Tactical Headlines with John McCoy – Mar. 7, 2024

About This Episode

Join host Wade Saklsky and John McCoy for an action-packed episode on Tactical Business, unveiling the expertise of firearms industry gurus. Explore the latest advancements in weaponry and top-tier gun safes, immersing yourself in the cutting-edge developments of firearms and gear. Stay informed with industry updates and don’t miss the adrenaline-fueled excitement in this week’s episode of Tactical Business!

Insights In This Episode

• Avidity arms 30 Super Carry and how it elevates everyday carry excitement. (Avidityarms.com)
• Spyderco knives, and their iconic design, durability, and affordability. (Spyderco.com)
• Highlighting the impressive weight and fire resistance features of the safes. (Haymansafe.com)
• The new CCI Ammunition, focusing on the Uppercut .22 LR self-defense ammo. (CCI-Ammunition.com)
• Positive reviews affirm Nosler’s strong reputation for producing quality firearms and ammunition, reinforcing its standing in the firearms community. (Nosler.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 Skulski. 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 am your host, Wade Skalski, today with my co-host John McCoy. And we’re going to be talking about the goings ons and the happenings in the firearms industry. We’ve got a few things to talk about today. John, how are you doing today, sir?

John: I’m good getting over the Black Plague, so let’s try to hold it together for 40 minutes.

Wade: The black plague?

John: Yeah. Need to raise the flag over my house to keep everyone away. It’s.

Wade: Well, you have a lot of kids. How many have 55 kids? 60, I think so.

John: I lost count a while ago somewhere in that ballpark.

Wade: So my wife and I, we started when we were older, but I was like, yeah, we’re two kid people. We’re good with that. So. But I’m always impressed by people who can manage a basketball team and vigor.

John: So I was the holdout, though I lasted till the very end. Everyone else that swept through the household and I’m like chugging things with vitamin C in it. I’m like, I can do this, I can, and I couldn’t. It’s still attacked me.

Wade: It happens, it happens. Well, plus, when you have so many different kids running around and everybody picks up some, it’s everybody picks up something. So it’s like.

John: Pickleball with viruses.

Wade: Oh, I like it. I’m gonna steal that. I have no idea what pickleball is.

John: I’ve heard it’s popular.

Wade: It’s like paddle tennis. It’s just the renamed paddle tennis. So when I was in LA, in Santa Monica in the early 2000, people played paddle tennis. And I was like, oh, it was like, it’s just a smaller racket for less. Yes, for less skilled tennis players. And you just. And it’s not racket ball, so you’re just whatever. So I got the nickname The Condor because I have very long.

John: Ridiculously long.

Wade: Arms. Yeah, 38 inch, 38 inch long arms, my friend. Nice. All right. So actually let’s talk about firearms a little bit. Or firearms related firearms adjacent content.

John: So firearms adjacent.

Wade: So you got super excited with one of the topics we’re going to talk about because we went into the history books for you. So give me a heads up on that.

John: That’s Spyderco knife. They have a new one. Spyderco is a I believe they’re out of Colorado. And I did go in the personal archives. It was the first knife I ever bought myself, and I was very proud of it. And about cut my fingertip off because I was 12. And I have no idea why my parents allowed me to buy a giant serrated knife, but I did, and I didn’t even get stitches, although I probably should have. So anyway, I love Spydercos. They just have a very classic design. They still look exactly the same as they did in 1998 or whenever I bought that one. I still have that somewhere and it is still dangerously sharp and just a great knife. And this one looks well, still looks exactly the same. And from what I remember they were also pretty affordable. Like these ones are. In the said, the mSRP is like 186 ballpark really is around 130, which for a really good knife as you well know is a bargain. If you’re looking at that other brand that starts with a B and has a butterfly on it, I mean, you’re in the 2 to 400 range for sure.

Wade: Oh yeah. Well the website is Spyderco.Com.And it’s funny because the one thing I would always tell someone if they were trying to say, well, do I want an everyday carry a firearm, I’d be like, well, start by carrying a knife every day.

John: Absolutely.

Wade: For two reasons. One is having a knife is better than not having a knife or having something. Right? Yes. But two is you’ll just naturally start to say to yourself, self, what is this knife going to do if someone rolls up here on me with a firearm? Right. Because it really starts to get your mind in that self-defense mode, and you should still carry a knife because I carry both. But it’s like I always tell people that the EDC knife is the gateway drug to the EDC firearm carry, right?

John: Definitely.

Wade: And now when you were 12, so was it like like a Bowie knife?

John: It just looks just like one. It’s a folding knife and it’s got that big eyelet so you can put your thumb on it. And it’s not spring assisted, but because of the big eyelid on there, you can just whip it open with your thumb really easily. That’s their iconic design. It’s really has looked the same for pushing three decades now and has a zytel. I believe the body of it is zytel super, super durable. What this has I actually the reason I don’t carry mine anymore is because the clip broke off because it was a molded clip, and it looks like they’ve actually replaced this with a small steel clip that’s held on by a little tiny set screws, which is a really good idea if you’re a clumsy teenager and you break the clip off, you can replace it.

Wade: Well, in Spydercos defense, you did buy that clip 30 years ago, so they probably replace it. If you said, hey, replace my clip.

John: You know they probably would. And like I said, I mean, I’ve had that knife for 25 years or whatever now, and it is still very sharp and it still is a great knife, no rust whatsoever. And what I always loved about it is their blades are super thick, but not in a obtrusive way, but just very thick. And the locking mechanism. And when it’s locked open, that knife is like a fixed blade knife, extremely durable. So I can’t say enough good things about Spyderco. They’re probably my favorite knife company.

Wade: Another thing about them too is like, so some of your more tactical knife companies that might start with a T and rhyme with more, right. Which are awesome. Right? Which are very Gooch. Right. Um, they have a good selection, but they don’t have like a gigantic selection like Spyderco. If you look at their products, they’ve got EDC, fishing, hunting, culinary, marine rescue, survival. So they’ve got every single throwing, throwing knives. Like if you really want to get be a squirrely 12 year old. My brother actually, when we were deep in our martial arts. Space. He got some throwing knives and he would practice those and I was.

John: That is hard, man. That is hard to do if you’re good with that. I mean watch out very hard.

Wade: But yeah. So I like to carry a fixed knife. Right. So I’m clumsy and I don’t want to have to flip anything. And so even on their fixed knives offerings are really good. And in terms of they do have like the clips with the screws that you can, I can’t remember what it is that I have. It’s just adaptable to a lot of different things. And they have a tomahawk that they’re currently sold out of. Why not?

John: I mean, why wouldn’t you?

Wade: I know on the fixed blade, the Genzo hatchet hawk, everyone wanted to get a tomahawk after they watched The Patriot, right?

John: Obviously.

Wade: So Spyderco’s got a lot. I’m gonna have to check it out now, because I do like my knife. And so since we’re talking about a different knife company, I won’t talk about who I got my knife from. But also it has to do with a temperature. And then it rhymes with the word kneel, a hot kneel, but the opposite.

John: I know which brand you’re talking about. And I have owned some of their knives too, and they’re quite good.

Wade: Yeah. And the thing is, that is, regardless of if you’re going to go EDC for self-defense, every man should have a knife. Even if it’s just a little pocket knife. Right.

John: Because you beat me to it. I was just going to make that point. Like, I mean, as a man, why would you not carry a pocket knife anyway?

Wade: If you ever start carrying a knife around too, then you are shocked. You become shocked with how much you use it.

John: All the time and everyone asks you like, hey, did you bring your knife? I’m like, of course you will find that you will always use a knife. So men, go get a knife.

Wade: Yeah, go get a knife. Check out daily. Check out Spyderco. All right. Let’s talk about the Hayman Safe gun safes. I have two gun safes. I have one that’s in my garage. And then I have one in my bedroom. Right. And I just. The reason why this is on my mind is because I just got a recall notice from my gun. Safe from the one that’s in my bedroom because it’s biometric. So the one that’s in my bedroom is biometric. It has a code. And then also obviously a key. And so I got this recall notice this this company. And they’re like well there’s a problem because we have all these instances of unauthorized biometric opening. So I was like your kid’s putting a thumb on there and it opens. So I was like, okay, yeah, we definitely got to get a new.

John: That’s problematic.

Wade: Yeah. Well, I went expensive on my garage safe, but I went cheap on my, my bedroom safe just because it was my first gun safe I ever bought. I was like, I should probably get a different a better gun safe. And now I definitely have to get one because apparently it doesn’t work at all. So yeah, I love the ones where they have the on your bigger safes. I love the ones that they have the I don’t even know how to describe it, but you would say like the starship handle right where it looks like a bank vault. So I love, like, these giant Hayman safes that you would stick in your garage is just impressive.

John: And yeah, if you don’t have a walkout basement and you want to get your friends to help you, you owe them. Okay, let’s just put it out there because they’re light. One is 600 plus pounds, £610, and their biggest safe is £1,510. So you have true friends if they help you get it down to your basement. A guy when I worked at Fort Leavenworth for the Army guy actually did try to talk me into helping him move when I was like. Thankfully, I had an easy out because I lived an hour and a half away and I said, no, I don’t drive to Leavenworth unless I’m coming for work. For no other reason. I do that. But second, I’m not helping you lug a £1,200 safe in your basement, or you.

Wade: Want to do National treasure three, where you rob Fort Knox, right? That’s over there somewhere, right?

John: No, that would be Kentucky.

Wade: I don’t know, the middle of the country. I’m an American. I don’t know geography.

John: It’s fine, it’s fine. So. And there is no gold at Fort Leavenworth? Mostly just criminals.

Wade: But it should be gold there probably. Is there a secret underground bunker there somewhere?

John: There probably is. There’s a lot of stuff there.

Wade: It’s funny, though, because anything that’s like firearms adjacent, like these safes, you just can’t, like, geek out on some of these, right? Because and the one thing that I don’t know, if you had this experience with your safes, but you never get safes, never big enough. You think it’s big enough, you’re like, oh, this is going to be fine.

John: 34 guns. Then you have a shooting. That’s the thing. Then you have a target that you’re aiming for, and then suddenly you’re like, oh, it’s full.

Wade: And then you’re looking at your safe. It’s like, well, how do I organize this for quick access? And that’s why they have this Black Hills Safe school. I don’t know if you had a chance to say, well, they’re all like this, but on the doors, if you look at the doors, actually, they have pouches on the doors. Yep. So the cool thing about that is, is that because right now and I had on my safe, doesn’t have pouches on the doors or anything, but it does have like a felt on it. So it will stick like you can get the Velcro stick part to stick to it. So the one that I have now, it doesn’t have the patches, but there’s like I don’t know if it’s felt or whatever, but so I have it set. So when I open it, it just has the like, it’s like my shotgun has a pouch with rounds in it that I just pull off and stick on my belt. Right. So stuff like that. But for this, it’s like, you don’t even have to do that because these like Ozarks, the Black Hills and the rocky safe, they have the pouches on the doors, which actually is a nice touch because now it really is. Not all safes do that. That safe has.

John: Got a lot of pins. I don’t think anyone’s cracking into that either. Yeah.

Wade: And or carrying it away. That’s the thing. Because I think if someone broke into my garage and they really wanted to, they could probably carry my safe away because I’m too lazy to bolt to the bolted to the wall because it’s two people probably could carry it out and crack it later. But yeah, you’re not carrying these things away. Just say how much this one weighs. 1500 £1,500.

John: Yeah. So unless they’re able to steal a forklift and drive it into my garage, which I have six kids, they’re never going to drive anything into my garage. Good luck getting that out of there. Well, I do.

Wade: Know that £2,000 is a ton, so that’s three quarters of a ton is how much that thing is. Is that possibly true?

John: I believe. So we we decided we weren’t talking numbers this time, so I can’t confirm or deny that.

Wade: I was told there was no math on on today’s podcast. And this is like me start to go because that’s an heirloom, right? Like the thing about the safe is the same as the guns is that especially if you’re a collector. I met a guy at jiu jitsu who he’s a collector. He showed me a picture of his gun safe that has all of his guns in it. Right? It was a huge gun safe. And if you’re a collector, it’s silly of you to not protect that investment. And so it’s not just keeping your kids away from your guns or keeping people you don’t want your guns. It’s like, oh, if it’s an investment, you’re like putting gold bars in there.

John: Yeah, I actually just picked up a a mark three Enfield about two weeks ago. And I’m starting to realize because I have a, I actually have a wall mount where I keep my long guns, and I’m starting to think that maybe I need to get a fire resistant safe, because I’m starting to get a few vintage World War Two type of rifles that are starting to increase in value. And I’d be pretty tore up if we had a house fire or something, and they didn’t, and they got destroyed because you can’t really replace that. 43 Enfield. So yeah, I’ve been toying with that. And because usually these have like a 90 minute fire seal, if they’re fire resistant, safe. I didn’t see whether or not this one is. But generally it’s for about 90 minutes. And well, the Rockies.

Wade: One here says it’s 120 minutes.

John: Oh yep. You’re right 120 minutes. Yeah I was on says it’s half an hour longer than your mid-range Black Hills models which are 90 minutes. So thankfully I’ve done some writing for safe companies in the past, so that’s stuck in my mind. I was like, well, they’re fire resistant and they’re really heavy, so I’m definitely getting that position where I need to to up my ante and get off of just the wall mounts and put a safe in my garage.

Wade: Yeah. And like I said, it’s an heirloom and it’s just a natural progression for as you for because as we’ve talked about before, is like I’m more of a, an entry level firearms person for the handguns and the long guns other than shotguns. And so as I get deeper and go have more depth to what I’m doing, definitely one day I’m going to invest in a very nice gun safe because I’m going to need it.

John: Especially if you ever get into firearm investing. Which firearms always retain their value? Collectible ones, like actually collectible ones and the almost always increase. Yeah, you want to do that. That’s a non-negotiable. Yeah.

Wade: So that’s a pretty cool company for when you want to go some of the higher. And they have the what I like about them too is they have tiers right. So they have entry level all the way up to the big boy.

John: It’s got LED lighting too, so you can actually see what’s in there.

Wade: And then you can also if you’re having a rave in your basement, you can open it up and have have a little more mood lighting, right.

John: And mood lighting and output access to guns. So spice.

Wade: Let’s spice it.

John: Up. We don’t condone.

Wade: That. All right. Did you have a chance to take a look at the CCI Ammunition? They’ve got this new uppercut 22 LR self-defense ammo. So this we can talk about this for a while. So first of all it’s just cool. I like it when they’re like, we’re gonna. We’re gonna go for everything. We’re gonna go for varmints. We’re gonna go for small game. Let’s just make it self-defense, too.

John: I think one of the actually, the very first guns I ever bought was a Beretta model 21. And I think the bobcat is what they call it. It’s the little tiny 22 that has the flip up barrel that you can put the you can drop the round in instead of having to rack the slide. It’s got a little lever and the barrel pops up. Anyway, now they’re late. Model one actually is threaded for a suppressor now. I bought that a long time ago and it was only like 180 bucks. I’ve seen it now because it’s a nostalgia was I was thinking about getting another one. I was like, oh, that’s cool. I looked and it was like 450 bucks for this little tiny 22. I was like, that’s now I’m not doing that. But that thing only weighs like seven ounces. So if you are wearing your your Ranger panties and a muscle tee, there are few things more concealable than a little tiny 22. Little tiny 22 are obviously not known for their stopping power. So I like the fact CCI is is going towards that with self-defense ammunition. CCI has been around forever and they are a good name and I’ve always had when I use their 20 twos, especially in auto loaders. I’ve always had good cycling with CCI, so no downside on my end. Obviously I would never pick a 22 to be my main line self-defense gun, but I’d rather have a 22 than nothing. And if I’m going to have a 22 over nothing, then I want to have the best ammo in it.

Wade: Well, and I think the the cool thing about 22 is that it is an entry is a gateway. Just like the carrying a knife every day is a gateway to carrying a gun. Every day is that 22 caliber is a gateway to all the rest of the firearms. Right. So take my wife, for example. Okay. So she’s an actress, former actress. Now she’s a mom, full time mom. And so she was not a gun person when we met. Right. Mhm. And so now she’s like we need more guns right. But she doesn’t shoot that much because she’s intimidated by just by the guns and just whatever. So but what the cool thing about a 22 is that for my wife is I can get her to shoot a 22 and just get proficient proficient on it. Right. And then once she’s proficient on that, then she can jump right to the AR with the red dot that she’s overwatch for me on top of the house. Right. Because it’s the same. It’s the exact same concept. There’s no difference really between the obviously. And so it’s a gateway drug to everything else. And then also for your kids. So my son he’s five, he’s for me. He’s a little young to have him start shooting because also he’s a crazy person. So he’s emotionally mature enough to do that yet. He’ll be. He’ll start in 22, right? He’ll start in just like a, like a little 22. Because that’s what I started on in summer camp, just shooting 22in North Dakota. So it just is a great normalizer for firearms. Yep.

John: I found the link for the uppercut specific. And so it’s actually tailor made for two and a half to four inch barrels. And what they’ve really done on that is they worked on the projectile. Because I don’t know if you’ve shot a lot of 22 hollow points, but when you shoot them they very rarely do they ever expand. It’s basically just a lead round nose that someone drilled a little tiny hole into, but they don’t really ever do much. But it looks like they’ve actually really focused some energy on making a 22 projectile that will actually expand, which will actually do some damage. So if you’re carrying one, a 22 handgun, I believe that Ruger, the LCP two they make in a 22 long rifle version. Now that would be your optimal ammunition for that. Having a hollow point that would actually expand out of a 22 would be optimal, because most of them don’t well up.

Wade: But if you took it to the face, it’s not going to feel good.

John: No, no, that’s definitely not going to feel good.

Wade: And the other reason I’ve actually started buying more 22 ammo just because. Have you ever read the one second after books? I haven’t basically it’s I’ve heard of them. Yeah. It’s about I’ve read all four of them and it’s about like an EMP hits the United States and it just goes over like what happens next, right. And 22 ammunition actually becomes like a very important barter item, right? Yep. Because if you think about it, if you’re going to hunt and everyone starts to hunt all the same time and you’re going to start running out of the big game, you’re going to have, yes, shooting at smaller game, right? Because if your area, everyone’s hungry and everyone’s hunting in your area, all the big game is you’re not going to be shooting your 308.

John: No, the big game is going to be gone.

Wade: Yeah. You’re not going to be shooting your 30 on six for deer. Those are all going to go away rather quickly.

John: And the problem is once those are gone, it’s going to take them a while to to build back up. Right. That that is a problem for sure.

Wade: So you’re like your squirrels, your rabbits, your birds. That’s people going to be freaking eaten, right. Yeah. And and so it was just it just made me laugh because not that I anticipate that’s going to happen, but if it did, it doesn’t have it. 22 rounds are so cheap, it doesn’t hurt to have 10,000 rounds of 22 just sitting around somewhere.

John: Absolutely not. I mean, the worst thing that happens is that you just go shoot it eventually.

Wade: Yeah. You’re like, well, now I have to admit to 22 Gatling gun. Let’s see, how am I going to do that? Right? Yeah. So it was funny. That was just that’s why 22 has been on my mind as I read those books. The first three are really good. And then the fourth one, I think he he was like, I’m gonna make some more money because I think he meant to write them as a trilogy, because the third one is called The Final Day. So I think it’s like the first one is the one second after the second one is like two years after or one year after or whatever. And then the last one is the third one is the final day. So it’s like, oh, this is it. This is the end of the series. And then all of a sudden he comes out with five years, five years later, it was like, okay.

John: Still squirrels.

Wade: Still. Well, yeah, it’s it gets a little, it gets a little. It’s like the Tom Clancy books. They just start getting so absurd towards the they were.

John: You read hunt for Red October and it really is a masterpiece. Oh yeah. And his earlier ones. But I mean, as they, as they stretched on because I listened to a lot of them on my old, my commute years ago and they just after a while you’re like, okay, this is really ridiculous.

Wade: And then you start to co-write them with people, which means that he just was like, here’s the outline, please go write it for me. And then I’ll take it because I’m.

John: Lazy, I’m rich, and I want to live my life, my place in Nantucket.

Wade: That’s what Patterson does now. It’s like, I don’t even know. I mean, he’s a prolific writer. I mean, how many books he’s written, but he co-writes everything now, and so he just has people like me write them, and he’s like, oh, all right. But that dude earned it. He earned it. So yeah.

John: Um, people are still buying it and he’s still making it.

Wade: Everybody in the airport, it’s your only choice when you’re in an airport. Besides being terrified about getting on your plane. It’s true. I don’t know what’s been between the maintenance and between the the passengers all going insane and, I don’t know, the hiring, the squirrely hiring practices. Who knows what’s going to happen next?

John: I spent 20 years in in aviation. It was actually was my career path and ten of it was an aircraft maintenance. And I will tell you that when New York Post something about it, like a cracked windshield or windscreen, I’m like, so what happens all the time? So a lot of that’s just sensationalism, I don’t know, I hate flying commercially though, just because it’s uncomfortable.

Wade: Yeah, well, I’m six foot. Well, you’re tall like me, so I’m six, four and a half, 220. And so it’s not a fun experience for me.

John: No, no it’s miserable.

Wade: Yeah. Well, and I used to be like, not like flying at all. And then I learned about math and I was like, okay, I’m fine. Once you learn about math and commercial flight, I will not get on a small plane. I will not get on a small plane. I’d rather are.

John: Fun.

Wade: I’d rather get on a motorcycle that went 600 miles an hour very quickly, then get on the small plane. This is. I’m not doing it. No way. No helicopter. I’m getting a helicopter.

John: Over a small plane. Yeah. Are you serious?

Wade: I don’t know, I just I had a small plane. It’s just they make that noise and they’re like. And it sounds like. It’s sounds like. It’s like a lawn mower engine. And you look one direction. The plane goes like this. I don’t know, it’s not my fun. A friend of mine once tried to get me in a glider and he’s like, those are.

John: Are a different breed. Yeah.

Wade: And he said, okay, so you got to wear a parachute. And he said, the only thing you got to know is if I jump out of the plane, you got to jump right out. And I was like, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to I’m not doing.

John: That when.

Wade: That’s just like third sentence, you have to wear a parachute. And the only thing you got to know is if I jump out, you jump out. I was like, okay, no, I’m not doing.

John: It always made me a little worried that if they landed long because they’re made to glide, and if you don’t hit the speed brake, it’s got basically this little board that drops out of the belly. And if you don’t hit that soon enough, you overshoot the airport and you have no ability to climb. So you’re landing in the field or whatever is beyond the runway. And I was like, I don’t know about that, man.

Wade: I got some crazy ass friends, though. That dude was. But he did go skeleton racing with me. That guy, that was the one guy I could get to go skeleton racing with me. So he was open to new experiences, let’s just say new scary experiences that could harm you, basically. 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 drop 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 TacticalPay.com. All right, let’s talk about this Avidity Arms gun. Did you have a chance to take a look at that? First of all.

John: Looking at it right now, I think they.

Wade: Have a cool name. You do have a cool name if you have to actually put the definition on there because people don’t know what it means. Right? So avidity is a noun which I didn’t know, which means extreme eagerness or enthusiasm. So I was like, oh, okay, that’s cool. I’m down with that. Yeah. What are your thoughts on this bad boy?

John: I think it looks like a Glock in an MMP. Had a child and this was the love child.

Wade: You’re looking at the PD ten. Yeah. Yes.

John: It looks solid. It’s very now okay I like that. It’s in this 30 super carry. That’s actually pretty cool. Round. Very standard. Glock 19 ish size four inch barrel. Overall length a little less than seven inches. Light 18.8oz. And it looks cool. I like that it is already cut for optics. I know you are a connoisseur of pistol optics is what you’re telling me before we go.

Wade: Oh my God, no, I run my guns. I run my guns like an old timey battleship. Dude, I am iron sights. The whole way I try to. I bought my first optic and I put it on my Glock three or Glock 19, and it was a disaster at the range today. It was just a disaster. People look like we’re looking at me like I was blind, like, are you blind? You’re shooting. Which are.

John: You shooting? My target.

Wade: Yeah, yeah. It’s like you’re bowling, right? When you’re on a bowling lane and you’re throwing the ball and hitting somebody else’s pins. Yeah. Is that bad? Is that bad? No. But yeah, this is what I like about this is I like the grip if you look at that. So we’re so this is okay. So Avidity Arms is AvidityArms.com. And then they actually have a picture of CCI Ammunition on here. Yes they do with the federal. And so we didn’t say CCI. So that’s CCI-Ammunition.com. But yeah and this is just the grip is cool. I just I think that the what they have laying on the grip right there looks pretty sweet.

John: And if memory serves me correct, the 30 super carry is a 30 caliber projectile basically necked down from a nine millimetres Parabellum, which makes it pretty spicy. Light projectile, 30 caliber, uh, 100 grain jacketed, hollow point. I’m looking at the box sitting there. It’s 1230 feet per second, which is zipping along pretty good. And it was also made to have a fairly low felt recoil. So if you like Gucci rounds, that one’s really pretty cool. The 357 SIG was like big brother of that, and it was just never really took off the necked down variety. Although I could be wrong, the 30 super carry might not be a necked hold on, I don’t want to eat crow, so give me a second. I was actually always a little bit surprised that the oh yes, 30 super carry is not necked down. It’s just it’s a straight wall that is designed so you can stack. It’s a zippier cartridge, but you can stack a lot more of them, which is cool.

Wade: You mean so that it’s not as big? You mean in terms of the.

John: Yeah, it’s a straight wall cartridge so that you can have a higher capacity in the same size of pistol. So this one the standard for the rounds, whereas the 30 Super Carrie is 12 rounds since it’s pretty slimline pistol. So I’m glad I looked that up first and didn’t make a complete fool of myself saying that it was something that wasn’t.

Wade: Yeah, well, it looks like they’ve got it looks like they’ve got an AR platform on here too, I saw that, yeah, that’s a pretty cool looking gun too.

John: I’ll always look at an AR. Doesn’t matter that there’s 400 different brands. I’ll always have a look.

Wade: Yeah, well, we I just had a really cool interview that’s going to drop probably before this one or maybe after on the AK platform. And I thought that was pretty cool. I know very little about AK, but did your.

John: Host, was he wearing Adidas Adidas tracksuit.

Wade: No he was he’s not legitimate. He was wearing his branded shirt from his company. And it was just cool though because he was he said something very astute. And he said most people they think of the AR or excuse me, the AK is a bad guy gun. Because really, if you think about it, if you’re a normie, three things, you know, an AK 47 because every villain in a movie has one, you know, the 357 because of dirty Harry and then, you know, shotgun, right. Double barrel shotgun from like, old timey Western stuff, right? Yep. But that’s the cool thing about firearms is they’re so deep. There’s so much depth everywhere. So like looking back at Avidity Arms, for example, you’re like, okay, well, I don’t personally know anything about a 30 supercarrier. Right. So I’m like, that’s pretty sweet to learn about that. Right? It’s just something different to shoot. And would you say then that it’s like the on the range, it’s a little bit below the nine millimeter in terms of stopping power or anything. It’s above the nine millimeter and stopping power.

John: It’s a lighter projectile, smaller caliber. So a nine millimeter is actually 0.355in. So the 30 caliber is it’s a little smaller. And I remember now reading about that. And the idea was that they could it works well on all nine millimeter platforms. And it was designed so the length of the case and the cartridge is all about the same as a nine millimeter. So they can still fit in the mag wells without having to do a bunch of modifications. But then you usually get 2 or 3 extra rounds over what the nine millimeter has with a lighter felt recoil. So for the small pistols, it is a more pleasant shooting experience than a nine millimeter, say, for small statured shooters. And give them more shots.

Wade: Right. Well. And. And I mean, that’s the thing about EDC is that out of all the firearm stuff, to me your everyday carry is the most like this gun fits you. Yes. Right. Like you have to have a gun that fits you or you’re not going to carry it. And that’s the biggest thing, is I would rather someone find something that they like that they’ll carry every day versus the according to Hoyle, what you should carry. Right? Correct.

John: Far more important.

Wade: Yeah. Because it doesn’t help you if it’s at home and you’re not carrying it around. Yeah. Because it’s.

John: Uncomfortable. It’s clunky. Well, that’s why my very first everyday my first EDC was a Glock 27. And so it’s like the little baby brother to the 19 or the 23, the little baby Glock. But it’s no baby. That thing weighs about as much as a Glock 19. And that thing was so freaking heavy and uncomfortable to carry that I never carried it. So I went down with a to a slimline nine millimeter that I carry. It’s a little Beretta nano. I’ve had it for years because it’s comfortable and it’s light and I shoot well with it, so that’s all that really matters. I’ve thought about upgrading or trading in a different one, but I’m like, it’s reliable and it’s comfortable, so why should I do that? I’ve owned it for years. Well, and.

Wade: There’s so then you have the three for EDC. You have the three things you got to worry about. Right. You got to worry about what does it weigh right. Is it comfortable? How much waste how does it fit? Because if you’re going to carry because I’ve been trying to carry, uh, appendix I can’t do it. Appendix. It just is not comfortable. So I switched over to FBI. Strong site and so much better now. You can’t really conceal it as well, right? It’s got to be. But I was like, I don’t like I don’t really care. It’s just comfortable. Right. And then the third thing is so you got the weight, you got the comfort is can you shoot it? It doesn’t help you to have a really super comfortable gun for whatever reason. If you’re getting bit by the slide or you can’t shoot it or whatever. So so something like this. And I think that’s what’s cool about when you have like these, these other offerings that are a little outside the norm is that someone can try it out and they can be like, oh, I love it. And then that’s their gun, right? And then they won’t stop talking about I love this the arms 30 super scary gun. Right. And that’s why it’s exciting and so fun to talk about all the different types of pistols.

John: And it’s just fun. Guns are cool. Never gets tiring to talk about guns. It is a rabbit hole.

Wade: Guns and cars. So I’m looking at the gun and I’m just looking to seeing what else is anything else on here. Yeah it’s got the rail on it. Yeah. I mean this is basically it’s anything if you have a Glock you can put anything on your block on this gun. Looks like effectively.

John: And I think that will be the struggle as companies really trying to distinguish themselves in the sea of polymer frame guns. What makes yours yours, what makes yours worth buying. And that is a struggle because there are so many of them, and a lot of them are really good now. I mean, the cool thing is that manufacturing technology just across the board, all industries which firearms have adopted manufacturing technology, is that your odds of getting an unreliable firearm now, unless it’s like one of the those companies, it’s very low. It just doesn’t really happen much anymore. But in the 90s it wasn’t like that. It’s a lot harder to make a metal framed pistol that is always reliable, because there’s just a lot more that goes in the process and a lot more can. Inconsistencies. And polymer is very predictable, and just manufacturing has just got in in itself has gotten much more reliable. You really don’t have too many arguments about what’s more reliable platform anymore because they’re all freaking reliable, like an XD is as reliable as a Glock, which is as reliable as an MMP. So these companies are having to work harder to differentiate. So I don’t know. We’ll see how this takes off. Well.

Wade: Yeah, it does look cool. And the other thing too though is that and I think when you have these smaller companies. Right. Because obviously I mean, I don’t know how many guns that Avidity Arms is putting out. But the cool thing is that when you have a smaller company, you can take more chances, right? Because you can literally you can be sitting there and be like, you can be like, well, what? Let’s try this, right? Because you’re in the shop, it’s your shop. You can do it. You want. You don’t have to. I’m like Glock. You can’t do that, right? No, Glock.

John: Can’t do that.

Wade: No, because if.

John: It doesn’t look like a Glock and run like a Glock, then they ruin their reputation.

Wade: Yeah, and they’re trapped too, because that’s just like why the Gen five is the same as the Gen four is the same as the Gen three, right? It’s just they do little aesthetic things and that’s where they’re getting into the. Well, I might like this better. And then then people will argue about the the grip and all the angle and all that, like whatever. It’s like, just find what you like. But when you’re a smaller company like this, they can really take chances. And also too, is that I think they know they can’t take because the firearms industry is a small industry. It’s big, but it’s small, right? So if they know that, if they if the word gets out something on their gun does not work, they’re screwed because it will go, it’ll get around. And so they’re very meticulous and they’re for the most part, the smaller manufacturers really take their time to make sure that what they’re putting out is consistent and always the same. Totally. And the materials too are getting so much better. Like, I just learned what Cerakote was. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. I didn’t know what it was. And so I was like, and I’m never afraid to say I don’t know what this is. And so it was, I was like, it was it’s just stuff like that just forwards going to spray this on there and it’s going to make it ten times better or whatever. Like you said, the manufacturing has gotten so much better and so much better. And so then it then allows you to take chances on some of these different types of guns because you can find your gun. And that’s the most important thing is like when you find a gun that it’s hard to. Cried when you shoot a gun that fits you. Yes, totally. If you don’t know what that feels like, then you just haven’t done it yet.

John: I totally agree.

Wade: I’m not there with my handguns yet. I’m still working on that. But it’s, uh, a mossberg tactical shotgun. That’s one of my guns. I was just talking about that. I can put any I can. I don’t know why, but I can shoot very accurately.

John: Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with the Mossberg. I mean, that’s just a fantastic shotgun. I mean, it has stood the test of times and it stood the test of the Marine Corps. So if it can do that, it can do anything. Yeah.

Wade: But it’s just a problem with it is it’s only it doesn’t have that many rounds in it. Yeah. And it.

John: Feels like you got hit by a sledgehammer every time.

Wade: Everyone says that’s not. That just means you’re not lifting enough. All right. What else we got going on today? Oh. Last one. Nosler.

John: Yeah. So most people know Nosler for their ammunition, but they’ve actually had a high end firearms line for a while. It’s just that most of that kind of gets lost in the noise. Now, this is definitely Gucci. Stuff like this is not a mossberg, MVP or a savage axis. These are for serious shooters, but they make excellent stuff. And it looks like they also came out with a line of cans. And I’m just hoping that at some point the whole ATF and the form four thing can go away. Because shooting with a can is just it’s so much better for your health to shoot with a can. What do you mean as far as noise pollution? Here’s the thing if you’re out hunting with a high powered rifle, you either keep earplugs in, which is a safety factor, because then you can’t hear what’s going on around you, or you don’t shoot with them, and then you damage your ears. If you shoot a seven millimeter magnum, you’re going to damage your ears. It’s just all there is to it. I mean, those are extremely loud, and I know that there have been a number of groups that have tried to pitch cans that way to to get the the tax stamp done away with on them, because they really are it really is a safety factor for hunting that because you are safer as a hunter, not having hearing protection in because you need to be aware of your surroundings better. And that’s the best way to be aware of your surroundings. But you will damage your hearing. So it’s like this. It’s like Heller’s Catch 22. So then I shoot without a suppressor on and I damage my hearing anyway. So Nosler makes great stuff. And then of course they still make absolutely fantastic. Not just ammunition, but also projectiles for handloaders. Like I said, their rifles are Gucci. Their lowest end one is 1500 bucks.

Wade: Yeah, I’m looking at this. The carbon chassis Hunter. It looks like I’m hunting a velociraptor with that thing that’s like I’m going into, uh, Jurassic World to go look for some velociraptors in that bad boy.

John: Yeah, definitely. And I didn’t even see a price for that. But I have my guesses on what its price point is.

Wade: It’s got it on that. It’s got it on that tripod right there. It’s just like, I feel like you could probably shoot like, 15, 16 miles with that thing.

John: If you probably could. Yeah. Where is it at? I don’t know. They don’t have anything on their catalog under 1500. So yeah.

Wade: But just the depth of firearms. Everyone has their own journey. And so if you’ve got some money and you’ve been doing firearms for a long time and you’re gonna start to think about something like that, right? Or if you live in the freaking woods and you’re like, I just want something to reach out and be able to touch things very far away. It’s like it makes sense to get to go that expensive on something that you’re going to use it a lot or just whatever. And that’s what I love about firearms is there’s you’ll always find someone that will want to talk about suppressors for an hour.

John: Oh yeah, absolutely. Those nerds will go on for days. So and the one thing going back to what we were talking about with advanced technology is the cool thing is that you can get one of those savage axes that is substantially more accurate out of the factory than 99% of shooters will ever be able to touch. And it’s a budget rifle. I’m going to tell you budget bolt guns. And that’s not any topic we’re that we have on our list here. But budget bolt guns are I, in my opinion, the most slept on firearms in existence. I bought my axis two with a optic. I think it was a Bushnell optic for 350 bucks, and that thing is far more accurate than I will probably ever be in this lifetime. It’s a better weapon than any service snipers had until probably late in the 20th century.

Wade: Because that’s all they do. And that’s like the thing with this, this Nosler article, right? Which is that they’re shifting away from the firearms and they’re going more towards back to the ammunition and the suppressors. Right. They’re like, okay, so we obviously we’ve got these Gucci guns, they’re awesome. But we’re going to start going back to what we’re good at. And we know that we’re good at with ammunition and we know that we’re good at with suppressors. Right. And so our focus is going to go back to and because you have all this competition now you have those these niche guns where like you said, it’s like I can make a long gun. That is because for me, it’s like a normal human that just shoots is I don’t need all the bells and whistles. Just can I put it in the circle? That’s it. Anywhere in the circle. And until I can do that, I don’t need to worry about everything else. Then we go back to the three things that we talked about. We talked about weight, style and just does it feel good in your hands when you’re shooting it, whatever it is that you’re shooting? Well, cool. Went over a lot of cool stuff today. Let’s make sure that we mention all the websites that people want to check it out. So it’s obviously Noler.com Nosler.com. We got AvidityArms.com. All one word. Spyderco. Spyderco.com. Heyman safe. Haymansafe.com. CCI-Ammunition.com. So, John. So what? What are your final parting thoughts today? Anything that just jumped out at you that you were excited to learn about today or talk about or or just more about how I can’t shoot very well with my optic right now?

John: To be honest, I think the coolest thing we talked about was the CCI uppercut that someone finally, and someone being CCI, actually invested some R&D into making a 22 that will actually expand. So if you have to eradicate a threat, you might actually have a chance. If all you’ve got is a 22 or all you feel comfortable carrying is a 22, that one might actually give you a fighting chance. So that one of everything we talked about, I think, was the coolest.

Wade: And again, you face pelvic bowl, right? Anything that hits you in the face or hits you in the groin area is not going to be fun. That that is, I don’t care what I don’t care what caliber it is. I don’t care if I don’t care if it’s your Spyderco knife, if I stab you in the face or stab you in the groin, you’re probably going to stop doing what you’re trying to do.

John: Yes, that most likely.

Wade: I always learned something whenever I interview anyone on these podcasts. And I think that kind of the perspective that I come from is just more of a normie in terms of on the firearm side is make sure that there’s no dumb questions. Right. So because I’m always asking them so. Well, John, always a pleasure to talk to you. And I can’t wait to do some more Co get some more people on here to have some co interviews with you and start talking about the news and articles going forward man.

John: Right on.

Wade: All right brother, we’ll talk soon. 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.