SPARTANAT: Weaponlight Made in Germany, and looking good. How do you get the idea to make a weapon light and what makes it different to existing products?
Stefan Roth: SR Tactical was started with the development and production of tactical gear. After some time contacts into the industry and specialized forces in the police and military were made. At that time I was a hobbyist target shooter and was interested in the weapons my customers use.
I soon realized that German government agencies use old, outdated weapon lights and that something had to be done about that. In Germany, weapon lights are banned for public ownership. Thus, there is no real market in Germany for these items.
Several agents from different police units encouraged me to build my own, better weapon light.
I then decided to do some CAD drawings and apply for the needed manufacturing permit which was granted in 2015.
To realize the weapon light I designed my own housing and PCB to control the LED. The development was finished in 2016.
I then started testing, and the weapon light never failed, even with continuous full auto fire from different weapon platforms.
In the end, I realized a weapon light that is free from ITAR- and EAR-regulations, waterproof to 200m and highly customizable and of very high quality.
SPARTANAT: SR Tactical has been a secret tip for a long time. When did you start?
Stefan Roth: SR Tactical was started in 2011. When I started, it was more or less a fun project to be able to sell the gear I made as a hobbyist. I was soon very clear that it was capable of becoming a profitable company. Since 2015 I work on mechanical engineering products like the MRL6 weapon light.
SPARTANAT: What products do you offer?
Stefan Roth: In general SR Tactical sees itself as systemhouse for tactical gear, which means that we do not only deliver single products, but entire systems of tactical equipment for Special Forces. We can not only offer single magazine pouches or weapon slings, but entire tactical solutions for professionals. However, we do not offer clothing or firearms. If we talk about weaponry, SR Tactical has strong partners that will take care of firearms or optical sights. We have a small reference collection to do our own testing, even with live fire tests.
Most of the time, special solutions, either textile or mechanical, can be realized quickly.
SPARTANAT: What is your favorite product?
Stefan Roth: Easy. The MRL6. This is by far our most complicated product. We had to handle an entire product development process which follows VDI 2221 and had to take care of several fields of engineering, which resulted in lots of lessons learned.
SPARTANAT: We are looking forward to your new weapon light. Where can we find it?
Stefan Roth: During the design process of the MRL6 Christian Grunewald from Spartac/Kingshot was a strong partner. Christian already added the MRL6 to his portfolio and is one of the first retailers for SR Tactical products. We are currently working on a retail network.
SR TACTICAL im Internet: www.sr-tactical.com
SPARTANAT: www.spartanat.com
German language: spartanat.com/2018/10/interview-klein-aber-oho-sr-tactical
Tags: Spartanat
My question is: Why does that rather spiffily atired aviator have a beagle, yet no shoes?
gotta admit that’s also why I follow SSD religiously…
Interesting anyway to see the european industry seriously working on alternative offers. Not surprinsingly, Germany is at the forefront of several EO systems developments (thermal imagers, IR laser modules and now weapon lights).
Weapon lights are banned for public ownership? I guess the hodgepodge of pseudogun laws defy commonsense world-wide.
When Germany hosted the World Action Pistol Championships the barricades were transparent. I asked why, and was told it had to do with their gun laws and how the public isn’t allowed to do tactical training.
Yup, they can’t even use “human” sized or shaped targets at gun ranges.