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Building Gear for Shooters, by Shooters – The Shield Arms Story
205 Plays15 days ago
In this episode of the Tricer Podcast, host Drew Miles talks with Brandon and Seth from Shield Arms, a Montana-based company redefining firearm innovation. What began in 2017 inside a barn has grown into a powerhouse brand known for designing products shooters and hunters actually want—no focus groups, just firsthand experience driving design.
Brandon and Seth share the story behind Shield Arms’ rise, from the game-changing S15 magazine—which fits 15 rounds in a Glock 43X or 48 without altering the footprint—to their expansion into folding AR-15 lowers and an all-new modular pistol system that blends the best of Glock and SIG platforms. The conversation dives into their in-house engineering process, open-source approach to parts, and their commitment to collaborating with other top brands in the industry.
SHIELD ARMS
Website - https://shieldarms.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/shield.arms/
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tricerusa/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@tricer6985
#tricerpodcast #tricergear #shieldarms #westernhunting #backcountryhunting #longrangehunting #precisionrifle #montanahunting #huntinggear #shootingcommunity #outdoorinnovation #gearjunkie #gunindustry #glock43x #glock48 #madeinmontana #hunterlifestyle #firearmsindustry #byshootersforshooters
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Transcript
Introduction to Tricer Podcast
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 I 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.
Guests from Shield Arms
00:00:22
Speaker
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Tracer podcast. We're going a fun one today. I got my buddies from ah Montana on here, Brandon and Seth from Shield Arms. um I don't know all the products Shield Arms makes, but I know the products I do own by Shield Arms are epic.
00:00:39
Speaker
um I have a fanny pack that I could that i wear at the gym every day that you can literally, it's an everyday carry pack that I can just pull down and my Glock 43 is right there. And then in my Glock 43, have shield arms extended mags that really aren't that extended, but allow me to hold more rounds in the gun, which is awesome. Because that 43, I think it holds like eight or something like that stock or seven, something minimal.
Origins of Shield Arms
00:01:02
Speaker
And with their mag, I can hold a lot more. Brandon and Seth, man, welcome to the podcast. how are you guys doing? Thanks, man. Doing great. Good. Yeah. Thanks for having us. So I kind of like, I had never heard of you guys.
00:01:16
Speaker
And then I went to tack event and i got to hang out with a couple of your employees few years back and just a super awesome dudes. And i've been to work with you guys the last couple of years and just real saw the earth company building some really cool products that aren't even necessarily like,
00:01:34
Speaker
don't know how to this. They're just like very useful. Like, it's like, Hey, there's a need. Let's make a product that fits that need. Does that make sense? Like from what you guys are doing, like, and like you guys see a problem and you guys address the problem, especially in the firearm space and which which I really appreciate.
00:01:47
Speaker
Right. So, uh, I mean, give us little backstory on the company, you guys and the whole thing. Sure, I'll jump in here. So Brandon, Seth and I started the company 2017. We started up in my barn and yeah we had a few ideas of things we wanted to build.
00:02:06
Speaker
Some of those ideas worked out great. Some of them didn't. Some of them took off a little bit more than we thought they would. And here we are today ah making cool stuff. You mentioned, you know, sort of product evolution.
00:02:19
Speaker
We've never we've never spent a lot of time doing market research. You know, maybe that's the wrong approach. This is not business advice, by the way, but. ah We've never really spent a lot of time doing market research. We've really just made the stuff that we wanted that other people weren't making.
00:02:36
Speaker
You know, we have a few products that, you know, there's other people out there doing it. We think we do it better, but you know, there's other people doing it. But for the most part, the products that we make are either a spin on something that no one else is doing, or it's something that we came up with that is unique to us.
00:02:54
Speaker
So that's kind of, We don't spend a lot of time, you know, you know, A-B b testing and market research and this and that. We really just, we just come up with ideas of stuff that we want. And if no one's doing it, then we, we try to do it.
00:03:10
Speaker
Yeah. I don't think it's a bad business advice at all because I'm running Tricer the same
Product Philosophy Alignment Question
00:03:14
Speaker
way, right? Like I just make things that I would like to use. And then for some reason, everyone buys it, right? Like I made a bipod. Like i was like, there's not a bipod that does everything I want to do.
00:03:22
Speaker
And like, sure enough, we're just can't even keep these things in stock, right? Like you just, yeah I just make cool products for myself selfishly, right? And then people go and buy them. and think it's a great model, right? and And the way that's accomplished is by having guys who are in the tactical space, the firearm space, the hunting space doing it.
00:03:41
Speaker
And I think what's been lost in the industry is all that like BS market research and ah bunch of suits. know what I mean? You're coming get to a point where you got a bunch of suits in there. And they're trying to figure out what's going to make the most money.
00:03:54
Speaker
Now it makes the most sense. And most of the time, what makes the most sense will make you the most money. If that makes any sense. don't know. It's a little lot of sense there, but you know, and it gets lost in business, right? We get so focused on profit margin and market research versus like, yeah, this just works. It's cool. And then,
00:04:11
Speaker
that's I always say like the reason why my products sell so good is because great products sell themselves, right? do Yeah, they do. And then you know to kind of touch on that point, we do have legitimate shooters. We do have legitimate hunters, ah people on staff. you know i'm I'm a little bit on the more amateur side, but...
00:04:31
Speaker
I'll turn
Seth's Background and Engineering Approach
00:04:32
Speaker
it over to Seth here. he's He's more on the professional side and it helps. It makes a big difference to have people on staff that have been there and done that so that you can validate your ideas because some of your ideas are terrible. You know, let's just face it. Some of them are, um but some of them are good ideas and some of them are worth pursuing. And so, yeah, I'll i'll turn it over to Seth and let him talk about his background a little bit.
00:04:55
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. i like kind of what you're saying is when you are the end user, it it makes that a lot easier ah from a design, use, you know iterating on trying to get it to a certain point.
00:05:07
Speaker
a lot of what we do, especially from the shooting background, like I have a kind of a background in shooting back into international pistol style, kind of very technical, precise stuff that's kind of boring. You're just sitting there shooting, you know,
00:05:21
Speaker
shooting very precise rounds over a long period of time. And then that's sort of morphed. And I've always been a hunter. I've always spent a lot of time outdoors. And it goes back to what you were saying about no one's making this thing that I want. and if you have the ability to make it and then your buddies want it and then your buddy's friends want it and then it kind of becomes a business.
00:05:40
Speaker
And that's been kind of the cool part of shield. And I know you guys are kind of in the same vein. know, I didn't go to school for firearms manufacturing or firearms accessory manufacturing, you know, doing something else. And then this kind of was a thing that's like, Hey, let's, you want to do this? And Brandon kind of was talking to me about starting a business and doing firearm stuff. i was like, yeah, I mean, that sounds like fun. And so we,
00:06:02
Speaker
We started it in his barn and a little apartment in his barn. And then, you know, it's kind grown to what it is today. So, yeah, it's been kind of a fun journey for sure. Yeah, isn't it wild? Like, sometimes I pinch myself. I'm like, dude, if you'd have told me, mean, six years ago, like, hey, you're going to be in the hunting space. Like, was in construction. No idea how to build a tripod. No idea, like...
00:06:24
Speaker
And like, now I'm like the tripod guy, right? Like I'm like known as the tripod guy, right? Like I'm the guy people come to and they have ideas about glassing and tripods and shooting. It's wild. um But it's really cool.
00:06:35
Speaker
And it did take that start. So what do you mean you're making, it like, do you guys have like a machinist background, an engineering background, or how are you doing it in your garage or your shit, barn? Barn sounds good. In your barn.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah. So a little bit unorthodox story background, but my background is in computer science. um So a lot of what I used to do centered around software, building complex applications for large companies, um was working from home at the time, you know, working remote, doing things all over the world. And I followed the industry. I was actually a blogger in the firearms industry.
00:07:15
Speaker
Um, had a little bit of success there. went to SHOT Show every year. i did this sort of as a fun thing, uh, met a lot of manufacturers, had some ideas. And then I went to a a shooting class that was taught by this guy, taught by Seth.
00:07:29
Speaker
Cause I, you know, I did a lot of firearms training to, you know, sort of just keep up with things and we became friends. And as the idea for shield sort of started forming um you know, I knew i wanted someone to be on, on either staff or go into it with me that had a legitimate shooting background.
In-house Manufacturing Evolution
00:07:52
Speaker
um And so, you know, Seth was the perfect fit plus his brain kind of works like an engineer. And so that's been very useful. um But yeah, that was, it's maybe a little bit unorthodox. You know, I covered the firearms industry for many years um as a journalist.
00:08:07
Speaker
And then my day job was quite a bit different. But um through through those relationships and sort of through that that journey, oh came up with the idea for shield and said, Hey, let's start a company. Let's make some things.
00:08:21
Speaker
We think we can make X. We think we can make Y people are saying, you know, you really can't do that. That's not really a thing. It's not the way things are done. And I'm, I was just like, I'm not really interested in that. And so ah let's just give it a go. and And Seth said, yes. And then as far as how, you know, we built stuff early on, we didn't make anything. We outsourced all of our manufacturing.
00:08:43
Speaker
We actually outsourced all of our engineering. We've since gone the other direction. We now all of our engineering is done in house. All of our research and development is done in house. And a good portion of our manufacturing is now done in house.
00:08:56
Speaker
um And that's because we have a great team. You know, Seth and I don't do it all. Thankfully, SHIELD wouldn't be nearly what it is today if it was just us two. But we've got a a staff of great people, including machinists.
00:09:10
Speaker
So we have a pretty good sized machine shop now, horizontals, verticals, robotics, fifth access. you know We do a bunch of different stuff. um But thankfully, Seth and I didn't have to go and figure out how to be machinists.
00:09:23
Speaker
ah Did you even know what that stuff was in 2017? I did, you know, not nearly as much as I know now, but yeah, we, I at least knew, you know, what the machines were. i I didn't really, you know, I didn't know which one you choose for which thing and how much they cost and how many times they break and, you know, all the different things that we know now. But yeah, I, I at least knew that machining was a thing.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah. For that, you're going to want to lay for this. You're going to want, you know, vertical end mills, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah. Dude, I, sorry, Seth, I ran ah my dad's sheet mail company for 25 years, ah you know, 50,000 square feet all every day. A machine breaks.
00:10:04
Speaker
I mean, a machine breaks ever because there's, you know, hundreds of machines in that shop every day. something That's like, some people don't tell you, right. How much tooling costs and how much, you know, just yeah a bearing goes out here. i mean, every day, a bearing, a gear, a belt, a something is going to go wrong.
00:10:20
Speaker
it's It's the life of running one of those shops. It's just like, oh, you learn. One of my best ah things of advice for that, for fixing things is find a diesel mechanic. Yes. So find a diesel mechanic. They could fix anything. So if you can find like a local diesel mechanic, they could fix anything for you. So that's one of my best advices I've ever was ever given. And it worked out well for me. Just found an old guy, diesel mechanic. He'd come in and maintenance machines and stuff. But back to you, Seth. Go ahead.
00:10:45
Speaker
No, that that fits right in what I was going to say. is we We jokingly refer to ourselves as redneck engineers because you know I grew up farm and ranch you know in Northeastern Montana. So you learn how to fix everything, make everything work.
00:10:58
Speaker
If you're not mechanically minded, like you're not going to survive or for very long anyway. And so you just grow up putting things together, taking things apart, fixing things. It's just the way of life. And then my background was more on the hunting side. So when I went to school, I was looking at a fish and wildlife management degree.
00:11:16
Speaker
And then I ended up getting a degree in zoology, which is, you know, kind of dovetailed into, um, a, a scholarship for shooting. And so that was kind of the direction I went, but it really, from a, from an education standpoint, I have no formal engineering education.
00:11:32
Speaker
It's all just figured out, make it work. And, you know, we kind of, that's how a lot of us grew up. You know, you started with bicycles and BB guns and took everything apart, put it back together. And that's kind of how we started building stuff. We would glue something into shape Dremel it into shape and test it. And then, you know, shim something and weld something and,
00:11:51
Speaker
just kind of play around with it until we thought it was roughly what we wanted. And then we would, you know, go to somebody that had drafting experience. Hey, can you draw this for me so that someone can actually machine it? We think it's going to work based on the testing that we've done.
00:12:03
Speaker
we've, we've since progressed a long ways past that, but that's kind how it started. Dude, we are cover from the same cloth, right? I always tell people, are like, how do, what's your background? I'm like, just a redneck engineer. Like we had no money and I had to go, if I wanted a dirt bike, I had to buy one that was 10 years older than all my friends and put together myself, right? If I wanted BMX bike, I'd go the swap meet and buy, you know, a Haro, a GT, a Diamondback and build my own bike. And that's how I was able to learn how to,
00:12:27
Speaker
I just naturally, I'm very mechanically minded, right? It's a whole time. Like I'm mechanical artist. I'm not an artist. Like when it comes to like drawing or anything like that, don't ask me to draw anything or make anything look good. But when it comes to like making something like sexy mechanically, like that's why it tries to stuff. Look so unique is I'm very mechanical in that mindset.
00:12:44
Speaker
Like I never thought I was an artist until like the last like probably four or five years. I started like getting into like making really cool looking pan heads and really cool. Like let's tweak that and do that. Like, but like, I'm not the guy to draw that. and the guy to like, to see it and make it happen. Right.
00:12:57
Speaker
But very, I'm i always console redneck engineer. Same thing, man. Like I have no idea what I'm, I tell you all the I have no idea what I'm doing. Like somehow, somehow I'm running this company now that's just becoming this giant, you know, behemoth and no clue what I'm doing still to this day. I'm just making really cool stuff and people want to buy it for some reason. I don't know.
00:13:12
Speaker
so Just a redneck from San Diego. Something to be said for that, man, for sure. That's the American dream, man. It is the
Innovation from Non-traditional Backgrounds
00:13:20
Speaker
American dream. And I think there's something to be said about not about having...
00:13:25
Speaker
Like, I don't want not college, right? Like my son's in college or now. He's going to school to be a lawyer, but there's something to be said about not being formal in that, like coming into the space and not having this, you know, being able to think a little bit outside the box, you know what i mean? And not so like legalistic about it. Right. and Like there's something beautiful about that and creating something like I have a friend right now who has no idea what he's doing. He's in Montana and he's creating a watch, and like an Apple style Garmin watch. And it's going to change the industry for hunting.
00:13:52
Speaker
Guy has no idea i do what he's living in, like, like a Barnominium house up there in Montana, and he's going to change the industry. and that's going to be coming out. You'll see it's called Bridger Watch. It's coming out this fall.
00:14:03
Speaker
I think it's launching in December. So I can kind of talk about a little bit, but I mean, sometimes it takes someone who isn't in that space to be able to change that space. That makes any sense. Yeah.
00:14:14
Speaker
You got it. Yeah. Respectives. So what was the first product? Yeah. um First product was a mag extension, actually. We're known today for our magazines, but our first our first product was a mag extension.
00:14:30
Speaker
um So for like, you know, Glock 17, Glock 19 pistols, aluminum extension that goes on the bottom replaces the floor, the base plate. I got you. And gives you five extra rounds. And we still sell a ton of those. You know, we sell them really free all over the world, but we're really known for our magazines these days.
00:14:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. so I have like you, like I guess your Glock 43 mags. Cause what's a standard Glock 43 hold? 43. You have a 43 or a 43 43, not X. 43. Okay. You can't get a 43 in California. So I had to pay 1200 bucks for a used 43 from the gun shop.
00:15:07
Speaker
It's all cause I wanted one after hanging out with your guys. I was like, i need 43 and I had to pay freaking yeah a lot of money. I'm sorry to hear that. um So Glock 43 OEM is six rounds.
00:15:19
Speaker
Okay, six rounds. That's what it was. And then we we offer an eight round and a 10 round magazine for that. And then we have extensions that go on the nine round magazine, or excuse me, an eight round and a nine round. And then we have extensions for the nine rounds. So you can go eight, nine, 10, and I think 12, I think is the...
00:15:36
Speaker
and don't think we have any plus tens for that one yet, but that's what we have. Yeah. I think I have the nine round is what I'm carrying every day with me. Um, but yeah, six rounds is terrible, right? I might as well shoot a revolver. i mean, what are you going to with six rounds? And then to go to nine, don't miss. Yeah. I do carry revolver most days. Honestly, I carry a little five round titanium revolver. Cause I always say if I need more than five rounds, I'm in a gunfight and something went really wrong, you know, but, uh,
00:16:01
Speaker
It's a bad day if need more than five. but But yeah, six rounds is terrible. And that and that mag you guys make, um and I can probably show it right now. i'm like here It's not even that big. I mean, it honestly makes it have like a better grip. like It just extends my grip a little bit, and it's awesome.
00:16:18
Speaker
So that one is actually the one that you just showed there, I think is our plus, is that our plus one or our plus three? Plus one Z nine. Okay. Z nine plus one. That's actually 10. That's has's got one of our extensions on it. So the nine round fits a little flusher.
00:16:32
Speaker
ah Eight round fits completely flush with the frame. The nine's a little bit extended. It's about the same length as the, as the OEM with a, with a pinky extension. It's about the same size, but it gives you three extra rounds.
00:16:46
Speaker
And then you've actually got the plus one on there. So it looks like you've actually not allowed to have that in California. And then ah of course it's a nine round. yeah I can hold 10. ah So it's a, it's sweet.
00:16:58
Speaker
So yeah, it just fits my hand very well. Right. So it's like, it gives me the the, it feels like the gun is the right size now for my hand. Um, just got that in my little fanny pack right here. Always wear it. love it. It's awesome. We're best known for our S15 magazine though, which is the, our 15 round magazine for the Glock and the Glock really So in less freedom-restricted states than California, where you can have 15 rounds in a gun, Glock ships those guns with a 10-round magazine, OEM, and we fit 15 in the same footprint.
00:17:35
Speaker
No way. Yeah, that one's by far our best-selling product. Jeez, same footprint. Yeah, I'm moving to – Arizona in January. um so I'll just go buy a 43X when I get there. Cause I get one for like 400 bucks.
00:17:50
Speaker
It's just crazy. yeah I think they just banned Glocks in California. Have you been following this? Yeah, there's some sort of drama about that. They're trying to ban Glocks. I mean, it's just, it's crazy, man. Like they're just, the state is so freaking bad.
00:18:04
Speaker
Montana's trying to get your back. Cause I'm pretty sure that our attorney general, Austin Knutson has filed a suit with a bunch of other attorney generals against that. one or many of the, of the California bands that they've been coming out with. So we're, we're trying, man. We're trying to help you out.
00:18:21
Speaker
It's wild. And I mean, that really just affects you, right? it's kind of like, um and we're supposed to be a politics podcast, but it's kind of like how California made you put death in trucks. Now the whole country has to have deafened trucks. It like when they do stuff like that, since we we are such a big economy, whether people like it or not, there really is.
00:18:38
Speaker
um It just screws rest the country over. Right. It just, it kind of stops innovation in the firearms market. Cause you're going to lose this giant chunk of your, your sales by not having California. Cause whether you like it or not, there's a lot of us here. We buy a lot of firearms and ammunition and,
00:18:52
Speaker
all that stuff, you know? So they really just kind of sway things. i mean, look at every truck in the country has definite now and it's a nightmare. I have deaf in my truck and it's the only, my truck's been in the shop three times this year, brand new truck because of death issues, you know?
00:19:06
Speaker
go while Government. Yeah. I was, would say like, you know, you get the deaf and then you got to, This is totally off topic, but you have a big paper box with a big plastic bottle you're throwing away like once a week.
00:19:19
Speaker
You know what i mean? Like how good is this really for the environment? But it's just this thing where people just want to go after you and make your life. They want to make your life as miserable as possible in California and gun laws. But I digress from that.
00:19:30
Speaker
All right. So you make the mags.
Innovative Folding AR-15 Receiver
00:19:31
Speaker
You guys do other stuff too. What else are doing? Well, our first big splash on the scene, I think, was our folding lower receiver for the AR-15, which I don't think you guys can. Can you guys have those in California? I don't think they're really there. Folding lower receiver? What do you mean?
00:19:46
Speaker
Yeah. So traditional AR-15s don't fold, right? I think everybody gets that. um There's adapters out there that fit between the receiver end and the buffer tube and that allow it to fold.
00:20:00
Speaker
But the adapter approach is not great. They're pretty clunky. They're heavy. They add a lot of bulk and weight to the back of the firearm. So they change the the the balance of the gun a lot.
00:20:11
Speaker
There's um Yeah, most of them, they you have to modify your carrier. um They're just not they're not great solutions. And so we said, well, why don't we just build it into the lower receiver?
00:20:22
Speaker
um Long story short, that's what we ended up doing. We have a patent on it now. So we we have had fully lower receivers for quite some time now. Nobody really knows about them because of the success of our magazine. It kind of overshadows everything else that we do. But um we have a full line of 9 mil, 5.56, 300 blackouts, some other calibers coming soon, AR-15s that fold.
00:20:48
Speaker
Oh, so you're actually selling full full firearms. Correct. Absolutely. As well as parts. Could you buy just the receiver if I want to build my own? Correct. Yes. It's all 15 platform, no 10 platforms?
00:21:00
Speaker
No 10 yet. Yep. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm kind of be looking at that like that six arc or whatever for coyotes. But I mean, it's kind of easy to stick with them. What's that? What's that? Yeah, they're pretty legit.
00:21:12
Speaker
A.22 arc? Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, I'm just looking for coyotes. I do so much coyote hunting, but I want to wait until I leave the state so I can get like a fun gun that I can fold up. and like just i' i'm just basically I just use bolt actions for everything. it's not I have like one AR left now. It's not worth it anymore. just like this guy is so lame.
00:21:27
Speaker
like it's this like It's got all this stuff on there. it's like ah it's there's They don't make it fun. The guns are supposed to be fun. But ah that's really neat. So you can actually fold it up. And then so the buffer tube is, I imagine, just... It's still in the stock, right? Or in the bus stock, correct? And then...
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah, so it's it's retained in the buttstock, and so it's got a button on the side, and it just folds the stock around. So like any any of your folding bolt-action styles, it's similar. So basically the the end of the receiver folds around. It works really well. It's not really designed. I mean, our 9mms, they fold really small. You can put them in a computer bag because you run shorter barrels.
00:22:02
Speaker
But for the longer bolt rifles, a lot of guys like them for just packing. So if you've got a backpack, you can fold the stock, and then that makes it a manageable length. to either fit in a backpack or to keep it from, you know, sticking the buttstock sticking down into your legs and then it being up over your head.
00:22:18
Speaker
So from a hunting, packing, carrying perspective, it makes it pretty nice. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm going to, like, I just got a Baku bike and I do a ton of predator hunting and I'm like trying to find like, that what's the best folding way i can get a gun on this thing. That would be, that would be sick. I can put it right in the freaking bag on the back and go,
00:22:32
Speaker
slay coyotes all day long. So I'm going to get myself dialed in one of those in the springtime. So are you guys doing like DOD stuff as well? Military application? Like how's that look for you guys? Well, we've we've won we've had one military contract. We have not had a lot of success there. Our first and and only contract was for 10 guns for ah for the military to test out our 9mm version of the folding the folding platform. So there was the Army Subcompact Weapon System Trial.
00:23:05
Speaker
um And we were down selected to go up against SIG and B&T and some other companies. I think that was 2019, Seth, or 20, one of the two. Yeah, probably 19. Somewhere in our early days. And so we're just a couple of guys in ah in a small shop at that point.
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's hard to compete with SIG. Yeah, we got our butts kicked on that one. But that was our first and only sort of foray into the government side of things. We'd like to get into it, but it's it's pretty difficult. It's not something you just do overnight.
00:23:35
Speaker
But I have to imagine, i mean, yeah, I could, have yeah. I mean, Hey, we need 3 million of these rifles. It'd be really hard for you guys to bust out of the board at that point. Right. yeah You're like, how about three? I can give you three.
00:23:45
Speaker
can give you three, three a month for the next 30 years. so um Yeah. But I'm sure you'll get there. But I mean, i have to imagine your guys' stuff is like totally used by LEOs. I mean, like for the Glock stuff, I mean, like it's, it's a lot I mean, you're so, mean, cause did it just, when, the when the mags came out, did it just take off like wildfire?
00:24:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We blew up pretty quickly from the magazine. And if you talk about our mags, you know, those are everywhere. Those are in, I think like 30 to 40 countries now. um There's, we do governmental orders, you know, orders through distribution, all of the major retail outlets, Cabela's Bass Pro Shields, you name it. Our, our mags are pretty much everywhere these days.
00:24:29
Speaker
um But our firearms are not. We do have a new platform, a new system, a new gun coming out in early 2016 or 2026.
Upcoming Modular Pistol System
00:24:41
Speaker
I think that's going to change that, though. I think we're going to be more known for firearms in a few years.
00:24:46
Speaker
And that's our modular pistol system. And it's built around the S15 magazine. So we took the magazine that we made for the Glock and the 48. And, you know, that's cool. We're making a magazine for somebody else's gun. That's great.
00:25:00
Speaker
um But we designed our own pistol system around that same magazine. Um, so i don't know how familiar you are with the firearms industry, but if you take like a Glock 43 X and you sort of combine that with the best features of the sake P three 65 platform and the modularity and you kind of combine those two, um that's what we've, we've come up with and we call it the modular pistol system, your own handgun, our own handgun. Yeah.
00:25:28
Speaker
No way. Two rednecks out of a freaking barn are making their own fire, like their own gun. That's sweet. Yeah, well, it's starting out with just handguns and then it'll it'll branch from there. But we've developed a chassis. So there's a removable chassis that is the serialized component.
00:25:44
Speaker
And then the um the the grip modules, the top ends with your slide assembly, barrel, et cetera, et cetera, all that stuff is hot swappable. um So that you can have, if you want, just one firearms ah control unit, a chassis, if you will, and then just swap out your grip modules and your top end. Similar to what you can do already with a 365 or a 320 platform, or there's a few other ones out there. Echelon does it now.
00:26:10
Speaker
So there's modular thing. Modularity is a thing, but it's not super accessible on the Glock side. um And so we've we've kind of taken what we think is the best of both worlds. We've got some Glock features. We've got some features from modularity.
00:26:25
Speaker
We've got some Glock compatibility on the platform. um But then we've we've really just made it our own and that launches very soon. So there'll be, to launch, there'll be three different sizes of gun. There'll be a small 10 round, sort of a subcompact micro carry gun.
00:26:44
Speaker
ah the There'll be a 43X size gun, and then there'll be a Glock 48 size gun. So you'll have some options there. And then down the road, there'll be some different size guns and maybe some carbines.
00:26:58
Speaker
No way. That is insane. Yeah. That 365, it's taken the world over by storm on the concealed carry. I don't like it. I just don't like the gun. I like my Glock. It just fits my hand better. I think 365 is a little, it's too small for me. i't I want a little more gun there. i want to pick it up.
00:27:13
Speaker
So this sounds neat, man. Obviously not California compliant, I imagine, but it will be Arizona compliant. What are we looking at like price points? Are we talking like three grand a pistol or what are we looking at?
00:27:24
Speaker
No, price points aren't completely set yet, but we're looking sub 1000. So no way it'll be ah a little bit more expensive than a Glock. And the reason for that is that we're doing aluminum frames. Our, our grip modules are going to be aluminum to start. well Not poly.
00:27:41
Speaker
Right. So we're going to add polymer down the road. So there'll be polymer options and those will of course be less expensive. um But the polymer sort of, You know, striker fired pistol gun market is just completely oversaturated. There's a ah bazillion offerings and quite frankly, a lot of them are really good.
00:28:00
Speaker
um And so what we've decided to do is go the aluminum route, um provide some benefits, um you you know, some aesthetic and some functional benefits over plastic.
00:28:11
Speaker
um But it's only about, I would say, what do you think, Seth, about two ounces from a weight penalty? It's it's really not that noticeable when you're carrying it. It's not that much more, it's not that much heavier than a plastic. It's like an 18 ounce gun or something.
00:28:27
Speaker
Yeah, maybe a little more. probably. 19. 19, okay. Yeah, yeah. But you guys, I mean, you're not messing around. Like, this is exciting me. So, like, you're going into a market. Like, I was thinking, like, oh, they're going to be – this is niche brand. they're going to be making, like, a $3,000 pistol. You know, a couple of guys to be able to buy it.
00:28:43
Speaker
No, you guys are like, hey, 365, you're $800, you're $700. We're coming right into that market to fight for it and make a bitching gun that you can carry, like, everyday carry. You're making everyday carry pistols that are – Just cool.
00:28:56
Speaker
I mean, and everyone loves chassis systems. i mean Chassis have like taken it over by storm it comes to the shooting side of things. So the NRL stuff, that's exciting, you guys. What about titanium barrels?
00:29:09
Speaker
We'll probably stick with steel. we We might do titanium frames at some point. Okay. So playing around with, well, basically whatever the market wants there. There's, so we, we were talking about how we like, we make the stuff that we like and you know what we're going use.
00:29:24
Speaker
And then there's, there's this sort of a side brand of people want, you know, skeletonized titanium strikers for Glock pistols. And it's like, I'm never going to put that in my gun, but yeah. yeah i' just weightwise I'm just looking at it like, like, uh, I know like magnesium, right. It would be an awesome frame, right. Magnesium frame, titanium barrels. It's just, I'm just looking at like, what, you know, where do you get the weight down? just asking questions. It's just, it's exciting stuff. It's cool stuff.
00:29:49
Speaker
I know the guy, the gun I carry every day is a Smith and Wesson, um like five shot 38 special 357 Um, I just carry in it because it weighs nothing. It's titanium. And it it has like a four ounce gain on the steel version, right? It's it's more money. It costs like 1200 bucks for this pistol. But I think my my everyday carry revolver weighs 11 ounces.
00:30:08
Speaker
I can't even tell it's on me. I mean, I fall asleep with it all the time. Like it's just on my hip. I just fall asleep with it on my hip. That's why I ask those questions. I'm just curious, like, Yeah, well, they've got a scandium frame as well that's super, super light. So there's there's definitely something to be gained if you're going ultra light. we're The market that we're targeting is sort of the everyday.
00:30:28
Speaker
The cool thing about the modularity is that we won't be the only ones making frames for it.
Open-sourcing Designs for Innovation
00:30:33
Speaker
We have two or three other companies that will also be making frames. so It won't just be whatever Shield Arms offers in our configurations.
00:30:41
Speaker
we've We've always been on the mindset that we're not we're not SIG. We're not trying to control every aspect of what we make. We want everybody to make parts and pieces for it. 100%. We'll be able to go buy frames from a whole bunch of different peoples. And if you raise your hand and say, hey, I want this, and there's enough people, somebody will make it.
00:30:58
Speaker
And we're happy. you know We're already sharing information with other companies to try and make sure that the compatibility is there, that the reliability is there. You know, we're we're all about industry partnerships. Yeah, I love that. So everything Tricer makes is all Arcus West. No proprietary plates. I hate proprietary plates.
00:31:16
Speaker
I hate proprietary things. And like, because what if you don't like my tripod? What if you love Outdoorsman? You're like, I have to have freaking, I've been use this over forever. I love this Outdoorsman tripod. Sweet. Put my panhead on top of it, right? Like, I don't care. I want to be able to make to where you can build your own system. Like, obviously, I think my tripod is better, right? But like, if you like Outdoorsman, use it, right? Like, it's, I like being able to adapt things. I hate when it's like, I can only buy these parts from this one person. Because you're so limited. You limit, like, um innovation, right?
00:31:44
Speaker
When you do that, and then and you don't get know mean? Like there's a dude out there that's better than you guys at making something for your gun you're making right now. I guarantee it. He's got something for your gun that you haven't even seen yet that he's going to make for it. You're going to like, that is sweet.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And to that end, another thing that we're going to do that I think is a little bit unique, there aren't a lot of companies that are willing to do this, um is that we're going to open source part of it.
00:32:07
Speaker
And so we're going to put out a grip module for the 3D printing, you know, gun maker community and just let them, and they're going they're going reverse engineer it anyways. You might as well help them fix their tolerances and put it out there and then let's see what cool stuff the community can make so we we want this to be somewhat of an open platform uh to where people can grab our our chassis and our magazines and then just sort of mix and match with different companies making top ends and different companies making grip modules and who knows other cool stuff down the road um that we have cooking there's there's going to be a lot of ways to sort of remix and and uh
00:32:51
Speaker
make cool stuff from the same platform. So it's a little bit more of an open approach, including the ah other other gun companies in the community, as opposed to just, you know, this is ours. Don't touch it. Don't look at it, but but certainly buy it. You know, we're we're not, I'm trying not to use companies' names. We're we're not about that approach.
00:33:16
Speaker
So is anyone doing aluminum barrels and handguns? No, I don't think so. I don't think the the problem with aluminum when it comes to pressures is you'd have to, the amount of mass that you would need to offset the pressures I think would be counterproductive.
00:33:34
Speaker
I know there's a guy down in New Zealand making aluminum barreled rifles. That's why I ask. It's either New Zealand or Australia. I was just hearing about it. and I think he's getting they're getting like a good, think they're running like a chrome lining in it, but they're getting like a good, like, I mean, i don't know.
00:33:48
Speaker
700 rounds, 800 rounds out of these barrels. Something like something, you know, a high amount of rounds. I'm just curious, like, the handgun, get to shoot a lot. Like, what, it I mean, how throwaway they'd be, but like, just, I'm thinking weight-wise, just different things. Just throwing things out there, having fun. I've seen these guys do, like, steel, basically it's kind of like the old pellet guns used to be. They do a steel rifled core, and then they wrap it with something. Well, most of barrels are kind like that.
00:34:09
Speaker
That's what a carbon barrel is, yeah. A steel, steel rifled core barrel with something wrapped around it. Yeah. That's why people get so lost on the carbon barrels that they think they're so light. It's like, really? It's not lighter than a small barrel. i'll Just buy a small barrel as long as you're not going to fire the piss out of it It's going to be, you know, for a hunting gun, you could probably get you bid better with a featherweight barrel than you will with a, you know, a Sendero carbon barrel.
00:34:28
Speaker
um Will you guys be at SHOT Show? yeah Yep. Yeah. and We're going this year for the first time. I've got SHOT Show and Sheep Show the same thing. So I get back from Mexico on like Sunday and I think I'm Vegas on like Monday or Tuesday. And then I go straight from there to sheep and do both that week. So it'd be our first shot show.
00:34:48
Speaker
Do you guys go to Ewa at all in Germany? We have. Are you going, we're going this year as well to Ewa. So I've, don't know I'm going to go to there. I kind of really don't feel like going to Germany, but um my team's going to Ewa to go over there and do that. Are you guys going this year?
00:35:01
Speaker
We probably aren't. We've gone in the past. It's a little tougher with firearms, I think that, you know, for you guys, i think probably a good show because it's a lot easier to move around tripods than it is firearms or firearms related stuff.
00:35:15
Speaker
Just we do export and we have exporters. It's just so hard from a, from a cost perspective that a lot of companies have tax on, especially firearms where you're, you're buying a Glock. Well, Glocks are kind of the exception because they're made over there, but a lot of our products, it's just so expensive to get them over there.
00:35:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of why we're going, right, is to meet some of these exporters and meet some of these guys over there so we can get set up some like dealers on that side they just to handle it for us. We just want to get a rep firms for over there to like handle all that stuff for us because we want deal with all the logistics of the EU and all that other stuff, right?
00:35:47
Speaker
um yeah What's that? EU is an interesting show. They do a lot more hunting stuff over there. they're They have less of a... So a lot of what, I mean, America has a very vibrant shooting culture of people just recreationally shooting because Europe is so controlled of where you can shoot and how you get guns and how you get ammo that they just don't have as much of a culture of guys that are going out to the gravel pit, you know, and shooting a thousand rounds with their dozen guns and their buddies.
00:36:15
Speaker
It's much more, you know, hunting club structured. They do have shooting ranges, but it's just very much more controlled. Yeah, man. Freedom is a beautiful thing. don't know why we keep trying to throw it away on the firearm side. It's it's it's baffling to me. right You look at these guys like like imagine being in Ukraine and the Russia's coming and you have no guns.
00:36:37
Speaker
My gosh. It doesn't make sense. One bolt action rifle with 30 rounds of ammo. it's like Everyone's just sharing. Do you guys have any plans to do anything in the bolt action space? i feel like you guys really can innovate on the folding but folding bolt action space.
00:36:51
Speaker
Yeah, um we are we are playing around with some stuff um with smaller actions specifically. We'll kind of see where that goes, but we've been talking with a guy, um if you're familiar with like the Howa mini actions for the small caliber stuff for varmints. So kind of a micro action.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, the micro actions, but like, so not short actions, you're the one that's smaller than that, like maybe, but you could even get maybe some like six dash or size stuff or even like six arcs or that 22 arc type stuff. Absolutely. So if you look at the Howa minis, they're, they're about, you know, a little less than inch shorter than a short action.
00:37:28
Speaker
And so you're kind of in the old Remington XP-100. They had, it's a pistol-length action for larger pistol-type cartridges, but then it it works really well for the.223, you know, Grendel, ARC, even the BRs.
00:37:43
Speaker
You can stretch some of the BRs out. so yeah Yeah, I shoot the... um six dasher right now. and I love that cartridge, right? It's a little long though. When you get those long bolts in there, but I definitely see like maybe 300 blackout stuff like that, you know, it'd be give a fun cartridge, you know, for the short range.
00:38:01
Speaker
It's perfect. Yeah. So that'd be kind of cool. I'd i love to what you guys could do in that, like in the folding space, the compact, like, you know, that's kind of where everyone's going right now is these like 18 inch barrel, 16 inch barrel, high pressure cartridges with them, with a folding chassis. And then the, the can on the end. Right.
00:38:18
Speaker
Smaller, lighter, smaller, lighter. Yep. That's kind of the mantra right now. Which is funny because, uh, yeah, everyone wants to, you know, you want to watch impacts and small rounds and it's where everyone's going, but, uh, I've actually switched. Like I've, I'm on my, my third boy of hunting age and I'm carrying around a 15 pound Creedmoor for him.
00:38:36
Speaker
for shoot. I went from like, like my first kids are shooting like a little two 43 and just kick the snot out of them. Now I'm like, here's a 15 pound Creedmoor and they are just, he's just laying them out. You know what and i mean? He's got four animals killed this year and I've gone completely the opposite way. I want to carry a heavy rifle for my kids to shoot, not a light rifle.
00:38:52
Speaker
You just see the difference, in them you know, in shooting. Yeah. i mean, and if you're shooting a seven pound 300 rum, like yeah, kills stuff if you can shoot it and, and then you can't see, you can't see impacts at all.
00:39:04
Speaker
You know, and then some guys go the other direction even too far. Well, i don't know if it's too far, but they push the limits when they're shooting, you know, 22 Creed mortars at six, 800 yards on big game. And, you know, there's, there's a whole nother, you know, there's everything in between of, you know lighter, lighter, lighter. And if you shoot the precision rifle stuff at all, you know, dashers are very, very popular. I think it's been the number one cartridge for the PRS type stuff for forever.
00:39:28
Speaker
And then NRL comes around and they have their power factors. So that pushes you back up to the six fives. But we've, we've got a lot of guys here that shoot a 22 BR base cartridges, 22 BR hackleys for a lot of stuff for competitions. And even for a hunting gun, it works super well.
00:39:44
Speaker
You know, elk is marginal depending on how far you're shooting them, but for kids, they're just great little 88 grain bullet. And you know, it kills deer real dead. So. Yeah, it's great for deer. I'm a big 30-cal guy, so my kids, I pretty much get them into a.308 as soon as I can. Just because I've just seen the difference between a.243 bullet,.85,.243 hitting a pig, and a.308 hitting a pig. all you just It just works. so My kid just you know smoked a bull with.308. We've killed a bunch of animals. and It's kind of like my go-to cartridge for them. I just want that frontal. I'm somem a FUD. i get I get so much hate and for this. like
00:40:16
Speaker
Rockslide hates me..308, yeah. three I mean, like, to me, it's like under, you know, my kid has 1,500 pounds of energy out to 450 yards with a.308 shooting, you know, 168 grain bullets. It's like, it just works, you know.
00:40:29
Speaker
doesn't kick too bad. does It works. But the 6.5 is a good deer cartridge. i wouldn't I've killed off with it as well, but it's not my favorite all-cartridge, that's for sure, you know. Well, you said, go to a heavy gun and it mitigates the recoil and, you know, up.
00:40:45
Speaker
Yeah. The cool thing for me is it's like, ah, well, you know, most of the time with with my kid, right. My 12, I'm not backpack hunting anyways. I'm just carrying his gun for him. Right. I'll just carry your gun and it's worth it for me.
00:40:57
Speaker
You know, I like it like a nine pound gun. So like my, like one of my favorite guns, I'm with two 80 Ackley. It's like nine and a quarter or something. Like I like a heavier gun. Like it's just me. I just know that if I shoot a, you know, eight to nine pound gun, be a lot more accurate than I am with a six pound, seven pound gun, you know, but absolutely. Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
I like all guns. um I don't, I don't discriminate. I want, I like having, you know, I like opening my safe and have the guns fall out on me. It's, it's fun. It's always building something, always doing something different. Um, what other new stuff you guys are coming out?
New Glock Magazine Line
00:41:27
Speaker
um the other the other The other big product we just announced was a building on the success of the S15 magazine. We've got our DS series of magazines coming out for the Glock 19, 17, 45, 47, 19X, 34, that whole family of guns with all the compatible magazines, the double stack Glocks, the double stack 9mm Glocks.
00:41:54
Speaker
So we've got a DS-18, which is an 18 round magazine for the Glock 19. So that's three extra rounds. And then we've got DS-20 coming out for the Glock 17 size guns, which gives you three extra rounds. So Glock 19, OEM, 15 rounds. Ours holds 18 in roughly the same footprint.
00:42:16
Speaker
And then on the Glock 17, it's a 17 round gun. Ours holds 20, roughly the same footprint. That's awesome, man. That's really cool. You guys make some awesome stuff.
00:42:28
Speaker
You guys still do a lot knives?
Expanding Knife Product Line
00:42:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, on the, on the, the knife side, we do it that under the shield knife and tool name, which is sister company, same ownership.
00:42:38
Speaker
um But yeah, we've got ah some new hunting knives coming out in that line. So but one of our, one of our lines of knives is called the Bob. i don't know if you've seen our knife lines or not, but the Bob. I have one of your knives. I'll talk about it. So yeah, keep going.
00:42:54
Speaker
Yeah. So the Bob is, is our kind of our take on a survival knife. um It's named after the Bob Marshall wilderness here in in Montana. And then we've got two more knives coming out in that specific line called the Bob Hunter and then the Bob Hunter mini. So there's a two different knife sizes coming out once like a right at a five inch and then once like at a three and a half to four inch ah blade.
00:43:20
Speaker
And those are geared more towards the lightweight hunting market. Yeah, I have, uh, I went over to Hawaii last year with Brad Hunt, um, And I have like your thin blade, like the Nimrod Nimrod and that knife is sweet. I don't know where it is right now. I'm like, think about i haven't used it this season. and I'm like, where is that knife at?
00:43:41
Speaker
Um, that's just so much fun. You own so many knives. Right. And i we freaking hunted pigs with dogs with those things. And I was a slit and throats like no other, that thing did. I was just blood everywhere. and That thing just worked. So I put that thing to work, man. I killed a bunch. I think I killed like eight pigs that,
00:43:56
Speaker
knife last year. It's a sweet knife. Yeah. Freaking razor sharp, man. Yeah. When we get the, we're going to have the hunting knives done here pretty soon. We get those prototypes done. We'll, we'll send you one and get your feedback on it.
00:44:08
Speaker
Oh yeah, man. I'm a, I'm cleaning animals all the time. I got a few more tags to fill. We're five for five this year. We got four deer down this fall, um, four deer down to one elk and we got to kill two more, two or three more deer next month and and and another elk to fit wrap the year out for us. So we're giving deer away right now. Miles family has been crushing this fall. So yeah, we kill a lot of stuff, dude. So I'll definitely put it to work. I love those fixed blade knives, man. I like replaceables as well. You guys don't make a replaceable yet, right?
00:44:37
Speaker
I love replaceables as well, but the fix are just, it's so nice to have a good sharp fix where you can get in there and get around those joints. And especially like on a back strap and stuff, it's just, it's nice to have that fixed blade knife, man. But, and I appreciate guys' friendship, appreciate the relationship we have, the two companies. um Where can we find you guys?
00:44:54
Speaker
Shieldarms.com. Shieldarms.com. And what are you guys on Instagram, social media? Uh, it's our, our two main Instagram, our two main social media pages would be Instagram and X. Um, we're pretty censored on Instagram, given what we do. they're not big fans of guns. Uh, so we're shield dot arms on Instagram.
00:45:14
Speaker
And then on X, we're just chill arms. Uh, so we, we tend to be a little bit more active on X, uh, cause we're not quite as censored there. Oh, I get it, dude. My team, like half of their job is just figuring out how to get us back on meta all the time. We're constantly getting to shut down.
00:45:29
Speaker
But i yeah I appreciate you guys. Go check out Shield Arms. They make the best mags and some really bitching guns. And I'm really excited for their everyday carry stuff that's coming out. I didn't know idea about that. So going be hanging out with you guys at SHOT. Come and check your guys' stuff out. That's that's pretty exciting. Congratulations, you guys.
00:45:45
Speaker
Thank governortua What's that? We'll have some of our guns there. You can check out. So we'll more stuff. That's awesome, man. Uh, you guys live the American dream. You guys are doing it. That's awesome, man. Congratulations.
00:45:56
Speaker
Thanks. Thanks. Appreciate you having us on. Yes, sir. Bye. Thank you for listening to the Tricer podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on.
00:46:08
Speaker
Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at Tricer USA and go and check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.