have a patent, it doesn&rsquo;t mean you can&rsquo;t be copied. It only means you can sue to defend your patent.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My old friend Ronin Colman at <a href="http://www.pact.com/" target="_blank">PACT</a>, maker of the PACT timer and PACT chronograph, was knocked off by an Australian company. It was an exact rip-off of PACT&rsquo;s most expensive model. Ronin could block the importation of the patent-infringing product, but he had to hire a lawyer and go to the U.S. Customs to &ldquo;prove&rdquo; he had a patent and that the Aussia knock-off was in fact a knock-off. To defend his patent, Ronin had to be proactive.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">When Larry Kelly was running <a href="http://www.magnaport.com/" target="_blank">Magnaport</a>, he told me that he set aside $50,000 a year for defending his patent on an EDM port in a barrel. That was back in the &lsquo;80s when $50,000 was $50,000. Every year some basement bandit would start wiring EDM ports into barrels and Larry would go after him.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The government does nothing whatsoever to enforce a patent. The onus is totally on the inventor.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/gun-business-patents#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Trade-DressMon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Trade dress is not what happens on Friday night at the sorority house. The term refers to a form of intellectual property, sort of a cross between a trademark and a copyright. Trade dress is the look and appearance of a product and includes things like color, shape, texture or form.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Trade dress is in the news today because Glock just settled a case this week against Austrian Sporting Arms, Inc. and ISSC Handles GmbH over a .22 rimfire &ldquo;copy&rdquo; of a Glock. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The lawsuit involved claims for trade dress infringement, trade dress dilution and unfair competition based on ASA&rsquo;s sales of a .22 caliber pistol known as the M22, which is manufactured in Austria by ISSC. Glock alleged in the lawsuit that the M22 has an appearance that is confusingly similar to the distinctive appearance and overall image of the Glock pistols,&rdquo; said Glock in a press release.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Without admitting liability, ASA and ISSC agreed to resolve the matter by redesigning the M22 to differentiate its appearance from the appearance of the Glock family of pistols, to cease further imports of the M22 until the redesign is complete, and to pay Glock an undisclosed amount. The specific terms of the settlement are confidential,&rdquo; the release added.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Trade dress is a unique form intellectual property. I&rsquo;m going to discuss IP as it applies to the gun business in a series of Insider blogs over the next week, covering trade dress today, then moving to patents, trademarks and copyrights. Remember&mdash;I&rsquo;m not now, nor have I ever been, a lawyer, but I&rsquo;ve dealt with IP in all its forms and have a practical, working knowledge of how it applies to the shooting industry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back to trade dress&hellip;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">You would think that the look or appearance of a product would apply to just about anything, and you would be partially correct. The key is that a product must be almost iconic in its unique appearance to be able to claim legal ownership for its &ldquo;look.&rdquo; </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Accordingly, it takes time for trade dress to kick in. When Glock first introduced its pistol in 1985, it was just a strange black pistol made of plastic. It wasn&rsquo;t the first polymer handgun&mdash;the Steyr GB preceeded it. It wasn&rsquo;t the first pistol without a manual safety. However, sometime between 1985 and now, Glocks became Glocks&mdash;instantly recognizable by their shape. Trade dress was born.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My favorite example of a trade dress lawsuit took place in the late &lsquo;80s over Harry Sanford&rsquo;s unapologetic copy of Ruger&rsquo;s Mk I semi-automatic .22 LR pistol. Harry owned AMT (Arcadia Machine &amp; Tool) but he was more famous as the inventor of the Auto Mag. Harry was quite a character, one of those &ldquo;unique individuals&rdquo; that make the gun industry the great place that it is.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The story goes that Bill Ruger Sr. contacted Harry and asked him to stop making the AMT Lightning .22. Harry told him thanks, but no thanks. Harry said the patent is long expired and, whatever this nonsense is about &ldquo;trade dress,&rdquo; any resemblance between them is entirely coincidental. Harry defiantly kept right on making his AMT 22.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Steve Sanetti, currently the president of NSSF, was then Ruger&rsquo;s legal counsel. Steve filed suit against Harry for trade dress infringement. Tom Ruger, Bill's younger son, tried to talk Harry into agreeing to a non-monetary settlement, but Harry&rsquo;s stubborn streak had kicked in and he wasn&rsquo;t about to quit.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The case went to trial and Ruger&rsquo;s legal team, headed by Sanetti, steamrolled Harry&rsquo;s hapless lawyer who was, pardon the pun, totally out-gunned. Sanetti laid the "exploded parts view" from the owner's manual for the Ruger Mk. I over the same page of the AMT Lightning .22's owner's manual. The jury immediately saw the two guns were identical, contrary to Harry's claim. The court awarded Ruger $2.8 million in damages, which would have bankrupted AMT.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The story goes that Ruger didn't want to put Harry out of business, therefore, they worked out an agreement.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It shook out that Harry had to pay two payments of $50,000 over two years and agree to a permanent injunction against making the AMT Lightning. Bill Ruger forgave the remainder of the $2.7 million award, not wanting to put Harry in the poor house.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Trade-Dress#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/I-Own-a-BuckWed, 04 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can&rsquo;t help the pun&mdash;<a href="http://www.buckknives.com/" target="_blank">Buck</a> may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but they&rsquo;ve got a wonderfully strong brand. Back in the day, Buck was &ldquo;the&rdquo; knife to own. The Buck 110 has gutted more deer, opened more boxes and whittled more corncobs than all the other hunting knives combined. In their heyday, Buck was making 100,000 knives a week. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, Buck had too much of a good thing. They totally missed the biggest thing to hit cutlery in the past 20 years, &ldquo;collaborations.&rdquo; This marketing strategy&mdash;using custom knife makers to design production knives that bear the custom maker&rsquo;s name&mdash;propelled an obscure <a href="http://www.benchmade.com/" target="_blank">little maker</a> of balisong knives in Oregon to become the industry leader. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, just like <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-keeps-kicking/" target="_blank">Colt</a> in the number three slot, Buck can&rsquo;t kill a good brand with bad marketing. Buck Knives have come back strong with a move to Idaho and are now playing in the collaboration arena as well. Chuck Buck remains an icon of the industry&mdash;and a name that many people use for &ldquo;hunting knife.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Those are my top five brands in the industry. What are yours?</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/I-Own-a-Buck#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Welcome-to-Remington-CountryMon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remington built a brand around a lifestyle, which is incredibly difficult to pull off (think Harley-Davidson), but they did it superbly through a concept they call &ldquo;Remington Country.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Of course, <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> has a legacy dating back to 1816, so the company has an inherent ability to weave a lifestyle message into its brand, but that doesn&rsquo;t negate the brilliant marketing spanning several decades that created this brand. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remington products offer very good quality at what I would have to say is the best value proposition in the industry. I once bought a <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1543&amp;cid=3" target="_blank">Model 700</a> that, out-of-the-box, shot an honest quarter minute of angle. I paid about $500 for the gun. Like we found in the case of <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/leupold-is-clear/" target="_blank">Leupold</a>, consumers associate Remington with top-tier quality at an affordable price. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remington&rsquo;s shotguns are legendary for waterfowl and upland birds, a big part of the &ldquo;Remington Country&rdquo; branding. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Having an ammunition division gives Big Green a leg up on their competitors as well, because they can orchestrate new cartridge developments much more easily. However, despite their built-in edge, the most significant recent cartridges have come from Winchester: the .40 S&amp;W and the short-magnum craze. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Remington&rsquo;s brand is nonetheless superbly managed and the lifestyle aspect remains its key strength.</span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">To end my Top 5 Strongest Brands, I'm going to discuss a knife that is still the "one to own."</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Welcome-to-Remington-Country#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-keeps-kickingFri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2324&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Colt</a> is a classic example of how incredibly difficult it can be to kill a good brand. A story about Colt&rsquo;s managerial incompetence, which bordered on buffoonery, first broke in GUNS Magazine in a story titled, &ldquo;What Went Wrong In Harford?&rdquo; The date of the issue was 1956. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Despite literally decades of revolving door management and rapacious ownership, the rampant stallion remains an incredible brand. I recall reading that one of the big Madison Avenue ad agencies conducted a study of brand names world-wide of every consumer product under the sun, from cars to cassette players, and <a href="http://www.colt.com/" target="_blank">Colt</a> came in No. 2 behind Coca-Cola. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Indeed, Colt is synonymous with the Wild West. Colt probably rode that association to beating out brands like Mercedes and IBM in many parts of the world because &ldquo;cowboys and Indians&rdquo; are still such a big part of the perception of America. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Regardless of why&mdash;by commission or omission&mdash;Colt is one of the strongest brands in our industry. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">No. 4 of my Top 5 Strongest Outdoor Brands has created a lifestyle around its brand, and is often simply known as a color.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/colt-keeps-kicking#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/leupold-is-clearWed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Oregon-based optics manufacturer has created a textbook example of strong branding. The <a href="http://www.leupold.com/" target="_blank">Leupold</a> brand is associated with extremely high quality, yet with a mid-range price. Now that&rsquo;s a trick! Whenever you can deliver a perception of quality that far exceeds the price, you&rsquo;re rocking. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consumers who aspire to a fine optic often simply say they want a Leupold, subconsciously substituting the brand name for an entire premium category. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cleverly, Leupold has managed to extend its brand into lower price-points at seemingly no loss to their premium position. Everyone still thinks of Vari-X III quality (now called <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2202&amp;cid=36" target="_blank">VX-III</a>) even though they might only be buying a VX-I. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Leupold has also extended into other product lines&mdash;rangefinders, spotting scopes and binoculars&mdash;without damaging their brand. I have my reservations about their flashlights as the product is far from their core, but we&rsquo;ll see. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Leupold now faces an interesting branding challenge. For the first time, the privately owned company has made an acquisition in <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2237&amp;cid=36" target="_blank">Redfield</a>. What will the Beaverton marketers do to resurrect Big Red? It remains to be seen. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next, we&rsquo;ll take a look at a firearms manufacturer that just keeps coming back.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/leupold-is-clear#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Cabelas-Tops-listTue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consumer confidence is in the news more than usual these days, what with the economy looking like Jerry Cooney after the 10th round. Even though that term has a specific meaning in macro-economics, it led me to ponder a similar matter&mdash;brand loyalty. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brand identity is the perception a consumer holds of a given company and its products. Consumers develop an attachment to a brand&mdash;brand loyalty&mdash;and their perception of the brand controls their buying decisions more than the actual products themselves. Some brands are enormously &ldquo;strong,&rdquo; meaning that they have a high degree of brand loyalty. A great example of a strong brand is Apple. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">All this led me to wonder: What are the strongest brands in the shooting industry? As I analyzed that question, I realized some previously well-known brands were missing, which is equally fascinating to consider. So, with a caveat that the content you are about to view is entirely subjective, let&rsquo;s ask the questions: </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">What are the five strongest brands in the industry? What happened to the other usual suspects? </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>It&rsquo;s All Good With <a href="http://www.cabelas.com/home.jsp;jsessionid=I1ZMVW0BXVODFLAQBBJSCONMCAEFIIWE?_requestid=24171" target="_blank">Cabela&rsquo;s</a></strong> <br />A huge component of brand strength is trust, and no company in the industry has created such unquestioning faith in the quality and value of its products than the Nebraska-based mass retailer. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;If Cabela&rsquo;s makes it, it has to be good,&rdquo; is a comment I&rsquo;ve heard in one form or another from hard-bitten Alaskan guides, African professional hunters, well-heeled doctors and working-class hunters. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cabela&rsquo;s is a company of hunters. Dick and Mary Cabela have hunted all over the world and populated many of their &ldquo;destination&rdquo; stores with trophies they&rsquo;ve collected. Their staff is made up of hunters, anglers and shooters who field test every piece of Cabela&rsquo;s branded gear. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cabela&rsquo;s is also a retailer of a huge array of products from other manufacturers, but even here you see brand strength. If for any reason a customer isn&rsquo;t satisfied, the product can be returned to Cabela&rsquo;s for a full refund&mdash;even if they didn&rsquo;t make it. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why is Cabela&rsquo;s brand so strong? It&rsquo;s because of consumer confidence based on product design (by actual users), superb customer service and excellent value for the money. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tomorrow, I&rsquo;ll tell you which optics company holds my No. 2 spot of the Top 5 Strongest Outdoor Brands.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/Cabelas-Tops-list#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2516&cid=25Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pursuant to the Insider&rsquo;s breaking news story last week that SOCOM is not intending to purchase any more SCAR-L Mk 16 variants (5.56 mm) and instead will be allocating the funds to the .308 version (SCAR-H Mk 17), FNH issued the following response, which is quoted here in its entirety.<br /><br />Note in particular FNH&rsquo;s comment about a &ldquo;common receiver&rdquo; option. The Insider&rsquo;s sources report that indeed this is what SOCOM intends. The larger 7.62 mm version can be fitted with a kit to accommodate 5.56 mm cartridges, which would make sense. Over to FNH&hellip;<br /><br />&ldquo;FNH USA is cautious in releasing any information due to the nature of the pledge to our customers. <br />&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;We can, however, reiterate that the MK 16 (5.56 mm variant), MK 17 (7.62 mm variant) and the MK 13 Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module (40 mm), which make up the SCAR family of weapons, have each met, and in our opinion exceeded, all of the USSOCOM program requirements. It is also a matter of record that the SCAR has been proven to be superior to existing legacy assault rifles after numerous Department of Defense tests in both lab and field environments. <br /><br />&ldquo;FNH USA believes the fact that the SCAR program recently passed Milestone C and was determined to be operationally effective/operationally suitable (OE/OS) for fielding, highlights the tremendous capability the weapons system offers deployed special operators.<br />&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;FNH USA believes the issue is not whether the SCAR, and specifically the MK 16 variant, is the superior weapon system available today ... it has already been proven to be just that. The issue is whether or not the requirement for a 5.56 mm replacement outweighs the numerous other requirements competing for the customers&rsquo; limited budget. That is a question that will only be determined by the customer.<br />&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;While we know that the MK 17, to include the "common receiver" and corresponding 5.56 mm conversion kit is an option, other Services and SOF components will have the ability to procure the MK 16 stand-alone rifle under the contract if it better meets their mission requirements.<br />&nbsp;<br />&ldquo;In conclusion, the management and employees of FN are proud to provide this generation of special operators their first, entirely new assault rifle that meets and, in our opinion, exceeds the demands of today's battlefield.&ldquo;</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2516&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2500&cid=25Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday&rsquo;s inside word on the SCAR program came just as the news broke over the weekend that SOCOM would not be buying any more of the 5.56 mm version (SCAR-L Mk 16) but would instead allocate those funds to the 7.62 mm version (SCAR-H Mk 17). These basically&nbsp;translate into layman&rsquo;s terms as .223 Rem. and .308 Win. caliber versions.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;The booger-eaters have figured out the range of a five-five-six and are staying out of range. The seven-six-two can reach out that far and still have some lethality left, so that&rsquo;s why SOCOM is shifting gears and ordering more of the Mark 17s. They definitely have not cancelled SCAR altogether,&rdquo; a highly placed source told the Insider.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;In fact, SCAR just passed Milestone C in April. That&rsquo;s the turning point when SOCOM authorized full production and fielding of the SCAR,&rdquo; my source continued.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It turns out that on April 14, 2010, SOCOM did indeed sign off on Milestone C, which allowed for the Acquisition Decision Memorandum (ADM) to be ratcheted up for the Mk 16, Mk 17 and Mk 13 grenade launcher.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">It appears that my report of the program being cancelled was mistaken. What happened was that SOCOM appears to have decided to purchase only .308 caliber Mk 17s and not .223 caliber Mk 16s.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thank you for your forbearance. It&rsquo;s extremely difficult to track down anything related to SOCOM on short notice. FN couldn&rsquo;t even comment. I&rsquo;ll keep you updated as I learn more. </span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2500&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2495&cid=25Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The on-again, off-again SCAR program run by the U.S.&nbsp;Special Forces is off again. After several starts, the rumor-plagued program, which resulted in <a href="http://www.fnhusa.com/" target="_blank">FN</a> of Belgian being awarded a contract to produce two versions of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1552&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Special Combat Assault Rifle</a> (SCAR), has been cancelled.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Special Operations Command (SOCOM) redirected all funding for FY2011 from the SCAR-L (Light)&nbsp;Mk 16 in 5.56 mm to be used for the SCAR-H (Heavy). The SCAR-H Mk 17 is a 7.62 mm caliber rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">SOCOM buys all firearms for the various Special Operations components of the military: Navy SEALs, Army Green Beret, Air Force Ravens and Marines.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SCAR program began in 2007 when SOCOM set about to improve the M4 carbine and, at the same time, create a standardized system that could fire .308 as well as foreign calibers, like 7.62x39 mm.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to inside sources, the Navy SEALs were the main proponents of the SCAR and were issued more of them than any other Special Forces group.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">During its development, the SCAR went through a number of changes and modifications, which prompted an endless stream of rumors in the industry, before the military finally settled on the SCAR-L and SCAR-H versions in 2007.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The very purpose of SCAR-L Mk 16 was doomed from the start because its <em>raison d&rsquo;etre</em> was ostensibly to replace the M4 carbine, and since it fired the same 5.56 mm NATO cartridge and took a 30-round magazine, it offered neither better lethality nor improved firepower over Colt&rsquo;s M4. After much fussing and fiddling, SOCOM had done nothing more than window dress an M4.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SCAR-H, on the other hand, was intended as a replacement for a variety of .308 caliber sniper systems. Ironically, it is the &ldquo;other&rdquo; SCAR that is receiving funding while the primary gun is falling onto the dust heap along with other &ldquo;new and improved&rdquo; military rifles. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SCAR features a short-stroke, gas operating system. The upper receiver is aluminum and houses a free-floating barrel. The lower receiver is polymer to reduce weight. Both versions can be equipped with different barrel lengths to suit missions ranging from close-quarters-battle to sniper missions.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The rifles can be equipped with 10-, 14- or 18-inch barrels for the Mk 16 and a 13-, 16- or 20-inch barrel for the heavier Mk 17. Each of these can be changed out by the shooter in minutes, FN officials say. The Mk 16 uses a 30-round magazine; the Mk 17 uses a 20-rounder. Eighty percent of the parts are common to both the light and heavy versions to reduce long-term maintenance costs, FN officials say.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The SCAR has never been produced in great numbers. One source says less than 1,000 Mk 16s have been fielded in Afghanistan. The 75th Ranger battalion was set to deploy with Mk 16s before this announcement, but that elite unit numbers less than 700 men. It is not known if the Rangers will still deploy with the SCAR or go back to their M4.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stay tuned for developments from the Insider as more details on this breaking news story unfold.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2495&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2458&cid=25Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">AR rifles have received a lot of attention lately&mdash;the understatement of the decade&mdash;but while we&rsquo;ve all been looking at the guns, a clever little company in Arizona has focused on the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2334&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">magazine</a>. TangoDown has developed what the military calls an &ldquo;advanced reliability combat magazine&rdquo; and it may well be the most high-tech piece of low-tech equipment ever developed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dubbed the ARC magazine (Advanced Reliability Combat), this highly sophisticated device is not at all what it appears&mdash;a hollow chunk of plastic with a spring inside. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aluminum GI mags are stamped aluminum using two halves spot welded together lengthwise. There&rsquo;s a straight section that fits in the mag well, then a slight curve, then another straight section. Not an optimum shape, as the curve is potentially a place where springs bind and followers snag. The only way to make a smooth path for the follower and spring is with a constant radius curve joining the mandatory straight section that fits inside the mag well.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This presents a manufacturing problem for a plastic or polymer magazine. Certain polymers are superior to aluminum due to impact and corrosion resistance, but&nbsp;it has&nbsp;been&nbsp;impossible to produce a straight section joined with a constant radius section from an injection mold&mdash;the part couldn&rsquo;t be removed from the mold. Accordingly, all other attempts at polymer-formed magazines have done away with trying to combine a straight section and a curved section, instead making a constant curve all the way.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The trouble here is the old round-peg-in-a-square-hole conundrum. The only way to fit a curved surface in&nbsp;the straight mag well of an AR is to make the magazine walls as thin as possible, and&nbsp;depending on mag well tolerances, magazines won&rsquo;t drop free, especially when dirty or muddy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.tangodown.com/" target="_blank">TangoDown</a> solved this problem with a patent-pending two-piece design consisting of a straight section to fit the mag well and a constant-radius-curved section to protrude below the mag well. Fortuitously, this design solution allowed them another significant plus&mdash;the magazine could be molded out of different materials.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you think about it, the upper section of a magazine incorporates the feed lips so it needs to be abrasion resistant and exhibit tensile strength for cartridge control. The bottom section is never rubbed by a high-speed bolt, but it&rsquo;s thumped, bumped, knocked and dropped, so it needs to be impact resistant. The ARC mag is made from a material that&rsquo;s optimal for heat and strength and another that&rsquo;s impact resistant. Translucent materials have been selected for the lower half of the magazine, allowing quick visual assessment of ammunition quantity status.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">At the same time, TangoDown addressed the environmental requirements of the U.S. military which call for the magazine to withstand a 6-foot drop test from minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit to plus 140 degrees. The ARC mag meets that as well as another requirement to function in every 5.56 magazine-fed firearm in the military&rsquo;s inventory, which includes the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun" target="_blank">M249 SAW</a>. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, the military doesn&rsquo;t always shoot live ammo. Blanks are often&nbsp;used in training. TangoDown developed a version of the ARC magazine that functions only with blank ammo and cannot accept a live round. This is a huge improvement in safety.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A lot of companies have spit out magazines to fill the voracious demand for AR accessories, but only a little company in Arizona has really engineered a superior new style of magazine.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2458&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2461&cid=25Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The United Nations is at it again. Every two years, this self-important body meets to vent about the evils of gun ownership through its &ldquo;Programme [sic] Of Action To Prevent, Combat And Eradicate The Illicit Trade In Small Arms And Light Weapons In All Its Aspects.&rdquo; How&rsquo;s that for a succinct title?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">This year, however, a voice for reason spoke to their Esteemed Excellencies. The president of <a href="http://www.safariclub.org" target="_blank">Safari Club International</a> (SCI), Dr. Lawrence Rudolph, addressed the Fourth Biennial Meeting Of States to advocate a reasoned approach to this anti-gun Programme, which is a thinly disguised attempt at a world-wide gun control.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rudolph&rsquo;s message focused on the benefits of sport hunting in developing countries, noting that firearms are a necessary part of hunting.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Hunting is vital to the economies of developing nations because it results in high revenues, most of which remain in the local economy,"&nbsp;Rudolph said.&nbsp;"The United Nations has stated that economic stability is vital to reducing violence in developing countries. Hunting helps build that economic stability."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rudolph added: &ldquo;To continue this important work, the hunting community needs your help.&nbsp;Although the implements of hunting are weapons, the delegates must separate the illicit weapons trade from the trade required to serve the millions of legitimate firearms users worldwide.&nbsp; It is very well documented that when regulatory mechanisms become barriers to carriage, hunters are much less likely to travel to hunt."</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">SCI represents approximately 53,000 members, Dr. Rudolph told the UN gathering, from 106 countries as well as the interests of millions of other hunters around the world. He noted that SCI has contributed more than $47 million for conservation, wildlife education and humanitarian programs over the past decade.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hunters provide jobs in the safari industry in Africa, Rudolph noted, where about $200 million a year is spent by hunters on African safaris. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">By speaking to the U.N., Dr. Rudolph&rsquo;s message of the importance of hunting&mdash;and the need for hunters to transport firearms&mdash;has been entered into the official record. SCI has long been a leading voice of hunters&rsquo; rights world-wide. I&rsquo;m a life member of SCI myself and urge anyone who enjoys the outdoor sports to join.</span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2461&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2450&cid=25Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Try as I may to think of something comparable, I can&rsquo;t come up with anything to match the staggering surge in popularity of the AR-platform rifle&nbsp;over the past few years. <a href="http://www.glock.com/" target="_blank">Glock</a> comes to mind, but the Austrian&nbsp;polymer gun&nbsp;took at least a decade (starting in 1985) to solidly grab the law enforcement handgun market. The 1911 is another possibility, but the growth in sales of Old Slab Sides has been incremental, not like the&nbsp;recent rocket of the AR.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back in the '80s, I had an AR. One. It had a triangle fore-end. I remember when the round fore-end came out and thought the gun looked a bit more modern, but I didn't buy another. It wasn't until 1989 when laws limiting or banning AR sales emerged </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">that I bought two more "<a href="http://www.colt.com/" target="_blank">Colt</a> Sporters."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even so, the AR wasn't cool. It was a notable rifle because it's derived from our military issue M16, but no one was buying ARs in any great numbers. It wasn't the flavor of the month.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">My, how that's changed! </span><span style="font-size: small;">According to a report in <em>American Rifleman</em> , which cited BATF production figures, more than 337,000 ARs were made in 2008&nbsp;accounting for 22 percent of the total non-exported long-gun production for the entire U.S. firearms industry. That was 2008. I&rsquo;ll go out on a limb here and predict that 2009 will top 500,000 ARs with the buying surge that&nbsp;kicked in after the Presidential election.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A half-million guns is a staggering number. <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1563&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Remington</a> makes about a half-million guns a year on average. So does <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2145&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a>. And now you have a single style of rifle accounting for what will probably be one-third of total rifle production in 2009 if this plays out the way it should.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">What goes up must (theoretically) come down, and we know that AR sales have dropped since mid-2009. Nonetheless, the horse is out of the barn and he&rsquo;s away and galloping. And this AR stallion has legs!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the most significant side-effects of the AR&rsquo;s amazing rise to stardom is its acceptance as a hunting rifle. Scorned by many as inappropriate for hunting, the AR has emerged as an outstanding varmint rifle and, in larger calibers like 6.8 Rem., a viable deer gun. Both the <a href="http://home.nra.org/#/home" target="_blank">NRA</a> and the <a href="http://www.nssf.org/" target="_blank">National Shooting Sports Foundation</a> (NSSF) strongly support the use of the AR for hunting. Never again will the AR be relegated to second-class status as "unsuitable" for hunting.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">So what caused this change in the AR's image?</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">We can&rsquo;t simply chalk it up to the fact that the military is using an AR. The military adopted the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2000&amp;cid=19" target="_blank">Beretta 92F</a> in 1985 and there&rsquo;s never been any particular panic to rush out and buy the Italian 9 mm. The M1A has enjoyed a loyal following over the years, but it&rsquo;s still a niche gun favored by a small number of enthusiasts. No sudden surge in sales there either.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clearly, the Clinton rifle ban scared gun owners and when it sunsetted in 2004, many made a point of not getting caught flat-footed again. But this was four years before the frenetic buying wave set in.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">A confluence of factors led to the rise of the AR. First, gun owners did indeed engage in panic buying after Obama's election. Second, enough shooters had taken to the range with ARs to realize what great rifles they really are and decided to add to their collection as part of the whole &ldquo;ammo shortage&rdquo; buying binge.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Third, the industry has fundamentally changed in that several of the big gunmakers&mdash;notably <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a>, <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1841&amp;cid=4" target="_blank">Ruger</a> and <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001&amp;catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a>&mdash;are now much more tuned to meeting quarterly numbers than before and the surest way to sales is to make product for which there is already a clearly identifiable demand. Jump on the AR bandwagon, in other words. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lastly, the ease of manufacturing the AR led to a plethora of small companies piecing together guns from vendor-produced components. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Will we see a half-million ARs made in 2009? That&rsquo;s my guess, but we&rsquo;ll have to wait until next year when BATF releases the numbers to find out. In the meantime, I just bought another AR from <a href="http://www.knightarmco.com/" target="_blank">Knight&rsquo;s Armament</a>, the SR 15 E3. I really needed another AR, you know what I mean?</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2450&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2392&cid=25Tue, 25 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The shooting industry&rsquo;s porch has always had a few big dogs lying around, but it&rsquo;s only been in the past five years or so&nbsp;that we&rsquo;ve seen a couple of bull mastiffs saunter up the steps. I refer to multi-billion-dollar behemoths that are taking a more than casual interest in the gun business.<br /><br />One of them is ironically named for a mythical three-headed dog that guards the gates of hades&mdash;Cerberus. If that&rsquo;s not enough to scare you, another one is <a href="http://www.atk.com/" target="_blank">ATK</a>, which is primarily an explosives and rocket manufacturer. Yet another big dog is <a href="http://www.l-3com.com/" target="_blank">L3 Communications</a>, which might be more of a heavyweight than Cerberus and ATK combined. Then, there&rsquo;s an English bulldog on our porch as well&mdash;BAE Systems.<br /><br />It&rsquo;s not the first time that colossal canines have barked on the gun industry&rsquo;s veranda. <a href="http://www.winchester.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Winchester</a> is owned by the Olin Corp., a chemical industry giant. <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> was once the property of Dupont, another chemical industry titan. <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001&amp;catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> was once the property Tomkins plc, a multi-national holding company.<br /><br />Let&rsquo;s get some size perspective here. Cerberus is a private equity company with approximately $24 billion in assets. Because it&rsquo;s a private company, there&rsquo;s no way to research their annual sales. However, ATK reported $4.6 billion in sales in 2009, while&nbsp;BAE Systems, which bought Armor Holdings&mdash;owners of <a href="http://www.safariland.com/" target="_blank">Safariland</a>, <a href="http://www.bianchi-intl.com/" target="_blank">Bianchi</a> and a number of tactical equipment manufacturers&mdash;tallied up about $30 billion in sales last year. L3 Communications rang up about $15 billion in sales in 2009.<br /><br />What has&nbsp;attracted these big dogs? As Steve Martin observed in "The Jerk" when he suddenly snapped to what&rsquo;s going on: &ldquo;Oh, I get it! It&rsquo;s a profit thing!&rdquo;<br /><br />If we look for a common denominator with the companies that these pugnacious pooches gobbled up from the shooting industry, we see several things. First, ammunition. Cerberus owns Remington and Remington is an ammunition maker as well as a gun maker. ATK owns <a href="http://www.federalpremium.com/" target="_blank">Federal</a> and <a href="http://www.speer-ammo.com/" target="_blank">Speer</a>, and operates the Lake City Arsenal ammo plant for the military. Ammunition is a consumable and, as we&rsquo;re all so painfully aware, consumable commodity prices can spike precipitously when demand rises.<br /><br />Interestingly, the third of the &ldquo;big three&rdquo; ammo companies, Winchester, is also owned by a chemical giant, Olin Corp. which boasts annual sales in the $15 billion ballpark.<br /><br />What else might have lured the big dogs? Guns and gun accessories. Firearms manufacturing is a mature industry with stable consumption and predictable revenue streams. If you have a couple of billion lying around to invest, it might not be a bad idea to park a few hundred million in a consumer product sector that also offers government sales potential.<br /><br />Big dogs see the big picture. Firearms weathered the &ldquo;tobacco lawsuits&rdquo; storm and came away unscathed. If you shoot someone, it&rsquo;s your fault, not the gunmaker&rsquo;s. Firearms also hunkered down through the &ldquo;modern sporting rifle&rdquo; storm and again came out into the sunshine when Clinton&rsquo;s ban sunsetted. With the Heller decision, it&rsquo;s likely that gun rights will be strengthened to the point that future bans will be unlikely. Not a bad omen if you&rsquo;re looking to invest in the industry.<br /><br />And yes, it&rsquo;s a profit thing. In its 2009 annual report, <a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</a>, reported sales of $271 million with $87 million gross profit. That&rsquo;s a 32 percent gross profit margin, which is not too shabby for a manufactured product. Even more impressive, Ruger&rsquo;s EBIDA (earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization) was 16 percent. Those are solid numbers. Those are profitable numbers.<br /><br />I welcome the big dogs with open arms and maybe a Milk Bone as a gesture of goodwill. With such powerful multi-billion-dollar guard dogs on our porch&mdash;with their lobbyists and influence on Capitol Hill&mdash;the gun business is looking safer and safer. I haven&rsquo;t seen a lot of squeezing of jobs and frankly see a lot more upside than down to this trend. </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2392&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2335&cid=25Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> debuted the R1, a new 1911 pistol in basic configuration at the recent NRA Annual Meetings in Charlotte, N.C. Ithaca also climbed aboard the 1911 train but with a high-end model that will sell for around $3,500.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The 1911 is entering its centennial year in 2011 and I'm not surprised that a lot of companies are seeking to capitalize on Old Slab Sides. At the same time, it reminds me that America was once the leading innovator of firearms in the world.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Today, however, American gun companies tend to imitate more than innovate. If you pick, say, 1980 as an arbitrary dividing line, the most innovative firearms (especially handguns) have come from across the Atlantic. Glock is the most obvious example, although the SIG P250 is highly original as is the Hammerli 280 target pistol. The Blaser M93 rifle is novel bolt-action and several guns from HK, like the G36, have broken the mold on rifle design.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Meanwhile, in America we have seen a trend toward a better-safe-than-sorry mentality that's all too often the approach of the bean-counters that seem to run the major companies.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">It took a small, entrepreneurial company in Florida, <a href="http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/" target="_blank">Kel-Tec</a>, to come up with a slick little .380 to address the burgeoning concealed-carry market. What did the big American gun makers do? Imitate.<br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a> basically took a Kel-Tec .380 ACP and, with slight changes, introduced it as the Ruger <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/GalleryItem.aspx?cid=22&amp;gid=46&amp;id=271" target="_blank">LCP</a>. When sales of Ruger's .380 took off, <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=10001&amp;catalogId=11101&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> saw the dust trail and started chasing. A year later they introduced the M&amp;P .380 pistol with a built-in laser.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Of course the best example of Me Too in the gun business is the Glock. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Today, every American gun manufacturer has a polymer framed 9 mm pistol of some sort.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Consider the <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/Products/ShowCatalogProduct.aspx?categoryid=54" target="_blank">SIG 250</a>, a modular pistol that can convert calibers and grips in seconds. How about the aforementioned Blaser M93? Not your granddaddy&rsquo;s bolt action. The new R8 version can &ldquo;plug&rdquo; into a <a href="http://www.zeiss.com/sports" target="_blank">Zeiss</a> range finding scope so the range finder is activated when you take the R8 off-safe.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">An Italian handgun is our U.S. service pistol. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A Belgian manufacturer, FN, was chosen to develop a possible replacement for the M16, and</span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2062&amp;cid=3" target="_blank">Steyr</a> invented the AUG, a design that is now being&mdash;guess what?&mdash;copied in the U.S.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">In the arena of competition shooting, it&rsquo;s also a Euro world. What do most Olympic trap and skeet shooters use? Perazzi and Krieghoff. How about rifles? Anschutz and Walther. Pistols? Hammerli and Walther.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">However, what the American firearms industry lacks in firearms inventiveness, it more than makes up for in ammunition development. Truly significant advances in propellant technology, bullet technology and cartridge technology have all come from American makers, most notably <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1804&amp;cid=31" target="_blank">Winchester</a> and <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2044&amp;cid=31" target="_blank">Hornady</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Why are we so unimaginative in our gun designs? I believe the reason is that accountants, not engineers, run American gun manufacturers. As a mature industry, gun companies can&rsquo;t count on millions of new customers like cell phone manufacturers. The way to compete is to take market share away from a competitor and the best way to do that is to knock off a proven product.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">And mark my words. Remington isn&rsquo;t going to get away with this 1911 move. Someone will introduce a pump shotgun, probably a copy of an <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2185&amp;cid=11" target="_blank">870</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2335&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2385&cid=25Tue, 18 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">While some 72,000 NRA members enjoyed a grand time of browsing the many guns and accessories on display at last week&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.nraam.org/" target="_blank">NRA Annual Meetings &amp; Exhibits</a> in Charlotte, N.C., the Insider was hanging out at the water cooler. I corralled some of my best industry contacts and caught up on the latest inside gossip. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The best tid-bit concerns <a href="http://www.freedom-group.com/" target="_blank">The Freedom Group</a>, the umbrella organization under which private equity group Cerberus Capital Management has bought numerous companies in the shooting industry in the past four years including <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington Arms</a>, <a href="http://www.dpmsinc.com/" target="_blank">DPMS</a>, <a href="http://www.bushmaster.com/index.asp" target="_blank">Bushmaster</a>, Marlin and H&amp;R 1871. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">It&rsquo;s long been an open secret that Cerberus, one of the largest private equity funds in the U.S. with approximately $24 billion in holdings, has been wanting to buy a handgun company to complement its long gun-dominated stable of gun companies. A lot of rumors swirled when it was reported that Freedom Group was sniffing around HK, that they made an overture to Para USA and even poked around at <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=750001&amp;catalogId=750051&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a>. Unconfirmed rumors but with that much smoke, something&rsquo;s got to be burning. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The latest bombshell is that Freedom Group is supposed to be buying <a href="http://www.glock.com/" target="_blank">Glock</a>. While at first blush this might seem preposterous, I have a couple of reasons to suspect that the grapevine is pulsing true. First, Dr. Gaston Glock, who is approaching 80, is in failing health and might be logically looking at how to best manage Glock Inc., for estate planning. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anything is for sale at the right price, and Freedom Group is one of the few entities that could write a check to Dr. Glock at whatever the price might be. (Somewhere in the $600 million neighborhood, I would guess.) As long as I&rsquo;m on the subject of Freedom Group, the Insider picked up another juicy item. Last month, in April, the private equity company bought <a href="http://www.dyn-intl.com/" target="_blank">DynCorp</a>, one of the leading military contractors in the private security industry. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Changing gears, another of my insider sources told me that <a href="http://www.l-3com.com/" target="_blank">L3 Communications</a> has formed an umbrella division not unlike The Freedom Group. It&rsquo;s called the Warrior Systems Group and includes EOTech, EOS (formerly Litton, a manufacturer of night vision devices) and its latest acquisition, <a href="http://www.insighttechnology.com/" target="_blank">Insight Technology</a>. L3 bought Insight, a leading manufacturer of infrared lasers and other tactical products, for a reported $600 million. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">L3 Communications has annual sales of approximately $14 billion, which puts it in the same league as the third Big Dog on the shooting industry porch, ATK. The annual revenue for Freedom Group is unknown because it&rsquo;s a private company, unlike L3 and <a href="http://www.atk.com/" target="_blank">ATK</a>. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">So there you go, the latest from the water cooler in Charlotte and the rousing good time had by all at the 2010 NRA Annual Meetings &amp; Exhibits.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2385&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2329&cid=25Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The recent surge in sales of&nbsp;modern sporting rifles&nbsp;is undeniable, but until now there&rsquo;s only been anecdotal evidence to show that Americans have taken to the AR-platform. However, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has now quantified just how big the ground-swell of interest in the AR has become&mdash;nearly 9 million shooters went to the range or field with an AR in 2009.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">In fact, AR shooters were the &ldquo;most active&rdquo; of any category of sport shooters in the landmark survey.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;These findings underscore that modern sporting rifles are becoming commonplace in America and are among the most desired firearms by sport shooters,&rdquo; said Steve Sanetti, president of NSSF, a trade association of the firearms industry.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;Those who want to ban these civilian sporting rifles simply because they look like military rifles must acknowledge after seeing this study that AR-style rifles are exceedingly popular with millions of Americans. These rifles are our industry's high-tech, cutting-edge product&mdash;rugged, accurate, versatile, fun to shoot and easily accessorized&mdash;and they're here to stay.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The study, &ldquo;Shooting Sports Participation Survey in the United States in 2009,&rdquo; was conducted for NSSF by Responsive Management through a random digit dialing telephone survey of 8,204 U.S. residents ages 18 and older.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">To avoid confusion, the term &ldquo;modern sporting rifle&rdquo; was further defined as an AR-style rifle. Mark Duda, executive director of Responsive Management, explained the survey's methodology, saying &ldquo;This was a highly scientific study with the sample meticulously developed on a state-by-state basis to construct the national number. Both landline and cell phones were utilized in the actual proportions they exist within the American population." </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Duda said this type of telephone survey yields a 95 percent confidence level. The report's sampling error is plus or minus 1.08 percentage points.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The study showed that 15 percent of the U.S. population, representing 34.4 million people nationwide, went target shooting in 2009. This number surpasses all other previous survey estimates of annual sport shooting participation.

</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;Recreational shooting had a banner year in 2009,&rdquo; said Sanetti. &ldquo;Firearms sales were way up, so it's really no surprise that more people are enjoying the shooting sports than ever before." </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Duda added:&nbsp;&ldquo;This study measured all shooting participation, from hunters sighting in, to friends going shooting with friends who own firearms, to women practicing their self-defense skills.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Other survey results include:<br /><br />&bull; 7.6 million people went trap shooting on 14.8 days<br />&bull; 7 million went skeet shooting on 15.5 days<br />&bull; 8.4 million participated in sporting clays on 13.7 days.
<br />&bull; Most modern sporting rifle users reside in small cities or towns (25 percent) and non-farm rural areas (25 percent) compared with urban areas (19 percent), suburban areas (16 percent) and farms/ranches (15 percent).
<br />&bull; Modern sporting rifles appealed to younger shooters, with 64 percent of users ranging in age from 18 to 44<br />&bull; Modern sporting rifle users were 86 percent white, with Hispanic/Latinos the next largest ethnic group at 5 percent<br />&bull; Men represented 84 percent of modern sporting rifle shooters and women 16 percent<br />&bull; 34 percent of modern sporting rifle shooters had some college education or a trade school degree, 29 percent a bachelor's degree and 27 percent a high school degree or equivalent.

</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;We hope this survey helps shed light on the often misunderstood modern sporting rifle and demonstrates the tremendous appeal they have with recreational shooters," said Jim Curcuruto, NSSF's director of industry research and analysis.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2329&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2325&cid=25Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Alliant Techsystems (<a href="http://www.atk.com/" target="_blank">ATK</a>) is the largest public company in the gun business with an&nbsp;annual revenue of $4.8 billion. (Cerberus, which is privately owned, may be bigger than ATK.)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">While ATK&rsquo;s name stands for Alliant Techsystems (I have no idea where the K comes from), it probably should mean &ldquo;Acquisitions &amp; Take-Overs.&rdquo; ATK has been on a 10-year tear of buying companies. The latest is <a href="http://www.blackhawk.com/" target="_blank">BlackHawk!</a>, itself a highly acquisitive company.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">ATK bought BlackHawk! last week for an undisclosed price. The Insider will find out the price when the company reports earnings on May 6. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say a combination of stock and cash with the cash part being in the $200 million range.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">This is a fascinating acquisition because just last year ATK bought <a href="http://www.eagleindustries.com/home.php" target="_blank">Eagle Industries</a>, a competitor of BlackHawk! in the &ldquo;tactical nylon&rdquo; market. ATK now owns the two biggest web-gear manufacturers in America.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">ATK was launched as an independent company in 1990, when Honeywell spun off its defense businesses. The former Honeywell businesses had supplied defense products and systems to the U.S. and its allies for 50 years, including the first electronic autopilot that enabled B-17 aircraft to accomplish pinpoint bombing missions during World War II.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">ATK expanded into the aerospace market with the acquisitions of Hercules Aerospace Company in 1995 and Thiokol Propulsion in 2001, which transformed the company into the world's largest supplier of solid propellant rocket motors and a leading provider of high-performance composite structures.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Hercules was also&nbsp;a producer of smokeless propellant for reloaders. The Insider went through many a can of Hercules Bullseye and 2400 powders.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A series of other acquisitions and key contract wins have continued to increase the company's presence in the aerospace, defense, and commercial ammunition markets:<br /><br />&bull; 2000: Selected to operate Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, the U.S. government's only small-caliber ammunition manufacturing facility.<br /><br />&bull; 2001: Acquired the commercial ammunition businesses of Blount International, which made ATK the nation's largest manufacturer of ammunition.<br /><br />&bull; 2002: Acquired the ordnance business of Boeing, which brought together ATK's munitions portfolio with the products and capabilities of a leading military gun manufacturer.<br /><br />&bull; 2002: Acquired the assets of Science and Applied Technology, Inc., which added critical precision seeker, guidance, and system-level expertise.<br /><br />&bull; 2003: Acquired Composite Optics, Inc., which made ATK the world leader in composite space structures.<br /><br />&bull; 2003: Acquired GASL and Micro Craft, which added leading-edge propulsion and airframe technologies for highly demanding aerospace and defense applications.<br /><br />&bull; 2004: Acquired Mission Research Corporation, which enabled an advanced aerospace and defense technology pipeline from concept development to full-scale production.<br /><br />&bull; 2004: Acquired the PSI Group, which strengthened ATK's space systems portfolio and positioned the company to capture emerging opportunities in spacecraft integration and satellite technology.<br /><br />&bull; 2007: Acquired Swales Aerospace, adding enhanced systems engineering and engineering services to ATKs existing space launch, space exploration, small satellite, and spacecraft markets.<br /><br />&bull; 2009: Acquired Eagle Industries as a wholly-owned subsidiary, expanding position in the domestic and international accessories markets serving military and law enforcement customers.<br /><br />&bull; 2010: Acquired Blackhawk! Industries, which added tactical, military and law enforcement equipment expanding ATK's product base and market penetration in the growing security markets.<br /><br />Stay tuned for that May 6 earnings report and we&rsquo;ll see how close I came with my guess on the BlackHawk! price.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2325&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2292&cid=25Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Austrian gunmaker Peter Hofer is widely hailed as the finest rifle maker in the world, bar none. Ensconced in the famous village of Ferlach where gunmakers continue the medieval tradition of the guild system, Peter Hofer has created a name for himself even in this rarified air of craftsmen as the very best.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Peter Hofer rifles are known for their ingenious mechanisms&mdash;everything from diminutive .17 HMR double rifles to massive 4 bore behemoths&mdash;ornamented with gorgeous engraving. His rifles are snapped up by wealthy collectors and his clients include Saudi sheiks, Russian oligarchs, Asian billionaires and, as I saw once in his booth at the IWA show, Ugo Beretta. The late Bob Petersen, founder of Petersen Publishing and Guns &amp; Ammo magazine, reckoned Peter Hofer is the best in the world.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">At the 2010 IWA show in Germany, Peter Hofer unveiled his latest masterpiece, but it was like nothing the inventive gunmaker had ever done before. In fact, it was a startling departure from his traditional work. The rifle is called TechnicArt.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">TechnicArt is a marvel of technology, which was Peter&rsquo;s stated intent&mdash;showcasing a rifle as advanced as the latest NASA rocket. The gun is a double rifle (of course) chambered in .375 H&amp;H but that&rsquo;s where the tradition stops and the technology takes over.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Like a skeleton watch with a sapphire crystal see-through back, the TechnicArt rifle has sapphire crystal sideplates so you can see the intricate lockwork. Some of the lock work parts are made of solid rose gold. There are over 300 minuscule screws, some as tiny as 0.01 inches (0.3mm). Even such small screws are accented with an initial &ldquo;H&rdquo; on their tiny heads.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Having proved his prowess at traditional gunmaking by crafting this gold-and-steel action from scratch&mdash;the &ldquo;art&rdquo; in TechnicArt&mdash;Hofer focused next on the technology part.<br /><br />The rifle is embedded with a programmable microprocessor that includes:<br />&bull; an altimeter<br />&bull; a rangefinder<br />&bull; a digital compass<br />&bull; a shot counter<br />&bull; a thermometer<br />&bull; a clock<br />&bull; a barometer<br />&bull; an emergency locator transponder<br />&bull; a theft alarm<br />&bull; a satellite GPS<br /><br />This latter function, the GPS, is one that deserves elaboration. The rifle is equipped with an accelerometer, like an iPhone, so it can sense when it&rsquo;s moved. You can &ldquo;lock&rdquo; your TechnicArt rifle by sending it a signal from your computer or, yes, even your iPhone. Once &ldquo;locked,&rdquo; if the rifle is so much as moved an inch, it activates the GPS and the rifle can be tracked in case of theft or unauthorized use.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A hunter can also&nbsp;program into the TechnicArt rifle predetermined GPS points of his campsite or likely locations for game and literally &ldquo;follow&rdquo; his rifle when in the field.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I didn&rsquo;t ask Peter how much the TechnicArt rifle costs, and neither should you. Let&rsquo;s just say that Peter Hofer rifles have not been unknown to command seven-figures.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">You can see more of Peter&rsquo;s breath-taking work at <a href="http://www.hoferwaffen.com/" target="_blank">Hoferwaffen.com</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2292&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2286&cid=25Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">News in the gun business doesn&rsquo;t always come in big gulps. Sometimes there are small tid-bits of interesting developments that don&rsquo;t warrant a full story, but are nonetheless interesting.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; Trijicon has ceased labeling their ACOG sights sold through military contract with a Biblical reference after a media frenzy denounced the practice. Spare me. I&rsquo;ve owned ACOG sights for years and never bothered to read the serial number, let alone get out my decoder ring to see if there&rsquo;s a hidden message.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; Vltor prevailed in a patent infringement suit against Magpul, although no details of the out-of-court settlement were disclosed. Vltor is an Arizona-based manufacturer of accessories for the AR-15/M16. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; SureFire also came out on top in a lawsuit against Advanced Armaments Corp. for false claims in advertising in an out-of-court settlement, the details of which were not disclosed. The advertisement in question pertained to sound suppressors.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; Winchester has received a contract from Immigration, Customs &amp; Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Dept. Of Homeland Security,&nbsp;to provide 200 million rounds over five years. The contract specified a 135 grain JHP bullet in .40 S&amp;W.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; Davidson&rsquo;s is offering a limited run of 250 Smith &amp; Wesson Model 17, the K-22 Masterpiece. This re-release of a classic .22 target revolver comes with a 6-inch barrel, blued finish and square-butt target grips.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&bull; Aimpoint has won another U.S. military contract, continuing their stellar run of 12 consecutive years of supplying what the Army calls a &ldquo;Close Combat Optic&rdquo; (CCO) to America&rsquo;s armed forces. The latest contract calls for over 500,000 M68 sights. Trijicon and EOTech have also received U.S. military contracts for CCO sights.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2286&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2264&cid=25Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Controversy is the grist for the Insider&rsquo;s mill for which I&rsquo;ve found a silo full with the saga of John Rigby &amp; Co. I&rsquo;ve already filed several exclusive reports for <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/" target="_blank">AmericanRifleman.org</a> about two entities&mdash;one in California and one in London&mdash;squabbling over the name John Rigby &amp; Co. (Gunmakers). Now comes a whole new dimension to the story with a third party, noted riflemaker Butch Searcy, trumping everyone by being the first to produce an actual rifle based on Rigby&rsquo;s most famous design, the Bissell (or rising bite) action.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The rising bite was invented by Thomas Bissell and patented by the John Rigby Co., in a joint venture. The name was derived from a third fastener (in addition to the double Purdey underlugs) that &ldquo;rises&rdquo; and engages at the top, thereby preventing what Searcy calls &ldquo;gapping&rdquo; when the rifle is fired.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The Bissell action is universally hailed as both the most complex and the strongest of any side-by-side ever made. It is also crushingly expensive to make, which is why Rigby stopped producing rising bite actions&nbsp;in 1920. Since then, no one has ever recreated the Bissell action until Searcy showed a prototype at the 2010 SCI show.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Searcy made his mark in the custom riflemaking world some 30 years ago by building double rifles on Browning side-by-side actions. Searcy doubles were&mdash;and are&mdash;highly regarded for their performance and value. Back in the day, a Searcy double on a Browning action cost about $8,000, which is a bargain for a double rifle.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Today, however, Searcy has advanced considerably to making his own actions as well as beautiful renditions of such classics as a Holland &amp; Holland back-action sidelock. To some extent, Searcy is a victim of his past success because a lot of shooters&mdash;and I&rsquo;m as guilty as any&mdash;still thought of him as a guy who modified Browning shotguns. Not so.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">His rising bite is the result of a project that began in 2009 when Dr. Roger Sanger of Monterey, Calif., loaned Searcy a rising bite Rigby made in 1903.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m as good as anyone at reproducing something,&rdquo; Searcy laughed. &ldquo;I reverse engineered the action. Once I programmed my CNC machines, they repeat the dimensions right down to the ten-thousandth of an inch.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">If Searcy was simply making a rising bite based on the Rigby-Bissell patent (long expired), that would be that. But as I said, the lush vein of controversy that pulsates in this ongoing Rigby drama would never allow such a simple conclusion.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">One of the feuding parties in the Rigby &ldquo;name game&rdquo; is Mark Neal of London who has staked his claim of legitimacy in large part on his promise to make the first&mdash;you guessed it&mdash;rising bite Rigby.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Searcy scoffs at Neal&rsquo;s claim. &ldquo;He hasn&rsquo;t even made a gun yet. I have.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Neal retorts, &ldquo;[The Searcy gun] is not a rising bite as we know it, nor is it correctly made. It is cheaply machined by allowing the milling cutter to remove the bridge of the action. This cuts down massively on the machining time. The cutter also exits from the front of the action in front of the breech pin, like Spanish sidelock guns, effectively splitting the action.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Searcy responded: &ldquo;Mr. Neal wasn&rsquo;t at the 2010 Safari Club exhibition in Reno, Nev., so he hasn&rsquo;t seen or handled my rifle. As he is obviously confused about how I do my machining, I&rsquo;d like to invite him to visit my factory and observe first-hand how we are making rising bite actions."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Searcy&rsquo;s rising bite is finished, and he&rsquo;s taking orders. The price is either $45,000 for a Searcy version of the rising bite or $65,000 for an exact copy of a Rigby.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Unlike others involved in the Rigby soap opera, however, Searcy makes no pretense otherwise. &ldquo;My rising bite is a copy,&rdquo; he says matter-of-factly. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2264&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2253&cid=25Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">In my last Industry Insider blog, I was talking with Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co., CEO Michael Fifer at the IWA firearms and hunting trade show in Nuremberg, Germany, about foreign trade restrictions on American-made firearms. We also discussed some of Ruger&rsquo;s recent successes including the Ruger LCP. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t that gun set a record for sales when it was introduced?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Something like 50,000 guns in one day?&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;More,&rdquo; Fifer said with a smile. &ldquo;Try twice that.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Really?&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Actually, it was 110,000 guns on the first day of the SHOT Show in 2008,&rdquo; Fifer corrected. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That must have blown your projections out of the water?&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;We would have been happy with orders for 25,000 pistols. We had no idea the LCP would be that popular,&rdquo; Fifer acknowledged. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">We talked about the concealed carry market and how the little .380 had hit at just the right time. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; Fifer added, &ldquo;We followed that up with the LCR, the first polymer framed revolver. That gun has been very well received as well.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was then treated to a full &ldquo;features and benefits&rdquo; spiel by the CEO himself. He walked me through a comparison of the LCR to the relatively clunky SP-100, both .38 Spl. snub-nosed revolvers but one clearly smaller and lighter. He asked me to dry-fire the LCR, after he personally opened the cylinder to make sure the gun was unloaded. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m impressed with your gun handling,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Most guys don&rsquo;t do that with trade show guns.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fifer looked at me with one of those well-of-course looks that CEOs are good at giving and said: "Thank you." </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I tried the trigger and it was remarkably smooth and even throughout its travel. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;See? You&rsquo;re surprised, aren&rsquo;t you? It&rsquo;s smoother and easier than you expected, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; he said, now in full salesman mode. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I allowed that it was indeed a good double-action trigger pull. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s because we told the engineers that we wanted a curve like this&hellip; &ldquo;he sketched an even, smooth arc&rdquo; &hellip; and not like this&hellip; &ldquo;he drew a sharply rising arc, which dramatically dropped off. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a normal double-action trigger pull. See how it spikes and then drops off? That&rsquo;s hard for a woman to pull. It&rsquo;s about 12 pounds of pressure at the beginning of its travel when it&rsquo;s the hardest to reach the trigger, and then it drops. Our new LCR trigger is smooth throughout its travel.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I commented that Ruger seemed like a whole new company, from the d&eacute;cor in the booth to the fresh look of the ads to the SR556, and Ruger&rsquo;s new proprietary calibers from Hornady. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Business is a lot easier when you give people what they want,&rdquo; Fifer said. &ldquo;We listen to our customers. We go to the market to tell us what to build. Look, Bill Ruger was a once-in-a-100-years phenomenon. He was a visionary who intuitively knew what the market wanted, but we don&rsquo;t have any visionaries like Bill Ruger anymore. I&rsquo;m certainly not one, Chris Killoy (Ruger&rsquo;s vice president of sales and marketing) isn&rsquo;t one. We now look to our customers to give us their vision of what we should build,&rdquo; Fifer explained, a perfect articulation of a market-driven approach. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked if that was an aspect of a &ldquo;lean&rdquo; manufacturing approach. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;Not really. Lean refers to a process-driven manufacturing methodology, which we certainly use, but our product development process, in which we solicit input from our customers, is really not what I would call a part of being lean,&rdquo; Fifer answered. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">When prompted to elaborate on how Ruger comes up with its grand slam home run new products, like the LCP and LCR, Fifer said that a product development committee meets quarterly to discuss possible new guns. The committee is composed of engineers, salesmen and marketing people, plus himself, a total of about 25 people. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a lot,&rdquo; I commented. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;And we all rely on input we receive from special groups of shooters. For instance, we sought input from the mounted shooters of Cowboy Action Shooting for what they wanted in a revolver. It took several attempts to get it right, but we finally produced a model to suit their needs,&rdquo; Fifer said. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">He also cited a study-group of expert varmint shooters who gave input on what features to include in a new under-development model and noted that the SR556 was the result of &ldquo;input from operators in Iraq.&rdquo; </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I questioned that last statement. To my knowledge, Ruger has no SR556s in the sandbox. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re right. We don&rsquo;t have a single gun in service, but we asked operators what they wanted and they said they didn&rsquo;t want a gas impingement system, that they wanted a piston system,&rdquo; Fifer averred. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked if he was aware that an elite special forces group had been fielding HK 416s with very bad results&mdash;lots of failures&mdash;and that the shine had gone off the piston-driven apple, at least with this elite unit. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">&ldquo;No, I wasn&rsquo;t aware of that,&rdquo; Fifer admitted. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Moving back to his market-driven approach of seeking customer feedback, Fifer said that there&rsquo;s a link on the Ruger Web site to e-mail the CEO. &ldquo;I get about 5,000 e-mails a year. I obviously can&rsquo;t reply to every one of them, but I assure you that I read every one of them. If someone wants to get word to the top guy at Ruger, all they have to do is e-mail me. I&rsquo;ve called people into my office over customer e-mails. I pay attention to the customer,&rdquo; Fifer said. </span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">And with that, I thank him for his time and meander back into the aisles of IWA, still looking for something German to write about.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2253&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2246&cid=25Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="color: #000000;">I&rsquo;m strolling the IWA firearms and hunting trade show in Nuremberg, Germany looking for interesting story material from the heartland of hunting country. Germany boasts more hunters than any other country in Europe and&nbsp;hunting is more like a religion here than a sport, hobby or pastime. It takes in excess of two years to pass&nbsp;the German hunting license exam and the &ldquo;jager&rdquo; tradition here is steeped in ritual and romance. A wild boar or roe deer is toasted when it&rsquo;s shot and a ceremonial &ldquo;last meal&rdquo; is placed in its mouth as a token of respect.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">So what do I find here in Germany? A great chance to interview the CEO of Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">I&rsquo;m walking into Hall 2, on my way to look for something German to write about, and I see Mike Fifer in the </span></span><a href="http://www.ruger.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">Ruger</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;"> booth, relaxed and alone. That&rsquo;s weird. <span class="699380313-16032010">CEOs of companies the size and importance of Ruger are usually secreted in meetings with key customers or other VIPs during trade shows.</span> I veer off and approach him.</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">Two uninterrupted hours later, the affable chief executive looks at me and smiles and says: &ldquo;I think this is the longest interview I&rsquo;ve ever given.&rdquo; I nod my thanks as I think to myself, &ldquo;Only at IWA, the show where no one knows your name.&rdquo;</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">The beauty of a show like IWA is that guys like Mike Fifer are not swamped with a meeting schedule. You can catch them in their booth, talking to passers-by and, quite by chance, buttonhole them for an in-depth interview.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">The first topic Fifer wants to address is what he feels is a grossly unfair situation between the ease with which foreign gun companies export to the U.S. and the hurdles American gun companies face in selling guns overseas.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m calling for a tit-for-tat policy. If the number one and number two handguns in America are from European countries that totally prohibit U.S.-made handguns, then we should reciprocate. We will have a perfect mirror. We&rsquo;ll follow whatever they do. If their regulations loosen, ours will loosen. If theirs become more strict, ours will become equally strict. We&rsquo;ll do the same as they do. Tit-for-tat,&rdquo; Fifer said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">Clearly, Ruger&rsquo;s new CEO (he came aboard in mid-2006) is chafing at the unfair trade bit that&rsquo;s placed in America&rsquo;s mouth by foreign countries with highly Draconian gun laws. The first and second place handguns he refers to are the&nbsp;Glock and the&nbsp;XD, from Austria and Croatia respectively. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t sell any handguns in either of those countries,&rdquo; he huffs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">I respectfully point out that free trade is not an issue that any one industry can affect because America&rsquo;s trade polices are a complex web of issues that span everything from farm subsidies to banana tariffs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not talking about tariffs or taxes. I&rsquo;m referring to regulations that prohibit us from selling into a country that has no such restriction to stop them from selling to us. A simple tit-for-tat policy would level the playing field for all of us,&rdquo; the former Naval Academy graduate said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">To add insult to injury, the U.S. government recently purchased 200,000 (not a typo)&nbsp;Glock pistols for the Iraqi police. According to Insider sources, the non-competitive deal didn&rsquo;t allow Ruger or any other American company a chance to bid; it was a slam-dunk for the Austrians, orchestrated by former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr who is employed by Glock as a lobbyist.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">Granted, Ruger has some obstacles in exporting handguns and faces stiff competition from European gunmakers like SIG, Beretta, Glock and XD, but there are some successes. One of the most notable of them is right there in the booth with us, the Ruger LCP .380 Auto.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">Find out what Michael Fifer has to say about some Ruger's newest products and&nbsp;the direction he's taking the company in my&nbsp;next Industry Insider blog. </span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #000000;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2246&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2231&cid=25Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Here at the IWA show in Nurnberg, Germany, art is on display. This event is a firearms, shooting and hunting trade show, the European version of the SHOT Show, and it serves as a sharp reminder of the differences in the shooting sports between the Old and New&nbsp;Worlds.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Art is the primary difference or, ironically, a metaphor for the contrasting styles of the European and American gun markets. Here in Europe, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right. Hunting is a sport of, if not royalty, then at least the well-to-do.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The best selling hunting rifle in Germany, and all of Europe for that matter, is not Remington, Winchester, Weatherby or&nbsp;Ruger. It is Blaser.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Blaser is a niche brand in America, an odd-ball &ldquo;bolt action&rdquo; that&rsquo;s really not a bolt-action at all in the conventional sense. Most Americans think of Blaser as that weird rifle, Euro-techy, with a straight-pull bolt, ambidextrous bolt-knob and switch-caliber barrels. A basic model starts at $3,500.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">If Blaser has a 1 percent share of the American hunting rifle market, I&rsquo;d be surprised. If they have less than 60 percent over here, I&rsquo;d be equally open-mouthed.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Blaser comes into its own here at the IWA show. Their booth is ostentatious. It&rsquo;s part of a gigantic Sauer booth where, one American exhibitor observed, &ldquo;You can land a helicopter.&rdquo; Elaborately engraved and gold inlaid models are on display with Turkish walnut stocks that give new meaning to the phrase &ldquo;exhibition grade walnut.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Krieghoff is not far behind. The German shotgun and riflemaker is displaying an over-under shotgun with sumptuous engraving in a &ldquo;horse theme,&rdquo; as they describe it. Art being art, I can&rsquo;t really describe it other than it&rsquo;s a modernistic design with Bolino style engraving of wild horses with flowing manes. Frankly, it&rsquo;s a little&nbsp;feminine in my opinion, but I&rsquo;m sure a Marquis or a Count will buy it.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The best guns are in Hall 3 where the gunmakers from the town of Ferlach, Austria display their wares. Ferlach is a throw-back to the Middle Ages, a town in which the guild system is still alive in the custom gun trade with traditional handcraftsmanship passed from master to apprentice.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The godfather of Ferlach is Peter Hofer. On a previous visit to IWA, I chanced by the Hofer booth and saw a transaction taking place. Peter was discussing a purchase with a customer I recognized. It was Ugo Beretta. I went to the Hofer booth earlier today and, while I didn&rsquo;t see Mr. Beretta or any other magnates, I did see the world&rsquo;s largest double rifle next to the world&rsquo;s smallest&mdash;a 4 bore beside a .17 HMR.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Two of the rifles I was told not to photograph. One of them, a&nbsp;double rifle,&nbsp;had see-through side-plates with jewels inside the action. Another was stunningly engraved in the Bulino style that has made Hofer&rsquo;s gun famous worldwide. Hofer guns start in the six-figures and go into the seven.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">One gun that caught my eye on this tour of Hall 3 was the &ldquo;Africa Tribute&rdquo; by Karl Hauptmann, another Ferlach gunmaker. The gun was a .470 Nitro Express with chiseled deep-relief engraving of the Big Five. The safety was a carved crocodile and the action lever was a hippo&rsquo;s head. I asked the price: 450,000 Euro (over $600,000). </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">So is the high-end of the gun market holding its own while the rest of the economy is sagging? No it&rsquo;s not, according to Allan Utermark from the storied firm of Holland &amp; Holland. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re keeping our head above water, but that&rsquo;s about it,&rdquo; he told me. Allan also allowed that a new Holland &amp; Holland starts at 85,000 pounds. (That&rsquo;s over $120,000, but the dollar is gaining on the pound, so hang in there.)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Needless to say, I didn&rsquo;t buy anything at IWA today. And I won&rsquo;t tomorrow either, at least not in Hall 3. I&rsquo;ll look around for bargains tomorrow, so check back on my blog and see what I find.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">View Industry Insider's IWA <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/GalleryItem.aspx?cid=22&amp;gid=57&amp;id=323" target="_blank">Photo Gallery of Guns</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2231&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2212&cid=25Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Longtime firearms importer and marketer Michael Kassnar has closed the doors to KBI Products whose best-known brand, Charles Daly,&nbsp;should resurface under a new marketing company, according to a public letter Kassnar posted on the Internet.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;To all our friends, fans, supporters and consumers of Charles Daly and by extension, KBI products, I regret to inform you that the rumors of our demise are true. KBI is going out of business and closing its doors.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;I don't want to go into each and every detail as to why this has occurred, except to say that there have been a multitude of events over the past five years that have contributed to our current situation.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;For those of you with ongoing service requirements, please be advised that we are currently negotiating with several companies that will be performing after-sale service of Charles Daly, CD Defense and Jericho firearms. As soon as we have finalized a contract with one of these companies we will post the name, address and contact details of that company so you will know who to contact to obtain service on your KBI firearm.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;Again, I wish to thank all of you that have supported our company, this forum and Charles Daly these past 20 years. This spells the end of KBI but I imagine it will certainly not mean the end of Charles Daly and CD Defense. Look for this excellent brand to resurface in the very near future,&rdquo; Kassnar said in his statement.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Kassnar told <em>Gun Week</em> that one reason for the closure was that he had entered the AR-15 market at the worst possible time, right when the buying surge ended. He said over $8 million worth of orders were cancelled as retailers suddenly cut back in the face of dried-up demand.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Charles Daly had only then introduced a series of CD Defense firearms of which an AR-15 was the main attraction. &ldquo;The consumer just stopped buying,&rdquo; Kassnar told <em>Gun Week</em>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Kassnar has always been known for his forthright business dealings, and the Insider wishes him good luck in rebuilding the Charles Daly brand in a future enterprise.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2212&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2204&cid=25Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> is the leading brand of rifles and shotguns according to a <a href="http://www.southwickassociates.com/" target="_blank">Southwick Associates'</a>&nbsp;survey of nearly 45,000 hunters and target shooters conducted through <a href="http://www.huntersurvey.com/" target="_blank">Huntersurvey.com</a>.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">However, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Big Green&rsquo;s brand dominance in the rifle category was only 17 percent, which tells me that the rifle market is highly segmented.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">However, in the&nbsp;shotgun market Remington garnered a much more impressive 22 percent&nbsp;of all shotguns purchased by survey respondents.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.tcarms.com/" target="_blank">Thompson/Center</a> owns a dominant share of the muzzleloader market&mdash;no surprise there&mdash;with 30 percent&nbsp;of all purchases and&nbsp;Pyrodex was by far the leading blackpowder propellant.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Ammunition in the survey was broken down into three categories with <a href="http://www.winchester.com/Pages/Home.aspx" target="_blank">Winchester</a> topping shotgun ammo&nbsp;with 32&nbsp;percent&nbsp;and handgun ammo&nbsp;with 22 percent,&nbsp;while Remington was the favorite rifle ammo with 29 percent&nbsp;of all purchases.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">In reloading, <a href="http://www.hodgdon.com/" target="_blank">Hodgdon</a> was the preferred propellant brand with a impressive&nbsp;37 percent&nbsp;market share, while <a href="http://www.cci-ammunition.com/" target="_blank">CCI</a> led primer sales&nbsp;with 36 percent&nbsp;of all purchases. <a href="http://www.hornady.com/" target="_blank">Hornady</a> was by far&nbsp;the favorite bullet maker with a&nbsp;30 percent&nbsp;market share.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Surprisingly, <a href="http://www.bushnell.com/hunting/" target="_blank">Bushnell</a> emerged as the top selling brand&nbsp;for both&nbsp;riflescopes and binoculars with 17 percent&nbsp;and 20 percent&nbsp;respectively. I say &ldquo;surprisingly&rdquo; because many believe that&nbsp;in the optics market, <a href="http://www.leupold.com/" target="_blank">Leupold</a> holds the largest market share with <a href="http://www.nikonhunting.com/" target="_blank">Nikon</a> coming in&nbsp;second.<br /><br />Other interesting facts from the 2009 survey include some seasonal findings. The most popular month for purchasing hunting gear was November, with target shooters purchasing the majority of their gear in June. Febuary was month that most respondents purchased&nbsp;self-defense items.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The marketing data presented here is a summary of a 197-page report that details consumer behavior, including what products and brands are purchased, where they are bought, how much customers spend, and demographics of hunters and target shooters broken out by each product category. Current information about what gear and brands hunters and target shooters prefer, how many days they spend afield and what type of hunting and shooting they enjoy most is vital to businesses trying to build their customer base.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">To purchase a subscription to this data, contact Donna Leonard at <a href="mailto:donna@southwickassociates.com" target="_blank">donna@southwickassociates.com</a>.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2204&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2172&cid=25Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Ever wonder how so many in the firearm industry ended up dressing so similar? The story is probably not what you think. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;Tactical pants&rdquo; actually came from the greener side of the outdoor industry through the efforts of Dan Costa, a guy with no experience in the firearms world. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">However, Costa realized that the features needed in mountain climbing would be suitable to others who were hard on clothing, such as police and other tactical shooters. He purchased the mountaineering clothing company and started marketing their pants to shooters. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Once the FBI started issuing these &ldquo;tactical pants&rdquo; to instructors and cadets at Quantico, their popularity quickly grew among the police and shooting world. This led other companies to develop tactical clothing, which only made them even more popular. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Read my full story, <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2183&amp;cid=1" target="_blank">Revenge of the Clone Army</a>, to learn why we in the shooting industry can't get enough of this "tactical clothing."</span></div> </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2172&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2173&cid=25Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="color: #000000;">It&rsquo;s nothing you wouldn&rsquo;t predict or expect when a new product suddenly rockets to success&mdash;competition arrives. I never kept a timeline on who was the first to jump on 5.11&rsquo;s tactical clothing bandwagon, but once the sharks smelled money in the water, they swarmed quickly.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="color: #000000;">Having seen earlier how the &ldquo;tactical clothing&rdquo; phenomenon grew like a </span><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2183&amp;cid=1" target="_blank">Clone Army</a></span><span style="color: #000000;"> out of a rebranded pair of mountaineering pants, the obvious follow-up is&nbsp;a look at what happened next.</span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">&nbsp;<span class="247395214-25022010">Read my full story, <span style="color: #800080;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=2199&amp;cid=3" target="_blank">Tactical Clothing, A Crowded Space</a></span>, to find out.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-size: small;">There&rsquo;s a lot going on with the &ldquo;tactical clothing&rdquo; segment of the industry. Me? I think I&rsquo;ll go back to wearing jeans.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2173&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2149&cid=25Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Mark DeYoung, an avid shooter, hunter and outdoorsman, has been named president and CEO of ATK. The 51-year-old MBA came to ATK in 1995 after working at Hercules Powder, manufacturer of 2400, Blue Dot and other longtime standbys of reloaders.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">DeYoung is now the chief executive of what I will venture to say is the biggest company in the shooting industry. With sales of $4.8 billion and 18,000 employees in 22 states, ATK is much larger than many people realize.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">ATK&rsquo;s other business units include rockets, aerospace, advanced munitions and space propulsion. Yes, it does take &ldquo;rocket science&rdquo; to keep ATK moving forward.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">DeYoung previously led ATK's Armament Systems group as president of the company's largest business entity where he led the group's expansion from approximately $600 million of revenue in 2003, to a projected $2.1 billion in revenue for 2010. That&rsquo;s the sort of &ldquo;rocket science&rdquo; that gets attention.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">"The Board of Directors reviewed a select group of outstanding and highly qualified internal and external candidates," said Gen. Ron Fogleman (ret.), chairman of the board. "Mark emerged as the most qualified to lead the company. His breadth of experience across ATK's core businesses, his strategic vision, results-driven leadership style and focus on delivering long-term shareholder value will position our company for continued success in the years to come."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">DeYoung has demonstrated his command of &ldquo;lean&rdquo; manufacturing initiatives and modernization efforts that produced greater margins and improvements within Armament Systems. Through aggressive acquisition and organic growth into adjacent markets, Armament Systems expanded into commercial ammunition, the tactical accessories market, and international markets for non-standard ammunition and medium-caliber gun systems.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">"I am honored to become ATK's CEO," said DeYoung.&nbsp;"Our company is already a leading force in aerospace, defense, and commercial markets. We will build and expand on that success.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">"We have an outstanding, dedicated workforce that consistently delivers our company's unique and extremely competitive brand of affordable innovation. We will continue to focus on performance and execution, expanding into new markets and delivering on our programs of record while strengthening both top-line and bottom-line results. ATK is a company making a difference and I look forward to helping make a great company become even better."</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2149&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2098&cid=25Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Alright, the jig&rsquo;s up. The liberal media has you dead to rights so you might as well come clean. Admit it: you&rsquo;re a (gasp!) Christian.<br /><br />Acting as if they&rsquo;d just discovered a scandalous skeleton in the closet of Michigan-based optics maker <a href="http://www.trijicon.com/Trijicon.cfm?CFID=2007517&amp;CFTOKEN=94949527" target="_blank">Trijicon Inc.</a>, ABC News reported that the U.S. Marine Corps is considering whether to rescind a contract for ACOG riflescopes because of a reference to Biblical scripture engraved on sights delivered to the Marines.<br /><br />"We are aware of the issue and are concerned with how this may be perceived," Capt. Geraldine Carey, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, said in a statement. "We will meet with the vendor to discuss future sight procurements." Carey added that when the initial contract for ACOG sights was issued in 2005, the ACOG was the only optic that met the Corps&rsquo; needs.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="http://www.semperfidepot.com/filedata/brands/112TrijiconLogo.gif" alt="" width="231" height="148" /><br /><br />However, a spokesperson for CentCom, the U.S. military's overall command in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he did not understand why the issue was any different from U.S. money with religious inscriptions on it. "The perfect parallel that I see," said Maj. John Redfield, "is between the statement that's on the back of our dollar bills, which is 'In God We Trust,' and we haven't moved away from that."<br /><br />Added Redfield, "Unless the equipment that's being used that has these inscriptions proved to be less than effective for soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and military folks using it, I wouldn't see why we would stop using that."<br /><br />As ABC News reported Monday, the sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. Trijicon has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.<br /><br />U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan to prevent a perception that the U.S. is engaged in a Crusade against Islam.<br /><br />The Biblical references are found on the base of the ACOGs, immediately after the serial number. JO8:12 refers to John 8:12 which says, &ldquo;Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.&rdquo;<br /><br />Another &ldquo;hidden&rdquo; inscription was 2COR4:6 which refers to Second Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 6. The verse reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."<br /><br />The Insider has visited Trijicon&rsquo;s headquarters in Wixom, Mich. and I can attest that it&rsquo;s all true&mdash;company president Steve Binden, son of the founder of the company, is actively involved in his church and has donated generously to Christian charities. He is a good man who has put his faith before his wallet and has probably done more philanthropic work than I know about.<br /><br />I was favorably impressed when I saw a Biblical verse chiseled into a stone in the entry to the company&rsquo;s headquarters.<br /><br />The fact that ABC News has taken such a condescending tone in reporting this harmless &ldquo;scandal&rdquo; reveals once more how pervasively the liberal media has accepted the doctrine of secular humanism. To them, the very idea of displaying any sort of faith-based concept outside of a church is abhorrent.<br /><br />I say bravo to Trijicon for having the courage of their convictions and three cheers for Steve Binden for his tangible expressions of his Christian faith.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2098&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2100&cid=25Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The Shooting, Hunting &amp; Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show ended in Las Vegas. My contacts in the industry generally share a gloomy outlook for the gun business in 2010, although there are several significant bright spots.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;The high-end optics business is hurting, no question about it,&rdquo; said one marketer with considerable experience selling the three biggest European riflescope brands.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Before the SHOT Show even got underway, Zeiss recently announced a price reduction on their best-selling Conquest 3-9x40 mm to $399. It was formerly $499.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">One of the most promising segments is in handguns, namely the .380 concealed carry pistol. Smith &amp; Wesson introduced a new Bodyguard model that comes with an integral laser sight from Insight Technology.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">When I asked a Smith &amp; Wesson insider if he anticipated as many orders as the Ruger LCP garnered on its debut&mdash;in excess of 70,000 guns were bought during the SHOT Show when it was released&mdash;his one word answer was, &ldquo;More.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Confirming the .380 pocket pistol&rsquo;s red-hot status, a highly placed source at Hornady told me that .380 ACP is the one cartridge that they simply can&rsquo;t keep up with.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Overall, however, industry executives are resigned to a flat 2010. The pushed-forward demand that drove up sales, in what industry wags sarcastically refer to as &ldquo;Obama&rsquo;s stimulus package&rdquo; for the gun business, is over.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Some of the highlights from the show that caught my eye:<br /><br />&bull; A new double rifle from EAA, made in Italy, that has all the hallmarks of a classic African safari rifle&hellip; for under $4,000. The entire production run of about 500 guns was gobbled up by Cabela&rsquo;s.<br /><br />&bull; Smith &amp; Wesson&rsquo;s radical new Bodyguard revolver with a totally new lockwork, including a cylinder latch on top of the backstrap.<br /><br />&bull; LWRC&rsquo;s new Rapid Engagement Precision Rifle (REPR), a .308 Win. semi-auto along the lines of the Armalite AR-10 or Knight SR-25.<br /><br />&bull; Bushmaster and Remington&rsquo;s new Adaptive Combat Rifle (ACR), a gas-piston AR-derivative.<br /><br />&bull; Bushnell&rsquo;s laser range finding binoculars.<br /><br />As the show ended, the industry shared in the elation over Tuesday&rsquo;s dramatic election result in Massachusetts. &ldquo;The election of Scott Brown is a very welcome surprise. It shows that the only thing that&rsquo;s really bankrupt in America right now is the liberal agenda,&rdquo; said an industry watcher.<br /><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2100&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2093&cid=25Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Department of Justice (DOJ) culminated an ongoing investigation with the arrest of 22 executives and employees of companies in the military and law enforcement products industry. The arrests took place on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas as the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor&nbsp; (SHOT) Show opened.<br /><br />The suspects were indicted for engaging in schemes to bribe foreign government officials to obtain and retain business, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, along with U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director Kevin Perkins of the FBI&rsquo;s Criminal Investigative Division, according to a DOJ news release. Twenty-one of the suspects were arrested in Las Vegas. One defendant was arrested in Miami. The indictments stem from an FBI undercover operation that focused on allegations of foreign bribery.<br /><br />The 16 indictments unsealed today represent the largest single investigation and prosecution against individuals in the history of DOJ&rsquo;s enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a law that prohibits U.S. persons and companies, and foreign persons and companies acting in the United States, from bribing foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. The indictments unsealed today were returned on Dec. 11, 2009, by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., according to the DOJ news release.<br /><br />The indictments allege that the suspects engaged in a scheme to pay bribes to the minister of defense for a country in Africa. In fact, the scheme was part of the undercover operation, with no actual involvement from any minister of defense. As part of the undercover operation, the suspects allegedly agreed to pay a 20 percent "commission" to a sales agent whom the defendants believed represented the minister of defense in order to win a portion of a $15 million deal to outfit the country&rsquo;s presidential guard.<br /><br />In reality, the "sales agent" was an undercover FBI agent. The defendants allegedly agreed to create two price quotations in connection with the deals, with one quote representing the true cost of the goods and the second quote representing the true cost, plus the "commission."<br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The defendants also allegedly agreed to engage in a small "test" deal to show the minister of defense that he would personally receive the 10 percent bribe.<br /><br />Among those arrested was Amaro Goncalves, vice president of law enforcement sales for Smith &amp; Wesson. In a&nbsp;statement, S&amp;W said, &ldquo;Through media reports today, we became aware of the Justice Department enforcement actions which were taken yesterday and which made reference to an employee of our company. We have no information beyond what has been reported and are prepared to cooperate fully with law enforcement in their investigation into this matter.&rdquo;<br /></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2093&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2085&cid=25Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Welcome to Las Vegas! The SHOT Show got underway today, the annual convention of gun dealers, manufacturers, distributors, importers, exporters and anyone remotely connected to the firearms trade. There will be about 40,000 of us descending on the town that Obama reviled for its excess.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">To which I have two words to say to that: Bring it!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Even though the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoors Trade (SHOT) Show officially began today, yesterday was a must-attend day for journalists and other writers as dozens of manufacturers hosted Media Day. Beginning at 8 a.m. and running right through until, well, whoever is last to leave one of the several parties hosted by various companies.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I started the day at the Browning/Winchester event held at the Desert Sportsman&rsquo;s Club, a shooting range in the foothills west of Vegas. There were rifle, shotgun and pistol ranges with Browning and Winchester long guns on the former two and Taurus handguns on the latter. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">New Bushnell riflescopes with bullet-drop reticles adorned all of the Z-Bolts and other rifles. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">For reasons I&rsquo;ve never understood, every year sees the birth of a new shotgun. You&rsquo;d think that smoothbores are just fine the way they are, but clearly you wouldn&rsquo;t think that if you were in the marketing department of a shotgun company because a &ldquo;new and improved&rdquo; model is annually springing forth. I&rsquo;ve lost track of how many iterations there are of Browning&rsquo;s legendary Citori.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I tried a sporting clays 20 ga. O/U with what I can only describe as curiously long barrels. I thought 30-inch barrels were overly long, but then came 32-inch tubes and I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if this soon year there aren&rsquo;t 34-inch stack-barrels.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Leaving there, I drove with my two buddies, Brad and Paul, over to Nellis Air Force Base for the most coveted of the various media events, the one hosted by FN. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">After a thorough safety brief, the gathered media members, some 60 in all, decamped for the ranges. Paul and I made a bee-line for the machinegun range. FN had M240 Bravos, SAWs and their new 40 mike-mike grenade launcher for us to try.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;Only two rounds of 40 mike-mike apiece,&rdquo; the range officer said. &ldquo;Those babies are expensive.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Paul fired an M240 Bravo, our standard-issue 7.62mm light machinegun. He had never fired a belt-fed before, so he was stoked. We both shot the grenade launcher. It was cool to watch the &ldquo;practice&rdquo; grenades arc toward the target (a hill). You could easily see the round in flight. The recoil was pronounced, but not painful.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">My friend Brad wanted to shoot a quick and dirty three-gun match on one of the ranges. You started with a SCAR Light and engaged three bowling pins at 30 yards, set the gun down (safely) then ran to a waiting shotgun, engaged six targets at 10 yards and then sprinted for a 9 mm FN pistol and fired eight rounds at four targets. Brad ran it in 31 seconds. I was slower at 37 seconds.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Later that night at FN&rsquo;s party, Brad won the grand prize in the raffle, a SCAR Light, and I won a P90 for placing smack-dab in the 50 percentile of the three-gun shoot.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">&ldquo;I shot a better score and you won a gun,&rdquo; Brad groused good-naturedly. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s up with that?&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I ended the day at a media party hosted by Zeiss. I got home at midnight, a 16-hour day of shooting and schmoozing. Not bad for a first day at the SHOT Show.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2085&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2072&cid=25Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Dallas Safari Club (DSC) just wrapped up its annual hunting convention which it bills as the &ldquo;greatest hunting show on earth.&rdquo; Attracting 20,000 visitors to peruse 700 exhibitors showcasing every imaginable hunting destination, the Dallas show is indeed becoming a vital show for anyone serious about big game hunting.<br /><br />Of course the hunting show that still sits atop the hill is Safari Club International&rsquo;s (SCI) annual convention, which takes place next week in Reno, Nev. The Dallas show has been growing and growing, but it still has a long way to catch the mother of all hunting shows. I&rsquo;d guess the SCI Show is about four times bigger than Dallas in terms of square footage and number of exhibitors.<br /><br />Industry insiders know that SCI and DSC have endured a rocky relationship. Dallas was one of the first chapters of SCI when the organization was founded by C.J. McElroy in 1979. Because of the large number of wealthy hunters in Texas, and Dallas in particular, the Dallas chapter was one of the largest generators of money for SCI&rsquo;s conservation projects.<br /><br />Eventually, however, Texans being Texans, they bristled at the thought of sending so much money back to headquarters when there were plenty of local conservation programs that they would rather support. Egos being egos, the chapter split off from SCI and formed its own organization&mdash;the Dallas Safari Club.<br /><br />Soon thereafter, the Houston chapter of SCI also broke away to form the Houston Safari Club (HSC). The idea of joining Houston and Dallas into the Texas Safari Club has never come to pass.<br /><br />It is not surprising that money and egos were the two main&nbsp;reasons for these respective organizations to come into being. McElroy, the late founder of SCI, had an out-sized view of himself and ran SCI like his personal private country club. When he was finally forced out of the organization, he left with ownership of the convention, the single biggest source of revenue. He later sold the convention back to SCI.<br /><br />If there was ever a chance to reunite these groups, it&rsquo;s long since passed, however, they all work toward raising public awareness of the benefits of sustained utilization of wildlife and contributing money to fund conservation and legislative initiatives. Today, all of the &ldquo;SC&rdquo; hunting organizations play well together, at least on the surface.<br /><br />I&rsquo;m a Life Member of SCI and an annual member of DSC. I try to attend the SCI show every year and the DSC show as often as possible. In fact, I just returned from a bitterly cold Dallas and the DSC show. As usual, I ran into a lot of old friends in the African safari hunting business as well as industry acquaintances.<br /><br />Overall, the international hunting business remains hard-hit by the global recession. Big-ticket hunts are not selling like they did before the crash. However, hunting is a passion and not a business, so those who can still afford to hunt are doing so, which is keeping the industry alive.<br /><br />I&rsquo;ll be attending the SCI show in Reno next week and I&rsquo;ll see if the overall &ldquo;cautious outlook&rdquo; carries over there from Dallas. I&rsquo;ll keep you posted.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2072&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2050&cid=25Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The <em>Wall Street Journal</em> in its December 17 edition cautioned investors to &ldquo;cut their exposure&rdquo; in publically traded gun companies Smith &amp; Wesson and Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. because of &ldquo;so much gun demand already pushed forward.&rdquo;<br /><br />The respected New York financial newspaper cited Ruger&rsquo;s 74 percent surge in gun sales in the first nine months of the year as part of what the <em>Journal</em> described as panic-buying spurred by fears of restrictive gun laws courtesy of President Barack Obama.<br /><br />However, since no such gun legislation has materialized, the Journal said, the mad rush to stockpile firearms suddenly abated. The <em>Journal</em> cited Smith &amp; Wesson&rsquo;s precipitous decline of 46 percent in sales-booked-ahead in&nbsp;October with 30 percent of the decline coming from cancelled orders.<br /><br />Meanwhile, S&amp;W&rsquo;s stock price was $3.95 on the day of the <em>Journal&rsquo;s</em> report, down nearly 50 percent from its 52-week high. The <em>Journal</em> also noted that November background checks for the purchase of firearms fell nearly 20 percent from a year earlier, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<br /><br />During this&nbsp;time, the Insider has documented an industry-wide sales slump. One manufacturer of aftermarket AR-15 magazines recently&nbsp;reported a cancellation of 40,000 units from one distributor alone. A longtime industry observer told the Insider that the slowdown began around Easter and accelerated through the summer.<br /><br />When the <em>Journal</em> referred to &ldquo;so much gun demand already pulled forward,&rdquo; what they meant was that consumers stocked up in the early part of the year and that those same consumers won&rsquo;t be buying again for some time to come. This doesn&rsquo;t mean that shooters won&rsquo;t continue to buy guns, but that a good deal of their &ldquo;gun money&rdquo; has already been spent.<br /><br />The Insider is of the opinion that a refocused Obama might well turn his eye toward such long-cherished liberal-agenda items as gun control once he accomplishes his major priorities. If that happens, Smith and Ruger stock will skyrocket. The buying binge will be back.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2050&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2045&cid=25Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">One of the sharpest marketing executives in the gun business, Dwight Van Brunt, has written a tell-all book revealing some of the juiciest stories in his long and varied career in the industry. The former director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and marketing director of Burris optics has finally broken his silence and unveiled his secret:<br /><br />Dwight Van Brunt was &ldquo;Born A Hunter.&rdquo;<br /><br />This is the title of Dwight&rsquo;s autobiographical book about his world-wide hunting adventures, leaving those of us who were hoping for a no-holds-barred account of his stellar marketing work for one of the most successful handgun companies in the industry aching for the real insider dirt. <br /><br />&ldquo;Born A Hunter&rdquo; is 28-chapter book in which each chapter is devoted to a specific species. Dwight jumps back and forth between Africa and North America, keeping the reader enthralled and entertained. The writing is fresh, lively and remarkably well crafted for a first book. Some of the chapters are reprinted from magazine stories that Dwight has written for leading outdoor magazines such as Sporting Classics, but most are completely original. <br /><br />Two themes run throughout &ldquo;Born A Hunter,&rdquo; and both are transparent in their unrestrained outpouring of Dwight&rsquo;s true heart. The first is his love for his family and how much pride and joy he takes in watching them develop as hunters and people. The second is his unabashed love for the outdoors and for the true spirit of fair chase hunting and the selective shooting of trophy animals.<br /><br />The book is handsomely illustrated by Jocelyn Russell in pen-and-ink drawings of the various species that Dwight describes in his wonderfully descriptive style. The original oil she painted for the dust jacket is a good rendition of a scowling Cape buffalo that Dwight shot in Namibia.<br /><br />One story,&ldquo;Ross&rsquo; Bullet,&rdquo; is a delightful short story about how Dwight&rsquo;s son would secrete a small item into his father&rsquo;s hunting gear as a symbol that he was thinking of his dad and was with him in spirit even if the confounded demands of grade school prevented him from accompanying his dad. In the story, Dwight finds a yellow wooden bullet that son Ross shot from his toy rifle in with his handloaded ammunition that he was taking on an elk hunt. Dwight shares just how touched he was with his son&rsquo;s gesture and how much he loves his boy.<br /><br />A similar emotional impact hits you as you read about Dwight&rsquo;s love of the great Alaskan wilderness and the raw beauty of Africa. Woven in there are some of the most descriptive passages of a hunter&rsquo;s exhilaration and excitement of chasing grizzly bear, leopard, moose, kudu and all the other great trophies that Dwight readily admits has been his blessed good fortune to hunt.<br /><br />If you&rsquo;re passionate about hunting, you need to add &ldquo;Born A Hunter&rdquo; to your bookshelf. From one insider to another, good job, Dwight.<br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2045&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2032&cid=25Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back in the day, I was among the approximately 200,000 FFL holders who engaged in what you might call &ldquo;casual business.&rdquo; I was not a stocking dealer, I held no city or state business licenses, I collected no sales tax. I was a hobbyist, a basement bandit, a kitchen table dealer. <br /><br />Or in the words of the late Bill Bridgewater of the now-defunct National Association of Stocking Gun Dealers, I was &ldquo;pond scum.&rdquo;<br /><br />At the time&mdash;we&rsquo;re talking in the &lsquo;80s and early &lsquo;90s&mdash;an FFL cost $10 a year and merely required that the license holder be engaged in business. I was editor-in-chief of <em>American Handgunner</em> magazine and I needed an FFL to receive guns to test for the magazine.<br /><br />The fact that I bought a few of them and allowed a few buddies to order on my FFL was all part of the casual nature of my business.<br /><br />The day of the&nbsp;hobby dealer has long past. Bridgewater and his organization successfully lobbied to amend the licensing procedure to require compliance with local and state business laws, including zoning laws.<br /><br />Basement bandits like me almost universally used their homes as their business address, and Bridgewater argued that a business cannot be conducted from property that is zoned as residential. When the new FFL requirements went into effect, the hobbyist license holder was decimated. <br /><br />From a top number of somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 dealers, there are&nbsp;about&nbsp;60,000 today with about 47,000 of these&nbsp;being Type 1 holders. Bridgewater&rsquo;s stated goal was to drive the &ldquo;pond scum&rdquo; out of the industry so that legitimate store-front dealers, like the members of his Stocking Dealer Association, could be more profitable.<br /><br />Bridgewater held the understandable, but mistaken, view that if the hobbyist FFL holders were eliminated, all the remaining dealers would immediately raise prices because there would be no more $20-over-cost competition. As a result, Bridgewater reasoned, the industry as a whole would be healthier because legitimate businessmen would be more inclined to invest in the retail side of the industry without having to worry about low-ball prices from the hobbyist license holders.<br /><br />His plan worked, to a point. The&nbsp;hobbyist&nbsp;FFL holders were whisked away by a section of the '94 crime bill passed by Congress. But what about his larger goal of increasing the profitability of the retail side of the gun business? It simply never made any difference.<br /><br />Bridgewater failed to realize that even without the &ldquo;pond scum&rdquo; competing with store-front dealers, there are still plenty of aggressive retailers who compete on price. I encountered a good example recently at a small, family-owned gun shop in Nevada.<br /><br />I saw a new Colt 6940 law enforcement carbine on the shelf for $1,150. I was surprised because the rifle was among the first ones shipped from Colt, a proverbial &ldquo;hot ticket&rdquo; item. <br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pretty good price you&rsquo;ve got on that Colt 6940,&rdquo; I commented.<br /><br />&ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s priced to move. I got one in last week and sold it the same day,&rdquo; replied the store owner. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only $150 over dealer cost. Good bargain. You interested?&rdquo;<br /><br />I declined, but I couldn&rsquo;t help but throw in my two cents.<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s only about a 10 percent margin on a hot new gun. I would think you could get fifteen-hundred for a brand-new one of these,&rdquo; I opined.<br /><br />&ldquo;Maybe, but then it&rsquo;d sit on my shelf for awhile. I&rsquo;d rather make a fast hundred-and-fifty. Sold the one I had last week the same day I got it,&rdquo; he countered.<br /><br />It seems that Bridgewater&rsquo;s goal of increasing profitability hasn't worked out too well.</span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2032&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2010&cid=25Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I&rsquo;m being watched. Covert security cameras are everywhere; atop traffic lights, in the hotel foyer, on the bus, in the subway, around the Eiffel Tower. Surveillance is huge in Europe and the Milipol show is the place to be seen if you sell snooping paraphernalia.<br /><br />American gun manufacturers are scarcely represented at this European conflux of military and police, which surprises me. I counted precisely two: <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=10001&amp;catalogId=10001&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> and <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a>. Colt Canada is here, but not Colt Connecticut. No Springfield Armory, no Kahr, no Ruger, no Winchester, no Mossberg, no one but Big Green and Big Blue.<br /><br />When I think about it, it makes sense. Most of the major players in America&rsquo;s military and police markets are European&mdash;SIG, FN, HK, Glock. However,&nbsp;Smith &amp; Wesson is doing land-office business. I stopped by their booth to chat with Joe Bergeron, their product manager who ramrods the M&amp;P product line.<br /><br />&ldquo;Why are you here, Joe?&rdquo; I ask. &ldquo;Mainly for the M&amp;P,&rdquo; Joe replies. &ldquo;Pistol or rifle?" I ask.<br /><br />&ldquo;Both. The new M&amp;P4&mdash;that&rsquo;s our full auto version of the M&amp;P15&mdash;is getting a lot of attention. Foreign customers have only been able to buy from Colt or FN, so they&rsquo;re liking our M&amp;P4 a lot,&rdquo; Joe says.<br /><br />Smith &amp; Wesson is in the American Pavilion. It&rsquo;s a section of the show floor that&rsquo;s cordoned off for U.S. companies. <a href="http://www.surefire.com/" target="_blank">SureFire</a> is displaying their new X400 WeaponLight. <a href="http://www.crimsontrace.com/" target="_blank">Crimson Trace</a> is here and so is <a href="http://www.trijicon.com/Trijicon.cfm?CFID=2007517&amp;CFTOKEN=94949527" target="_blank">Trijicon</a>.<br /><br />I get back to Joe after walking the floor and taking pictures of surveillance cameras taking pictures of me.<br /><br />&ldquo;So the AR is still hot?&rdquo; I ask him.<br /><br />&ldquo;Huge. It&rsquo;s backed off since the run-up early this year, but&hellip;&rdquo; he looks around to make sure a long-range covert microphone isn&rsquo;t listening in, &ldquo;&hellip;we&rsquo;ll do a hundred-thousand this year. Well, okay, more like ninety, but still&hellip;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s amazing! How many will Bushmaster do?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Around a hundred. They&rsquo;ve stayed even.&rdquo;<br /><br />I think back to the last reported ATF numbers when Bushmaster made about 80,000 ARs. In second place was DPMS. Both are now owned by Remington&hellip; the only other gun company here. <br /><br />&ldquo;What about Colt?&rdquo; I wonder. I mean, the AR <em>is</em> their design. Joe rolls his eyes. He used to work at Colt.<br /><br />&ldquo;You have to remember, Colt is two companies. The military part and the commercial part. They&rsquo;ve invested in the military production line and it&rsquo;s really something. They just won an M240 contract, you know.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;FN was the sole source of the SAW, wasn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; I ask, referring to the M240 by its acronym for Squad Automatic Weapon.<br /><br />&ldquo;They <em>were</em>,&rdquo; Joe replied, emphasizing the past tense.<br /><br />&ldquo;What about Colt&rsquo;s commercial side?&rdquo; I redirect.<br /><br />Joe just looks at me with one of those &ldquo;That&rsquo;s A Dumb Question And You Know It&rdquo; sort of looks that journalists often get.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2010&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2004&cid=25Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">No more $12 coffees for me. I'm going to do Milipol for a dollar a day.<br /><br />After bluffing my way into a free coffee as a Russian oligarch yesterday, I was reminded of the level of hospitality at European trade shows. Most of the exhibitors offer refreshments, so I dispensed with subterfuge, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the Milipol show where I quickly hob-nobbed into the Safariland booth. What are friends for except bumming free food?<br /><br />My old buddy Scott Carnahan was on hand to usher me to Safariland&rsquo;s stand where fresh sandwiches and a Nestle espresso machine waited. Scott has been with Safariland since I first met him at a Southwest Pistol League combat match in 1985. I&rsquo;ve been through three or four employers since then. <br />I started by hitting him up for a small cheese sandwich and a glass of Evian, followed by a coffee. That hit the spot.<br /><br />Because Safariland is now owned by BAE Systems, the gigantic British aerospace company, Scott holds a typically convoluted corporate title. His business card says &ldquo;vice president, category and segment marketing, duty gear, less lethal and firearms accessories.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;What does that mean?&rdquo; I ask my chum. Scott shrugged. &ldquo;Marketing,&rdquo; he replied.<br /><br />He does it well. Safariland recently nailed a large holster contract, equipping the entire French police&mdash;from village constables to the elite Gendarmerie and everyone in between, some 300,000 holsters total&mdash;with a snatch-proof Level III Safariland duty holster. Plain clothes officers included, although with a concealed version.<br /><br />Marketing is what shows like Milipol are all about. The goal is to fly the corporate flag, which involves handing out brochures and catalogs and keychains and lapel pins while salesmen describe the product and offer &ldquo;show specials&rdquo; to entice customers to buy on the spot. Wining and dining comes into play too an shows like Milipol. There&rsquo;s no better city for eating out than Paris (Not even New York).<br /><br />I saw some interesting marketing taking place in an aisle. A manufacturer of a high-tech &ldquo;riot suit&rdquo; was demonstrating its product by having a &ldquo;rioter&rdquo; attack a policeman wearing the suit&mdash;with a baseball bat. I didn&rsquo;t think you could buy a baseball bat in France. <br /><br />The suit was impressive. The blows resounded with a sharp plastic crack, but the policeman was unphased. They should be able to sell a boatload of these things to British soccer police. If marketing is all about making a memorable impression, here was a good example.<br /><br />Just like yesterday, I was amazed at the number of companies selling surveillance equipment. Thales, the French aerospace giant, unveiled a mini drone weighing only 500 grams called Spy Arrow. It&rsquo;s hand-launched and &ldquo;&hellip;is capable of carrying out tasks in support of border security, crisis management, critical infrastructure support, counter-criminal and terrorist activity, reconnaissance and much more.&rdquo;<br /><br />I was glad Spy Arrow could do &ldquo;much more.&rdquo; After all, a UAV that "generates a geo-referenced video display in real time out to a range of 3 km, while cruising at 27 knots&rdquo; might not be enough. That &ldquo;much more&rdquo; could be crucial.<br /><br />American manufacturer Peli was there with its 9500 Shelter Lighting System. This is basically a set of stadium lights in a Pelican case. Peli recently changed its name from Pelican, so I guess a Pelican case is now a Peli case.<br /><br />Here&rsquo;s a good example of somebody with an incredible long title in the marketing department that naming a company after a bird that eats fish is a bad image. Changing to Peli, a meaningless abbreviation, is apparently better branding.<br /><br />IAI had their passive off-the-air interception &ldquo;listening&rdquo; device, which is a satellite-based eavesdropping system that can pinpoint a cell phone even when it&rsquo;s off. How does that work? I don&rsquo;t think I want to know. (Don&rsquo;t worry. IAI assures us that the system is only to be used for &ldquo;selection of high-value targets&rdquo; and to &ldquo;support law enforcement forces.&rdquo;)<br /><br />As I head to the HK booth to schmooze some German beer at the end of the day, I wonder how many times my retina has been scanned, my fingerprint analyzed, my location GPS&rsquo;d and my cell phone tapped. Going to Milipol can be scary.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2004&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2003&cid=25Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I nibble a croissant while sipping an espresso. I&rsquo;m in a French caf&eacute; and I wince as the waiter hands me the bill for 8 euro, or roughly $12. I&rsquo;m here for the biennial Milipol show which, at the risk of redundancy, occurs every two years.<br /><br />American gun companies are well represented at this European conflux of military and police&mdash;Mili-Pol, get it? I'm here to chat with the Americans to find out what brings them to Europe, but first I have to get past the security guards at the entrance. It&rsquo;s not a long line, but I have to wait.<br /><br />Inside, it&rsquo;s a mixed crowd. There are dark-suited businessmen along with gold-braided generals and blue-uniformed commissioners along with a lot of Paris policeman.<br /><br />By far the most dominant product category is surveillance. There are long-range cameras, short-range cameras, robotic cameras, hovering cameras, hidden cameras and vehicular cameras. One company sells an interface for a police car that allows it to tap into cameras on every city buses.<br /><br />If I were to sum up this show in four words, they would be these: Big Brother is here.<br /><br />The American conglomerate L3 has a section of its spacious booth (monitored by its cameras) set aside for &ldquo;Electronic Warfare.&rdquo; I think to myself&mdash;is there any other kind?<br /><br />There are drones as small as a shoebox. One company has a four-rotor heli-camera that runs on batteries and can hover noiselessly overheard while relaying real-time images back to its controller.<br /><br />Right next door to the L3 booth is another American company&mdash;DELL. Why am I not surprised? Michael Dell is selling more computers here than Smith &amp; Wesson is guns.<br /><br />A company called SIM (I didn&rsquo;t get what it stands for) proclaims in large bright letters that it specializes in &ldquo;encrypted CDFM video transmissions&rdquo; as well as &ldquo;photonic surveillance.&rdquo; I have no idea what either of these are, but I can&rsquo;t help but think they&rsquo;re not good if you&rsquo;re of a mind to hide.<br /><br />There are companies that sell nothing but tracking and location technology while others specialize in thermal imaging. One stand is there to take orders for &ldquo;biometric imprints&rdquo; which, I suppose, is so that the company that sells a long-range camera can scan your cornea.<br /><br />The eyes don&rsquo;t have it all. There&rsquo;s a company selling voice identification and &ldquo;audio forensic equipment,&rdquo; which is why bad guys should never use a cell phone.<br /><br />The big boys are all here. Raytheon. General Dynamics. Thales. EADS. These companies have marketing budgets bigger than the GDP of many countries. I notice they have attractive young ladies serving croissants and espresso to their booth guests.<br /><br />Eight euro&rsquo;s worth, I think to myself.<br /><br />I approach one of the bright-eyed young girls, eyeing their espresso machine. &ldquo;Excuse me, I&rsquo;m interested in your latest surveillance system,&rdquo; I say&hellip; in my best fake Russian accent.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=2003&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1982&cid=25Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Hiding in plain sight is the goal of camouflage, and the U.S. military has an ongoing program to test and evaluate new camo patterns. ACU, a gray digital pattern, is the current U.S. Army &ldquo;issue&rdquo; pattern, but MultiCam from Crye Precision has been generating a lot of buzz in the Special Forces community.<br /><br />The latest pattern in &ldquo;camo wars&rdquo; is called <a href="http://www.a-tacs.com/" target="_blank">A-TACS</a> (Advanced Tactical Concealment System), which has begun to draw interest as a possible contender.<br /><br />According to Digital Concealment Systems (DCS), the developers of A-TACS, many who have seen the pattern comment on how it is unlike any camouflage pattern they have encountered with almost chameleon-like qualities.<br /><br />DCS claims its unique &ldquo;pattern within a pattern&rdquo; concept allows it to break up the outline of the human body relying on a palette of inter-mingled natural colors over a neutral tan base for use in open, rocky, or arid environments.<br /><br />&ldquo;Of all the camo patterns I have seen over the years, this is the first one to break from tradition and actually makes sense," said Fernando Coelho, president of <a href="http://www.eotac.com/" target="_blank">EOTAC</a>, a tactical clothing company owned by The Freedom Group (Remington, <a href="http://www.bushmaster.com/index.asp" target="_blank">Bushmaster</a>, <a href="http://www.marlinfirearms.com/" target="_blank">Marlin</a>).<br /><br />Philip Duke of DCS said:&nbsp;&ldquo;We like to continuously raise the bar relative to what is possible to achieve with current textile printing technology."<br /><br />A-TACS will be used by several manufacturers, including EOTAC, offering complimentary products. This allows the A-TACS&reg; pattern to offer users a Total Camouflage Solution. <br /><br />&ldquo;Remington firearms in the A-TACS pattern will blend in with a shooter&rsquo;s complete ensemble, allowing the operator to avoid detection,&rdquo;&nbsp;said Ryan Smith, Brand Manager for LE/Tactical Firearms at Remington.<br /><br />Manufacturers who will make products using A-TACS include <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a>, Bushmaster, <a href="http://www.dpmsinc.com/" target="_blank">DPMS</a>, Danner, EOTAC, Tactical Assault Gear, Blue Force Gear and Emerson Knives. All will begin introducing A-TACS products starting in November with additional products being introduced at SHOT Show.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1982&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1978&cid=25Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><em>Free at last, free at last, I thank God I'm free at last. Free at last, free at last, I thank God I'm free at last.<br /><br /></em>For more than a year now, I&rsquo;ve been a free man. I moved to Nevada from the original Nanny State, the place where no gun is a good gun&mdash;California. <br /><br />Once established, it&rsquo;s not easy to pull up stakes and move. But, I did and here I am in Henderson, Nev., cheek-by-jowl to Las Vegas, a city that is the antithesis of everything California represents. In California, everything is either illegal or taxed. In Las Vegas, everything is either free or almost free.<br /><br />Businesses such as Sierra Bullets and Buck Knives left California because of a suffocating business climate and prohibitive environmental regulations. In Nevada, just down the street from my house, the nation&rsquo;s largest titanium mine runs 24 hours a day, spewing out fumes and making a hell of a racket, but who cares? It&rsquo;s the sound and smell of money.<br /><br />Among my first deeds as a freeman in Nevada was to visit Long Mountain Outfitters. Owned by the same people who put out "Small Arms Review" magazine, Long Mountain specializes in National Firearms Act (NFA) firearms&nbsp;including short-barreled rifles, full-auto firearms, suppressors, explosive devices and other controlled items.<br /><br />I wanted to buy a machine gun to celebrate my freedom. I&rsquo;d already acquired several ARs, but the real symbol of my release from serfdom would come in a three-position safety with one of them being labeled &ldquo;FULL.&rdquo; I had three candidates in mind: an M16, an HK MP5 and the Thompson. You probably guessed&mdash;I went with the Thompson. <br /><br />I&rsquo;d shot a lot of M16s when I worked at SureFire (we sold suppressors for M16s) and an M16 is not very effective on full-auto. The rate of fire is too high and you can actually shoot better with controlled pairs.<br /><br />An MP5 is a lot of fun to shoot, and 9 mm is not (normally) too expensive. I might well have gone for an MP5 if not for the price. Long Mountain told me that a &ldquo;shooter&rdquo; grade of a Thompson (non-matching numbers, made by Auto-Ordnance) runs around $16,000 whereas a transferable MP5 costs well over $20,000.<br /><br />Besides, who can argue with the coolness of a Tommy gun? Sure it&rsquo;s a clunker with its open-bolt firing mechanism and chugga-chugga rate of fire, but it shoots .45 ACP, which I load on my Dillon and it screams &ldquo;machine gun&rdquo; even to those who wouldn&rsquo;t know a Garand from a garage.<br /><br />As I looked into buying a machine gun, I learned quite a bit about the so-called &ldquo;Class III market,&rdquo; a term based on the ATF's classification of a&nbsp;machine gun license as a Class III license (a regular firearms dealer&rsquo;s license is a Class I). The Class III business (or, more properly, the NFA market) is a classic example of a closed market.<br /><br />In 1986, a law that was passed that&nbsp;capped the transfer of machine guns and other NFA item to those manufactured prior to 1986. These were designated as &ldquo;transferable&rdquo; guns while NFA firearms manufactured after 1986 (so-called &ldquo;post &lsquo;86&rdquo; guns) were categorized as &ldquo;non-transferable.&rdquo;<br /><br />Technically, the non-transferable guns could be transferred, but only to Class III dealers or to exempt entities such as law enforcement agencies or the U.S. military. This did was permanently capped the number of transferable guns in circulation with a very predictable result&mdash;prices skyrocketed. They stabilized over time, and today prices creep inexorably upward.<br /><br />Whenever there is a finite number of a given product, price escalates with demand. Right now there is a moderate demand for shooter-grade Thompsons, so I&rsquo;m okay. I could have bought a collector-grade Thompson from Long Mountain. They had a 1921 Thompson made by Colt with all matching numbers in very good (not great) condition. The price was $21,000.<br /><br />It won&rsquo;t be long now before the paperwork is approved and I&rsquo;ll be a fully certified free man. Thank God I&rsquo;m free at last!</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1978&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1974&cid=25Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><em>We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news concerning the ongoing saga of storied English gunmaker John Rigby &amp; Co. The picture is a John Rigby boxlock .470 NE made in 1920&mdash;the real deal.<br /><br /></em>Insider broke the story in August of how two companies, both named John Rigby &amp; Co. (Gunmakers), are building guns under the Rigby name. With some new information, we can now make a more definitive decision on which is the real John Rigby.<br /><br />John Rigby &amp; Co. was sold to Texan Neil Gibson in 1997 by Paul Roberts of London. Gibson then sold a license to produce Rigby-branded guns to California gunsmith Geoff Miller of Rogue River Rifleworks in Paso Robles, Calif.<br /><br />Later, a man named Mark Neal of London, made the stunning discovery that the English trademark for John Rigby &amp; Co. (Gunmakers) Ltd. had been abandoned! When the sale was made to Gibson, he only&nbsp;filed for a U.S. trademark.<br /><br />Neal was issued a Rigby trademark in England and has opened a shop there.<br /><br />Accusations flew across the Atlantic, but despite a lot of bluster from &ldquo;California Rigby,&rdquo; the trademark it owns is valid only in the U.S.<br /><br />So which is the real John Rigby? Without any other ties, the answer must lie in the guns. <br /><br />Rigby was known for making several grades of double rifles, including a boxlock on a "trade action," but Rigby's rising-bite action, otherwise known as the Bissel action, is the signature action that Rigby built during its zenith. It turns out that "London Rigby" took on the task to make the Rigby rising-bite action using modern manufacturing methods. </span><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><br /><br />Well-known author and expert on fine English guns Terry Wieland recently visited the premises of &ldquo;London Rigby&rdquo; and had this to say about what he saw:<br /><br />"I met with Mark Neal and spent two days with him in his shop. I saw the first rising-bite frame that had come back from the CNC shop, and I looked at the CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled)&nbsp;computer model in the company of an American CNC expert, who confirmed that it is the genuine article,&rdquo; Wieland said. &ldquo;I also saw the chopper-lump barrels for the first rising-bite rifle, which will be a .450 Nitro Express. They were ready to be soldered together in the traditional method of regulating barrels by hand."<br /><br />"For specialist operations, such as barrel-making, engraving, and final finishing, Mark Neal has lined up some of the very best people in the English gun trade, and they are all enthusiastic about helping to rehabilitate the Rigby name.<br /><br />"Altogether, my conclusion is that the new London Rigby is very much for real, and they are making genuine products,&rdquo; the author of six books and an expert on the English gun trade concluded.<br /><br />As journalistic fortune would have it, Wieland also visited &ldquo;California Rigby&rdquo; so he could make a comparison. "I was shocked," Wieland said. "There was a total lack of traditional gunmaking."<br /><br />What he found was a couple of laborers cobbling together doubles rifles on Merkel shotgun actions (complete with German proofmarks). Instead of regulating the barrels by hand,&nbsp;like skilled gunmakers, the California workers clamped the barrels in some Rube Goldberg contraption and "regulated" them.<br /><br />&ldquo;I was appalled,&rdquo; Wieland said. &ldquo;Geoff Miller actually bragged to me that he does not employ traditionally qualified gunmakers. Instead, he had hired a guitar maker to fit the stocks on the theory that wood is wood, and an auto mechanic to fit the barrels. Miller's contempt for his products, his so-called craftsmen, the gunmaking trade, and his customers is almost palpable."<br /><br />Wieland is in the final stages of updating the second edition of his best-selling book "Dangerous Game Rifles" which will include details of his visits to the two Rigbys.<br /><br />"I really believe this may be the beginning of the road back for the Rigby name from the disgrace of the Paso Robles years,&rdquo; Wieland concluded.<br /><br />UPDATE: R</span><span id="ctl00_BodyPlaceholder_articleDisplay1_showCommentControl_gvGeneric_ctl03_lblCommentComment"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">ead Managing Director of John Rigby &amp; Co. Geoff Miller's <a href="../../ArticlePage.aspx?id=2011&amp;cid=25" target="_blank">response</a> to this entry. </span><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1974&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1959&cid=25Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">There are not too many jobs where you can use &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going hunting&rdquo; as a valid excuse for missing work, but the Insider has shamelessly skipped several deadlines recently because I was on an extended hunting trip.<br /><br />The fact that I feel utterly no remorse for leaving my editor high and dry and you without any interesting industry news for the past two weeks says a great deal about what some call my warped sense of priorities. Guilty as charged.<br /><br />What I try to explain is that I&rsquo;m actually fairly normal for a guy in the shooting industry. Hunting is not just a sport, it&rsquo;s a passion. <br /><br />In fact, I tell people, the &ldquo;gun business&rdquo; in America is composed of two segments, professional and sporting. Professional encompasses law enforcement, military and security (to include personal protection as practiced by millions of lawfully armed citizens). Sporting takes in any recreational usage of firearms (such as target shooting, plinking and hunting).<br /><br />Most people think that the professional side of the gun industry is larger, especially with two wars going on, but more sales are conducted on the sporting side.&nbsp;<br /><br />Just look at Cabela's. In 2008, this large U.S. hunting retailer had $2.5 billion in annual sales, that's billion with a B, according to their annual report. And that's just one chain, there's still Bass Pro Shops and thousands of independent gunshops. <br /><br />Now let's consider military sales of guns for our soldiers and marines. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">FN was recently awarded a $126 million dollar contract over four years. Divide by four and it&rsquo;s roughly $30 million a year. That's $30 million compared to $2.5 billion. <br /><br />When you think about it, it really makes sense. The Military doesn't buy new guns every year, and&nbsp;turnover is high. As military members muster out, they turn in their rifles, which is&nbsp;then issued to&nbsp;soldiers and marines coming in. They don't get to take their M16s with them when they leave. <br /><br />Attrition also takes place in the sporting world. Every year, eager young girls and boys join the hunting ranks&nbsp;as some of the graybeards hang up their hiking boots. While some of these new hunters will inherit firearms from family, most will eventually purchase a new gun&mdash;possibly more than one. This is the life blood of the firearm industry. </span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1959&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1846&cid=25Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">In a mature industry, competition characteristically takes place by stealing market share from your competitors because a mature industry, by definition, exhibits very little growth or expansion. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The firearms industry is a mature industry.</span></span><br /><br />Innovation of new products and technologies is the primary way in which firearms manufacturers compete for market share.<br /><br />The most significant innovations of the past 30 years, have all come from European gun companies. Even <a href="http://www.ruger-firearms.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a>, the most innovative American gun manufacturer since World War II, has been playing catch up to the likes of Glock, HK, Beretta, Blaser, Sauer and SIG.<br /><br />In the early 80s, the U.S. Armed Forces conducted a trial to replace the venerable 1911 pistol. An Italian gun came in first (Beretta) and a Swiss-designed, German-made gun was second (SIG).<br /><br />In the mid 80s, some 90 percent of U.S. law enforcement officers carried <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=10001&amp;catalogId=11101&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> revolvers, but a change came about with the introduction of a &ldquo;point gun, pull trigger&rdquo; semi-automatic pistol from Austria. Glock never looked back and now&nbsp;controls an estimated 60 percent of the police market today with <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/" target="_blank">SIG</a> and <a href="https://www.berettausa.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Beretta</a> taking sizeable chunks from Smith&rsquo;s pie.<br /><br />Semi-automatic shotgun design is also&nbsp;a European forte. <a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php" target="_blank">Benelli</a> and Beretta have brought forth innovative new models while <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington</a> responded by updating the 1100 into the 1187.<br /><br />The first handgun with a light rail? Austrian. SIG Pro, the first modular handgun? German. The new pet rifle of the Special Forces, the SCAR? Belgian. The most radical new shotgun in a decade, the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/ArticlePage.aspx?id=1346&amp;cid=12" target="_blank">Vinci</a>? Italian. Tikka? Finland. Blaser? German. Accuracy International? Britain.<br /><br />Meanwhile, what innovations have American gun makers brought forth? <a href="http://www.kimberamerica.com/" target="_blank">Kimber</a> has come on strong&hellip; with an upgraded 1911. That would be circa, uhm, 1911.&nbsp; S&amp;W introduced its own AR15, as did Remington and Ruger. We're up to circa 1965.<br /><br />Is the Kahr pistol innovative? Not in the same sense as a Heckler &amp; Koch P-7. Is the Dakota rifle innovative? It&rsquo;s a copy of a German rifle, which was introduced in, let's see now, 1898. How about AMT&rsquo;s Auto Mag or D&amp;D&rsquo;s Bren Ten? Moot point. Both went bankrupt.<br /><br />No, the American firearms industry is no longer the center of innovation, however, our ammunition industry most certainly is. Against such lame efforts as the .376 Steyr, we countered with the .300 WSM and a host of other &ldquo;short magnums&rdquo; that are truly revolutionary.<br /><br />Our projectile technology is right on the leading edge with such innovations as the <a href="http://www.barnesbullets.com/" target="_blank">Barnes</a> X bullet, <a href="http://www.winchester.com/" target="_blank">Winchester</a> Black Talon, <a href="http://www.nosler.com/" target="_blank">Nosler</a> Ballistic Tip, <a href="http://www.hornady.com/" target="_blank">Hornady</a> LeverEvolution and Swift A-Frame.<br /><br />The saving grace of the American gun business for American companies is that the market is extremely traditional. Even though the Blaser rifle is unquestionably more innovative than a &ldquo;new&rdquo; titanium and stainless version of a Model 700, not many Americans buy Blasers. (It&rsquo;s by far the best-selling hunting rifle in Europe where engineering novelty is more prized than here.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tcarms.com/" target="_blank">Thompson/Center</a> and Smith &amp; Wesson both recently brought out new bolt-action hunting rifles that are derivative, not innovative.<br /><br />Derivative may be the best word to describe the U.S. firearms industry&rsquo;s approach to new product development. I&rsquo;m not sure if it&rsquo;s more from a lack of imagination or daring,&nbsp;or from a recognition that American shooters and hunters just don&rsquo;t buy high-tech guns in great numbers.<br /><br />On the other hand, the fact that the Glock Collectors Association even exists is a scary thought.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1846&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1844&cid=25Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">If an industry&rsquo;s overall profitability (and thereby its health) is based on sales growth, then the firearms industry has met its enemy&hellip; and it is us.<br /><br />Unlike other products,&nbsp;guns not only retain their value but can appreciate. For every new gun sold, a used gun is created. The used gun market is vast and lively, taking place at gun shows, pawn shops and online markets such as <a href="http://www.gunbroker.com/" target="_blank">Gun Broker</a>. Friends selling guns to friends, dad&rsquo;s passing heirlooms to sons, guys upgrading and selling off their trade-in, all yank on the hand brake of new gun sales.<br /><br />I once asked the international sales manager for <a href="https://www.berettausa.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Beretta</a>, whom he viewed as his biggest competitor. &ldquo;It must be Browning,&rdquo; I posited somewhat naively. &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; came his reply. &ldquo;Beretta&rsquo;s biggest competitor is Beretta. Used Berettas.&rdquo;<br /><br />He had a point. Of the last five guns I've bought, four were used and one was new. The four were all&nbsp;<a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=10001&amp;catalogId=10001&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a> revolvers, including a NIB Model 40 Centennial (What a cherry find that was!). My sole new gun purchase was a 20-gauge&nbsp;<a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php" target="_blank">Benelli</a> Cordoba.<br /><br />From an overall industry standpoint, a sale is a sale and Spurlock's Gun Shop in Henderson, Nev.,&nbsp;probably made as much profit on the used wheelguns I bought than if had I bought identical guns new. However, from Smith &amp; Wesson&rsquo;s standpoint, no sale took place at all.<br /><br />There are dealers, traders, brokers, auctioneers and purveyors of used guns that don&rsquo;t sell anything new at all. I don&rsquo;t think anyone has ever tried to put a dollar figure on the total used gun business in the&nbsp;U.S. every year, but I&rsquo;ll hazard a guess that it&rsquo;s somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of the new gun business.<br /><br />Figure&nbsp;that the total U.S. firearms annual production is around 2 million firearms and you&rsquo;ll see that we&rsquo;re not talking chump change here. There could be anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 used guns being traded every year.<br /><br />Let&rsquo;s say I&rsquo;m way off base. Let&rsquo;s say the used gun trade is only 10 percent of the overall industry&rsquo;s sales volume. Hello? That&rsquo;s still 200,000 guns a year!<br /><br />It&rsquo;s not equal, however. There&rsquo;s a direct relationship between the value of a gun and its significance in the used market. Go to a high-end shotgun dealer and you&rsquo;ll find more used Perazzis and Kreighoffs on the rack than new guns. Why? Because expensive guns are traded more frequently than cheap guns. <br /><br />The used gun market is a significant and often over-looked aspect of the gun business. After all, they&rsquo;re Beretta&rsquo;s number one competitor.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1844&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1843&cid=25Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A brand is a company&rsquo;s identity, its DNA. How the public perceives a product is through its brand more so than its actual functionality. A brand determines whether you view a product as dynamic or dull, the sign of coolness or the mark of a rank amateur.<br /><br />If a brand makes you want to own its product because you associate those products with an identity that you find desirable, the brand is strong. Rolex is a strong brand. HK is a strong brand. Harley-Davidson is a very strong brand.<br /><br />If you could care less about the name on the package and are buying solely for price or utility, the brand is weak. <br /><br />Branding is more important than any other single aspect of marketing, more so than even the quality or performance of the product itself. As an&nbsp;example, I inform you that you just won the <a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider&rsquo;s</a> Surprise Lottery. You can take your pick of one of two revolvers, free.<br /><br />Both revolvers are identical in caliber, barrel length and&nbsp;finish. One is a <a href="http://www.coltsmfg.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">Colt</a>, the other a <a href="http://www.ruger-firearms.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a>. As you scoop up the Colt, I point out to you that from a mechanical, engineering and metallurgical standpoint, a New Model Blackhawk is demonstrably a better gun than a Third Generation Colt, but you&rsquo;re not listening.<br /><br />You&rsquo;re fondling your new thumb-cocker as you lovingly read the emblazoned Single Action Army on the barrel and see the rampant Colt prancing on the sideplate. You&rsquo;re far more smitten with the brand than the product.<br /><br />If I would have placed that same Ruger beside an Italian-made Uberti, you would have pounced on the Blackhawk. Regardless of whether the Ruger is a better gun, the Ruger brand is stronger.<br /><br />Branding in the gun business is heavily influenced by the overall conservatism and traditionalism of our industry. Although only time will tell,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.taurususa.com/" target="_blank">Taurus</a> might never&nbsp; have as strong of a brand as <a href="http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CustomContentDisplay?langId=-1&amp;storeId=10001&amp;catalogId=10001&amp;content=11001" target="_blank">Smith &amp; Wesson</a>. Why? Because Smith &amp; Wesson has been making handguns since 1852, which is a&nbsp;huge head-start in any race, let alone a branding race.<br /><br />The fact that Taurus is a foreign brand is irrelevant. <a href="http://www.hk-usa.com/" target="_blank">Heckler &amp; Koch</a>, one of the strongest brands in the gun business, is foreign. <a href="http://www.glock.com/english/index.htm" target="_blank">Glock</a> is foreign. <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/" target="_blank">SIG</a> is foreign. <a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php" target="_blank">Benelli</a> is foreign. <a href="https://www.berettausa.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Beretta</a> is foreign. Domestic companies might have a slight edge in terms of brand appeal, but not nearly enough to overcome other factors.<br /><br />What are the factors that make for a strong brand in the gun business?<br /><br />An historical association is definitely important. When a small-time military surplus dealer from Illinois, Bob Reese, bought the name of a storied old New England arsenal in the late 1970s, a brand was born. Today <a href="http://www.springfield-armory.com/" target="_blank">Springfield Armory</a> brands itself as &ldquo;America&rsquo;s oldest name in firearms,&rdquo; which shows how much stock the company places on historical significance.<br /><br />An association with technology or innovation is another important factor in brand appeal. <a href="http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/" target="_blank">Kel-Tec</a> is so named to get tech into the brand. <a href="http://www.magnumresearch.com/" target="_blank">Magnum Research</a> squeezed a word with scientific connotations into its name.<br /><br />There are a lot of family names used as brands in the gun business. Beretta, Colt, Winchester, Smith, Wesson, McMillan, Jarrett, Pachmayr, Hornady, Leupold and the one that has been ingrained more deeply than any other&mdash;<a href="http://www.browning.com/" target="_blank">Browning</a>.<br /><br />Browning might well be a case study in branding. Browning doesn&rsquo;t manufacture a single product,&nbsp;yet its catalog is replete with every possible category of sporting goods from hip waders to gun safes to archery equipment&nbsp;to winter coats to, yes, even guns. Browning, of Morgan, Utah, has no factory; its products are made by vendors.<br /><br />Browning is essentially a branding company that does an exceptionally good job with its deer-and-antlers logo known as the Buckmark. They even have an ad campaign to &ldquo;Show us your Buckmark&rdquo; to win a prize. Entrants have submitted Buckmark tattoos, snow sculptures, iron sculptures, custom painted motorcycles and, I've heard, even children so named. &ldquo;This is my boy, Buckmark Jones.&rdquo;<br /><br />A &ldquo;Belgian Browning&rdquo; has great cachet, meaning a gun made in Herstal, Belgium where John Browning licensed his name and several designs to Fabrqiue Nationale. That the Browning Hi-Power pistol is made in Portugal makes not a whit of difference to the brand&mdash;the Browning name says it all.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1843&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1845&cid=25Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Continuing this special series on how the firearms industry works&mdash;what I call &ldquo;Gun Business 101&rdquo;&mdash;the next step is to examine how guns are sold.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">We already looked at the first component of a sales program, which is the method or channel of distribution, but regardless of whether a gun company chooses a dealer-direct or a two-step channel, sales still have to be made. Selling is the job of salesman, and in the firearms industry anyway, salesman&nbsp;are staggeringly important.<br /><br />In other industries, salesman&nbsp;may be just order-takers but in the gun business, personal relationships are far more important than the product, the price or the program. A good gun salesman&nbsp;is not just a delivery boy, he&rsquo;s someone all his customers, who are store managers or shop owners, love to see coming. They&rsquo;re coffee companions, huntin&rsquo; buddies, story swappers and above all, trusted advisors.<br /><br />There are two types of salesmen in the gun business, employees and independent reps. An employee is a salesman who works for a manufacturer and sells only that company&rsquo;s wares. He may be paid a base salary plus commission or a straight salary. A sales rep (an abbreviation for a &ldquo;manufacturer&rsquo;s sales representative&rdquo;) is an independent salesman working strictly on commission on behalf of a manufacturer. A sales rep typically represents anywhere from a half dozen to two dozen different manufacturers' product lines.<br /><br />There are pros and cons to each. An in-house salesman focuses strictly on the company's products. There is never a &ldquo;line conflict&rdquo; between his products. On the downside, he is a one-trick pony so when he goes to visit a retail customer, he is not able to offer a quick overview of a number of different lines like a sales rep can. Now the harried store manager has to see five from five manufacturers instead of one rep.<br /><br />Companies in the firearms industry tend to be polarized on their views of sales reps versus in-house salesmen. Some companies swear by reps, some swear at them&mdash;for a variety of reasons both valid and exaggerated.<br /><br />Having worked with both, I think they&rsquo;re both good tools for a sales manager to utilize, however, my experience has been that good sales reps are worth their weight in gold.<br /><br />Regardless, a gun salesman is a people person, someone with a picture of the whitetail his shot last season on his iPhone. And he knows his dealers as friends first, customer second.<br /><br />&ldquo;A good salesman writes his own orders,&rdquo; says Mike Evans of The Evans Group, the top sales rep organization in the gun business. &ldquo;A good salesman knows every one of his customers and what sells for them. The store managers just trust him to tell them what they need to re-order. A good salesman will check their inventory for them, write them a re-order and the manager just signs it.&rdquo;<br /><br />The reason why relationships are so important in the gun business is because the foundation of the industry is the small retailer. Often called a &ldquo;mom n&rsquo; pop&rdquo; industry, the gun business justifiably prides itself on its traditional, Main Street type of retailing&mdash;the home-grown gun shop.<br /><br />From this folksy environment springs the trust and camaraderie and intimacy and bonding that good gun salesmen exude like deer scent.<br /><br />The gun business is a hobby industry, but hunting and shooting are much more encompassing than golf or tennis. The people in the gun business share a life-style, a common ideology, a shared world-view.<br /><br />We walk the walk and talk the talk and when one chats to another, we&rsquo;re on the same wavelength. This is why gun salesmen are so important to the industry. They know the industry because they <em>are</em> the industry. They&rsquo;re consumers as well as sellers.<br /><br />A good gun salesman knows each of his customers on more than a first-name basis. He knows what will sell at a given dealer before he even walks in the door.<br /><br />&ldquo;One of my accounts, a small gun shop in rural Missouri, has cultivated a clientele for high-grade collectible guns: Colts, Winchesters, Parkers, English doubles. When we picked up the Leica line, I knew this customer would do well with the line. You wouldn&rsquo;t think a small-town shop would sell very many $2,000 high-end German optics, but this dealer has the right clientele. He&rsquo;s one of my best Leica dealers,&rdquo; said Greg Rader, one of the top salesmen in The Evans Group.<br /><br />&ldquo;If you know your customers,&rdquo; confirmed his boss, Mike Evans, &ldquo;You can help them to sell more because you know what will sell in their store. And that's what it's all about&mdash;writing orders.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1845&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1829&cid=25Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1820&amp;cid=25" target="_blank">Gun Business 101</a> explains that the primary distribution system in the firearms industry is a business-to-business (B2B) channel because of the need for a federal firearms license (FFL) to transfer guns.&nbsp;This largely eliminates a business-to-consumer (B2C) channel, so we looked at the two B2B methods used in the gun business.<br /><br />I discussed how a dealer-direct program is one in which a gun factory sells directly to a retailer who in turn sells to a consumer and we also noted that a two-step distribution method also exists in which a factory sells to a wholesaler who supplies a retailer who makes the final sale to the end-user&mdash;the gun buyer.<br /><br />What are the differences between a two-step distribution system and a dealer-direct program, and is one better than the other?<br /><br />In a two-step distribution program, a factory sells to a wholesaler, such as RSR, Lipsey&rsquo;s, Ellett Brothers, and AccuSport. These companies provide two valuable&mdash;some would say vital&mdash;functions for gun manufacturers.<br /><br />First, they provide warehousing and shipping functions that allow firearms factories to immediately sell finished goods. In the case of hunting rifles, factories often give wholesalers long-term credit known as &ldquo;dating terms&rdquo; in which the wholesaler takes delivery of seasonal goods and pay for them months later. By immediately selling their finished goods to wholesalers, either for cash or on long-term credit, the factories can better manage their production and spread their cash flow.<br /><br />The second important function that wholesalers provide is to serve as a credit buffer. If the factory were to sell to hundreds or even thousands of small gun shops, not only would they have increased customer service and shipping problems, as well as a larger&nbsp;job of accounting and credit management. By concentrating their sales to a handful of wholesalers, the credit risk of getting paid by the many &ldquo;mom and pop&rdquo; retailers in the gun business is passed to the wholesaler.<br /><br />However, this can be a double-edged sword. If a wholesaler has problems paying&mdash;or goes bankrupt as several big ones have done in the past&mdash;then the factories take a giant loss.<br /><br />There are two major drawbacks to using wholesalers in a two-step distribution model. In this model, a factory loses control of how its products are sold and marketed.<br /><br />Wholesalers tend to treat firearms as commodities which leads to price wars among the wholesalers. This artificially devalues the firearms causing them to be snatched up by bargain-hunting retailers who either blow them out at sale prices to consumers or over-stock them in their stores.<br /><br />The second problem is that wholesalers become the de facto sales force for the factories, which largely erodes whatever brand message the manufacturer might be trying to convey as part of its marketing strategy.<br /><br />Wholesalers use telemarketing extensively to cajole their gun shop customers into buying. Telemarketing (in the gun business) is a spiff-driven enterprise in which the telemarketers (mostly women) are &ldquo;spiffed&rdquo; by the factories with color TVs, microwave ovens, cruises and good old fashioned cash. What gets pushed the hardest is not necessarily what the consumer is looking to buy, but whatever is being most heavily spiffed in a given week or month.<br /><br />In&nbsp;a dealer-direct distribution program,&nbsp;a factory sells directly to retailers. By having a direct connection to the retailer, a factory can mandate that certain marketing, branding and pricing standards are maintained, thereby giving the factory maximum control of its brand image. Additionally, a factory can respond much more quickly to surges or drops in consumer demand by turning up or down their production as their dealers&rsquo; orders are received.<br /><br />With a dealer-direct program, the factory must handle as many as 2,000 to 3,000 small accounts, which places a huge degree of importance on having good customer service, shipping and accounting departments. As noted previously, the credit risk is greater, but it is also more diluted.<br /><br />Perhaps the most onerous obligation of a dealer-direct program is on a factory&rsquo;s sales and marketing department. There is no one else to push the factory&rsquo;s product. No bank of telemarketers, no spiff program, no super-hot sale of the week. Factories rely on either an in-house sales force or commissioned sales representative working as independent contractors.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1829&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1828&cid=25Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Continuing with my special series "Gun Business 101" on the fundamental nature of the firearms industry, we&rsquo;ll examine how a gun is placed into commerce and the mechanisms by which it moves from the factory to you, the gun buyer. This progression is called the &ldquo;distribution channel&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s a basic facet of any manufacturing-based industry, from wristwatches to wrenches.<br /><br />There are two basic types of distribution channels that are often abbreviated as B2B and B2C. These stand for &ldquo;business to business&rdquo; and &ldquo;business to consumer.&rdquo; In a B2B channel, a factory sells its finished goods to another business, either a gun shop or a firearms distributor in the case of the shooting industry. In a B2C channel, a factory sells directly to the consumer.<br /><br />Because firearms manufacturers can only sell a gun to a federally licensed entity, which can be a retailer, a wholesaler or an individual, there is a very small B2C distribution channel in the shooting industry; however, it does exist.<br /><br />For example, I recently blogged about a rifle I ordered from Mel Forbes at the New Ultra-Light Arms. That was a transaction through a B2C channel. I had to supply a federal firearms license (FFL) to enable the transfer, but that was easily done through a local FFL holder in my hometown in Nevada.<br /><br />A much more representative example of how distribution channels work in the gun business is found in any gun shop. The retailer obtain firearms through a B2B channel, which could have been arranged directly with the factory or through a wholesaler.<br /><br />A wholesaler is usually referred to as a distributor in the firearms industry, but that term gets confusing when we&rsquo;re taking about distribution in a generic sense, so I&rsquo;ll refer to these businesses as wholesalers even though they refer to themselves as distributors.<br /><br />A wholesaler buys large volumes of product from every niche of the industry&mdash;guns, holsters, optics, accessories, ammunition, everything you would ever find in a gun shop&mdash;and resells the products to retailers. Because the product moves in two steps from the manufacturer to the consumer, first to a wholesaler and then to a retailer, this is known as &ldquo;two-step&rdquo; distribution.<br /><br />If a factory sells directly to a retailer, this is referred to in the gun business as &ldquo;dealer-direct&rdquo; distribution. Two companies that rely on dealer-direct distribution are <a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php" target="_blank">Benelli</a> and <a href="http://www.kimberamerica.com/" target="_blank">Kimber</a>. Two that choose two-step distribution are <a href="http://www.ruger-firearms.com/" target="_blank">Ruger</a> and <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/" target="_blank">SIG</a>. It&rsquo;s also possible for a factory to distribute its products through both channels with a sales program for dealer-direct business and another one for two-step customers.<br /><br />There is a third type of B2B distribution in the gun business which can best be described as a&nbsp;hybrid between the two traditional channels of dealer-direct and two-step. This is what&rsquo;s known as a &ldquo;buying syndicate&rdquo; or &ldquo;buying group.&rdquo; These are co-ops in which a number of retailers band together as members of an organization to create the same buying power of a wholesaler, thereby obtaining a better price for the members of the syndicate. There are three major buying groups in the gun business: Nation&rsquo;s Best Sports (NBS), Worldwide and Sports Inc.<br /><br />Is one type of distribution channel better than another? Not necessarily, but I&rsquo;ll explain the differences in my next installment of this special blog series, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1820&amp;cid=25">Gun Business 101</a>.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1828&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1821&cid=25Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">A core aspect of the American firearms industry is its historical and traditional character. Intrinsic to the industry is the fact that firearms are the only products specifically named in the United States Constitution. Our Founding Fathers singled out guns as a category that enjoys special protection.<br /><br />For reasons both valid and imagined, this unique status has imbued the gun business with a certain mythology that continues to color every aspect of the industry. From a marketing perspective, the Second Amendment is a powerful tool to prompt customers into buying.<br /><br />A variety of commemorative guns and &ldquo;make-a-donation&rdquo; programs are used as sales tools to good effect, both for organizations like the NRA that benefit from such programs and for the manufacturers who sell additional product based on these emotive promotions.<br /><br />The iconic image of Charlton Heston holding a Kentucky flintlock rifle above his head and grimly declaring, &ldquo;From my cold, dead hands!&rdquo; is a perfect illustration of how the Second Amendment is perceived as a powerful symbol by consumers in the firearms market. You would never see a similar phenomenon in other industries, even those that also have a link to the Constitution. Can you imagine Edward R. Murrow defiantly clutching a microphone, even though the First Amendment is as precious to the press as the Second is to us?<br /><br />The hidden message behind the use of the Second Amendment as a marketing tool is the same as that of Lance Armstrong&rsquo;s yellow wristband or the AIDS relief "Red Product.&rdquo;&nbsp; If you buy this product, <em>you&rsquo;re a good person</em> (because you&rsquo;re donating to a worthy cause).<br /><br />This is powerful stuff. There is no such altruistic piggyback to marketing a vacuum cleaner or a lawn mower or a pair of shoes, although I'm sure some Madison Avenue types are feverishly trying to equate wearing Reeboks to being eco-sensitive.<br /><br />The automotive industry is hip to this and is desperately trying to link the purchase of certain small, fuel-efficient cars to a consumer&rsquo;s environmental conscious and a host of industries are trying to jump aboard the &ldquo;green&rdquo; train.<br /><br />Marketers in all industries&nbsp;are acutely aware that symbols are more powerful than objects. Notice how often an image of the Bill of Rights, the American flag or other emotive symbols are used to convey a sales message. This is "emotional marketing" and I guarantee you that Michael Dell would&nbsp; eagerly brandish a laptop and declare, &ldquo;From my cold, dead hands!&rdquo; if he thought it would lead to more computer sales.<br /><br />Any industry would love to be able to so easily resonate with its consumers&rsquo; emotions to generate sales. Billions are devoted to advertising in just such attempts. The toothpaste industry feverishly tries to imply that use of their product will lead to a hot date while the beer industry suggests that if you consume their product you&rsquo;ll have more friends and better parties.<br /><br />The irony is that the firearms industry doesn&rsquo;t need to concoct any such hidden messages because the product itself is imbued with an inherent emotional appeal thanks to its inclusion in the Second Amendment. The Bill of Rights is a vibrant document and, inadvertently, serves as the world&rsquo;s best marketing message.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1821&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1820&cid=25Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Every industry has its own peculiarities. The travel industry is seasonal. The automotive industry runs on planned obsolescence. The computer industry hinges on technology. The fashion industry thrives on design.<br /><br />What are the characteristics of the firearms industry?<br /><br />The answer is at once complex and simple, but more involved than I can address in a single blog, so if you&rsquo;ll follow along with me, we&rsquo;ll take this in stages and look at the fundamentals of exactly what distinguishes the gun business as an industry.<br /><br />We&rsquo;ll start by looking at the industry in a broad historical view and then drill down to look at the fundamental aspects of the industry that make it unique. These basic component <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>product development, sales channels, marketing, customer service, distribution and&nbsp;brand loyalt <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>are common to every industry, but they combine in a unique manner in the shooting industry. We&rsquo;ll look primarily at the U.S. firearms industry, but to a lesser extent we&rsquo;ll touch on foreign gun companies as well.<br /><br />Let&rsquo;s get started with a basic overview.<br /><br />The American gun business is a mature industry. A mature industry is one&nbsp; that has passed through the emerging and growth phases which are characterized by rapid product development, leap-ahead innovation and extremely fast sales growth.<br /><br />A mature industry is characterized by slow growth and stable earnings, although some segments may be declining (hunting firearms) while others may still show signs of a growth phase (handguns).<br /><br />The gun business has largely shaken the tree and dropped the also-rans back when it was an emerging industry in the early to mid 19th century. Henry (made by the New Haven Arms Company) fell by the wayside, Winchester survived. Volcanic Repeating Arms petered out while its founder, Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson, hit a lick that lasted with Smith &amp; Wesson. Colt made it, L.C. Smith didn&rsquo;t.<br /><br />Typical of a mature industry, the U.S. gun business is dominated by relatively few companies with established market shares. These companies compete primarily by poaching market share from their competitors (Smith &amp; Wesson making 1911s, Remington making AR-15s) as opposed to opening untapped sales channels or developing new revenue streams. Why? Because the customer base is fixed or, in some areas, actually contracting.<br /><br />Although it begs the obvious, the firearms industry is regulated by the government, which in itself is an impediment to free-market forces and particularly to opening new sales channels.<br /><br />Want to export to the four fastest growing economies in the world <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>Brazil, Russia, China and India? Guess again. State department clearances are required and ATF export rules have to be followed. The costs of regulation are both overt (an 11 percent federal excise tax) and hidden (record-keeping expenses).<br /><br />Finally and perhaps most importantly, the product that the firearms industry manufactures is highly durable and exhibits an inverse product life cycle in which the longer the product lasts, the more desirable it becomes, hence the Ruger Collectors Association.<br /><br />Most goods go through a conventional life cycle in which a product eventually saturates a market and then declines. Not so the gun business. The 1911 pistol is nearly 100 years old and is arguably the most popular model variation on the market today. Guns that were produced 25, 50, even 100 years ago are still functional. I&rsquo;ll be hunting this fall with a Winchester Model 70 that dates to World War II.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more blogs that look at other fundamental aspects of the gun business as an industry. We can call this series Gun Business 101.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1820&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1813&cid=25Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">Swiss-German gunmaker <a href="http://www.sigsauer.com/Default.aspx" target="_blank">SIG Sauer</a> is offering $200 in factory-cash-back for any &ldquo;Klunker&rdquo; handgun offered in trade for a new P220, P226, P229, 1911 or 556 pistol or carbine. The offer is good from Sept. 7 to Nov. 30, 2009.<br /><br />&ldquo;Kash for Klunkers&rdquo; is the loudest signal that the Insider has yet seen from a major handgun manufacturer to show that the &ldquo;gun bubble&rdquo; of buying-mania is over.<br /><br />SIG produced 111,653 handguns in 2007, according to&nbsp;the latest data available from ATF.<br /><br />According to a SIG promotional flyer, a &ldquo;Klunker&rdquo; refers to a handgun from any manufacturer that is, &ldquo;&hellip;operational and free from cracks in frame or other components. Klunker must be a semi-auto pistol of 9 mm or larger or a revolver of .38 caliber or larger.&rdquo;<br /><br />The $200 credit is only applicable to guns bought from &ldquo;dealer inventory&rdquo; which indicates that the pipeline from the manufacturer to the end-user has become clogged.<br /><br />A recent visit to the Tony Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. by one of the Insider&rsquo;s contacts revealed &ldquo;&hellip;ammo stacked to the rafters.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Dude, they&rsquo;ve got SCARs in stock,&rdquo; my contact told the Insider.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1813&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1814&cid=25Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">My pile of firearms is more a collection of guns than a gun collection. Let me explain the difference. A gun collection is the result of a planned accumulation of a certain category, class, brand or model. My old friend Roy Jinks is the quintessential gun collector with an unparalleled collection of Smith &amp; Wesson guns and memorabilia.<br /><br />A collection of guns, on the other hand, is a eclectic assortment of whatever strikes the owner&rsquo;s fancy. A hodge-podge of this and that, with no rhyme or reason other than a common denominator that each gun is interesting to its owner.<br /><br />In this context, I think my pile is a (somewhat) typical collection of guns and (somewhat) indicative of how the gun business works.<br /><br />As I consider the matter further, I realize that I buy most guns because of their functionality. For instance, the latest gun I bought, just this week, is a <a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/index.php" target="_blank">Benelli</a> &ldquo;Cordoba&rdquo; 20 ga. It&rsquo;s dove season and even though I have a perfectly good 12 ga. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>another Benelli as a matter of fact <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>I wanted a lighter-recoiling 20.<br /><br />Interestingly, I customized my &lsquo;80&rsquo;s vintage 12 ga. Benelli with virtually identical modifications to what are now standard on their Cordoba model. My buddy Ken Kelly at Mag-Na-Port performed a &ldquo;Pro Porting&rdquo; job on the 26-inch barrel and Claudio Salassa at <a href="http://www.briley.com/" target="_blank">Briley Mfg.</a> lengthened the forcing cone and installed a set of extended Briley chokes. I removed the magazine plug myself to get four-plus-one capacity.<br /><br />My new 20 ga. Cordoba has all that and more. It comes ported and the 28-inch barrel (even better than my upland-length 12 ga. tube) comes with a lengthened forcing cone and is back-bored, both of which help to reduce felt recoil. Additionally, the recoil pad is some sort of super-squishy sponge-like substance that Benelli&rsquo;s wingshooting designers also put on the comb of the stock.<br /><br />This is a brilliant touch and proves that the honchos at Benelli know what serious wingshooting is all about. They call it "ComforTech." I salute them for knowing that your cheek, not your shoulder, is what takes a pounding on heavy-volume dove shoots.<br /><br />Which is what this gun is all about. It&rsquo;s named after the famous dove shooting province in Argentina where hot barrel shooting is simply superb.<br /><br />My only complaint with the new Cordoba is its futuristic look. I&rsquo;m not a fan of Jetsonian gun design and, here of late, the &ldquo;Killer B&rsquo;s&rdquo; of Italian gunmakers, Beretta and Benelli, have fallen for the Buck Rogers look big-time. Beretta&rsquo;s Storm (both in pistol and carbine forms) is right out of the hands of Hans Solo while Benelli&rsquo;s new <a href="http://www.benelliusa.com/shotguns/benelli_vinci.php" target="_blank">Vinci</a> looks like it belongs in an armory aboard the Battlestar Gallactica.<br /><br />The Cordoba is a great gun <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>witness that I wrote a four-digit check for one. The Gucci-esque styling is nothing that a couple of cans of Krylon &ldquo;camo&rdquo; colors won&rsquo;t fix. I&rsquo;ll post my version of my hand-painted Insider De Vinci and how I will transform the svelte black Cordoba into a true dove gun in&nbsp;another&nbsp;post.<br /><br />In the meantime, consider whether you have a collection of guns <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Univers-Condensed; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">&ndash; </span>or a gun collection.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1814&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1807&cid=25Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">When the wheels fall off, they really fall off.<br /><br />The recent buying binge of ammo and tactical guns that swept the firearms industry to record-sales in the first six months of 2009 has come to a rubber-burning, tire-squealing halt.<br /><br />It was great while it lasted. Or was it bit like a whopper of a hangover after a great party?<br /><br />A well-known manufacturer of AR magazines was running full-bore, cranking out as many magazines as possible but still unable to keep up. Talking to the Insider on the condition that his name and company not be revealed, this well-placed source told me, &ldquo;We had backorders for 80,000 mags. In two weeks, we dropped to 4,000. Distributors are cancelling POs [purchase orders] left and right.&rdquo;<br /><br />Frank Brownell, of Iowa-based <a href="http://www.brownells.com/" target="_blank">Brownell&rsquo;s</a>, has always had his finger on the pulse of the industry because his core business of distributing parts, accessories and specialized tools to the gunsmithing trade lets him see trends before they emerge in the overall market. <br /><br />Frank&nbsp;said this&nbsp;on the sudden hiss of air from the tires: &ldquo;Most all of us in the industry have had a fantastic run of business. Our industry has been recognized by shooters, non-shooters and even the economic whiz-kids on Wall Street as one of the very few bright spots during this economic downturn.<br /><br />&ldquo;You probably saw it in the huge volume of sales starting right at the election in November 2008, peaking somewhere around Easter of this year and then sliding back closer to the traditional summer slow-down we always see.<br /><br />&ldquo;In doing our analysis here, we asked ourselves the following three questions:<br /><br />1) Is this &lsquo;Obama gun bubble&rsquo; over?<br /><br />2) Is demand for firearms and ammunition coming down to the standard demand curve for our business?<br /><br />3) What can we do for the remainder of 2009 and all of 2010 to match or beat those high sales in the bubble?<br /><br />&ldquo;We believe the insane demand level for tactical firearms is over and future demands for these products will come back down to the industry norms.<br /><br />&ldquo;Keep in mind, though, there have been a huge number of non-traditional firearms buyers making purchases of AR-15s, so there are a lot of customers out there who will still want to accessorize and modify. There&rsquo;s definitely still a market for AR-15 stuff, but a much softer one for the basic platform itself. <br /><br />&ldquo;The concealed carry and home defense market; however, is starting to heat up and right now is the beginning of a short boom, not as significant as we saw with tactical rifles, but a surge nonetheless. We don't know how much leg this market can get under it or how long it might run.<br /><br />&ldquo;We strongly believe the reloading and ammo markets are still under-served and have strong growth ahead of them. It will take longer to get these markets back to a norm because the primer shortage. The deep fluctuations in the metals markets from which most of these ammo components are has had an impact on availability and prices. Our industry's share of these markets is not even a wrinkle, and we have neither control nor any leverage we can bring into play. We just have to wait for the metals markets to settle out.<br /><br />&ldquo;Shotgun and hunting markets did not seem to have had the favorable run-up as the tactical market. From what we think we see, there might be some returning strength.&rdquo;<br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1807&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1792&cid=25Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Why do guns work?<br /><br />It seems like such an obvious question, but the answer isn&rsquo;t as simple as you might think. Clearly, the reason that guns work is because a cartridge of the same caliber as the firearm reliably fires when the action is operated. If the cartridge and the firearm are of the same caliber, when you pull the trigger, it goes bang.<br /><br />But how does that happen? How do the ammo companies and the gunmakers get on the same page?<br /><br />If you think about it, there&rsquo;s no reason why any company except <a href="http://www.remington.com/" target="_blank">Remington Arms</a>, which is the only ammunition and gunmaker, should ever tell each other anything. For instance, it&rsquo;s a&nbsp;source of huge frustration for holster makers to constantly have to modify their holsters when handgun makers implement either new models or changes to existing models.<br /><br />Why do ammo and gun companies talk when holster and handgun companies don&rsquo;t?<br /><br />The answer is found in five letters: SAAMI.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.saami.org/" target="_blank">Sporting Arms&nbsp;and Ammuntion Manufacturers Institute</a> (SAAMI) is a private association with no government oversight, yet it was established in 1926 at the request of the federal government to:<br /><br />&bull; Create and publish industry standards for safety, interchangeability, reliability and quality<br />&bull; Coordinate technical data<br />&bull; Promote safe and responsible firearms use<br /><br />It&rsquo;s because of SAAMI that if you buy a box of .30-&rsquo;06 Sprg. cartridges from any SAAMI member &mdash; and all the major U.S. ammunition companies are members &mdash; that they&rsquo;re all working from exactly the same specifications, dimensions, pressure standards and so forth. At the same time, all the major U.S. gun manufacturers are chambering their firearms to SAAMI specifications for chamber size, rifling and other technical details.<br /><br />SAAMI is run by a board of directors composed of the top executives from the firearms industry. Currently, Steve Sanetti, formerly the president of <a href="http://www.ruger-firearms.com/" target="_blank">Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co.</a>, is the chairman. <a href="http://www.atk.com/" target="_blank">ATK</a> President Mark De Young is the vice chairman and board members include Steve <a href="http://www.hornady.com/" target="_blank">Hornady</a>.<br /><br />What makes SAAMI unique in the overall global firearms industry is that it&rsquo;s non-governmental. In other countries, government-approved &ldquo;proof houses&rdquo; set the technical requirements for manufacturers and then proof all firearms to meet the basic safety standards by firing an over-pressured &ldquo;proof round&rdquo; in every gun. The firearm is then stamped with a &ldquo;proof mark&rdquo; to verify that it&rsquo;s been tested.<br /><br />In America, we police our own guns. And for coming up on 90 years, the industry group that handles this incredibly complicated task is called SAAMI.<br /><br />Perhaps one day we&rsquo;ll see a HAAMI to get holster makers and handgun makers on the same page!</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1792&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1787&cid=25Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Despite the surge of sales of ammunition and&nbsp;self-defense firearms that began late last year and has continued until early this summer, all is not roses. Hunting rifles, sporting shotguns and target guns have been gathering dust on dealers&rsquo; shelves and inventory levels are high at manufacturers and wholesalers alike.<br /><br />&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a pendulum that swings back and forth. In 1998 there was something like this [current sales slump of sporting guns] when we were four years into the assault weapon ban. There had been tremendously concentrated purchasing leading up to the ban of semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic pistols and high-capacity magazines,&rdquo; said a longtime industry veteran of one of the major manufacturers who spoke to The Insider on condition of anonymity.<br /><br />&ldquo;Then you had a transition after the assault rifle ban sunsetted in 2004 with another concentrated buying scenario. Also, from 2004 to 2008, you had a pretty significant wealth effect going into the market. People felt enriched and they were buying stuff, whatever it was &mdash; guns and other things.<br /><br />&ldquo;The market for extremely expensive shotguns and rifles grew tremendously. But then you had the opposite effect [when the stock market crashed in October, 2008] and you had a poverty panic.&rdquo;<br /><br />What happened then, is that the economic downturn caused a freeze on buying discretionary firearms such as hunting rifles and sporting shotguns, but the fear factor of Obama instituting another gun ban has stimulated people to go out and buy ammunition and any sort of self-defense firearms.<br /><br />&ldquo;The industry has been unable to respond to this very segmented demand spike,&rdquo; the industry veteran opined.<br /><br />&ldquo;The overall market is down about 30 percent even though ammo and [tactical] rifles are tearing up a hot streak. We could easily see a 20 to 30 percent dip in 2010.&rdquo;</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1787&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1765&cid=25Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">One of the great success stories of the firearms industry is Ultra Light Arms&hellip; excuse me, the <a href="http://www.newultralight.com/" target="_blank">New Ultra Light Arms</a>. It all began, as great success stories usually do, with one man and his dream. The man was Melvin Forbes, a master gunsmith from West Virginia, and his dream was to create a high-performance ultra-light hunting rifle.<br /><br />In 1990, when this man dreamt this dream, it was just that &mdash; a nighttime fantasy. The only way to make a super-lightweight hunting rifle was to take an existing action, usually a Remington Model 700, and skeletonize it down to the bare necessities. The bolt handle might be drilled out, the action slimmed down, the box magazine removed. The barrel would be a buggy whip style and the stock would have more holes than swiss cheese.<br /><br />Once you &ldquo;got there&rdquo; and had an ultra-light hunting rifle, accuracy usually had fallen by the wayside along with the mound of metal chips. Mel decided that the custom approach was not the way to go, so after consulting with a number of experts, from national champion target shooters to world renowned big game hunters, Mel designed his own action.<br /><br />The goal was simple &mdash; a 6-pound hunting rifle, total, including riflescope. Mel did the math and realized this would mean a rifle weighing no more than 5.25 pounds.<br /><br />A 10x56 binocular weighs about that. Your hunting boots are probably heavier.<br /><br />The result was the Ultra Light Arms Model 20 which weighs 20 ounces (All ULA actions are numbered according to their weight. Hence, the Model 28 weighs 28 ounces et cetera.) The action is machined from a solid billet of 4140 heat treated steel with tolerances held to .0002 inches&nbsp;(two-tenths as they say in the machining world). The action is perfectly true to the barrel&rsquo;s centerline and its raceways and locking logs are blueprint-accurate. Designed to give the locking lugs gives perfect 100 percent contact with the bolt&rsquo;s lugs.<br /><br />While everything about one of Mel&rsquo;s Ultra Light Arms rifles is made to the customer&rsquo;s specifications, from the length-of-pull to the caliber to the color, the barrel is not. You can have any barrel you want as long as it&rsquo;s a Douglas Premium. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tried other barrels, and they just don&rsquo;t perform as consistently as Douglas,&rdquo; Mel said in all candor. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been buying barrels from Douglas for 20 years and I just trust their quality.&rdquo;<br /><br />The stock is one of Mel&rsquo;s brighter ideas. Instead of the usual fiberglass, which is too heavy, Mel uses a Kevlar/graphite composite cloth. The recoil bearing area and sling swivel studs are cast in place to prevent weakening the stock with any cuts during manufacture. The end result is a stock that&rsquo;s tough, rugged and light as the proverbial feather.<br /><br />The proof was in the pudding and in the groups. Mel&rsquo;s customers were loyal,&nbsp;business was thriving and&nbsp;he was enjoying national acclaim from the likes of Jim Carmichael and other leading writers&hellip; and then disaster struck.<br />Disaster came in the form of Colt&rsquo;s Mfg. Co.<br /><br />The iconic Hartford handgun maker decided to get back into the hunting rifle game &mdash; remember the Colt Sauer? &mdash; and what better way to jump in with both feet than to buy a going entity?<br /><br />The deal was done and Mel sold Ultra Light Arms to Colt, staying on as a consultant. One thing led to another with the Colt bean-counters cutting corners and trying to &ldquo;manufacture&rdquo; what was essentially a custom, hand-built rifle. The guns were atrocious.<br /><br />Luckily, Colt had over-stepped its financial bounds as well as its competency bounds and never paid Mel. He took his company back, but in so doing he changed the name to the New Ultra Light Arms, which is in fact the old Ultra Light Arms.<br /><br />I&rsquo;m reminded of Mel, the man and his dream, as I just took delivery of my second Ultra Light Arms rifle. I&rsquo;m a bit of a nut for odd-ball calibers and I ordered a 26-inch barreled 8 mm Rem. Mag. I took it to the range with my test handloads with a Barnes 200 gr. TSX and after one shot to get the bore-sighted scope verified, I fired three rounds for record. They were literally the second, third and fourth shots the gun had ever fired.<br /><br />The 100 yard group measured .641 inches. Now that&rsquo;s what I call a dream gun.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1765&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1766&cid=25Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Ammunition and firearms taxes were up a staggering 43 percent in the first quarter of 2009, yet another indicator of how the firearms business has surged since Nov. 4, 2008 when Barack Hussein Obama was elected president.<br /><br />The Deptartment of the Treasury reports that the tax receipts were $109.8 million for the first three months of 2009. The report comes on the heels of a 31 percent increase in the last three months of 2008.<br /><br />Manufacturers of firearms and ammunition pay a federal excise tax, which is earmarked for wildlife conservation. Handgun makers pay 11 percent and long-gun makers pay 10 percent. The tax is paid at the time the guns are manufactured and is based on the wholesale selling price.<br /><br />Using the tax data to extrapolate the total firearms market for 2009&rsquo;s first quarter, the industry produced slightly over $1 billion worth&nbsp;of firearms at the wholesale level. While it is difficult to project the profit margin between the wholesale price at which the tax is paid and the eventual retail price, industry insiders place the total retail volume at between $1.2 and $1.3 billion.<br /><br />Ammunition accounted for nearly $38 million of the total first quarter taxes with long-guns slightly ahead at $39 million and handguns at barely over $33 million.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the National Sporting Goods Association reported that &ldquo;hunting and firearms&rdquo; was the only category to experience double-digit growth in 2008 out of seven categories. We appear to be headed to another &ldquo;up year&rdquo; in 2009, according to the Association.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><a href="../../BlogList.aspx?id=19&amp;cid=25">Industry Insider</a></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1766&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1753&cid=25Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">People don&rsquo;t usually look forward to two-year-old news with eager anticipation, but in the case of the firearms industry, production data collected by the ATF is withheld for two years. Right now, in August, 2009, we are only now being told about firearms production figures for 2007.<br /><br />The reason for the information embargo is not some nefarious government conspiracy, but a willful agreement between the American gun business and the ATF to intentionally sequester the information for two years. The industry petitioned the Feds and asked them to voluntarily withhold the data for a two-year embargo out of a consensus in the industry that revealing such information prematurely could harm the industry&rsquo;s competitiveness against foreign imports by betraying market trends to foreign gun companies. Meanwhile, foreign import figures are available in the same year that they&rsquo;re collected.<br /><br />Nothing like home field advantage.<br /><br />Foreign firearms imports are tabulated by, of all people, the U.S. Census Bureau whereas domestic firearms production is the purview of the ATF. Census data is reported in a timely manner.<br /><br />With that background on why the data is so seemingly out-of-date, check out my blog entry on 2007 Firearms Production and find out who is the biggest dog on America&rsquo;s gun porch.</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1753&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1751&cid=25Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">The biggest dog on America&rsquo;s firearms porch is Smith &amp; Wesson. The historic handgun maker topped the list of domestic gun producers in 2007, the latest year for which BATF figures are available, with over half a million guns. (Smith &amp; Wesson is no longer just a handgun maker, of course, since it now produces AR-style and bolt-action rifles.) The exact number of &ldquo;meatball&rdquo; emblazoned guns was 523,554.<br /><br />The Massachusetts-based company barely edged out Remington Arms which came in second in firearms production in 2007 with 521,833 guns. Needless to say, this reflects only Big Green&rsquo;s production and not that of its nest-mates in the Freedom Group Inc. such as Bushmaster and H&amp;R.<br /><br />Trailing in third place, the equivalent of several laps behind, came Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. with 463,996 guns. Mossberg nudged Remington out of the top spot in shotgun production, 250,211 against Big Green&rsquo;s 238,245. This latter number must have stung&mdash; it&rsquo;s nearly a 20 percent decline from the previous year.<br /><br />However, Remington held on to the top rifle maker spot with 283,588, a 7 percent decline from the previous year but still strong enough to hold Marlin at bay, which came in second with 227,855. Ruger was the third leading rifle producer with 222,902, up nearly 14 percent from 2006.<br /><br />In handguns, Smith &amp; Wesson cruised to a commanding lead with better than a two-to-one lead over second place Ruger. Smith cranked out 498,878 handguns to Ruger&rsquo;s 238,615. Surprisingly, SIG came in third with its U.S.-based factory producing 111,653 pistols.<br /><br />Overall, U.S. firearms production was the strongest in over a decade with 3.9 million guns made, the highest total since 1995. Handgun production at 1.6 million guns led the gain with a 15 percent uptick over 2006 which itself was a 30 percent jump over 2005.<br /><br />Rifle production, also at 1.6 million guns, was remarkable because, for the first time since 1998, it was eclipsed by handguns. Traditionally, the U.S. firearms industry produces more handguns than rifles, but that trend has been reversed since 1998&mdash; until 2007 when handguns recaptured the lead.<br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Source:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.shootingindustry.com/" target="_blank">Shootingindustry.com</a><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1751&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1752&cid=25Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Paradoxically, what&rsquo;s bad in Washington is good for the gun business. When we see an increased threat to our Second Amendment rights, we tend to panic-buy. It happened in 1994 and it&rsquo;s happened again in 2008. That fateful day I refer to as Black Tuesday has stimulated the gun business like nothing since Bill Clinton was sarcastically awarded the industry&rsquo;s &ldquo;salesman of the year&rdquo; honor for stimulating the gun business with his doomed &ldquo;assault rifle&rdquo; ban.<br /><br />We&rsquo;ve been seeing the same thing since Black Tuesday with gun shop cash registers ringing like church bells.<br /><br />Sturm, Ruger &amp; Co. reports its firearm sales during the first quarter of 2009 grew nearly 56 percent over the same period in 2008. &ldquo;The level of demand for our products during the first quarter of 2009 has been unusually high, with more than 500,000 units ordered,&rdquo; said Mike Fifer, Ruger&rsquo;s chief executive officer.<br /><br />Smith &amp; Wesson saw its third fiscal quarter firearm sales (which translates to the first calendar quarter of 2009) were $78.5 million, a 28 percent jump from the same period a year ago. &ldquo;Sales of handguns and tactical rifles into our consumer channel for the third quarter grew 62 percent over the prior year,&rdquo; said Mike Golden, president and CEO.<br /><br />Remington&rsquo;s overall annual net sales grew in 2008 by $102 million, according to Ted Torbeck, chief executive officer of Remington Arms. &ldquo;Improvements occurred in our firearms segment, which was up 34.7 percent,&rdquo; Torbeck said.<br /><br />Beretta U.S.A. Corp. reports an &ldquo;outstanding first quarter,&rdquo; citing a 66 percent upsurge from the same period a year ago.<br /><br />The FBI&rsquo;s National Instant Criminal Background system (NICS) conducted more than 9.1 million checks during the November 2008 through May 2009 period, a nearly 30 percent increase over the same months of 2007 and 2008. The number of background checks does not necessarily mirror the actual number firearms sold, but it&rsquo;s still the most reliable indicator of gun-buying activity</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Source: <a href="http://www.shootingindustry.com/" target="_blank">Shootingindustry.com</a><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1752&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1736&cid=25Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The cash register, that is. The Freedom Group has just added Dakota Arms to its pile. The Freedom Groups is a collection of gun companies being assembled by Cerberus Capital Management, a New York private equity firm that came to international prominence several years ago when it bought failing carmaker Chrysler from Daimler-Benz. So far the Freedom Group owns Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS/Panther Arms, Marlin, H&amp;R, New England Firearms, L.C. Smith and Parker.<br /><br />I spoke to Scott Blackwell, chief sales officer of The Freedom Group, and he explained that their overall strategy is to offer firearms consumers a "good, better, best selection" of brands. The idea is to keep a customer within the group, from a beginning youngster with a $200 H&amp;R .22 on up to a $6,000 Dakota.<br /><br />Industry insiders have said that The Freedom Group lacks only one thing to make the circle complete <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">&ndash;</span></span>&nbsp;a handgun maker. To which I say, bratwurst anyone?<br /><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1736&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1737&cid=25Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"><span style="font-size: small;">The feeding frenzy on ammunition seems to be continuing. The reason is not that the military has started issuing miniguns to every soldier and it's not that the ammo companies are gouging. The culprit to the sharply escalating prices and bare shelves is good old fashioned supply and demand. Or, to be more specific, hording.<br /><br />Remember Y2K? Or how about the Great Primer Famine of 1994? It was the same thing then. As people get a whiff that a certain commodity is in danger of being banned, taxed, regulated or otherwise made unavailable, they stock up.<br /><br />No one is shooting all that .223 or .22LR. It's sitting in garages and basements.<br /><br />Ammo companies would be wise to see what's coming around the corner once the buying frenzy subsides- a sales slump. People will eventually look at their piles and think, "Hmmm. I better shoot that up," and they won't be buying any ammo for awhile. <br /><br /></span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.americanrifleman.org/BlogEntry.aspx?id=1737&cid=25#listbutblog">Comment on this post</a></p>