Skip to content

Tactical Headlines with John McCoy – DEC. 26,2024

About This Episode

Discover the latest in firearms and gear on this episode! We dive into Pyramex’s PPM1 Earmuffs, Bushmaster’s 50th-anniversary rifles, Volquartsen’s Mini Scorpion in .22 LR, and POF-USA’s lightweight .308. Plus, explore the innovative 1911-9 DS from Military Armament Corporation. Whether you’re into comfort, precision, or cutting-edge designs, this episode has something for every enthusiast. Don’t miss out—tune in for all the details!

Insights In This Episode

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, we’ll 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 am your host, as always, Wade Skalsky. And today I am joined by my friend John McCoy. For a current events somewhat current events discussion. John, how are you doing today?

John: I’m great. How are you doing, Wade?

Wade: As we discuss off camera before we started, my rage meter is about rage meter 5000 because my mother in law has a TV problem with her router, and I’ve been dealing with that all morning. And it’s just because she’s so old that the old person magic and energy destroys all technology and makes it difficult. So my rage.

John: Meter Happy Gilmore, when he’s like, she’s so old.

Wade: And I’m sure she’s talking about someone who was like 55 in that movie, like my age, close to my age. Yeah, but other than that, I’m doing okay. I get to talk to you, which is good, and we get to talk about fun stuff. So. Yeah. So let’s get right into it. So there is something that we were chatting about that’s making a splash. And let’s rap about it a little bit. The little Ruger making some moves.

John: So yeah. So they just dropped it I think it was last week and they’re calling it the Rkm. And it’s actually pretty cool. It is a partnership with Magpul. So Magpul made the frame. And let’s just get down to brass tacks. It is a Gen three clone. They’re very careful in their wording to not say the manufacturing, the manufacture of it, but it comes with Glock 19 mags. Okay. That’s what it comes with the the mags for Glock 19. That’s 15 plus one nine millimeter. It is a Gen three clone. So I have not been to law school, but I know someone that has. And if you could give a cursory flight level 30,000 foot overview of how they can legally do this, I think that’d be really cool.

Wade: Well, first of all, trademarks are a funny thing, right? So this is just for educational purposes only. I’m not giving anyone legal advice. So and Pat, trademarks and patents are different. But it’s Glock did not or did not trademark Gen three. Right. Probably because they probably it’s too ubiquitous. It’s not descriptive enough. It’s probably you’re probably unable to get that. But they could have done something like Glock Gen three or something like that and trademark that to head this off at the pass. But I’m sure they never really ever thought that this was ever going to be an issue. Probably. But anyway, so and this is I don’t actually I’m not exactly sure how this works for patents because I have some base knowledge for trademarks, but what happens is that after a certain amount of time, a patent or a trademark or whatever can enter the public domain. And there are different reasons for that. So you’ll see that now that, like Popeye is getting ready to enter the public domain. So you’ll see in 2025. So you’ll see all these people being able to use Popeye and not get sued for doing that. So obviously from some perspective, Glock Gen three patent either expired for whatever reason, it’s people are able to copy it and not have legal ramifications, obviously. So and I think the reason why Ruger did this was because PSA is making a ton of money selling daggers. Yeah, for very inexpensively. And I don’t know how much this thing costs. Right. So how much does it cost like 500 or something.

John: Probably Yeah, I think the MSRP is 4.99, so get this straight.

Wade: So so what Ruger is doing is Ruger is trading on their brand name basically, and their built in customer base, which is huge to do what PSA is doing. But what I don’t understand though is it is a very weird thing for a gun man like PSA. I understand because PSA was never known. They came out of the they didn’t start as a gun company as much as they were, just like a retailer. And then they started basically going into manufacturing from what I understand. But it’s really weird for Ruger to who makes firearms to be like, we’re just going to copy this firearm platform basically. Exactly right. And I don’t know what it is exactly.

John: It’s pretty close. It looks like a dagger. It’s update. So the slide takes optics. It’s very modernized in terms of that. But it looks like a dagger which looks like a 19. Well, and there’s.

Wade: This concept, there’s this concept in marketing which is called the category King and Glock is obviously the category king of Glock design, polymer block, Glock design, utilitarian. And so all this does is reinforce that Glock is really good. So it’s a really weird move for Ruger to be like, yeah, we can’t do this ourselves. So we’re just going to copy what Glock did to make some money. And I, I don’t know, that’s how I look at it. That’s a kind of a weird move. They’re going to make money, but I don’t know if it helps their brand.

John: I was wondering that too. And I think they’re playing a longer game because if you look at their oh gosh, I can’t remember what their pistol caliber carbine is, that nine millimeter one they came out with a few years back. It escapes me right now. The PC carbine, um, when they drop that 7 or 8 years ago now, they made the magazine, well, interchangeable. So you could take nine millimeter Ruger mags from I think it was their Sr9 pistol, but you could also slap a different mag well, in it for Glock mags. And they were obviously trying to appeal to the law enforcement crowd that all uses Glock 17 to 19 to get in their squad car. That could take Glock mags. So yeah, it does seem a little odd, but maybe they’re trying to make it complementary. I don’t know, it does seem like a strange move though, for a company as big, with as much clout as Ruger to go after a what is now about to be a 27 year old design, because we looked it up and Gen three came out in 98. Yeah, but there’s.

Wade: No I don’t think that they’re I think the argument could be made for the Gen three, even over the Gen four and the Gen five, that it is the most battle tested concealed carry platform in the marketplace, with the best performance, for the best performance with very. I don’t think you can I think it’s a perfect utilitarian gun.

John: No. Totally is. Absolutely.

Wade: I don’t even think you need the Gen four. Gen five like my Glock 17.

John: Like the Gen four.

Wade: Well, my Glock 17 is a Gen five, but my concealed carry is a Gen three.

John: Nice.

Wade: So just because I’m like, give me what has worked the most that we know works. I don’t need I don’t need anything else. Yeah. And so yeah, it’s just really weird. So I would buy this gun because I like the Gen three platform. And so it like I said, is I’m not necessarily I don’t pretend to be the smartest marketing person in the world. And they’ve got like super geniuses. I’m sure that they pay. Or maybe they don’t. Maybe they’re like Jaguar and they have morons, but in their marketing department. But but I think it seems to me that someone along the way said, hey, we can make a buttload of money. We already have the manufacturing capacity. All we have to do is just slap a different name on it, put the Ruger name on it, and let’s make some money. So that’s how it looks like to me.

John: And Magpul is going to make a bunch of money because they’re packaging up their, their pmags and they’re making the frame for this so well.

Wade: And Magpul loves it because Magpul doesn’t make firearms right. It doesn’t hurt Magpul brand to do this. Not at all. I’m sure Magpul is like 1,000,000% will do this. Ruger. Of course, then they get the it’s really funny. It’s like Magpul is the clear winner because totally they get the halo effect of working with Ruger?

John: Yes.

Wade: They don’t really have to change any of their production capability, right? Because they already make the pmags. Yes. And then they just get they just like, yeah, we’ll take another income stream and then we’ll piggyback all of your off of all of your marketing. So our name is raised up. We’re not offending Glock at all because we make we make it for them. Oh yeah. So anyway so. And I think Glock is probably laughing I don’t know. I would be if I was.

John: That’s what I’m wondering. I’m wondering they’re probably like what. Wtf man. I don’t know.

Wade: Maybe somebody got in a bar fight and they got mad and they’re like, F you, I’m gonna. It’s like President Trump when Obama was making fun of him, he’s like, well, I’m gonna run for president, right? Like some Ruger was getting hazed by someone like Lorca, like, fine, I’m gonna make a Gen three f yourself and maybe a PS, maybe a PSA or something. So that’s my take. That’s my take on it. Is that that obviously the patent expired or something happened to it that they could do that. And obviously because PSA does it so and so. But they’re very careful not to get sued by you said not referring to Glock specifically anywhere. They just say Gen three which everyone knows what that is if you are a gun person.

John: Yeah. So actually I reminded myself because both Magpul and Ruger have their own product page for it, and it’s actually Magpul that says it’s a Gen three. The Ruger page doesn’t say any of that.

Wade: It says Gen three compatibility.

John: Yes.

Wade: Yeah, yeah. But it doesn’t say the word Glock anywhere on there.

John: So it’s obvious what what it is and what they’re doing. So I don’t know. I’m really curious on that one to see how it plays out. I’m really curious if to see if they make a 26 and a 17 clone to go along with it. I assume they will. Well, it’s.

Wade: Why anyone can make a 1911, right? So because it’s so old, like.

John: Yep.

Wade: You can make something called a 1911. Well, I don’t know when the patents expire for the Gen four and the Gen five, right. So I have no idea when that happens. But yeah. Anyway, let’s roll on to the next thing. We’re going to start talking about earmuffs and not the earmuffs. When I tell my children the earmuffs because I’m about to curse.

John: All right. These are Pyramixsafety.com. What can you say? They’re earmuffs. Worked on jets a lot and used a lot of different brands. You get to know earmuffs. And we actually did use Pyramix, and I believe I have a pair of them still somewhere in my stash of veterans goodies and well, they they kept me from going deaf.

Wade: Well that’s good. So I had the worst earmuffs in the history of shooting. I still have the first earmuffs that I bought, like the first ones that I just bought. And I was like, I’m gonna get the cheap, these cheap ones. This will work. Like when I didn’t know how to shoot and I still use them and they work fine, I can still. I’m sorry. What did you say? Something. I couldn’t hear you. I couldn’t hear you. Oh, see what I did there? No, they work fine. But. So for me. And also we need earmuffs here because we go to the air show every year at Oceana, the Oceana air show that we have here. The Blue Angels fly over my house, and they practice in Virginia Beach. So the one thing I do. So. But yeah, you can go as high as you want, right? In terms of the earmuffs side, the one thing I do think that is an interesting marketing move here is that where they say the ventilated headband provides an open crown design ideal for shooters wearing ball caps? So I was.

John: Like every single shooter since forever.

Wade: I’ve never seen. I’ve personally never seen an earmuff. Advertisement or description like. Play off of that. So I think that’s a really good because if you have a set of earmuffs and you have a hat and it bothers you when you shoot because it’s for whatever reason with your hat, it bothers you. That would actually get you like, oh man, I don’t have to worry about my hat every time.

John: No, you’re right. Actually, I did pick up on that little piece of copyright there. And it’s funny, when you’re a copywriter, you pick up on all that stuff. You’re like, oh, and your wife’s like, okay, quit being a nerd. I’m like, but it’s good. So anyway, I did pick up on that and I was like, well, that is a selling point, because when they have just the solid band, it pushes down on the button on your hat and you’re like, hey, this is pissing me off. So that is a selling point. Yeah.

Wade: And the website for this is PyramixSafety.com. And. Yeah. And the thing is, they’re just regular earmuffs and they’re noise canceling, but they’re not the. Or you can with the microphones in them or the speakers in them, or you can just talk normally and then that gunshot goes off and it shuts off or whatever, which I think that’s I think those are pretty cool to do. So do you go old school? Do you just go with the old school earmuffs when you shoot, or do you have one of the newer school ones, or that they have the audio in them?

John: I don’t have any active noise cancellation. I just I have a pair of pelters, the slimline ones. I like those nice or I wear any of the ten pairs I have laying around from when I worked on jets.

Wade: Oh, nice. You got to take all this stuff with you.

John: Well I did.

Wade: Oh, these are noise reduction. These aren’t noise canceling. These are noise reduction. So.

John: Yes. Um, so yeah, you get to take your personal protective gear when you get out, if it’s already got your sweat and stuff all over it.

Wade: Oh, that makes sense. Take it.

John: Back. That makes.

Wade: Sense. That makes sense. All right. Perfect. So yep. Pure safety. Com. Check them out. They actually look cool. What’s next.

John: Next one up. Okay I like this one. Just piggybacking off of my history as a vet. So I enlisted right after nine over 11. And I went to basic in 2002. And I qualified on M16a2. And this is a bushmasters throwback. It’s the XM 15 A2, which is an it’s an m16a2, but it’s semi-automatic. This is their 50th platoon.

Wade: It’s like the platoon rifle, right?

John: Well, so those were a-1s or those were just M16s, but yeah. So those had the triangle handguards on the front and the upper receiver was a little bit different. But we don’t have to get super nerdy. But there is something I have never owned yet, a M16a2 clone. And I have no legitimate reason to need one, but I want one because that’s what I qualified with. And I just think it’s so utilitarian. It’s so cool. And you know, with so many Gucci AR’s out there, I really just want an A2 clone. This one, though, is a 50th anniversary rifle. It is. Yeah. It’s got all the standard gear on there. They offer a California compliant version. There’s only 1 or 100 of them, so. And they come with a limited edition embossed Pelican hard case. And let’s see here I think the MSRP was not cheap. Let me see here. Um, is that the 1166 635.

Wade: The Bushmaster XM 1582.

John: I think that’s not the 50th anniversary one. I just opened Bushmaster.

Wade: I am looking at it. That’s just a normal one. It’s like, yeah, 12 grand. Yeah.

John: Nothing personal, but I’ll either go through Bear Creek or PSA for my A2 knockoff because it’ll be 300 bucks less.

Wade: Well, this is a similar thing as a Ruger, right. So yes, they Bushmaster first of all it’s like one of the coolest names in firearms.

John: That’s great.

Wade: And I think about romancing the Stone when he’s talking about that snake is a Bushmaster snake or whatever. And but your choice. That’s your are you going for utilitarian or are you going for Gooch? Because sometimes you go for Gooch so you can show it off at the range or your buddy or just personally you just like the psychological benefit of buying something like that. So I will never bag on someone for that. But I don’t get a psychological, I don’t collect guns, so I don’t get a psychological benefit from. Check out this name like my AR is a radical firearms from Texas, right? Yeah, exactly. So that thing, like, works great, but it’s not like a gooch r I can. So one thing I do that I think that’s cool about this Bushmaster version is that for the M16, A2 knockoffs is. So I wasn’t in the military, but I did. Every movie you see from my age has a gun similar to that. So we were soldiers once. We were soldiers. Has it got something like that? Platoon has it similar. So. So that is like the gun you think of like old school I’m going into the jungle. And so that is something from that perspective. Why I think those are cool.

John: Totally. They totally are cool. And just shooting irons with an AR is fun, like optics. Now, I did like it when I my the last time I qualified in the guard, I qualified on an M4 and they did actually let us go select fire, which was really fun and which I never they never let us do that before, but I guess they had some extra ammo to burn through and they’re like, put them on burst. And I like putting it on burst. And we used so as an M4 and it was before I even owned an AR. This is probably like 2010 or something like that. And they had the aimpoint optics and I was like, oh, well, this is pretty cool. So but basically that was all there to water it down for desk jockeys that have never shot a gun in their life. And it’s a lot easier to train someone to use a red dot. Yeah, if the only time they’re ever going to shoot is every three years when they qualify, well.

Wade: So I’m an iron sight purist sometimes, like I even on my ah man like I because the thing is that yeah, red red dots are cool, but it’s just another point of failure. And actually it’s hard to acquire the dots sometimes if you’re in a freaking hurry.

John: Well, yeah. And so the irons on it, they have the flip down apertures on there. So it’s got the big circle and the little one. It’s like the big circle. You can come on target for close range super fast and very accurately with that.

Wade: Well I hipfire my hipfire everything. So because I’m like, you have a.

John: Laser sight on it.

Wade: No, I just hit fire from Commando because I just like how it looks. I don’t care if I hit anything. That’s just. I’m sure.

John: You’re. I’m sure you’re shooting range loves you for that. That’s how I defend myself.

Wade: No, I’m talking about in a self-defense. I never do it on the hip. I that’s my plan for self-defense is just to hit fire. Just to hit fire everything and just to shout at people. Yes. Yeah. No. And it’s funny because I saw John McPhee’s everywhere. For some reason, the the sheriff of Baghdad, all of a sudden he’s on every single possible show you can possibly be on. And he talks about iron sights and how he’s like, he’s like an iron sight guy. And and, uh, anyway, I just thought that was interesting. Uh, the other thing, too. I think that’s cool about what you’re talking about. The safety there actually is for the in we were soldiers. There’s a close up of the safety because where he clicks it over because in that they’re laying there and the guys are on that when they get isolated in that point, that’s far away and they’re laying there, and then the guys are rolling up on him and he’s like, clicks it. And then the guys open their eyes like, ah. And then they have a big battle. I don’t know, I always think about that when I think of the M16 safety, which is a good story. Wait.

John: Yeah. That’s great. That’s great. Yeah.

Wade: It’s an iconic gun. It’s. And actually too is if you were to I would think and I don’t know about the modern generation, but I would think if you were to approach the gun control people that are like my age or maybe a little bit younger, this is the type of gun that they think is like a battle rifle. They’re like, okay, this when they’re thinking assault rifle, right? Yeah, the assault rifle, which is a bogus term, we all know. But this is what this is the platform they’re thinking of.

John: This is the devil that they think. Yeah, exactly.

Wade: Think of. Which makes me want it even more.

John: I know, I know, I’m like, oh.

Wade: Maybe, maybe I should get one and just put it up on my wall just to offend, just as a trigger warning. So it’s like a test for when people come into my house. That’s your.

John: Litmus test.

Wade: You freak out with a gun on the wall like that, then I know, okay? It’s like a vampire. It’s like an anti-vampire thing. It’s like, no, you don’t get, you don’t get to come in because you don’t like this. So. But yeah.

John: So I live so far out in the boonies, I think that if anyone did show up at my house to visit, they would already assume that I probably have an arsenal. So, yeah.

Wade: You don’t like visitors?

John: No, I’m not a huge fan.

Wade: All right, let’s go to the Mini Scorpion. Oh, and that’s BushmasterComm if you want to see that again. One of the coolest. Cool. We’re going from one of the coolest names to one of the hardest names. It’s someone’s name I’m sure. Volker. Volker. Mini scorpion.

John: So with this I did. So I knew that that ramping up 1020 twos was the thing. You can find super high end accessories for 1022 everywhere. I didn’t know that taking the Mark one through mark fours was a thing, because I looked at this and I’m like, that is weird. That looks like a Ruger Mark 1 or 2 all the way because I have one.

Wade: But well, it’s compatible with them. It’s compatible with it. So we’re doing another of like the Gen three things right here. Totally.

John: Yeah. That’s what it is. It’s right. Super high end. Yeah. And this thing is pretty rad for one thing. One thing I love about this actually, and I am tempted to buy one just for my mark. Two is the the charging handle. Have you ever shot a Ruger Mark one two okay, so it’s like a Luger. It looks like a Luger. And you grab this little this little T handle on the back. It’s like a charging handle from an R, honestly. Well this one, they’ve made it a lot easier to grip it. And and I probably won’t actually buy it. But you know I’m thinking about it. So so they make competition, high end competition slides And complete pistols here. And this one, this little rascal is 13 MSRP, so it’s a real short barrel little thing. It’s I think gosh what?

Wade: You can see it on three inch volckhausen com v o l q u a r t s e n. So we’re going to have a little aesthetic battle here. Right? Because some people really like the way this looks. Sounds like you like the way this gun looks. To me this looks like a zip gun that someone put together in a prison.

John: No I don’t I wouldn’t say I like.

Wade: It, I don’t like I don’t. It looks like a I made this gun right. And it does. It looks like you.

John: 3d printed.

Wade: It. That’s right. And there’s nothing against Volckhausen, right? I’m sure there are people that love this gun and love it, but it’s weird because it’s got like a 1911 grip angle. It’s like a Franken gun, meaning it’s like, okay, we’re going to we’re going to take this thing from 1911. We’re going to put it in the handle. We’re going to take this thing from Luger. We’re going to put it in the upper right and or Ruger, not Luger, Ruger. And then and then we’re going to do our own thing to it too. And we’re going to put this goofy ass charging handle on it. And I don’t know. And like the barrel I. Can you even fit a light on there? Like, I guess it looks like you can. Anyway. And it’s a 22, so I. It just looks like something from the. Either from the future. It’s either from the future or from a prison like.

John: Or from a hitman.

Wade: Yeah. Could be a hitman. I don’t know. So anyway, so just aesthetically, I don’t like the way that it looks, I’m sure. But what that means is if I was to shoot it, I would instantly love it. And then I’d be like, this is the best thing ever, and I want ten of them.

John: Yes, yes.

Wade: So. But it’s a squirrely looking gun.

John: Yeah. I think you covered all the bases there. I’m not in the market for a $1,300.22 pistol. Well, it.

Wade: Has a Picatinny rail on it like it’s not. It’s any rails on a Picatinny rail, on a gun, on a pistol is I don’t know. I don’t get it.

John: I think it’s just so you could put a red dot on the top. Yeah, I know what it’s.

Wade: I know what that’s for, but I don’t I’m not digging it.

John: It’s okay. You don’t have to justify your position to me. I’m not going to buy one because I got one free for my dad.

Wade: And again, also too, is like. But then for me, remember, I’m the guy that likes my Gen three Glock, which is just like the probably some people think that’s like the ugliest gun in the history of guns, right? Because it’s like blocky.

John: It’s just it’s just very. Their beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though. And if someone’s doing something to me, I just need to know that it works. And that’s at that point. It’s a beautiful weapon.

Wade: I don’t want it to snag anything as I clumsily pull it out of my holster. Correct. And this has a lot of places where things can snag. Look at all those angles on that gun.

John: Yes, well, I don’t think anyone’s using this for a concealed carry gun. I’m not really sure what you use.

Wade: A three inch. How do you know, John? Maybe someone wants to.

John: You can. I don’t care if they do. $1,400. $1,500? Three inch 22. Probably not. Be my go to. Well, I don’t know.

Wade: Maybe there’s. I’m sure it’s probably. Maybe it would hurt if you got shot. You got shot with that thing. It wouldn’t be. It would not be fun.

John: No, no, I’m not asking anyone to shoot me, that’s for sure. Now, you are right. So they modeled the grip angle. Ruger modeled the grip angle on the Mark one straight off of a 1911.

Wade: But a 1911 is a really big gun.

John: Yeah, well, it’s not small. It’s solid metal. My Mark one is a solid little pistol, and incidentally, it is the hardest pistol to field strip I have ever done. It is such a pain in the ass. Terrible. It’s got this weird little lever in the back of the grip, and I can’t even describe it. And it’s horrible. So it’s. Besides that, it’s a really cool pistol, but my God. Field stripping is a nightmare.

Wade: Anyway, so this is the first time I’ve ever looked at a gun and be like, hmm.

John: If little Cortsen wants to send us copies, though, to thoroughly analyze, we will do that. We will do it.

Wade: Maybe they’ll turn. Maybe they’ll turn me around. If they send me one and I take it and shoot it, I’m like, oh my God. I think it’s probably really fun to shoot this thing.

John: But I’m sure it is.

Wade: This episode is brought to you by TacticalPay.com. Every few years, it seems large banks and national credit card processors suddenly decide that they no longer want to process payments for firearms and firearms related businesses, and so they dropped these businesses with almost no notice, freezing tens of thousands of dollars in payments for months on end. If you want to ensure your partner with a payments provider that is dedicated to supporting the firearms industry, or you just want to find out if you could be paying less for your ACH debit and credit card processing, visit TacticalPay.com. Again, that’s tactical pay.com.

John: So that’s the Volquartsen v o l q u a r t s e n.com.

Wade: Where’s Volquartsen and located. Are they in Germany or something.

John: Hold on let me go to contact address. This is the time somewhere. This is the.

Wade: Kind of show press. Oh Iowa.

John: Oh well they’re going to bless you there.

Wade: See there’s his last name. This guy’s going to hunt me down.

John: He probably is, right.

Wade: It’s right next to the Field of Dreams thing.

John: The only things in Iowa.

Wade: This is this a gun maker?

John: And I have no room to talk. I live in Kansas.

Wade: I grew up in North Dakota, so North Dakota arguably has the least amount of attractions of any state in the country.

John: It is the flattest place I’ve ever seen in my life.

Wade: I am I not? Is that where you were? There? No.

John: I was in Fargo for a long weekend. We were actually supposed to go to Philadelphia, and we’re dropping off passengers there, and our jet broke. I was like, in Fargo. But at least it was in September, so it was nice out.

Wade: No. That’s good. Yeah, a break there. I’ve been to. I’ve flown into Bismarck and out of Bismarck in the dead of winter, where you’re just like, we’re not going to make it.

John: We’re going to die. We’re going to freeze.

Wade: It’s just like you look at the plane and you look at all the. You go, man, I don’t miss those days. You’re like, I will say, please de-ice the plane, please de-ice the plane.

John: Fargo’s downtown is actually incredibly nice. It is clean. It is nice. There’s no.

Wade: Sketchy people. You can walk around down there. I’ve had a there’s a burger place down there that I really like and right in the downtown area, and I can’t remember what it’s called, but it.

John: It was.

Wade: Dead of winter, just drinking, having a burger, you’re like, I’m not gonna go outside. I’m gonna drink some more beer.

John: Yes I would. It’s funny when you’re checking, you’re wandering around Fargo, and you can see all these girls there that are local, and they all looked like Norwegian, like tall and blonde.

Wade: You know, my wife’s. That’s my wife. Tall, blonde. Norwegian.

John: It was just funny because it’s like. It’s like a stereotype came to life. But besides the horrendous weather and it being flatter than a sheet of paper, I actually thought Fargo was a lovely town. But I would not have wanted to be there in January. No, no. So.

Wade: But that must have been what? Programming? Because my wife’s not from my wife’s from Virginia Beach, so no, I’m from Virginia Beach, but that must have programmed me for that type because my wife’s like five, ten blonde Norwegian. So I was, I saw her, I was like the, the childhood programming for my homeland came in there and I was like, yes, that’s what I was like, what is.

John: That called the phenotype.

Wade: Type? Yeah. You’ve been.

John: Genetically Programmed.

Wade: I’m sure.

John: Anyway, we went off the rails here.

Wade: Super hot. Yeah. I’m genetically programmed to like super hot chicks.

John: That’s cold. I think we all have that. That’s.

Wade: Well, I don’t know about the kids today. They walk into the grocery store and they’re all these, like, androgynous 17 year olds. Like, wandering around like they never talked to a.

John: I wonder if every generation before thought the generation after them was that bad, or if we’re like, no, this is different. Like, the.

Wade: Difference is, is that every generation had to actually go to a physical location and speak to another human being in order to try to have, have time alone to talk about your feelings. Right. Yes. And so but this generation doesn’t know how to do that. They are. And the men particularly are afraid to talk to girls. They’re all like what it did. There’s always been men who’ve been afraid to talk to girls. But what it did was, is that it transformed all men, almost like 95% of men into nerds. Yeah. They can’t talk to girls. And there’s nothing wrong with being a nerd. I’m a nerd, but I’m a nerd. Totally knows how to talk to girls. So anyway, anyway, good firearms discussion right there. All right.

John: God bless Iowa.

Wade: Yeah. That’s right. The giant Norwegian women from North Dakota. All right, let’s talk about this. Patriot Ordnance factory 308.

John: Ah, yeah.

Wade: So now this is a gun. I look at this gun, I’m like, oh, yes.

John: £6 freaking 308. Holy crap. So I don’t know, have you ever handled an m1, A or an M14? No. Okay. They weigh, like £45, right? Not literally, but it is. They’re huge. And R10s were also very heavy. Yeah. So I and if you read the article, the thing was they were super expensive. The first earlier. Ah, well, not the earlier r10s. It’s a really old rifle. But when they started becoming mainstream like a decade ago, they said their first one, the Revolution, was a bit pricey with a good deal ask of 2500 bucks. And that’s accurate. Ten years ago.

Wade: Well, that’s like a Daniel defense gun, man. That’s how much you know.

John: And POF makes high end stuff of course. But so it was Ruger actually. We’ve talked about Ruger a lot today. We have talked.

Wade: A lot about Ruger today.

John: Ruger I’m on your side guys I like you. All right.

Wade: I like Ruger I just don’t know what they’re doing over there. Yeah.

John: So it was actually this was actually in in response to Ruger dropping a um yeah. Meanwhile Ruger cut into that light 308 Mark, with his budget minded Asfar in 2022 had an MSRP of 1300. So the street price I think that’s like 11, which PSA and Bear Creek are still quite a bit cheaper than that. But they’re not light. So which I assume PSA will probably drop a light AR ten sometime soon.

Wade: So do you feel like £6 is light, or do you feel like £6 is heavy?

John: That is crazy light, dude. Yeah. Super light. Yeah. £6 for a. I’m just say, I’d be glad that it’s semiautomatic with gas impingement to absorb some of that recoil. This is a 308 that weighs £6. And it kicked pretty hard. So. But yeah, I think I think that’s awesome. So yeah, this was a direct response to that. And they were able to get their price down. 1359 so street price is going to be like 1150 or something. 11 to 12 ish. Yeah.

Wade: No, because it was weird because you were talking about that’s what I thought. But you were talking about it like it was the way that you were talking about it. I had it reversed and I was like, did y’all think that’s heavy?

John: Oh, no, I was saying like the M1, A and M14, right?

Wade: Well, you were doing a comparison, but I thought you were doing, like anyway, whatever. All right. So it’s our first that’s our first miscommunication. We’ve always been real simpatico. Til now I was like, we’ve never fought.

John: I know.

Wade: We should. Once.

John: I’m not fighting with you. You’re a prosecutor.

Wade: No, no, that was like 20. That was like 25 years ago. I was a prosecutor. 20. I was yeah, I was like 25 years ago. Crazy.

John: Yeah. So no, six, £6 is crazy light. Yeah. Well, you know what? You can keep talking. I’m going to go to PSA and just see what what there’s ways because I’m curious.

Wade: I like the M lock. I’m an M lock. I’m an M lock fan personally. Yes. And I don’t know. Let me ask you this question. So they have the flared magazine. Well, right. Obviously for ease of loading and or for switching out your mags or whatever, do you really think a flared magwell makes that big of a deal.

John: If you’re a three gun operator? Yes, if you’re me. Absolutely not. Right.

Wade: On any gun, it doesn’t really make that much.

John: No. Yeah. People, like, put flared mag wells in their Glock. I’m like, you just added weight to it, dude. Right. How many mags are you going to mag dump three times in a close encounter with a crackhead? No, you get 2 or 3 shots off.

Wade: Probably you’re going to get two. Two mags. Probably. I think everything’s going to be over. If you haven’t, you’re going to get one reload, right? Like yes. If that. You’re not going to get if you’re in two reloads on some situation, you’re in some sort of weird. The rule of law is broken down. Gunfight somewhere.

John: Like exactly.

Wade: That kid did that because that kid, remember that kid that it was almost like a high school kid. Like he was like 18 years old in that mall. That guy came.

John: On in Indianapolis.

Wade: Yeah. And the guy came in the mall and had an AR. And the kid had like a I don’t know what his handgun was, but he had a handgun with a red dot. And he would he he had like an 85% hit rate from really freaking far away or something. Yeah, he.

John: Was way far. He was like across the food court from the guy, and he hit him like ten times. Yeah, he had.

Wade: Like, 85.

John: Totally smoked the dude. Yeah. Yeah.

Wade: And that was over. Yeah. That was all done. May we all be as calm in that situation as that?

John: Yeah, the dude was like 20 or something. I’m like, I’ve been freaking out. The guy obviously shot a lot.

Wade: Oh, well, yeah, because you don’t get you don’t especially. And he wasn’t in the armed forces or anything. He wasn’t. He was just a normal. And I just love the story like that. That’s just. No, but.

John: That is a feel good story of the year. 7 to £9. Some are up to £12 fully loaded for AR ten, so. Well, I.

Wade: Know, I know how much you squat and deadlift so you definitely need to get a lower weight gun.

John: It’s true.

Wade: I’m just feeling extra strong right now because I deadlift it today. So I’m like, okay, yeah, I’m feeling extra strong right now. This this. I can barely raise this cup of coffee right now.

John: It’s all part of the experience.

Wade: Wade, for the record, John does deadlift more than me, but he’s been lifting longer than me.

John: So it’s.

Wade: True. Yeah. So I weigh.

John: You by like £80, so that plays into it. I don’t.

Wade: Know. You’re not £300, are you?

John: Pretty close. Really? 280.

Wade: Oh, so I’m 215. So you outweigh me by. Are we the same height? I’m six four.

John: I’m six two. And change.

Wade: John is wider.

John: Yes.

Wade: You need to start running around that. The Kansas Plains a little bit, which I know you are. Yes. All right. Enough about.

John: Fattening. Continue.

Wade: Another fire. Another fire. Great firearms discussion, guys. All right. So. Okay, so this is cool. I like one thing I like about this article. It says it has similar dimensions and weight to an AR 15, but it’s chambered in a much more serious caliber than the 556. I saw that first of all, I take umbrage at that because I feel like a five, five, six is a serious caliber. Okay, like I.

John: Have no doubts that it would take me to pieces.

Wade: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get some green tips on there and you’re fine. And then this is my favorite though here. And it scratches many issues, like this person who wrote this from a writing perspective likes like he’s a firearms person. Because yes, that when you have an it’s like, oh, I don’t really need this gun, but I do want to buy it. It’s like that itch, like the 1911. You haven’t purchased the 1911 yet? No, but.

John: We’re going to talk about one.

Wade: I know, I know. So anyways, so I like that writing actually. That’s pretty good. So but that’s.

John: Good. That was good.

Wade: I don’t like the first half where it’s like I’m fine with the five, five, six. Okay. That’s that’s what I, that’s my round of choice. But I do like that it scratches many itches.

John: I will say I the more I think about it, if I were a more avid medium game hunter, an AR ten would be fantastic. Yeah. Like just the follow up and just the feel of it would be awesome. So I’m not an operator, though. It’s the only thing I’d ever use it on. So. Well, and.

Wade: That’s the thing about the wait, right? Like when I was looking at going on a through hikes because I used to was going to do the Pacific Crest Trail. Like weight is really important because you’re lugging that stuff around for four months, right? Yes. Like at least and so and I know okay. Yeah. You’re going to get heavy at range day or even if you’re doing training or whatever. But again, like something like this is you’ve got to really be hoofing it around a lot. I think for the really have the weight difference to make a difference, make a difference.

John: I’ve seen most of the shooters out there. That’s probably not a high priority. It’s more of, oh, that’s cool, and I need to buy.

Wade: Of course. Absolutely 100%. Well, and then the thing though, then you come into the thing of if it does make a difference, if you’re a normal AR is you’re going seven, £8 and then you have this gun, it’s going to shoot differently. You know what I mean? Because it’s not you’re going to recoil. It’s going to be different. It’s not going to be your how you’re going to bring it to target. On target it’s going to be different. So it’s a cool gun for sure. But I’m not there yet.

John: I never will be. It does look.

Wade: It does look sweet though. But then there’d be some guy who would buy this gun and it just is perfect as it is. And then they would rattle can it? And then I would be like, I’d be like, don’t do that, please. For the love of God, don’t do that.

John: Yeah, that’s the same guy that drives a lifted golf cart on the course.

Wade: It’s such a beautiful gun.

John: It is. Don’t do that.

Wade: It’s Scott. Don’t do that to this guy. But he’ll probably be like a 22 year old kid whose dad would buy by then or something, and they’d be like, I’m gonna.

John: Rattle canned it.

Wade: Oh, man, I think Rattle Cannon is cool. I just can’t pull it off, I just.

John: And by the way, never, ever go to gun Reddit. You’ll see things that you can’t unsee. The bad place to be. Guys that, like file the rifling out of their pistols. I don’t, because it’s shooting to the left.

Wade: Don’t tell me.

John: That. Yeah, don’t tell me. Facebook groups are bad, too.

Wade: Yeah, I don’t go to I don’t go on it. I only go on Twitter. If you’re a gun person, the only place you can go is Twitter.

John: It’s true.

Wade: And I and people like it’s so funny. It’s like I interview sometimes for jobs or whatever for writing. And I always ask people, it’s like, where is your company on on online for socials. And they’re not on Twitter. I was like, you’re gonna get shit. You’re going to get shut down. Your Facebook group is going to get shut down. Yeah. You’re all these people now they’re switching over to TikTok because they’re like TikTok. We’re allowing TikTok might.

John: Be gone in a.

Wade: Year. Well, exactly like we’re allowing conservative content because Trump’s in office. Yeah, great. Trump’s in office now. But you want to build an audience in four years from now someone else is in there and then they shut you down.

John: You’re going to get nuked. Yeah.

Wade: Or Congress just sells it like we’re going to we’re not going to let you do this anyway, so Twitter is the only place that you can go. All right, enough of that. Totally. All right, let’s move on.

John: All right. Moving.

Wade: Well, anything else you want to say about that? It’s a beautiful gun.

John: I want to give a shout out to Mission First Tactical because they followed me on Twitter and I love them. Their Twitter feed is great. That’s good. They are they’re great people. And I, they had a bunch of sale or mags at Academy and six bucks a piece. I think I bought 40 of them. Nice.

Wade: That’s good. You’re lazy to load. You’re lazy. You’re lazy to have more mags.

John: Than I have ammo at this point.

Wade: Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s not a wise strategy, John.

John: I’m waiting for ammo to drop.

Wade: Is it for a zombie? Zombie apocalypse? Is that. You’re like, I just want to load all my mags one time and then never have to load another mag again for the rest of my life. That’s how many mags I want. I just throw the mag away, I shoot it, and I just throw them away.

John: It’s gone. All right.

Wade: Anything else you want to say about this gun? Is it beautiful? God, that’s a good one. God, it’s a good looking gun.

John: The next gun is really good looking, too, and I. I’m not even.

Wade: Offended by that. I’m not even offended by this magazine that they have in there. That’s. That has the see through part, which normally offends me, where you can see how many bullets you have in the magazine that offends you.

John: Really?

Wade: It normally does offend me. I don’t know why it does. There’s no reason for it. It’s just it’s probably smart.

John: I actually I think they’re garish, but I like translucent mags. I just do. I think they’re cool.

Wade: I feel like it makes me feel like I’m playing an episode of fallout or something. All right, well, here comes your 1911. I’m going to get you to buy one of these. 1911.

John: You are all.

Wade: Right. Talk to me, goose. What do you think?

John: All right, so we.

Wade: Got Military Armament Corporation, 1911. Diaz double stack precision.

John: Yep. So I actually went on their website and Military Armament Corporation. They are out of Knoxville. It is actually. And it says in the description exactly what it is. It’s actually a Texas, which is gaining a lot of notoriety as one of the go to like maybe the go to Turkish 1911 manufacturer. I haven’t seen a single bad review on Texas Pistols. I think that’s how you say it. Maybe Texas? I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anything negative about them, and it looks like they have a bunch of Turkish shotguns on their website too, and I’m digging it. So it is a double stack, nine millimeter.

Wade: Hold on, hold on. Yes, this podcast is a mossberg shotgun podcast I will have. I will bear. No, I will bear no blasphemy against Mossberg shotguns or any other shotgun unless you’re talking about a Benelli.

John: I have a Remington 870. No.

Wade: Well, I guess that’s okay. No, no, there. There will be. No. The only foreign company that makes shotguns that we can talk about unless they send me one is Benelli.

John: Beretta. No, nothing. Okay. Mossberg. All right. Cool. I have nothing against Mossberg. I just don’t own one. I just it’s one of those tools.

Wade: That are the most beautiful. I just have the most beautiful Mossberg tactical shotgun in the history of tactical shotguns. It’s just so beautiful.

John: I can’t bring myself to buy another shotgun. I’m like, why do I need to?

Wade: For whatever reason, I that is my most accurate gun. I put slugs in that gun and I can hit anything with that gun from any distance. But it’s freaking ridiculous. Like, I don’t know, whatever it is, it fits my body perfectly or my. However, I get gang like a gangly long arm person. And bring it to bear. I can shoot anything with that gun.

John: I’m surprised the slugs didn’t fold you in half.

Wade: No.

John: All right, so this guy here is a double stack with a magwell. All right. What do you call it? Flared magwell. It actually has a polymer grip module. I thought it looked like it was polymer. Interesting. I don’t know, it’s a double stack 1911, and I think it’s cool.

Wade: It has Picatinny on the bottom, which doesn’t offend me. I just don’t like the picatinny on the top. But the Picatinny.

John: I’m with you is fine. That’s that’s like questionable. And this one is cut for optics. It’s pretty cool.

Wade: So again there’s a lot of there’s a lot of stuff coming out on the way. They have the this it’s just a lot of the grip. You see that flare on the grip. And I don’t know it’s just a lot of it looks like.

John: It’s a three gun pistol. And that’s really what we’re dealing with here. It’s with an MSRP of 1100 bucks. That’s you know like you’re not going to carry that. And if you are you’re stupid. You need to carry something. So if it gets confiscated after an incident you don’t really care that it got confiscated. You’re like, yeah, whatever.

Wade: Like a Gen three. Like a Gen three.

John: Yeah. You got a dagger. It’s like, well, I’ll just spend another 300 bucks to get another one. That’s how I feel about my LCP. I’m like, it was $199. If I use it and it gets taken into for evidence, I’m like, well, I guess I’ll just go buy another one. So I would that was given that sage advice from a from a mentor of mine a long time ago. He’s like, never carry a pistol that you’re going to care if it gets taken into evidence. All right. Bye. Take something that is cheap enough that if that happens, you don’t really care. You can just replace it.

Wade: Well, and again, this goes back to utility. You know the utility right. So you want to have that fine line between inexpensive and then. But you want it to work a lot right. And so you want it to always work. And so just because you want something to be inexpensive, because it’s been around for a million years and there’s been a jillion rounds put through it so that it works. So that debate has been settled. It’s a Glock Gen three. Give me a break.

John: I’m not arguing that. Definitely not arguing that.

Wade: Yeah, well, but the 1911 is cool and I do. I make fun of 1911 aficionado’s. But here’s what I do. It’s all in good fun. But here’s what I do like about it is that I do have a belief that everyone has a gun for them.

John: And you believe mine is a 1911?

Wade: You just haven’t. You haven’t given me a chance. You haven’t given yourself a chance to discover it yet because you talk about it a lot. Like I never talked about 1911 until I met you. And then for whatever reason, you just talk about them a lot. I really want one. And you’re going to get one, and then that’s all you’re going to buy, right? And like, wait, I sold everything. All of my 19 elevens and and no. And but the 1911 people, they’re very defensive in a good way about their handgun. They’re like, no, this is a great gun. I love this gun. And I appreciate that someone has a gun, right? Yeah, absolutely. Because once you find once you find that it brings a lot of comfort to you. And that’s what you want. You want to trust your, your tool. And and so 1911 people, man they and they love it and they shoot them and oh the.

John: Guys that were 1911 nuts when I was in the, when I was in the Air Force, there were guys that like they shot a lot.

Wade: Yeah. And like super Per accurate. And so like if you see a dude rocking a 1911, he’s going.

John: To hit ways.

Wade: He probably knows how to use that that exactly. Whereas that’s not necessarily true for a lot of other guns. So even though I do talk a lot of smack about it, I think it’s a cool gun I just have. I have no desire to own one. That is.

John: Totally cool. But really, wait, you should look at the shotguns on their on their website. You really should just give them a chance.

Wade: Man.

John: Their other 1911 I they still only have the two. Oh, and they also have uh MP5 clones on there. Dude. Oh, it is die hard season. This is what.

Wade: We’re talking about. Military Armament Corporation. Yeah, yeah.

John: You should check out their guns. They have a couple of. They call them the Mach five, but they’re just MP5 clones. And then and they are like they are true to the original form. They don’t have Picatinny rails or any of that crap on them. These are. Yeah.

Wade: Those shotguns do look nice, dude.

John: I’m telling you. And those are great. And it’s MSRP for semi-auto.

Wade: 14 Breacher $409. What?

John: Dude, I’m telling you.

Wade: Look at that thing.

John: I know I I’m gonna. I was sitting here looking at the 1014 wood for a while, and I was like, that is a good looking shotgun.

Wade: I can’t cheat on. You’re making me cheat on Mossberg. I feel like you’re not.

John: It’s competitive. It’s comparative analysis. It’s not cheating, man.

Wade: Oh, it’s a it’s a pretty looking gun. Look at the stainless steel. This marine one.

John: Yeah, I saw that. Oh, so MilitaryArmamentcorp.Com. Check out their guns. They actually, their stuff is pretty cool. Yeah.

Wade: And their second mill. Mill arm. Wait, how? Mill arm? Mill armaments corp. So m I l a r m a m e n t corp. Man, it’s a hard website to talk about.

John: Is. I was wondering if, like mill dot or mill slash guns was gone or something.

Wade: It’s like they should or they should have just said Mac guns like Mac.

John: So they’re good Tennessee company that’s these are they look, they’re all imports.

Wade: I love I love how you’re like it’s die hard season. That’s just why these Mac five pistols.

John: These actually saw that tweet you sent me a while ago when I wrote about everyone’s wanted a submachine gun since 1989 because of Die Hard.

Wade: Yeah. That’s true.

John: Yeah, but it is die hard season.

Wade: It is die hard season.

John: And before I kick the bucket someday, I do want an MP5, because why wouldn’t I?

Wade: Well, and then they had this cool looking folding brace. Look at that thing.

John: Yeah, I saw it. So I wasn’t trying to make you cheat on Mossberg, but you got to keep an open mind.

Wade: I’m looking at this holster they have here. It’s got a release on it.

John: The MP5 has even come with, like, a little hard.

Wade: They have a they have a they have a Gen three pistol too.

John: Do they. Where is it at?

Wade: Pp9 Gen three pistol.

John: Oh. Very cool.

Wade: Wait, why don’t I see it? I just see the the doubles. The 1911.

John: Oh, the Pp9 is actually a Texas pistol.

Wade: Oh, I see. Yep. Cool. All right, man. Well, look, we had a we covered a lot of ground today. We learned a lot of personal. We shared a lot of personal anecdotes and our personal feelings. So I feel closer to you.

John: Thank you.

Wade: We shared our weight classes. We know where we are. Weight classes. We have not shared squats yet, but we’ll get there eventually. Any closing remarks?

John: Every red blooded American should own a 1911.

Wade: I will take that. I will take that under consideration.

John: Of course. Then I’d also have to add on that it’s got to be an American made one. And then you go down this hole.

Wade: If you buy a mossberg shotgun, I will buy a 1911. Okay. We’ll make that deal. And then we’ll come back with our feelings on how we feel.

John: I’m not going to because I have zero purpose in a second. Shotgun. That’s the problem. Why would I need another one?

Wade: Well, so the first one gets taken into evidence.

John: You got me there.

Wade: I did. All right, brother. Well, as always, it’s great to talk. Talk guns with you. I can’t wait to do it again. Have a great week, man. You too.

Wade: 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.