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2nd Amendment Concepts – Young Entrepreneur – Eli Bertrand
201 Plays25 days ago
This week on the Tricer Podcast, Drew has Eli and Travis Bertrand on to discuss 2nd Amendment Concepts. 2A Concepts is a small business built by Eli Bertrand, a young entrepreneur who is developing products to solve shooting and hunting problems. Eli is designing and developing 3D printed products to support NRL Hunter and PRS shooters as well as hunters in the field. If you haven’t heard of 2nd Amendment Concepts check it out in the link below.
ELI BERTAND - 2ND AMENDMENT CONCEPTS
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/2a.concepts/
Website - https://2aconceptsusa.com
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tricerusa/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@tricer6985
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Transcript
Introduction and Opening Prayer
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to the Tricer podcast, where we talk all things hunting, gear, and the great outdoors. Before we begin, let's start things out right and put God first. Lord Jesus, I thank you for Tricer, and ask that you can use this podcast as a way to bring joy to all of our listeners.
00:00:17
Speaker
We lay Tricer and this podcast at your feet. Amen.
Meet Eli Bertrand: Young Innovator with 3D Printing
00:00:22
Speaker
All right. i have a fun one today. I have my youngest guest ever on the Tricer podcast, Eli Bertrand and his dad, Travis Bertrand.
00:00:31
Speaker
And I've been talking with Travis a little bit for a few years because Travis is over at Rockslide. has lot of the gear reviews and a lot of content for Rockslide. But when we were at Sheep Show, his and Eli came up and um gifted me with some products I thought were really neat and innovative. And Eli, how old are you, Eli? 11? 12? I'm 13. I'm 13.
00:00:48
Speaker
twelve i'm thirteen 13 okay stay away from my daughter i already told you that right stay away from my daughter eli end this podcast real quick boy oh so eli is making a bunch of innovative stuff on three d printer for the shooting space and he actually made me a case for my um my garmin uh what would you call it? magnet Not magneto speed, whatever you'd call it. The one that thing that gives you the velocity.
00:01:14
Speaker
kind of What's that? ah Yeah. chronograph The Garmin chronograph. There you go. Maybe a case for that, which is like super sweet. Cause it comes in a bag. It's kind of awkward and not protected. so he made me a case for that.
00:01:26
Speaker
And then he also made a bunch of stuff for my our auto trickler and the products work really good. and he's got a bunch of stuff going on.
Travis' Dual Role: Gear Reviewer and Firefighter
00:01:33
Speaker
So i love entrepreneurs and I especially love 13 year old entrepreneur who's just getting after it. So Eli, man, how are you doing?
00:01:41
Speaker
Um, it's good. Good. I'm good.
00:01:47
Speaker
Travis, um, we should probably start with you, Travis. So what ah you're right now you're in a knee race. He's got surgery last week, but, um, how are you involved with rock slide? What are you doing over on the slide?
00:01:58
Speaker
So I'm on the Rock staff. So um I do a bunch of reviews for them, go to shows. you know, I was one of the original members, I think, like first 20 members ever but good since inception. So I've just been, you know, deeply vested with those
Family Passion: Hunting Adventures and Flexibility
00:02:15
Speaker
guys. And yeah, it's been awesome.
00:02:17
Speaker
It's been a good experience just writing reviews and getting my hands on all this gear and seeing what works and what doesn't. Yeah, and you've done some stuff for us. And then we were at Sheep Show, you actually came over to some videos for us on the new bipod and um put a thread on a Rock Slide. And you probably sold 50 bipods for me to split on that thread. I mean, it blew up on the thread, you know? That's good to hear.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So... um Outside of Rockside, are you in the hunting space or are you just normal nine to five? ah My normal job is a firefighter. Okay. that's my nine to five.
00:02:51
Speaker
and then But I just had knee surgery, so I'll be out for about a year. And so this hunting season, this shooting season is going to be kind of put on hold for me. That's a bummer.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, Firefighter, which is awesome, is best job in the world, gives me a bunch of time off to be able to string together some trips. We go to Colorado every year hunting usually. this is Actually, this last year the first time.
00:03:15
Speaker
Oh, no, we did go. My daughter i my daughter had elk tag, so we we went to Colorado and Um, yeah, I try hunting all over the Western United States. My passion's mule deer.
00:03:27
Speaker
Um, my daughter, she's big in hunting too. She's almost 16 and she loves elk. So I'm still trying to come with her. um hopefully one day. All you rocks like guys, huh? Isn't that like Robbie's thing is mule deer, right? So that's how you got it. That's got Inside circle. I imagine.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah. don't know about that, but yeah, I mean, I've been blessed, killed a few good bucks and, uh, Yeah, I want to clean keep continuing to. And are you, where, what state do you guys live
Eli's Entrepreneurial Journey in 3D Printing
00:03:55
Speaker
in?
00:03:55
Speaker
Nevada. We live in Reno. Oh, you live in Reno. Oh, so that was, no wonder, you're right there, sheepshake, ride over. Yeah, I saw you're pretty laid up. Firefighter definitely is, like, on my list of people asking me, like, what job should I get, you want to hunt a lot, and I think registered nurse, like RN and firefighter kind of the top two that I tell people to do. Cause like all my friends are firefighters nurses get a lot of time to go hunting. Cause they got those like three 12s and they get chances to get out a lot.
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah. We got a really, we're blessed with a really good schedule. So we can work trades with other people so I could trade two days and get 10 days off. And then I just have to work four days straight, you know, some other time. So it's been, it's pretty awesome.
00:04:36
Speaker
Yeah. And Eli, you are 13. That makes you what? Like ah you're going into eighth grade or going into freshman year? Going into freshman next year. You're going to a freshman next year. So is my daughter. right. You're going to be 14 here pretty soon than I imagined this year.
00:04:50
Speaker
What? When's your birthday? You're going to 14 pretty soon this year sometime? ah Yeah, August. 14 in August. Okay, cool. And now you started this company at 13.
00:05:01
Speaker
thirteen When did you do start the company? When did you start your company? 11 maybe. 11. the company, your company is called? Second Amendment Concepts.
00:05:12
Speaker
Oh, it makes more sense. I saw two way concepts and it's second amendment concepts. Way to go. You little conservative. Atta boy. So you're making a bunch of cool stuff, um, kind of all across the spectrum, but I would say kind of more targeted at us, reloaders, target shooters, um, a lot of stuff in that space. Right. because like you make a lot of stuff that you just kind of like knew I had the stuff for.
00:05:39
Speaker
like Travis is like, Oh, I assume you have an auto trickler. I assume you have a Garmin and you're like, so you kind of like, you're kind of you know, making something kind of niche, a niche product for that.
Father-Son Collaboration: From CAD to Innovation
00:05:50
Speaker
Um, how'd you get into it? Why'd you start doing it?
00:05:53
Speaker
Well, Well, so my fifth grade teacher got me into 3D printing and I thought it was super cool. And then my dad got me a 3D printer for Christmas. And then I just started like printing stuff not related to shooting at all.
00:06:08
Speaker
And then my dad asked me if I can make him like a ah follower for his Sig Cross magazines. And so we designed it and printed it. And then we were like, oh, cool.
00:06:22
Speaker
Like I could sell some stuff like this. So follower as in like it helps you to feed your bullets better? Yeah. So the Sig Cross comes stock with a Magpul AICS magazine.
00:06:33
Speaker
And you can use any AICS. Yeah. um But the problem is, is the stock magazine has like a big lip on the front.
00:06:44
Speaker
And what that does is if you have to top load around, like you show it on a stage for whatever reason, it won't feed that bullet just drops and you can't give it to feed the rifle. And so i had a bunch of Magpul AICS mags, but the problem is you couldn't just buy the following.
00:07:00
Speaker
You could buy a whole new magazine from SIG and then they were like stupid expensive. So I'm like, well, why don't we just do, you know, can you make me one of these? And we converted all of my other magazines to fit the SIG cross.
00:07:15
Speaker
That's awesome. And are you doing all the CAD work yourself, Eli? ah Yeah, we, yeah. Yeah, we do a tag team like that. um We designed that follower together and it was, don't know, it took us a couple months probably just printing and test fitting, changing little things. So, learned a lot doing that.
00:07:39
Speaker
And that's kind of how it is whenever you start a business, right? and Especially when you're learning how to do something is just... ah failing a lot, right? And then learning from the failure and making it again and again and again. And like, really, that's a mark of a good entrepreneur, Eli, is somebody who's willing to make mistakes and then learn from those mistakes and then grow in it. And like, that's what you're doing, right?
00:07:58
Speaker
And then obviously you're not like a CAD, you don't have a degree in CAD yet, but I guarantee you that if you keep doing this by the time you're 18, you're going to be a lot better off than most of the guys who are going to school to get a CAD degree or engineering degree. You're going to have that so much more.
00:08:12
Speaker
There's some things to be said about field experience versus school experience. And what you're doing right now is so valuable in the prototyping stages and learning how to do things. this is what i do every single day for Tracer, right? Like it's my job is what you're doing is designing things, failing things, breaking things, redesigning things. um You're doing what I do for a living. I get paid for it.
00:08:33
Speaker
Oh yeah. That's pretty exciting. I'm pretty proud of them. Yep. Yeah, you should be, man. oh I was surprised. like, I'll bring my son over here. And I thought you could bring over like, you know, a 20 year old kid and you bring over this guy who's like, uh, you know, 13.
00:08:47
Speaker
I was very impressed. See up at school for the day and came in there, man. Um, so, but now you've kind of gone, um, yeah, you, i mean, they're changing your flag.
00:08:58
Speaker
You're making all kinds of stuff. So you're actually selling that Magpul follower for five bucks. Yeah. That's awesome. Now, can I use that follower for single feeds? Is that what that's for Yeah, so... Well, no, it's not for single feeding. It's for, like, if you run out and if a magazine's in there, you can just throw a bullet ah or without on top and it'll feed into the rifle.
00:09:25
Speaker
Otherwise, it'll just nose dive and it won't feed. Are you guys printing any of the single feed mags? Like, where it's just, like, a block that goes in there for single feeding? No, but we can't.
00:09:35
Speaker
You should. That'd be something you could into. Yeah, i put
Innovative Enhancements for Shooting Gear
00:09:38
Speaker
that down. Because, like, you know, what happens is, like, I had a station last, ah like, last month in PRS, and it was like, you weren't allowed to have any rounds in the mag. You had to single feed everything.
00:09:47
Speaker
So I borrowed a single feed. There's basically a plastic block. You can make them. People are doing it already. But... um You know I'm talking about. So you can single feed right off top of it and doesn't hold around. So definitely something you guys put on your list of things is single feed mag parts. This to adjust the chamber flag, I think.
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. exactly it's the chamber It's essentially the chamber flag with just kind of like the cutout of a mag on top of it, right? Yeah. You probably can kind of integrate the chamber flag with the um cross magpo follower somehow and make that thing and do a... um Real slick setup. So why PRS? So what happens? So you guys make your... Because now you've got... I mean, it looks like A12345678910 product on your webpage. And there's a lot of but lot variations to those products.
00:10:39
Speaker
what What drove you, Eli, to go from making the Magpul follower to creating an entire company called Second Amendment Concepts?
00:10:49
Speaker
I don't know. It's just... There were things that we came up with that like we need, that people need, that would be good to sell.
00:11:03
Speaker
i I don't know. It's just like a little niche items, you know, you know, shooting yeah and hunting is like, man, if I could, this was changed just a little bit. It'd be really cool. like if this one I've built a whole business on making things that I needed and yeah wanted to buy. Exactly. And so that's kind of where, you know, we shoot and it's like, Hey man, a attack table is like 200 bucks made out of aluminum.
00:11:26
Speaker
Could we make one out of plastic? And then we played it out with it and came up with the design and went from there. And the tack table is, so people don't know, someone put your you can put a bag on or your binos on, correct?
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. the top of a trip it goes It looks really good on the new Tracer X tripod. It's coming out in May. Eli said he was going to use that line, but you beat him to it.
00:11:48
Speaker
Oh, I beat you to it, Eli. Oh, man. Yeah, you got to be quick on your feet with me, man. I'm just always selling. um But yeah, that's exactly how I run my business, man, is I just create things for myself, like this new bipod I created, right? I created a bipod. There isn't the one out there that works for what I need it to work for, right?
00:12:04
Speaker
And so I designed a bipod around what I think is a perfect running bipod, and it turns out that... um A lot people think it's a perfect running bipod as well. and we're just Yeah, exactly. If you listen to this podcast, I'm guessing it might not be on pre-order anymore by time you listen to this, but hopefully it still is because we are selling over 100 a day right now.
00:12:22
Speaker
And I'm going to probably pull the plug on this pre-order here pretty quick because everybody wants this bipod. Yeah. I'm going to order more, I guess. I can just get start making more. so Yeah, it's really awesome. Yeah, it's really awesome. I'm excited. Yeah, it's just kind of involved. You know, I asked them to come up with a solution to a problem I'm having, and we tackle it head on. And that's how we kind of created these products.
00:12:44
Speaker
Now, let's talk about the auto trickler. So the auto trickler, if for guys who don't know, is like the most expensive loading station out there. um powder It's a powder charger. So it gives you like a very, very precise charge.
00:12:59
Speaker
um Runs with an iPad or an iPhone. it's just It's next level loading, right? Very precision. um But there are some flaws with it. And you guys are making some stuff for it. So what are you making for the auto trickler, Eli? Yeah.
00:13:11
Speaker
ah Okay, so first I'm making like little spacers that adjust the tilt of it, of the V4. And then I make like little panel sets that like sit. they Basically, they protect the scale from kernels falling, but they don't actually affect the weight because they like float.
00:13:32
Speaker
And so it like covers the kernels so they don't drop anything. Oh, I got you. yep I got that whole setup on mine right now. I haven't got to use it because I haven't been home and I actually had to go buy a bunch of factory ammo for my new Creedmoor because I'm not going to have time to load and develop a load before my NRL match at the end the month.
00:13:50
Speaker
But I know I'm excited to use it. My farm-in-law has a set of them as well. going to put them on there and put it to use. And now, Travis, are you are using an auto-trickler, I take it? Yeah, I used the V4. And that was the thing is like, I just getting so many inconsistencies in the drops. It's like, how can we change this? What if we change the angle?
00:14:07
Speaker
And so I experimented like putting a nickel under the back and seeing if that helped. And then we came up, you know, we looked at a bunch of different designs and this was the most simplest is just creating little spacers.
00:14:20
Speaker
And so it's like a set of five and a half a millimeter difference increments. And so, yeah, it may as and makes dropping powder like so much more easy, especially when you use the tips that we sell as well, which goes on the tip of the small tube on the V4.
00:14:40
Speaker
Yeah, I saw those as well. You gave me one of those as well. cause I have that same thing for, like, I just have like an RCBS charge master that I use for like all my hunting stuff, like my 30-06 and 308, like it's close enough.
00:14:51
Speaker
But I actually bought a, because I've done stuff like, if people don't want to know, like, I've done stuff before I've taken like straws and like taped straws into there. you know what I mean? Like there's all kinds of little tricks you could do to like make things, throw charges better. Because a lot of times it depends on what you're you're charging, right? Like if you're charging like some of the stick powders, they just don't throw right sometimes.
00:15:10
Speaker
And by changing the design and making those tips like you did, it makes it throw right. Which you kind of wonder, like, why doesn't auto tricklers have that? you know Well, funny you mentioned that. He emailed us three, four months ago. And he long story short, he's basically taking that design and putting him.
00:15:29
Speaker
He's going to put him with the auto trickler. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Now we have to talk about, next time we'll talk about patents, Eli, and we'll figure out how to get you protected before you get taken away by auto.
00:15:42
Speaker
Well, you your first experience of the industry, Eli, right there. yeah But it's really cool, though. It's good. It's really cool. It's awesome. And it catches on and it works. and No, it's phenomenal. It's awesome, man. And that's what innovation is, right? like And I kind of almost like what Elon Musk says about patents. like He thinks we should stop patents because it kind of ends...
00:16:01
Speaker
innovation And I kind of agree with it because I think when people put patents on things, they they kind of do it to stop other people. And it kind of it kind of stops innovation. But there are a lot of ways around them too, just by changing things and doing things a little bit differently. Because I've got like, I don't even know how many. I think I have eight things in the patent process right now alone for all this new stuff we have coming out.
00:16:21
Speaker
But um they are very hard to protect even when you do have a patent. It's just sometimes not even worth it. But yeah, that's freaking awesome, man. I love the all trickler stuff. And then you have the all trickler spacers. So yeah i think you gave me one of those. So that comes with, is it one, two, three, four, five different sizes and you get all five of those sizes. And is there two of each of them?
00:16:40
Speaker
Just one. One of each. Because there's only spot to put it in the back. Okay. There's one spot in the back. Okay. One screw in the back. Okay. That's right. Okay. And then you do have the AICS chamber flag, which I think is awesome and is very needed.
00:16:52
Speaker
So depending on what match you're doing, if you're doing like a sanctioned event I said my local matches you kind of get away with not doing flags. But like the more we try and be more legit, like you have to flag your rifle when you move from station to station, flag your rifles, come up to the station, drop your flag.
00:17:08
Speaker
um So what is that?
00:17:13
Speaker
So it just like, wait, like what's your question? what What is the chamber flag? What do you make? You actually made it. Cause like, I guess I'll kind of to describe it. So if anyone who's a chamber flag is a little sticky stuff, shove into your barrel typically and you shut your bolt on it, but it's annoying.
00:17:29
Speaker
So Eli has actually AICS magazines that are white and, and, uh, orange that are, uh, three d printed plastic and he's dropping up in your mag, but into your mag well and it locks itself out and you've got a chamber flag in there.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I had him come up with that because like you said, lot of times it's a little flag with a bent piece of plastic you stick in your chamber. And it's like, I just shot that rifle 12 rounds and it is hot.
00:17:59
Speaker
You know, like rapid fire 12 rounds. yeah i don't want to stick a piece of plastic in that. So I wanted to create something that wasn't going to damage my chamber.
00:18:10
Speaker
So we came up with that design. And after a while, um we kind of we changed it to where you could shoot. Because we have you know I have 22 competition setup.
00:18:23
Speaker
And so you could use it with a 22 long rifle AICS setup. And also what I like about it the most is when you have like a chamber of flag in, you have an open chamber, right? But with this one, we he put this but he puts a bungee on it where you kind of close your bolt onto the chamber flag, and it just keeps stuff from getting inside.
00:18:44
Speaker
um Okay, so you're saying so that little stick that's going to go to the front of the magwell, not the back? Yeah. oh and the bolt slides over okay i got you then you run the bungee because yeah i've done it with like the chamber flags are a pain in the butt even when you could you have to do a lot of them come with that bungee as well but you have to like wrap it around your bolts kind hold your bolt in there and your bolt falls back and your flag falls out that's slick i like that and i like that you can actually close your bolt on it like that and not have it you know kind of feel like you're gonna break the chamber flag half the time when you're trying to run these chamber flags I like that. i like the ultra-glar stuff.
00:19:14
Speaker
Some of my favorite stuff you've got going on is the the Garmin Zero stuff you have. um i bought a you You made me an insert, and I bought a Pelican case. I think you have two different inserts, but um now my Garmin is kept in a Pelican case and not in this little bag, and it's all organized
Marketing Strategies for Shooting Accessories
00:19:32
Speaker
right there. you It has a spot for the Garmin, a spot for the tripod, and a spot for the charging cable.
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I make like also like just the like the case for the Pelican and the case insert to hold it. Not only that, but rifle mounts with Arca Swiss and Picatinny that mounts your rifle so you can just have your chronograph right there.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah, so you could put right on top of your rifle. So you'd you'd bolt it like in front of your bipod or something, right? And then you get velocity that you're saying? Mm-hmm. That's nice. That's nice. Yeah, my new bipod that I have coming out is Arca Swiss and Picatinny as well. So you're thinking things through.
00:20:13
Speaker
Now, is your mount, I believe you made yours to where it'll do Arca and Pic, right? Yeah. On one... so that it's not It's not just an Arca or a Pic. It has both machined into it, right? So you can shut it down similar to like... a um Outdoorsman is doing something like that. And I think like RS is doing something like that. But yours is a thumb screw style. So you're not violating their patent. they try come after you, come and get me, Eli. And I'll tell those guys over there that you are not violating because you've done it outside of it.
00:20:43
Speaker
Good job. um And then you've got the ARCA mount for that. That's that's just to put on a tripod, right? The Garmin Zero. Yeah. yeah That's nice to have that. And that's good to have, for especially for like when I shoot my bow, I run my Garmin up on a tripod.
00:20:56
Speaker
get those get my velocities for my bow and do that stuff and then go put it put it into whatever that software is they have out there now to get the dope for your bow and but get the tapes printed out.
00:21:08
Speaker
And then, oh, you're selling the bags too? Yeah, so we partnered with Reno Rifle Company. Are you talking about the TacTable bags? Yeah. So he's a buddy of mine and he created a bag just for Eli's TacTable.
00:21:21
Speaker
And so we're selling them as set. as a set When we can keep them in stock. When you can keep them in stock. So you Eli, you don't have to numbers, but like are you selling pretty good now? How's it going?
00:21:35
Speaker
um Yeah, it's good. I'd say we sell I sell spacers and tack tables the most. Spacers and tack tables the most? I would do panel sets too.
00:21:46
Speaker
Panel sets too. And then how are you advertising this stuff? Just on like rock slide or are you, what are you doing? Yeah. So, uh, snipers hide, I sell them there and then the website. And then I have an Instagram two way dot concepts and yeah.
00:22:02
Speaker
Cool. Are you making some videos? What's that? Are you making any videos? Like, Hey, this is my new AIS chamber flag. And then like making those videos showing how it works and all that stuff.
00:22:13
Speaker
Now we need to go to marketing school. Okay. Well, I can help you with that. You don't, you don't need to go marketing school. You just got to be, just make content and put it out there, man. You can see some of my ads are terrible, but we sell more than anybody.
00:22:24
Speaker
yeah So yeah, i just make some like what I would say is like you like, you should go on my Instagram and watch the one I did of my new bipod the other day. Right. yeah if you could describe your product in less than like 50 seconds for like a short with Moses, if you can, you can get people to go to your webpage and look at it. Right. Like that's what I would recommend is like, Hey,
00:22:42
Speaker
A lot of people are using auto trickler tables and they have issue with powder throw. Well, we made these innovative spacers. They do this, totally solve that problem. No more problems. And they're only 15 bucks.
00:22:55
Speaker
Trust me, when you're throwing powder and it's going wrong, especially those auto-tricklers because they're not the fastest thing in the world, if I can get like, especially when you're having like one out of every five throw off and you have to dump back in the darn top of the thing, those things are worth way more than 15 bucks to me.
00:23:09
Speaker
Right? And anyone who throws powder knows that, especially with the auto-trickler because there's nothing worse than when you get the whole like, boop, And you're like, ugh. Yep. And what's cool is like that V4 set, it comes with panels on the side too to replace the four panels. That way you can see the green light better.
00:23:27
Speaker
Or red, you know, if you do an overthrow. Yeah, definitely. like I would definitely start putting some videos together. like I think you definitely should put a video together for your um but that Garmin as well. Like, hey, this is the Garmin Pelican case. Throw away your old you're old du cloth case.
Tricer's Sponsorship and Gear Evolution
00:23:43
Speaker
Get one of these right for $15. Keep your investment protected.
00:23:47
Speaker
right it's ah It's a $500 investment. Why would you have it in a $1 case? exactly Support me. Support the Second Amendment. Support Eli. There you go, dude. We'll get you dialed in. Come over to my booth here and we'll get some commercials.
00:24:02
Speaker
Love it. yeah Are you to at You're not to be Western Hunt, huh? You probably can't. No, I can't walk. So I'm clutches still and it takes a lot out of me throughout the day. Did you get one of those dumb little like three-wheeled go-kart things to push around on Then I'd be one of those dudes and i don't want to be one of those dudes, you know?
00:24:19
Speaker
It's like, come on, dude. Seriously, you need that? You're young. Come on. Yeah, I know, man. But we're not too young anymore, Travis.
00:24:30
Speaker
Don't tell me. ah So, i you know, if I just have to shave, but I've been off work for two months. And all this is coming in, it's white. Like, I don't, yeah, it's kind of sad.
00:24:43
Speaker
Tell me about it. Yeah, man, I'm i'm getting a little sore, more sore every time I go out. So, Eli, what is your like how are where's your affiliation with competitive shooting? Are you doing NRL stuff and PRS stuff? Or how are you...
00:24:55
Speaker
Uh, I like to shoot sometimes and, um, uh, but my dad and my sister mainly do, but I go to the matches. You go to the matches. Okay. Now, Travis, are you shooting NRL or PRS or both?
00:25:11
Speaker
Uh, I shoot the local PRS stuff. I've never done like a two day PRS match, but I've done a lot of the NRL hunting matches and that's my favorite. Do you know, Eli, that Tricer is now the official tripod of the NRL Hunter series?
00:25:27
Speaker
Wow. I saw that the other day. That's pretty exciting. That's pretty exciting to put a good name in for him. And actually the owner of NRL's name is Travis as well. homeboy. He is. Yeah. you know He lives from another mother.
00:25:39
Speaker
He's brother from another mother. All right. Travis lives he he lives in SoCal, so he's only like an hour away from me. He's a super cool guy. so I'm actually really excited to sponsor that series because I feel like those are kind of my people. Yeah, absolutely. Those are my people. They're definitely hunters and they're definitely doing... like It's a skill set that really kind of transcends into the hunting space. right I can tell you that like when I shoot an animal now, it doesn't seem far anymore.
00:26:06
Speaker
but like I shot a deer at 300 yards last week in Mexico and it was like... i didn't even think about it. I laid down and I knew my dope my head, dialed 2.9, pulled the trigger and dropped deer in his tracks and it was like...
00:26:19
Speaker
I sat up and I was like, wow, that was too easy. It really upped my hunting game in a lot of ways. And, you know, like I've never thought about shooting off a tripod hunting until I go to some matches. I'm like, huh.
00:26:31
Speaker
And then I practice shooting off tripod. I'm like, wow, you could use this in the hunting situation. Oh, yeah. Hands down. Yeah, it's just really upped my hunting game and ethics, you know. Yeah.
00:26:46
Speaker
Yeah, you're definitely a better shot. That's for sure. And you definitely learn a lot more. i think it gives you more respect for the wind as well. You start realizing like how bad you are, especially in high-pressure situations. You talked about shooting your gun 12 times. like I never get 12 shots off and in ah in a session, Travis. I'm always fumbling for shot six if I'm lucky. you know It's like... ah that's my favorite part about the NRL and the PRS stuff is like, it's the pressure and it's when things go wrong, right? Where you, you misfeed or you dial wrong or you shoot the, they're like wrong target. And you're just like, dang it.
00:27:17
Speaker
Yeah. lot of pressure comes and As soon as you put that clock on anything, you know, it's this, that artificial pressure and it's good because you'll have that pressure out in the hunting field too. Okay.
00:27:29
Speaker
Oh, 100%. And it's like what I equate it to, too, especially when you have like something go wrong in a station, is when you have that bad shot on an animal, right? And you see it all time. And guys will melt down.
00:27:39
Speaker
they'll get that They'll get that gut shot or that rear hip shot or the front leg shot, you know, and the animal's running on three legs. And the panic sets in. And I really do think that the and NRL stuff really, in the and the PRS stuff, really helps with pressure to like be able to get that follow-up shot in there and put the animal down, you know?
00:27:57
Speaker
You do see guys like, mean my I mean, I train my kids on the same way. like As soon as I shoot, I've got another round in the chamber, right? Like it's like boom, boom, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. done because like i mean you don't know how many times i've seen like an elk stand back up right deer stand back up or i mean you just gotta be ready for anything when you're hunting and that prs really prepares you for it i'm i'm really impressed with the series and doing it i'm really excited to be a part of the nrl series for sure it's actually my first in a row match i've ever shot i've been to a few of them to like check them out and kind of figure out we're gonna the sponsorship but um i mean talking about tripods man like we have these new x tripods like i'm not just pushing my stuff right now but
00:28:36
Speaker
We shot two deer over 200 yards in Mexico just standing up. And it was like nothing. Yeah. Like these new tripods, you've seen them. They're so stable. it was pretty wild like how stable we were with a 300 PRC or 30 nozzle, I'm sorry, on these tripod shooting.
00:28:51
Speaker
Imagine doing that 10 years ago. Oh yeah, no way. No way. I mean, more like all these competitions, they drive the products for hunting me.
00:29:02
Speaker
Like, i you know, mark my words, I think in five years, you're going to see full length Arcas on, you know, factory hunting the rifles and that's going to be the standard. Yeah, I'm hoping that we get rid of, i mean, my new bipod is PIC and ARCA and it comes with PIC adapter.
00:29:16
Speaker
um But man, like, yeah, I would, I'm like, you can see my push, right? Everything I make is ARCA at Tricer, right? um I'm hoping everything just goes to ARCA. I love the idea of everyone's coming on the same page and making non-proprietary stuff, all ARCA all the time.
00:29:31
Speaker
It makes it easy transition from a bipod to a tripod to whatever you're doing.
Custom Rifles: Building and Accessibility
00:29:35
Speaker
Absolutely. um And you're seeing a lot of people go to that rail system. I still haven't switched over to a chassis for hunting. I still like a full stock system.
00:29:44
Speaker
ah My Interrail Hunter rifle actually is a McMillan stock. I did a full hunting because that's what I'm used to. i didn't want to go to a chassis because I don't shoot a chassis when I hunt. So I wanted to have something similar to what I'm shooting.
00:29:56
Speaker
And that's what it's about is being more comfortable hunting. so Yeah. So I am shooting a Creedmoor. So everybody who I've made fun of Creedmoors forever, can tell you that a Creedmoor is a great paper gun.
00:30:08
Speaker
I've had five or six of them now. I don't know, maybe more. They just stink and shoot. Every single one of them. Yep. I can tell you this. So I've switched over to the, it's pretty crazy how easy you could build a custom rifle now.
00:30:22
Speaker
You really don't, I don't want to, sorry if you're gun builder out there, but you really don't need a gun builder anymore with these new like Zeus Terminus actions. So I got this Zeus Terminus action. i bought another one, it's not here yet.
00:30:33
Speaker
What it is, is it's called a it's a quick change action where basically you throw a barrel in and you tighten two sets crews to 10 pounds. And you shoot the gun. So I pulled my action off my PRS gun with my scope on it, put it into the McMillan stock,
00:30:48
Speaker
policy Put the two action screws in. Slid in. I got Preferred Barrel Blinks. Shout out to these guys. If you guys aren't using Preferred Barrel Blinks, they are phenomenal. I paid full price this barrel, so I have no affiliation with them.
00:30:59
Speaker
I got to talk to the owner recently just to tell him how great his stuff is, but they sent me a barrel within like five to six weeks. like I was waiting for another big name barrel brand for eight months this year last year for my other barrel.
00:31:10
Speaker
These guys sent me a barrel in six weeks. If you're looking for a barrel, Preferred Barrel Blinks, crushes it i got 34 of them now and they all shoot lights out dude so i can't that's my new bit old company i won't go in i'm gonna be using them all the time now and i've got to talk to honor a little bit super cool guy i think they're out of utah um so anyways have a new ti thing i can't i never shoot factory ammo i'm like a big reloading nerd but the problem tricer is i'm just gone all the time like ah like february i'm gonna be home like seven days That's it. it
00:31:41
Speaker
And so I didn't have time to develop a load for this gun. So I was like, I'm just going to go buy some 140 ELDMs. If I can get like a three-quarter MOA, half MOA, I'll be stoked. I got the gun sighted in within five shots because yeah you know the scope was off because was shooting my six-dash before.
00:31:56
Speaker
The first 100-yard group was three bullets into a hole. i mean, it's like, i didn't measure it, but it's like quarter MOA. And I just text the owner of Fur Barrel Blanks, and i'm just like, dude, this is stupid.
00:32:08
Speaker
And it's crazy that able to screw barrel on the night before, in two set screws, go to the range, and I have a rifle shooting quarter MOA out of the i mean out of the box I made myself.
00:32:19
Speaker
It's pretty awesome. For relatively cheap, I mean, you know, you figure those Terminus Actions are heavy is only problem. I think they might make a titanium one or someone does. They're $1,800, right?
00:32:30
Speaker
For a barrel blank, $600 for a barrel. You're $2,400. Get yourself a stock, a trigger. You tell them what action you have and they ship you one that you screw right in. Mine came chambered and done.
00:32:40
Speaker
Like it was like, hey, I got a Zeus Terminus Action. Mm-hmm. ah I, I, McMillan, I, I talked to the guys that were McMillan. I was like, Hey, this is the barrel armor and this action money. They sent me the, sent me the barrel or the stock within three months.
00:32:53
Speaker
And I'm shooting a custom rifle that shoots yeah better than better or as good any custom rifle I could buy for $10,000, you know? And it's coming pre-chambered. I think that's the way we're going to, is this pre-chambered system that everyone's having. And and you kind of saw it with the Tika builds, right? Everyone's doing the Tika builds for a long time. And it is so easy to do. You just tighten the barrel in there and you're done, right? No head spacing really required.
00:33:17
Speaker
But man, these Terminus ones, it's scary how easy it is to make a really accurate gun. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of good action manufacturers out there now. And with the CNC processes, you can just order barrels.
00:33:30
Speaker
It's already head-spaced. Yeah, you know, and even on the custom front, like, man, I'm... You have a custom... Everybody has a custom rifle. I'm just to put it this way. There's a lot of factory guns that shoot pretty darn good now, and everyone's using the same defiance action anyways. Like, there's a lot of stuff you can do on your own. Like, if you're out there and you want to build a custom rifle, like, I'm not saying don't use your buddy who does. Like, I'm going to get guns built for me. Like, I'm going to get... Arrowhead's going make me a couple rifles this year. Like, buddy, Jaden's probably going to rifle this year. he shoots NRL.
00:33:59
Speaker
But... man, like if you're like tight from under, you want to get into some of these sports, like you don't have to go and buy a $10,000 gun.
Future Innovations and Closing Encouragement
00:34:05
Speaker
You could do it yourself. it's My point, ah you the tools are out there now to do it yourself.
00:34:10
Speaker
So you can go get an NDT chassis. You can get and out of these things for four or five grand. What's going to kill you is the glass, right? yeah oh yeah The glass is going to kill you mean if you Bottom line. It's just, so that's the, the glass is much as the there is probably about as much as the rifle on half these guns now.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yep. So, um, cool. What, ah what's next? Anything new on the book, in the, on the books, Eli? Anything coming up you want to be building? Uh, yeah.
00:34:37
Speaker
Uh, so, want tell You tell Yeah, tell them you're doing. I think it's still like in the works, but it's, it's like a hard to explain.
00:34:54
Speaker
Can you explain? I don't know what you're talking about. talking about like the fart glass stuff. Oh, okay. So, Frankfurt Arsenal. They have the what the wet tumbler. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:35:05
Speaker
So, we're coming out with a new cap for it that has handles, so you don't have to use the, you know, whatever tool. It just makes it easier coming on and off, and also a screen, so you can just dump out the stuff, you know, sift that way. Oh, yeah, just like you're doing, like, if you're using, because I still use media.
00:35:27
Speaker
but same thing The same concept of media, you just dump it out and it stuff everything falls on the case and stay in there. Yeah, just some we're just working on some products for the fart, the Plankful Arsenal Tumblr.
00:35:38
Speaker
Nice. I like that fart. I like that. So that's pretty cool, man. I'm excited for what you guys are doing. um If you are listening to this, go check out Second Amendment Concepts, and it is...
00:35:54
Speaker
Hold on. Let me give you the, it's 2A concepts as in the number two, 2AConceptsusa.com. And you are supporting a awesome kid and an awesome dad who are making some products that are just innovative and I fully support.
00:36:11
Speaker
And I'm going be telling everybody about when I see them and I'm going to be helping with some marketing videos here pretty soon, I think to get them out, get this thing blowing up, man. know we need it. ye Yeah. Yeah. We'll get some hate threads on Rockslide. They're going to tell you to fire your marketing manager over there. We'll get you guys. I'm not good at it, obviously. We'll stir the pot over on the slide get them upset with you and bunch of people looking at your website.
00:36:34
Speaker
love it. yeah Remember, Eli. Bad publicity is publicity. So as long as you can get them to your website, it's all that matters. Just get them there somehow, dude. yeah Get them there somehow, buddy. I support you guys. Travis and Eli, what a fun podcast. 2A Concepts, find them Instagram, give them a follow. going to give you a follow too, Eli. I'm going to put you on my follow list, all right?
00:36:53
Speaker
All right. All right. Thanks, guys. i appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Tricer podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on.
00:37:05
Speaker
Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at TricerUSA and go and check out all our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.