Blue Ridge Mountain Sports has been our go-to outdoor store for years. It’s sad to see them go. Mission Ready Equipment has closed as well.
We’ll miss you!
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Closes Its Doors
Tuesday, March 1st, 2016SilencerCo Weapons Research Radius Now Available
Monday, February 29th, 2016After a delay, the SilencerCo Weapons Research Radius is now available.
The Radius was unveiled last September. It is a Picatinny rail compatible rangefinder capable of ranging out to a mile on a reflective target. The Radius offers a user configurable display and continuous ranging for 12 hours with two CR123 batteries. What’s more, it comes in at just under $1000.
Kevin Brittingham To Launch Q, A New Brand, On 1 March
Monday, February 29th, 2016Right before SHOT Show, we told you Kevin Brittingham planned to form a new company after recently leaving SIG SAUER. Now it’s happening, and quickly.
Kevin Brittingham doesn’t mess around, announcing a 1 March launch of his new brand. Named simply Q, they’ll start out with just 10 employees, but it’s quite the lineup. If you’ve known Brittingham for any length of time, these names will come as no surprise. There’s Robby Johnson as overall VP, Ethan Lessard to VP of Engineering, Lindsay Bunch VP of Operations, and Jessica Gauvin as VP of Business Development.
Brittingham sees his own role at Q as recruiting, steering the boat, funding and to a certain degree, marketing. But even then, his concept of marketing isn’t traditional. It’s really more of keeping the brand true to his vision and making sure people are aware of that fact.
Another interesting thing is the ages of the company’s members. At 42 years, Kevin Brittingham is the second oldest in the company. One of his goals is to give young people a shot and he’ll be looking for promising talent. He said, “You don’t have to be somewhere for 20 years to show everyone you are deserving.”
While it’s a small company and people are going to be wearing a lot of hats, ambitions are high. The goal is Silencers, Accessories and Firearms by SHOT Show 2017. He said he plans to conduct live fire demos of three preproduction firearms at SHOT, although he wouldn’t get into specifics.
As part of Q’s 12 and 36 month plans, Brittingham has built in incremental growth and team building as crucial to success. He sees it as “knowing what we’re doing and giving people the right opportunities.” Although he doesn’t want to grow too fast, he knows exactly where he wants to be. Envisioning an “AAC 2.0” he’s determined to apply lessons learned (both good and bad) from previous companies. His business inspirations aren’t gun companies but rather business giants like Amazon and Red Bull who have changed the rules. However, one thing he won’t change is focus. To generate sales, the concept is initially to concentrate on government customers and then work toward commercial sales of those products.
Q is primarily self-funded by proceeds from Brittingham’s sale of AAC to Remington, but he has also brought in some investors who are reportedly participating solely for the returns. In fact, he was amazed at the confidence, not only from investors, but also from those who’ve joined him as employees at Q.
The company is located in New Hampshire. Brittingham loves the area and has put down roots. In addition to a new personal home, the Q factory is just a mile from his former office at SIG. He told me that it’s where talent is located and he didn’t want his employees to have to move.
If I could describe Q in one word it would be ambitious, but it’s not as if he’s starting from scratch. This isn’t Kevin Brittingham’s first trip to the rodeo and he’s already started to assemble a team of rock stars. Q definitely has a leg up.
It’s going to be an exciting ride, so hold on.
Operation Safeside
Saturday, February 27th, 2016Designated by the code name “OPERATION SAFESIDE”, the 1041st USAF Security Police Squadron (Test) was formed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii from a cadre of USAF graduates of the Army Ranger school. From that original unit, the Air Force eventually stood up the 82nd Combat Security Police Wing and subordinate units the 821st, 822nd and 823rd Combat Security Police Squadrons. This is an example of the equipment worn by those Security Policemen while deployed to Viet Nam.
He is a short two-part, USAF film on this unit.
Part I
Part II
Today, the lineage of these units lives on in the 820th Base Defense Group and its subordinate squadrons.
KiloNiner – A Shemagh For Your Dog
Friday, February 26th, 2016KiloNiner Pets is a lifestyle brand created by some guys I know in the tactical nylon business. They have started out by offering shemaghs in dog sizes. Available in several colors and two sizes, they’ll soon be joined by several other items like vests.
A Tour Of S.O.Tech
Friday, February 26th, 2016Rifle Dynamics Red October Kalashnikov
Thursday, February 25th, 2016The Rifle Dynamics Red October Kalashnikov is a practical-style competition providing a fun opportunity to compete using the AK-pattern rifle in a style that is typically slanted towards more modern AR-style designs. This match is NOT intended to be a tactics and doctrine-based exercise, just a fun celebration of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s rifle for the masses, which has served billions and billions worldwide in both noble and ignoble pursuits.
ROK will be held from October 29, 2016 at 9:00 AM through October 30, 2016 at 5:00 PM at the Southern Utah Practical Shooting Range in St. George, UT. They are limiting the event to 200 shooters.
It will consist of 350 rounds over 10 Stages (two of which are nighttime low-light). Competitors will shoot four stages on Friday (either morning or afternoon), two night stages on Friday Night and four more stages on Saturday. They’ll run a “half-day” schedule with room for 200 shooters, which gives competitors time to peruse a vendor area that they intend to fill with AK-specific retailers, builders and parts makers, complete with live-fire demo areas.
There are four divisions:
-Kalash Heavy, for stock 7.62×39 and larger-caliber AKs/direct variants. Iron sights and 30 round (or smaller) mags only.
-Kalash Light, which is Kalash Heavy but for anything 5.45 or larger
-Open Kalash, where anything that’s an AK or variant and is chambered in 5.45 or larger is allowed! Optics, drum mags, anything you want so long as there’s an AK under there!
-ComBloc, which is for any rifle issued by a Warsaw Pact nation that ISN’T an AK (such as an SKS, Vz.58, StG-44 or any commie subgun like a PPSh-41)
southernutahpracticalshootingrange.com/rok
