Elite Defense is currently attending the NYTOA (New York Tactical Officers Association) Tactical Conference held at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. The show starts today and runs through April 30th. Stop by and visit Frank at Booth # 901 to see the latest armor set-ups from FirstSpear, ballistic headwear from Ops-Core, and uniforms from Patagonia. Mention this post on SSD and get a free gift (while supplies last).
On April 15th, Russell Oliver, President and Founder of OSS – Operators Suppressor Systems, was awarded the ESGR Service Member Patriot Award at OSS headquarters in Murray, Utah. The Patriot Award is awarded to idividuals who embody efforts made to support Citizen Warriors, such as offering flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for famlies, and granting required leaves of absence.
If you’ve ever wondered what this whole Combat Flip Flops thing is all about, founder Matt Griffin’s recent Ted Talk will fill you in.
Black Creek, GA- April 22, 2015- Daniel Defense, engineering and manufacturing the world’s finest firearms, precision rail systems and accessories, today announced it had reached a safety milestone at its Black Creek, Georgia, manufacturing facility.
This anniversary marks 500,000 hours and two years without an OSHA Recordable or lost-time injury. “We are extremely proud of this achievement, which continues to be made possible through the strong advocacy of our exceptional workforce and a comprehensive approach to safety awareness, training, and continuous improvement,” said Sean Polwort, Director of Training and Safety.
Safety is a core value for Daniel Defense and an integral part of operations. Each employee understands a robust health and safety culture is fundamental to company growth and success. Attaining this significant milestone was accomplished through active feedback and participation in various environmental, health and safety training programs.
“The safety and well-being of our employees is our top priority,” explained Cindy Daniel, Executive Vice President and VP of Marketing for Daniel Defense. “I am extremely proud of our ability to hit this landmark. It’s a testament to the company’s unwavering commitment to provide a safe, healthy, and environmentally friendly workplace for all employees, subcontractors, and vendors.”
Wilcox – Made in Australia.
A major milestone occurred today, when Graeme Bulte CEO and Founder of Melbourne based company Aquaterro, presented Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott with the very first Wilcox product “Made in Australia”.
Wilcox Industries is a leading American defense products manufacturer from New Hampshire, who specializes in advanced manufacturing, computer aided design and rapid manufacturing. Wilcox is well known as a provider of equipment of the highest quality and specification to Special Forces, law enforcement and other military clients.
Wilcox and Aquaterro are currently in the middle of delivering on a significant contract for Night Vision Mounting Systems to the Australian Defense Force (ADF) as part of a multi-million dollar night vision capability upgrade for the Australian soldier.
“Wilcox Industries Pty Ltd” an Australian Company, was recently incorporated as a stand-alone Joint Venture between Wilcox Industries and Aquaterro, in order to expand the supply chain and global footprint of Wilcox, and to more closely mirror the kind of rapid customer response and operator focus that Wilcox provides for its U.S. customers.
“Wilcox understands that in order to succeed in Australia and the region, it needs to have a footprint and investment in Australia” said Graeme Bulte, “ and we are committed to bringing that customer focus and capability, along with the advanced manufacturing jobs opportunity it represents, to Melbourne”.
The Australian Made Wilcox EF1500 rail allows for accessories such as laser aiming devices to be securely fitted to Australian Army rifles.
The new “Wilcox EF1500 Exo-Skeleton Rail” is destined to be the first of many success stories as these close USA-Australian allies grow this cooperation across the Pacific in support of our soldiers and the growth of advanced manufacturing jobs.
Bergara offers law enforcement agencies mission-specific, customizable precision rifles
Duluth, Ga. (April 2015) – Bergara USA, a division of BPI Outdoors, announced today that it has obtained a contract to supply tactical rifles to the Atlanta Police Department S.W.A.T. unit. According to company officials, the rifle is based on its “Heavy Tactical” model and includes various customized features and components. Bergara worked closely with members of the S.W.A.T. team for several months in the development of the rifle. Each of the rifles will ship with a Dead Air 7.62 Sandman-L™ suppressor featuring its unique QD (quick disconnect) system. Dead Air Armament™ is also a division of BPI.
Bergara USA is based in Duluth, Georgia and is already a well-known supplier of precision rifle barrels to several of the world’s top rifle manufacturers. They entered the custom rifle business three years ago, achieving immediate success in this exclusive segment of the firearms market. Combining its precision barrels with its newly developed Premium actions and under the direction of former Marine sniper rifle builder, Dan Hanus, Bergara’s custom rifles have become widely respected by long-range shooting enthusiasts, big game hunters and law enforcement professionals.
The Bergara “APD S.W.A.T. Rifle” features are as follows:
Barrel: Bergara 416 SS in .308 with # 6 Contour
Action: Bergara Premium
Stock: Ashbury International
Trigger: Timney
Suppressor: Dead Air Sandman-L™
Scope: Nightforce ATACR 5-25 MOAR
Mounts: Badger High 34mm
Magpul started shipping their new Glock PMAG 17 GL9 magazines last week and almost immediately issues started to arise with reliability in certain Glock models. Magpul went right to work ascertaining the issue and set out an explanation/apology and plan to rectify the problem. Good on them. 
OK we screwed up.
After initial release of the Glock PMAG 17 GL9 a few days ago we started seeing random issues of failure to feed with the new magazine in other Glock models, primarily the Glock 19 and 26. Of all the challenges of building a Glock magazine with a single new composite, issues like drop free, impact strength and feed lip retention were foremost on our mind. The failure to feed came as a bit of a surprise to us and we immediately headed out to the range to investigate.
In short order we found the problem. Without getting into technical details, some small, but critical geometry changes did not make it into the initial production molds. We should have caught this but no failures showed up on our factory guns during live fire testing and flaws in our internal processes of checks/balances did not flag the oversight as it should.
So as I said before, we screwed up and here is what we are going to do about it.
Molds are being updated with the correct geometry as we speak and a replacement magazine body with the correct geometry should be available by May 4th, 2015. These will be date coded 5/15 or later and will replace any magazine bodies in service of earlier manufacture. Just use your existing spring, follower, and floor plate with the new body.
-If you purchased your magazines direct from Magpul, Brownells or Midway, you do not need to do anything, replacement magazine bodies for the magazines ordered (1 for 1) will be shipped to you automatically.
-If you purchased your magazines from a gun store, replacement bodies will be sent out to the store in question for you to pick up.
-If neither of the above works for you then Magpul customer service will handle the replacement directly.
In short, we are updating ALL of the affected magazines released as quick as we possibly can.
Richard Fitzpatrick
President/CEO -Magpul Industries Corp
