Tactical Headlines with John McCoy – AUG. 15, 2024

About This Episode

Discover the latest in firearms innovation! Silencer Shop offers exclusive B&T USA SRBS Suppressors with a free tax stamp, while Elite Tactical Systems introduces the Omega Glock19 magazine. Learn about the American Gunsmithing Institute’s exciting partnership with the Civilian Marksmanship Program. Check out Falco Holsters’ versatile rotating shoulder holster and get a first look at Real Avid’s Master Bench Block Pro-Kit, the ultimate gunsmithing tool!

Insights In This Episode

• Silencer Shop Unveils Exclusive B&T USA SRBS Suppressors – Free Tax Stamp Included! (bt-usa.com)
• Elite Tactical Systems Launches Omega Glock19 Magazine: Next-Level Performance! (etsgroup.us)
• American Gunsmithing Institute Teams Up with Civilian Marksmanship Program – Precision Training Elevated! (americangunsmithinginstitute.net)
• First Look: Falco Holsters Debuts Versatile Rotating Shoulder Holster! (falcoholsters.com)
• Real Avid Reveals Master Bench Block Pro-Kit – Precision Gunsmithing at Your Fingertips! (realavid.com)

About Tactical Business

Tactical Business is the weekly business show for the firearms industry. The podcast features in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs, professionals and technologists who are enabling the next generation of firearms businesses to innovate and grow.

Episode Transcript

Wade: Welcome to the Tactical Business Show. I’m your host, Virginia Beach based firearms entrepreneur and copywriter Wade Skalsky. Each episode will be exploring what it takes to thrive as a business owner in the firearms industry. We’ll speak with successful firearms industry entrepreneurs about their experiences building their companies, leaders and legislators who are shaping the industry, and tech executives whose innovations will reshape the future of the firearms industry. Let’s get after it. Welcome to the Tactical Business Podcast. I’m your host, Wade Skalsky, and today we are greeted, granted, joined whatever else I can think of with our co-host.

John: Blessed.

Wade: Blessed. Yes, I like it with John McCoy. John, how are you doing, sir?

John: Good morning, Mr. Skalsky.

Wade: Thank you. So formal. So formal today. I like it. That’s like when my. My son tries to call me Wade. I’m like, oh, no, it is either Dad or Mr. Skalsky. Those are your two choices.

John: You don’t understand how this works, son. Okay.

Wade: Exactly. Enforced under the penalty of the threat of violence. Exactly. That’s how we. That’s how we operate in my house. All right. Cool. I’m excited to chat with you today. We’re going to be chatting about some headlines, some different stuff, and let’s just get right off the bat with an interesting topic right now for something that’s a lot more accessible to people, I think is, As the suppressors. Let’s rock and roll.

John: All right, so the Silencer Shop, which is a retailer, but I think they also make their own silencers, is running a special right now on being their slim. Let me see. Here they are the SRBS. So it stands for slim. Trying to open the browser. Here we go. Slimline reduced back pressure suppressors. They are in 556 and 7.62 and one of their options is 100% titanium. Now what makes these actually super cool? I did some digging. These are 3D printed silencers. So yeah, completely made of additive manufacturing. And expect to see. This is actually something I’ve written about about a lot in aviation. Expect to be seeing a lot more additive manufacturing in the firearms industry and just in industry in general, as the metals printing is just it’s really still in its infancy and it’s going to get so good. And it’s really cool because it’s really fast, it’s really precise, and it produces incredible products that are hard to do with a CNC, because with additive manufacturing, you can create contours and other types of things that are just really hard to do. If you’re going to see and see it out of a solid block of material. Now, when you.

Wade: Say CNC, so I know that you come from an aircraft mechanic background and a machine shop background. I don’t know what that means. So I’m like a normal human being.

John: So CNC basically is a milling machine that is computer guided. I’d have to look up. I don’t remember what the acronym is.

Wade: You don’t have to worry about it, but no. So I guess what? That’s what it was. But I know that someone, if I’m thinking of it, there’s somebody out there listening right now. I don’t understand what that means. All right.

John: So basically, when you use a CNC, though, you are taking a solid block of material. So you’re going to take a solid piece of bar stock or block of aluminum or steel or titanium, whatever medium you’re going to work with. You put it in there, you program it and it has to mill away the material. All right. So you can see how that does have some limitations for contours tours and unique shapes, whereas additive manufacturing, you start with a build plate on the bottom and you add materials up. So it starts from the bottom and it and it goes up. So you can make any shapes and any curvatures anything you want, and it builds it up so you don’t have the limitation. You’re actually doing it by additive. So it’s adding materials. Whereas CNC and machine all machining is the process of removing materials.

Wade: And this is what I think is exciting about this is the part of 3D printing, which I think should be the focus of a lot of the firearms vertical. Right, is on the positive sort of parts machining side, and not so much on the not so much on the you can make a ghost gun out of your house, which is fine, which is cool, which is, hey, listen, you can have that view or whatever you want, but that’s not a winner with the government. And so the thing is, you’re not going to be able to stop it. So no matter what, the 3D printing is here to stay because there’s no way to regulate it unless you ban the machines, which they’re not going to be able to do.

John: Good luck with that.

Wade: Yeah, exactly. And I look at it as a not as a few. I will assert my right, but I look at it as how can we have a strategy to win?

John: Yes. What’s the winning.Strategy?

Wade: What’s a winning strategy? To get what we want. Because there is something called the federal government that needs to be contended with. It’s not just simply going to go away by wishing it away. And I think that. Yeah, exactly. And I think that approaching it from the machining part of the aircraft mechanic part computers, like whatever, if people can start in your normal people can start to see how good 3D printing is for machining and how it can make everything very inexpensive going forward over time as their 3D printing houses, for God’s sakes. I think then you can start to get a public groundswell that’s not going to you’re not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

John: Totally. And we’re not talking these are not a $200 ender, three that I just bought off of Amazon, which I did. It’s sitting next to me, but may or may not be used for firearms for purposes. And these are very expensive machines. These are metal 3D printers. So these are layering titanium and other alloys like these are. This is very high end stuff. This isn’t uncle Bob is back there making shine and gun and are receivers like this is very high end stuff and it’s really exciting technology. So the rest of the story was actually not about them being 3D printed suppressors. What it is, is Silencerco is running a deal. So if you buy one of these BMT, SRBS the line of them, they’re going to cover your tax stamp as a rebate.

Wade: Yeah that’s amazing.

John: Yeah. And it’s obviously they’re trying to get people to use these. And this is a safety thing. How many people have tinnitus because they’re like oh if I shoot a 300 win mag at five deer a year, it doesn’t make a difference. Yes it does, right? It absolutely does. You preserve your ears. You only get one set. And these are a legitimate safety item. These make shooting safer. They make it better.

Wade: And that’s the one thing I think that people don’t. They most people it’s like the AK 47. Right. Which is we had a I had a previous guy that I interviewed on the show, and he said something that has always stuck with me, and he’s exactly right. It’s like a lot of people view the AK 47 as a bad guy gun because of what they’ve seen of it in the movies. And so the same thing happens, like I always ask myself, what’s the normie view of? First of all, they would call it a silencer, right? And not a suppressor. And I call, you know, I call things clips all the time, not magazines, because I’m sure I’ve done it on the show and I get in trouble from the purists, right, in terms of right. But that’s because that’s where you come from. It’s okay. I understand what is a normal person view of this thing, and think of it as a silencer, where someone like a killer is going to put it on his pistol and then whack somebody, and that’s the only that’s the only purpose of it. And so there’s this education bridge that I think two things are happening. One is this this is they’re only going to get less expensive, right, doing it this way. But two is that actually the ATF is approving these much faster used to have to. People don’t know this, but you have to wait months and months and months and months and months and months and months. There are there are ranges that have part of their business model is okay, you can buy the suppressor from us. Put the application in and while you’re waiting, you can come to the range and shoot it while you’re waiting. That’s actually part of their business model because it was taking so long for these things to get approved. And now some people are getting approvals just in a couple of days, which I think, which no one really knows why. I don’t know. Do you have a do you have an opinion on that?

John: No, I haven’t really followed up on on the, the class like the class three stuff. I don’t really I thought it was still in the months category. I wasn’t aware that they’ve been speeding up the process. Yeah.

Wade: Some people are getting it with the online applications like super fast. That’s weird. It is really strange. I mean, maybe.

John: It’s just what’s going on.

Wade: Maybe it’s just they’ve they’ve streamlined their approval process, you know what I’m saying? Maybe it’s just they don’t want to deal with it anymore. And they’re just like, we’re going to do this, the approval process automatically in this way or I don’t know. I don’t know what the ETF does.

John: Probably just for creating more revenue because they figure the faster they produce them, people just buy more stuff and send them more form fours. Well, and.

Wade: There’s money on the tax stamp, you know what I’m saying? Exactly. So but you.

John: Know, did you know that the tax stamp was $200 when they originally envisioned it in the 1930s, which then $200 was equivalent to 1400 bucks. Yeah, it hasn’t actually gone up.

Wade: Yeah, let’s. Yeah, let’s not put that out there too much because let’s not give anybody ideas. Yeah. We’re not trying to give them ideas. But maybe that’s what they’re doing. Maybe they’re like, okay, let’s their plan is okay. We’re going to streamline these processes and then we’re going to jack it up to $1,000 for the tax. Oh my gosh. Right. Yeah. But I think the one thing I think you said is really important is that the first of all, it doesn’t make a gun silent. No. If you’ve ever heard it’s just it literally just suppresses the sound. It makes it so it doesn’t just destroy your ears. And also, I wish every one of my indoor range when they’re shooting their Ars would use suppressors.

John: Because, oh, for.

Wade: Real, it’s extremely loud. Extremely loud. Right?

John: It’s extremely loud when my neighbor shoots his pasture across the way. Yeah. So.

Wade: But anyways. But this is exciting. I do think that this is cool because I don’t. I also don’t think that normal people understand the amount of force that is involved, and what these cans have to endure. From a 556 round coming right out of the barrel. And, um, just how much force is put on these things?

John: It’s an enormous pressures.

Wade: So that’s exciting. I think that’s cool that they’re doing that, because I think that the tax stamp thing, it’s a gimmick, maybe just to get people to get familiar with the brand and to maybe start being like, oh, maybe I will choose this over something else. But it does. I just think they’re cool and they’re also pretty cool.

John: And I will say these are pretty high end. I look at the MSRP of the SRBS 762Ti and it’s over $1,300. If you’re already shelling that kind of cash, what, 200 bucks for the tax stamp? You shouldn’t be buying it if you can’t tack that on. It’s definitely it’s just a sales gimmick. But hey, if it gets people in the door and buying the product, that’s cool.

Wade: And you know that someone’s going to be putting this on a Palmetto Armory. Blam!

John: $400 rifle.

Wade: Yeah, they’re going to do that. And that’s okay because it actually the rifle is can handle it. You know what I mean? Looking at it, I’m looking at a thermal scope right now for $1,000. That’s a that’s a clip on. And the reason why I’m justifying it was like, well, I can use it if the power goes out just like a monocle. And then if I need to, I just clip it on.

John: I think you’ve been hanging out with the seals too long.

Wade: No, no, it’s actually a brush. It’s brush feeder. That’s selling me on that right now. Yeah. Now, when I hang out with the seals, I don’t talk guns at all. Like, I don’t know, that’s just silly. Like, why would I do that? Why would I.

John: Subject myself to that humiliation?

Wade: That would be like if you and I hung out and you would start to talk to me about, like, your views on being a trial attorney.

John: Yeah, it’d be so dumb.

Wade: Right? You’d be like, I’ve been LARPing a little bit as a trial attorney, and you’re like, that’s illegal.

John: Stop it immediately.

Wade: This cross-examination technique is awesome. I’m really. And I’m going out on the weekends, and I’m trying it out and role playing it on different people. It’s awesome.

John: By the way, I will never Larp as a trial attorney, so. Yeah, I don’t think anybody.

Wade: I don’t think anybody will, except for my mock trial students on my mock trial team that I’m coaching this fall. All right. Cool. So that’s awesome. Yeah. And suppressor is on my list after thermal, though, because I want to be able to see in the dark and be really loud. That’s my whole goal. Perfect. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that’s I think that’s cool. I think people should just pick it out even or check it out, even if they’re not going to buy a suppressor right now to start to become familiar with these things because they are going to come the 3D printing is eventually going to make things come down in price.

John: Just oh yeah, absolutely.

Wade: It will just like computers, right? Like now you can buy a lightning fast computer for desktop for $500. That was just incredible.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Wade: Let’s go on to the Omega Glock 19 magazine. So Elite tactical systems. I just like to say it like that because I think it sounds cool.

John: So apparently we weren’t sure if the world needed another polymer Glock mag, but Elite Tactical Systems thought otherwise. So let’s take a look at this.

Wade: First of all, I think it’s cool that translucent. That’s cool as you can see through it, although it is a little bit although the utility of that and it looks like they’ve got a Hornady critical defense rounds in there, which are nice.

John: Which I keep those in my guns.

Wade: That’s what I run on my Glock. Yeah, both of my Glocks, my EDC and my bump in the house. Night nightstand. And so those are nice. At least that’s what it looks like. It could be wrong on that, but it looks like the utility of a see through see through magazine is a little less than a handgun. Because yeah, it’s.

John: In the it’s in the magwell.

Wade: Right. So it’s like all right. So there’s that. I guess it’s just cool to look at I guess. But but what did you think about what did you think about this?

John: I read over it. It looks like they put a lot of effort into perfecting what most people consider the perfect magazine. They went to make it light. They did combine polymers with steel. It’s pretty sturdy. My overall takeaway is if you feel like your 35 Glock mags isn’t enough, throw on a couple more of these a shot. Everything under the sun like Ruger. What do they call those PCC pistol caliber carbines? And all those other brands all use Glock mags. Can you really ever have enough?

Wade: I think the challenge. So the Glock 19, for example, do you run a Glock 19? No. You’re a sick person, right?

John: No, no, I, I’m very lazy. I have a, I have an old Smith and Wesson MMP.

Wade: All right, well, so I run I run a Glock 19, right? It’s like what? What do you think is if you were to say would be the the stock Glock 19 magazine, would you just go with the OEM?

John: Just the factory mags.

Wade: Yeah. Yeah. Because it’s like.

John: Why wouldn’t you. Exactly.

Wade: Well, what about Magpul? I was like, well, okay.

John: They’re really good, but Glock, they call it Glock perfection for a reason. It’s like the Camry that you put in a holster. Yeah.

Wade: And that’s the thing. Is it the same factory work that makes the most dependable EDC gun ever? The most bought? Okay, let’s just say. But maybe people will argue, but we can’t argue that it is the most. The Glock 19 is by far the most purchased every day.

John: Yeah.

Wade: It is. Yes. Especially Gen3. I actually own a Gen3, so why wouldn’t you get that from that? But we are talking about them. But this is cool. If you want to go, Gooch, if you want to go to the range and start to have fun with what you’re doing, right? Yes.

John: Well, I know why they did it, though. It is lighter than all steel mag, and that’s why they did it. It says it’s 50% lighter. Obviously, Glock proved since the early 1980s that polymer is every advanced polymers are every bit as durable as steel for most uses. Look, I’m not driving over my Glock and my magazines with a dump truck, all right? And no one else is either. If you are, you’re stupid. It’s just dumb. And for everyday use, it might be important for the guy that wants to carry an extra mag, you know, for everyday carry. And one in the one in the gun. And if it weighs half as much.

Wade: Yeah. Because I guess you’re saying, you know, you can have two mags for the price of one because that’s the weight of one. Yeah, well.

John: It adds up.

Wade: But this is like, that’s a small person problem, right? Because I’m six I’m six, four, two, 15. I can rock a battle belt with. I’m going hiking. I can have a bat. I can walk around with a battle belt on that has like a med kit on it. I can have a tarp on there. I wouldn’t hurt my hips. I wouldn’t bother all day long. So maybe it’s a small person problem because 25.99 that’s expensive, but I can see. I guess I guess if you’re going to buy, if you’re going to rock it every day and you’re going to get, I can definitely see it. So I’m not badmouthing the Omega men.

John: They did. They also coated them with Teflon for I think their idea there is to improve the release ability. So that’s hey, go give them a shot.

Wade: I’m not. And this is never say never. I’m not at the point in my journey to where I’m good enough to start calculating what’s my weight like. You know what I’m saying? I’m still putting rounds on the target to the point of where I’m still like, okay, I’m competent, but there’s not going to be any difference in draw speed, draw speed or what I’m doing. But if you’re at that point, then I can see how this would make sense.

John: Sure, if you’re running three gun using a Glock 19, like a super high end 19 derivative, and weight actually matters because fractions of a second matter, and especially in terms of like high performance guns, where, you know, like in three gun, they’re dropping magazines fast. Then maybe that actually does make a difference. I mean, for you and me probably doesn’t.

Wade: I will tell you how this will. This. I just thought of something of how it would make a difference. Is that because these are not ubiquitous, no one’s going to steal your mags. That’s true. This is a good. This is a good. That is one thing to where that’s an advantage of is. Or they may steal it because it looks cool. They’re like, I’m taking it, but no one’s going to accidentally take it.

John: Yeah, there’s truth in that.

Wade: I shoot this, my firearms instructor, we shoot this. I’m a Glock person because he’s a Glock person and he’s the guy that taught me to shoot. So we shoot all the same. Everything we have is the same. So I would say every, like, fifth time that I take a lesson from him, I’m walking off the range with something that’s his on accident, you know what I mean? Because it’s like all the same. Yeah, he always gets it back, though, after I discover it and I feel bad.

John: Or you can crudely draw your name into it with a Sharpie like I do.

Wade: Yeah, I see some people that they, they have. I don’t have how many. I got a bandolier for my Glock mags, and I got also for my five, five, six mags. And then I’ve got a couple and a couple. I don’t have 500 mags in my house. I just have a few, you know what I’m saying? But I don’t know why. I have the bandolier for the the Glock mags. It’s a very, not a very common situation that you would need one.

John: Throw a bandolier, Glock magazine.

Wade: A bandolier, a Glock. Mags, you should probably just get the AR out and you.

John: Probably should.

Wade: If you’re like, oh, I’m going to need six mags. I’m like, no, get the green tip. Bandolier.

John: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Wade: That’s just a me problem. So anyways, I get a little squirrely. Okay. So those are now that I’m looking at though it is cool because also the other thing too is that if you’re into the clear magazines for your AR, like your five, five, six rounds or whatever you’re going to want, maybe you want to match it because I don’t think I’ve seen an option for Glock that has the clear like that. I don’t think.

John: So.

Wade: So that would be something to is that if you if that’s how you like to rock your magazines, you’re just like, well, I’m going to do my sidearm as well in that way. So this is growing on me in the beginning of.

John: Aesthetics is a really big deal to you then.

Wade: These are growing on me now. Now.

John: Which is funny because the stock Glock 19 is one of those aesthetically bland firearms that’s ever existed. You know, it can be.

Wade: It can be. If you go, you have some options. Now in terms of if you’re going to go with the Palmetto, go with the dagger and stuff, you can start to get a little fun with the slide and stuff like that. All right. This is growing on me now. I have now moved up a notch from where I started the podcast on. All right. Cool. All right. What have we got next?

John: So if you are a civilian marksmanship program. Armorer American Gunsmith Institute now, as a has partnered up with the CMP to go through actual certified professional gunsmith training. Good for you if you’re already an armorer. And frankly, and I’m telling myself this, the CMP is a great program. It’s got clubs all over everywhere. It really is great for learning marksmanship, marksmanship. I should probably get my children involved in it. And if you are already an armorer there, that they will go ahead and push you over the top to a full fledged gunsmith is really rad. And the article actually went in depth and I actually wasn’t really I wasn’t aware I never did armor or anything like that when I was in the military, so I didn’t know the difference. So an armorer is basically versed in in one specific weapon system. So if you’re an M4 armorer, you can do full disassembly like complete disassembly and then full assembly and then some minor repairs just on that specific weapon system. But what the CMP is doing is they’re partnering up. So as a gunsmith you aren’t encumbered to being limited to just whatever one weapon’s platform you are an armorer on. And you can actually do modifications, not just repairs. So it’s cool for them. Definitely cool for the end user especially, I think as real hard skills are going to become an even much more valuable commodity in the coming years.

Wade: Well, and I think for two reasons. One is you can take it for the like where things are headed and the preparedness thing. You’re going to need people who are going to be able to do that. So yeah, but two is I look at it the same way that I look at the CPA problem is that there’s just aging out. Yes. So it’s the same thing with the trade. So there’s not there’s this whole group of people that have serviced the Gunsmithing needs. Okay. But now what’s happening is like the gunsmith group is shrinking and the group of enthusiasts that need them, they’re growing. And so there’s going to be there’s going to be this huge need. Now, if I wasn’t totally not great with my hands, if I wasn’t completely incompetent, there’s a handy person I would actually go back. But but I had situations where I took my Glock or my AR apart, and then the spring just flew out of nowhere. And I was like, I’m not sure I need that spring. And I put it back together. It still works. Definitely need.

John: That spring.

Wade: Don’t need it. No, because still shoots. Still shoots. I don’t know whether it’s this tiny little spring. I don’t know. I don’t know what I needed it for. It was not the main mechanism. It was somewhere out of the stock or something. Don’t need it. Still shooting. So it’s fine. It’s fine. So that’s not really a gunsmith approach that you want to take. No, no it’s not. But I was having a really good interview on the podcast with someone who was talking about having a gunsmith. And the reason I think it is such a competitive advantage for our businesses. I mean, even if you don’t have a range, but just to have a gunsmith as your brick and mortar, if you just sell guns because there is always a need for it, and the need creates a psychological attachment to your business. Because if I have a if I have a shotgun that that is a family heirloom that I want to have it fixed, or you’ll love this so that my dad, I have a gun and my dad just gave me and it’s getting shipped in and it’s a Finnish long rifle. Oh, nice. It’s a 308 lever gun.

John: Oh, cool.

Wade: Yeah, it’s really cool. And so I’m going to take I’m shipping it out. I’m taking it I’m going to take that bad boy to the gunsmith. I’m going to be like, take it apart, clean it, make sure it’s safe, do everything to it, make it look awesome. And it’s an heirloom. I’m never selling that gun. Right. And and then. But I have a I’ll have an emotional attachment to the place that did that for me. Because my dad’s gun, that’s his deer gun. And so he gives that to me, and then I’m going to go out and shoot some things with it.

John: Perfect, I love it. Animals, right. Obviously.

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John: So what I see this as being akin to is a long time ago, when I was an airport manager for the Army, we had a civilian side and the guy that ran it, he was telling me that he had gone for years by running the. It’s called a fixed base operator, where guys get gas and they grab coffee when they’re going across country. And he’s I did it for years without being an FAA certified mechanic. And basically all of his peers were like, how do you do that without being a mechanic? And he’s not very well. So he went and became a mechanic, even though he wasn’t really going to be a knuckle dragger turning wrenches. It’s the same concept that you want to have a full blown gunsmith on staff, not because they’re going to be constantly immersed in doing that work. Yeah, all the time. But because someone’s coming through and they have an unsafe weapon, or they just are having a problems with it, you need to have someone who is actually skilled in the full spectrum of gun repairs. You need to have an airplane mechanic there because sometimes stuff happens.

Wade: Yeah, and.

John: You can’t.

Wade: Know everything as a consumer either.

John: No. And I was going to say that that in the age of YouTube and other and rumble and those things, it’s you can learn a lot. But the problem is there’s no weeding out process of bad information. So you have people who are.

Wade: Accumulating notes for YouTube.

John: Correct. So you have people who think that they can do actual advanced gunsmithing with no concept of how the downstream effects of doing this one thing are on the safety and integrity, because I’m like you guys, the pressures that a gun is exposed to are extreme.

Wade: Like ignoring that spring just can’t find it. And that’s fine. Like doing that, it’s probably fine. But what’s I know what spring it is. I know what I need to go put it back in.

John: I was just googling it, but you know, if you don’t actually know what you’re doing there, you can create a very unsafe weapon. Yeah.

Wade: Okay, so this gun that my dad is giving me, this gun from Finland, it’s. I don’t know how you pronounce it, but it’s SAKO. So it’s either Sako. Yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know anything about those guns I don’t know anything about them. And it’s an old gun. So it’s like from the 80s right. So it’s like an 80s lever gun from Finland. Like I’m not going on YouTube and be like, how do I make sure that this is working correctly? I take it into a professional and it probably hasn’t been shot in 30 years. And that just is a great. And that’s why I think, you know, guns like the gunsmith Gunsmithing is a really it’s an underutilized, neglected part of the two. A tent that I think when we have programs like this, I think really need to be put there because there’s not a lot of growth on the AR side of things. Right. That’s pretty much saturated. Right? But there’s a ton of upside on the.

John: And frankly, you really don’t need a gunsmith to help you with an AR.

Wade: I might.

John: Okay. So most of us don’t. But it is extremely simple. Yeah. In the way it’s assembled.

Wade: It’s Legos.

John: That’s why it’s Legos, right. Most guns are not assembled like an AR.

Wade: Have you ever tried to take apart a revolver? No. Or. Or like a 1911. Right. Or something like that. Like you don’t even. Don’t do it.

John: Don’t do it. Yeah. Just don’t do it. Yeah. I actually did play around when I was younger with a revolver, and I. Fortunately, I got far enough in without taking things actually apart to see how it worked. And I put it all back together like I had the grips off and I’m like looking at it and I’m like, don’t, don’t touch that. Just put the grips back on you don’t just wipe it down and put it back together, John. Just leave it alone. One of the one.

Wade: Of the signs of wisdom is you get into something and you’re like.

John: I can’t do this.

Wade: So, yeah, it’s I was going to make a joke about beer goggles there, but I’m not going to. I’ll let everyone make their own joke there about beer goggles. The wisdom of not going there and realizing in the moment that perhaps what’s happening is a bad idea. I’m a happily married man for a long time now, though, so I don’t remember those days. All right, let’s see here. So anytime we talk about a holster, I feel like I’m cheating on my holster company that I write for. But let’s talk about these guys because we can talk about the Falco rotating EDC shoulder holster, because who I write for does not do leather and they do not do shoulder holsters. So let’s talk about the Miami Vice. Falco rotating shoulder.

John: He beat me to it, man. Yeah. Falco has been around for a long time. They are one of the. I’m not saying older, but they’ve been around for a while, so I read on this one, and what I liked about this was the modularity of them. So if you want to go from a Smith and Wesson J-frame to a 1911, we’re sticking the 1980s here. You can do that, you can pop that off and you can slip another one on. So I thought that was pretty cool. I don’t really know how many people are rocking shoulder holsters, but I feel like there should be a renaissance of shoulder holsters because the sex appeal is on on with the with a good leather shoulder holster. Yeah.

Wade: The thing is, if you’ve ever done anything with leather, like a leather sheath for a knife, or there’s just the smell of leather, right? Yes, there’s something cool about it. And now your purists, I’ll be an advocate here or a devil’s advocate here, is there’s some challenges for EDC because instead of you have to.

John: Be wearing a coat or something.

Wade: Yeah, exactly. You got to be wearing. So when I was rocking my trial attorney days and I wore a suit every day, I could probably rock the shoulder holster, although I couldn’t. I think when I was a prosecutor, I probably could have taken a gun into the courthouse. But they won’t let you take a gun into the courthouse, even as a lawyer in California. So. Virginia, though probably you could. Where I am now. But I don’t practice here, so. But good story. Wait. Great podcast content right there. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. No, but the two things about the shoulder holster that I’m sure is one is that your gun is not pointing at the ground, so it’s like you’re flagging everybody behind you. Yes. Instead of yourself and. And then I don’t know how fast you can get this thing out. That’s the thing is because there’s a clip on it. So whereas so for my EDC, there’s no it’s just a kydex. I don’t I just pulled that bad boy out. There’s no mechanism that stops it from grabbing it. Yeah. So.

John: Oh, yeah. Let’s just use an old school snap.

Wade: Yeah. You’re just.

John: Right. No one does that anymore.

Wade: Well, yeah, because it doesn’t stop anything. But I mean, I guess, like I said. So again, I think that this. You’re old, you’re an older gentleman, like, older than me. So 1,000,000% that you can put a 1911 in this.

John: Yeah. Yeah.

Wade: That’s 1,000,000%. Yeah. That’s that’s there. And it’s expensive too. So it’s interesting because they’re advertising on here that you can put on a light, you can get one for a light, you can get one for a laser.

John: It’s up to 3000 different basic combinations of since it’s modular that you can swap out the holster part. And they said.

Wade: It’s $120 just for the the premium, which is expensive compared to Kydex. Well, you ready to draw? Simply unsnap the security strap, and the holster rotates to an angle that promotes more comfortable grip and rapid draw. I mean, that’s.

John: Oh, I see, I’m looking at their little 360 spinning thing. I mean, for no one’s going to use this unless they’re a cop, because you have to wear a coat to work. I mean, if you’re in the winter, I guess because I hate I hate her waistbands. It just I just I hate wearing them. I actually wear an I.

Wade: Can’t wear them appendix. I have to wear a strong side.

John: I always wear an outer waistband just because. And I always I don’t tuck my shirts in because I’m a slob. So I put it over, I don’t care, I’m not that guy. But I always go with an outer waistband just because more comfortable. I know it’s it prints a little bit more, but I’m still careful about it, so I’m not showing it off. Here’s what I’m in Kansas. No one cares. Yeah, no one cares.

Wade: And no. Someone made a really good point the other day on one of the interviews is that if you no one is paying attention to you, like in our modern society, the only people that know that you’re carrying are other people that carry. Yeah.

John: That’s it. Those are the only people. That’s the only.

Wade: People that see printing. They don’t even know what it is. The only people that are aware is I can pretty much now know I’m pretty good at figuring out if someone’s carrying now just. Oh, yeah. After carrying. Totally. But I will say that what this leather might have an advantage over kydex is the fact that it is modular in terms of for more than one EDC carry gun. So instead of having to have because your kydex you have one, you have the exact. You have the exact kydex holster for the exact gun. Yeah, it.

John: Doesn’t work for anything else. Exactly.

Wade: Whereas it shouldn’t because then it screws up the retention in there. Whereas this it seems now. And did I read this correctly? Where it’s it is facing down on the shoulders. It’s facing.

John: Down and then it rotates.

Wade: And it rotates when you clip it. Yeah. Well then. So then you’re not. So actually this does solve the flag problem because it is I guess it would be weird to get. Now I want to buy one. See this is what happens. I start off being like nope, not going to do that. And then I’m like, well, wait a second, this is not.

John: I have always loved. I mean, the shoulder holsters. We grew up on Lethal Weapon like that’s I grew.

Wade: Up on Miami Vice, so yeah, same. I’m not.

John: That old. I’m not that seasoned.

John: I’m pretty seasoned, brother.

Wade: Seasoned and well seasoned like cast iron.

Wade: I’m so seasoned that I registered when I registered for Brazilian jiu jitsu tournament, like the Masters division started 20 years ago for me. So I’m like, oh, okay.

John: There like our car doesn’t go that high, man. Yeah. Where are you? Where do you belong?

John: No. Hey, that’s awesome that you’re rolling it whatever age you are.

Wade: 51.

John: That is actually incredible. That really is. And you don’t look 52. You look barely older than me, and I’m.

Wade: If I had a full head of hair, I’d be able to, like, do 21 Jump Street in a college.

John: It’s true, it’s true.

Wade: I’d be like, hello, fellow young people.

John: Hello. With the skateboard and the flannel shirt.

Wade: Yeah, but I don’t. I’m bald, so I.

John: So that’s why I’m wearing a hat.

Wade: Being bald is $1.50. Reading glasses from the dollar store. Yeah, a little bit.

John: Actually, I have those same ones, except for I don’t wear them when we do podcasts because it. You’ll just see my ring light and it’s obnoxious.

Wade: That’s a huge hack by the way, for people with reading glasses. Dollar store. I got him.

John: Yeah, that’s where I got mine at the Dollar General. It’s the only store in my micro town.

Wade: You spent $17 on it, and then all of a sudden, you can’t. And they’re really good for shooting, too. I don’t even have shooting glasses. I just wear these reading glasses. Really?

John: Wow.

Wade: Heck, yeah. Look how big they are.

John: Well, yeah. I mean, are they impact resistant windows?

Wade: No. When springs, when springs fly out of my. Are they bounce right off of these things?

John: Bullet fragments go a little faster than springs.

Wade: You know, so I will say this about I will. Let’s go. Let’s get let’s get back on track here before we all get fired. I will say about this, though, is that it’s. So again, this does solve a problem with the flagging issue. And if you don’t like Kydex, right. If you want leather, I’m thinking to myself, like there would be a situation where if I was to rock leather, like, I would think this is cool. Actually, I’m.

John: I’m. To be honest, I am getting tired of kydex. Like, really, I just I’m just.

Wade: I write for a Kydex holster, but.

John: I don’t, I don’t write.

Wade: Well, I do, so kydex is I write. I spend every week as I come up with a new way to talk about how awesome Kydex is.

John: So I just personally, I have been really considering going with leather. And then the funny thing is, every time I think about trading in my getting very old Beretta Nano that I’ve been carrying for way over a decade, I’m like, yeah, I have all these holsters. Like then I have to reholster. Why would I do that?

Wade: Moisture is the big problem with leather. That’s true. That’s the thing. Is that you. It’s just if you’re sweating. Although now. So if you have a shoulder hold, if you have a shoulder holster, it’s over a shirt. Yes. You’re not going to sweat as much as you would on your hip or on your appendix, because you’ve got your pants and your shirt. You know what I’m saying? So, like. Yes. So because it’s an outside the obviously it’s not on a waistband. So I think you’re going to have less moisture on a shoulder holster than you would on your waistband. And I’d be so. All right, I’m going to have to buy one of these now.

John: Yeah. For research purposes, of course.

Wade: Maybe they would just hear this and send me one counterbalance or shoulder system. Well, I’m putting this in the two week TBD for myself later before I lose the link. All right, the.

John: Next thing on our list. I’ve already. I’m already scoped out. I’m actually. Get it?

Wade: Go for it. What are we talking about next? Oh, we didn’t do. We didn’t see any of the websites for any of these things.

John: Sounds like something the host should probably rectify.

Wade: Yeah. All right, so for the Falco holsters is firearms News.com has the actual article about it. But if you Falco holster, I thought you would get more excited about my Sako again. You would think that would be cool. What? My second Sako gun. Yeah. Oh.

John: That’s rad.

Wade: I was expecting you to throw your hat off and go. Hot diggity dog. Hot diggity. Falcoholsters.Com FalcoHolsters.com. All right, so the next one.

John: Yeah. So actually this one kind of is in the same vein as the what we were talking about with the CMP, the Gunsmithing thing. This is the real avid Master Workbench block Pro kit and I, it’s already in my Amazon. It’s in my cart.

Wade: And the website, the website is realavid.Com real avid.

John: All you are guys just buy it. The street price is the same as the MSRP at 79.99 on Amazon. And so it is a it’s a punch kit. It’s got the, it’s got a little hammer with it. It’s got the, the nylon head and a brass head. It’s got a common punch kit. But then you take it apart. It’s a little tool kit. You take it apart. And then the top of the tool kit is actually it’s like a, it’s a gas block. So you can do all of this stuff basically it’s basically for are guys like they’re not saying that. They say it’s for everyone but it’s for are guys. It comes with a pair of little clamps. So you can clamp things down like a gas tube. And you have to drive in those obnoxious little microscopic roll pins from hell. And then it’s not contoured for an R lower, but it’s a little tiny block so that you can do that. And man, it’s such a cool idea if you’re an R builder or if you’re a pistol builder. Glocks and sigs, you can buy all that stuff that’s not branded anymore. You really ought to get this because you use punches and then non-metallic hammers and brass hammers, always needing him all the time, and it’s all in one place and it’s got a little, a little built in work mat and little work block to do this stuff. So I mean, it’s really cool. I am, I’m buying it.

Wade: Well, what’s cool about this too is it’s mobile, right. So you could put this in your range bag. You could.

John: It’s really small.

Wade: Yeah it is. You could put it in your truck, and then you get to be that guy who. Someone has a problem on the range. Oh, you’re like the gunsmithing version of the medical kit guy, right? Like who has? Yes. Who has? Oh, you need a chassis. I have it right here. Right, right.

John: I just happen to carry this with me.

Wade: Yes, exactly. I happen to have a trachea tube and a chest seal and some lubricant with me right now, just in case we need it. You never know when you need lubricant. And that was so funny with my ifak, right? It’s. The first thing I did was like. I’m not clearing anyone’s airway with this. I don’t know how to do this. I’m going to kill someone. You just, you know, good talk, you know? But you can be the version of this with the with this. Because this is you do you will need this on the range at some point. Or someone on the range.

John: Absolutely. Yeah. No it’s this should be standard. This should be standard fare. I mean, like I said, especially for the builders are and pistol builders, man. When you.

Wade: Clean it. Right. So I mean, because I don’t know if you. I’m sure you’ve never done this, but some people might have to take like a screwdriver that’s not really meant to do it. And hitting it with something else. Punch it out. Like you don’t want to. You don’t want to do that.

John: Not sure what you’re talking about, but you shouldn’t do that.

Wade: You shouldn’t do that. You should have the proper you should have the proper tools.

John: You definitely should. Don’t ever use a screwdriver for anything on a gun that isn’t a screw.

Wade: Please. I think what everyone’s saying is don’t ever shoot. Waves AR like, if wave hands you an AR to shoot, that’s his. That he’s been responsible for maintaining is the selector switch.

John: Just spin.

Wade: Don’t even take it.

John: Oh dear lord. Alright.

Wade: Anyway, stuff like this is cool though, because this is, this solves. It solves a problem that you don’t have until you start to actually when you, when you have a gun for a while.

John: When you’re building them, you have this problem. Just get it. It’s. It’s 80 bucks.

Wade: It’s taking it apart or cleaning it or putting something new on it or changing parts out, or you don’t even have to build your own. Ah, it’s just when you’re going to change something out on it, you need this.

John: So and they have a full line of Gunsmithing kits. So and those are worth the money if you’re going to, if you’re going to even just be an armorer on your own weapons correctly, you get get the tools for the job. Don’t go rooting around your toolbox for your greasy stuff that you tune up your Cub Cadet lawnmower with. All right, get tools for your guns that are made for them by them.

Wade: They have another. This is off topic, but they have another thing on their line, which is a precision engineered press fit site changer for Glocks like specifically. So. So I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to change the sights on a Glock, but nope, just.

John: My Smith and Wesson and they were easy.

Wade: It’s this makes it look less like pusher for Glock. Makes it look like this is pretty easy to do.

John: Yeah, I’ve seen it. I know what you’re talking about.

Wade: Whereas because let’s just say that the process that for my changing the factory, factory sights for night sights on my Glock 17 was traumatizing.

John: I knew they were a pain in the butt. And that that’s one thing I really am a apologist for the Smith and Wesson maps, I love them, it’s just a really great guy not to take away from Glocks. They’re awesome. I’ve had Glocks. Also.

Wade: I’m sure the thing about the and I said this to you before is like, I’m just sticking with the Glocks until I feel like I’m super proficient and that I’m proficient enough at them that I can spend time on another platform. Right. Because I the way that I look at it is I want to spend all my time putting rounds on the gun that I need to use.

John: And oh, no, you’re absolutely right.

Wade: So I’m I would rather put 10,000 rounds through that Glock than put 5000 rounds to that, and then 1005 other different guns. Right?

John: No, you’re absolutely right.

Wade: I think a very utilitarian view of it though too. So, well.

John: It’s the ultimate utilitarian pistol. So I think you’re dead on. Well, yeah, I did know that the sights are a nightmare.

Wade: Yeah, well, it’s.

Wade: A mystery of mysteries as to why did they. Yeah, because that’s what with the crappiest sights ever.

John: Because that’s what I was getting at with the map is it’s just got the beavertail design. So you can just take a brass punch and a small brass hammer and just tap it out, and then just tap the new one right in place, and it’s a tight enough fit that it it’s not coming loose. It just it presses in there. You have to use a little bit of force, but as long as you have a non-marring surface on a regular bench vise, you don’t really need much in the way of special tools. Just use brass punches for like the EMP sights. I did mine in ten minutes and.

Wade: I’m probably about it because again, I’m the least handy person I know. So like I’m probably a bad person to talk about. Maybe locks are super easy and everyone’s like, oh, they.

John: Have a unique sight thing. You have to have special tools. And that is one. If you’re just going to run a stock Glock, it doesn’t matter. You can put 50,000 rounds through it and the sights will be perfect forever, but if you want to update those or upgrade them, then those are actually a pain from everyone I’ve ever heard. So. Well, I.

Wade: Wanted to for the Glock 17. I wanted to have night sights on it because yeah, that’s.

John: Why I’ve been my that’s.

Wade: That’s the one that if everything is dark in my house, I can’t see anything. Like I can’t like the night. Sights are what you need. But for my EDC, it’s. I finally broke down and put a red dot on it. And then. And then the iron sights are fine.

John: So anyway, real avid, they have cool stuff. If you do your own tinkering on guns, check them out. Get this kit if you’re going to build pistols or Ares specifically. I say those because this is a punch kit for roll pins.

Wade: So the other websites that we went over today were the B and T is BT.usa.com. That’s the suppressor site for the elite tactical systems with the translucent Glock magazine is good.

John: Caveat it’s silencer shop is the one selling those silencers. It’s on the BT B&T silencers. Yep yep.

Wade: And then the elite tactical systems is ETSGroup.US. Yep. And as the AmericanGunsmithingInstitute.net which is the longest website address I’ve ever seen. American Gunsmithing Institute. All one word, all spelled out. Get it together. American Gunsmithing Institute. Can’t you just be like AGI.net? Maybe. I don’t know. Yeah. Their SEO guy got in there and said it’s got to be American Gunsmithing Institute. And he.

John: Researched this.

Wade: Yes, yes. And then Falco. Yes. That’s what you’re doing in dot net. And then it’s Falcoholsterscom. And again realavid.com. Awesome. Well, we had a pretty ranging, wide ranging podcast today with a lot of personal anecdotes from me. If you have a personal anecdote that you would like to share today, John.

John: No, it’s going to feel like 115 here in the heartland. So I’m going to hide out in my office and try to stay cool. That’s all I’ve got.

Wade: I like whatever you’re trying to do over there. But again, as always, I know we do these one of these every couple of weeks and I actually do really enjoy it. And all I do is really close myself on buying new stuff I probably shouldn’t get. So that’s always good. You’re going to see me with a shoulder holster, rocking, rocking the translucent Glock 19 magazines with a threaded barrel and a suppressor on it.

John: Oh my gosh.

Wade: And I’m going to have a battle belt that’s going to have this pro kit on it, and that’s what’s going to I’m going to just be walking around like.

John: Like that’s and walking into Walmart.

Wade: No walking on the range like that and be like, who needs a punch kit?

John: Like why did you bring a punch kit to the ring?

Wade: Because someone’s going to need it. I’m telling you, I’m just going to stand here until someone needs it. Uh, yeah, but. All right, brother. Well, I appreciate you as always. We’ll talk to you in a couple of weeks.

John: Sounds good.

Wade: You’ve been listening to the Tactical Business podcast with Wade Skalsky and his co-host, John McCoy. You’ve been listening to the Tactical Business show by TacticalPay.com. Join us again next episode as we explore what it takes to be a business success in the firearms industry.