Kayleigh

Welcome to gun owners of America, state of the second podcast.

Kayleigh

I'm Kayleigh.

John

And I'm John.

John

And today we're joined by Chris Toomer from Ross Martin.

John

Chris, how are you today?

Chris

Doing great.

Chris

Thank you for having me.

John

Well, thank you for being on.

John

So, Chris, let's start with Ross Martin.

John

As a company, you guys are brand new to the industry.

John

Kind of give the backstory of how you guys kind of became.

John

Ross Martin yeah.

Chris

Thanks.

Chris

So my wife Stephanie and I started the company.

Chris

We kind of right around 2019, 2020, we were seeing the industry, and there were obviously a lot of people coming into the street, into the firearms industry that weren't there previously.

Chris

And so we were both working in the industry at the time, and we were kind of trying to figure out what can we do to help further the second amendment.

Chris

We both have such a reverence for all the companies that have gotten us to this point.

Chris

Smith, Springfield, Glock, SIG really have paved the way for us, the countless other companies and advocacy groups that have allowed us to be where we are today.

Chris

And so right around that time, we were just kind of thinking, hey, do we start a company?

Chris

Do we get more involved in advocacy?

Chris

And so we sat down and kind of thought, can we?

Chris

Let's maybe start a company.

Chris

And so we started kind of putting a framework together right around 2020, the middle of 2020.

Chris

And so, obviously, with starting a firearms company, it comes with quite a bit of red tape and framework that needs to be kind of put together.

Chris

So it took us about three to four years to kind of get everything put together.

Chris

And then we were lucky enough to have a hit our timeline and hit our goal of launching a shot show at 2024.

Chris

So, yeah, we launched our first introductory pistol at shot.

Chris

It's been a great first six months so far.

John

Yeah, you guys have kind of exploded out of the gate with a really a budget minded firearm with all the features that it's filled with.

John

It's a feature rich pistol with everything that anybody would want in it at a price that's arguably one of the best on the market currently.

Chris

Yeah.

Chris

Thank you very much.

Chris

I think that was really the framework, and what we wanted to develop was not everyone has $1,000, $700 that they can spend on a pistol.

Chris

And so we looked at it as in a sea of very competitive striker polymer pistols and especially black polymer pistols.

Chris

How do we stand out?

Chris

And so created a gun that's feature rich, produced here, right here in the US, here in Dallas, Texas, at a price point of MSRP of 459.

Chris

And so with that, we thought, hey, let's give the customer a lot of the things that they ask for and that they look to kind of upgrade when they get to the pistol out of the box.

Chris

And so, with that being said, there's been a lot of great feedback.

Chris

We've endurance tested this pistol.

Chris

It's extremely accurate, cold, hammer forged barrel.

Chris

So the accuracy, the reliability of it, we'll put that gun up against anyone in the market.

Chris

So having the gun positioned where it is, we feel like we can be really successful in kind of creating a foothold in the market.

Chris

Yeah.

John

And you guys have an interesting backstory.

John

Just the two of you, if you can dive into the two of you and where you've been in the industry and what.

John

What you guys have done.

Chris

Yeah, absolutely.

Chris

So my wife is from the daughter of Dennis Reese, Springfield Armory CEO and owner.

Chris

And so she had worked for Springfield for nine years, and then I myself, was a Marine Corps infantry officer.

Chris

And then I transitioned and actually worked for Springfield after the Marines and after business school.

Chris

And so kind of around the time we started thinking about this company, we'd both been working at Springfield.

Chris

And just kind of having that ability and being able to be in the industry kind of see how things worked really kind of helped us formulate our ideas, because there are a ton of things that do come up that you're not really expecting when you're trying to start a company, especially in this industry.

Chris

We all know how much things that have to be kind of signed off through with government and ATF and some of those agencies.

Chris

So having kind of a sport group and kind of people that we can ask questions to really helped us kind of go.

Chris

And so it was nice, though, because we have no affiliation with Springfield.

Chris

We got the blessing, and we're completely separate entity.

Chris

But it's nice to just kind of have a group of people that are happy for you and kind of have your back, too.

John

And what made the.

John

I know that you've told me in the past, but what is Ross Martin?

John

Where does that come from?

John

Because, you guys, your last name is tumorous.

John

Her last name is Timber.

John

Where does Ross Martin come from?

Chris

Yeah.

Chris

So rost is my wife Stephanie's grandfather's middle name.

Chris

And so he was really instrumental in kind of guiding the family to the firearms industry and kind of starting in what you can say is now modern day Springfield Armory.

Chris

And then Martin is my great grandmother's maiden name.

Chris

And so she was.

Chris

She had a big hand in raising my mom.

Chris

And then subsequently, she lived with us for a little while my mom and my dad when I was growing up.

Chris

So she was definitely someone that was inspirational in my life.

Chris

She lived to be 103 years old.

Chris

Definitely a beacon of force to be reckoned with.

Chris

So we thought the name sounded good.

Chris

And it looks really nice on a firearm as well.

Chris

So it kind of came out.

Chris

It's really funny.

Chris

When we were first coming to market, we would say Ross Martin.

Chris

And people be like, no, I've heard of that company before.

Chris

You're like, I don't think so.

Chris

I don't know, maybe you have, but maybe it's just kind of synonymous with Aston Martin and some of the other companies.

Kayleigh

But that's awesome.

Kayleigh

So you guys choose to go and start your business in Texas, obviously a fairly pro gun state that is getting better when it comes to passing constitutional carry and actually being proactive in the restoration of rights.

Kayleigh

What was the decision making behind choosing what state you would start your company in?

Chris

Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head.

Chris

I mean, the fact of it was obviously during COVID and we were kind of figuring out what made sense because everyone was moving around and kind of, oh, I want to go be in land or whatnot.

Chris

And we, as our second Amendment supporters, we've always wanted to make sure that we have the ability to exercise our rights with work that's taken us to different locations where it hasn't been so free.

Chris

So we knew that in order to be a company that's preaching and kind of talking about the preservation of the Second Amendment, we needed to be in a state like that.

Chris

And so we had a few that we were thinking of.

Chris

But Texas was the obvious option.

Chris

My wife had gone to SMU, and then we had lived in Dallas for a few years already.

Chris

So it was a no brainer.

Chris

And, like, you know, just the history of Texas around firearms just made a lot of sense.

Chris

And oddly enough, I mean, obviously, we have some neighbors to the north with shadow, but being the only gun manufacturer here, actually in Dallas, we weren't expecting that.

Chris

So when we're at shows and people come up and they see our slide, it says Dallas, Texas.

Chris

They say, I want to buy it just because it has Dallas.

Chris

And then that's.

Chris

It's really cool to have just a little bit of history in the city and this great state.

Kayleigh

That's awesome.

Kayleigh

And, you know, a lot of people that kind of dream of owning their own firearms manufacturing and starting their own company and bringing something to the industry, I think a lot of the inhibiting factors lie within.

Kayleigh

You know, are there qualified people to work in the state.

Kayleigh

You know, are the laws going to help or hurt you when it comes to having a product to get to market in the first place?

Kayleigh

And so I really commend you guys on not only starting a great company, but having those values at the beginning.

Kayleigh

And so you're not having to play catch up when the political wins change.

Kayleigh

Texas has a huge tradition in the second amendment, and thankfully, under recent leadership, it continues to get stronger in the fights for the Second Amendment.

Kayleigh

I know we file lawsuits regularly with your Ag compax and out there working to not only fight for the second amendment, but hopefully restore some of what the bureaucrats are trying to take away from everyday citizens.

Chris

Yeah, no, I think that's so true.

Chris

And for us, I mean, becoming a company that's based in Dallas and here in Texas is hopefully that's just the start.

Chris

We would like to, as we mature as a company, get more involved in some of that advocacy because we think it's so important, because the way we say it is, we want our kids to have the same rights under the Second Amendment that we have.

Chris

And so what we don't want to see is an erosion of that.

Chris

And so we need to do our part as gun owners, as company owners, and people that aren't supporters of the Second Amendment to ensure that we're doing our part, whether that's working with you guys or just getting out and getting to more ranges and getting people trained, whatever it might be, I think that becomes incumbent upon us as a company to make sure that we're doing our part as well.

Kayleigh

And that advocacy that you guys do, it doesn't just have to be showing up to your state capitol.

Kayleigh

You guys were at the national women's range day that we did in Texas, and that's always an exciting event for us anytime we do women's range days is because so many of the women who attend are first time gun owners or they're first time shooters where they haven't even purchased a gun yet, and they're eager for the opportunity to learn and to get trained.

Kayleigh

And it was great to see that at that event.

Kayleigh

But you guys were busy the whole weekend.

John

Yeah.

Chris

No, I mean, it was a really cool event.

Chris

Obviously, it being our first event with you guys, and then just kind of early on in the process for us in general.

Chris

First of all, thank you for inviting us and having us there.

Chris

It was really great.

Chris

I mean, I didn't really know exactly what to expect going in, and so being able to kind of be on the line and helping assist in probably 30%, 20% of women's first time ever shooting a firearm.

Chris

And having it be our firearm was a really cool experience.

Chris

Honestly, at the end of it, about a couple hours in, it didn't even feel like I was there necessarily behalf of the company.

Chris

It was just, hey, this is a Goa event.

Chris

I shoot.

Chris

I taught a lot of people how to shoot, and it's nice to just see that look on their face, either whether it's their first time shooting or they don't know how to get more into shooting.

Chris

They've somehow been gifted a gun and they want to shoot it.

Chris

I think that was just one of those events.

Chris

I hope you guys, there'll be more of those and coming down the pipeline and we can participate, because I thought from start to finish, that was a great event.

Chris

And I mean, even.

Chris

Not even the shooting line, but also kind of just the different kind of other events that happened and just also the social aspect of it as well.

Chris

There was definitely a lot of people that were there just to kind of network and talk to people and just kind of feel out the second amendment.

Chris

And I think that's a huge part of it.

Chris

Right.

Chris

Having a place where people feel comfortable talking about it.

Chris

How do they educate themselves?

Chris

Where do they go for training?

Chris

I think that's huge.

Chris

And so thanks again for you guys for putting that on, because that's a really great event.

Kayleigh

Thank you for saying that.

Kayleigh

It is the greatest example of, if you build it, they will come.

Kayleigh

And so our range days used to be very small, like 20 people, and then they've kept getting bigger and bigger, and then now we've decided to do regional ones.

Kayleigh

And then we have the.

Kayleigh

The big.

Kayleigh

The big one once a year as well.

Kayleigh

And the whole reason is people are community driven.

Kayleigh

Like, we can try to pretend all that we want, that, you know, everyone is an introvert and no one likes spending time with one another, but that's just not human nature.

Kayleigh

And especially when it comes to finding friends that enjoy shooting, finding people who might not fit your eight, your atypical friends, but you're interested in firearms and you want to defend yourself.

Kayleigh

You know, it's.

Kayleigh

It's crazy to me because I would never have been that person that doesn't know anyone and shows up to an event completely novice, and just do it.

Chris

She does it.

Kayleigh

Yeah, but there are women that do.

Kayleigh

And I love seeing those kind of events because I think it takes the advocacy from a ethereal place and really allows it to be tangible and for us to see instant benefits, where someone joins the Second Amendment community, falls in love with their Second Amendment right, and can't wait to go bring the next person to the range.

Kayleigh

And that's the kind of chain reaction that I think will completely revolutionize what the quote, unquote traditional gun owner looks like.

Chris

Yeah, no, I totally agree with you, because, I mean, just think about it for a practical sake of someone that might live in Dallas, they didn't grow up with firearms, but they've now gotten to Texas, they've heard about it, and then they might work in a corporate environment that's not necessarily Second Amendment friendly.

Chris

And so they don't necessarily want to go talk to their coworker about going to the range or whatnot.

Chris

And that's, at the end of the day, people you interact with the most.

Chris

So having that outlet of someone that you might be able to go ask questions with, do classes with, and then it kind of just turns into something bigger, too.

Chris

Right?

Chris

You become a shooter, you become an advocate for it, and then you start doing maybe IDPA competition, shooting, and things along those lines, then that turns into, like, as you said, a huge change in your action.

Chris

That's only a net benefit for our industry.

John

No, I can't agree more.

John

You were on the range all of Saturday.

Chris

Yeah.

John

Stephanie was standing at the booth, which had the line of women going into the range.

John

So what, you guys had two separate experiences.

John

What did you guys take away from that?

John

Because she was talking to everybody before they got in.

John

You were talking to everybody who got in.

John

So what was that like?

Chris

Yeah, I mean, I think, obviously, we were just a few months into the market, and so I would say probably 20% of people who had heard about us.

Chris

And so there's only so much talking you can do about a firearm until you actually shoot it.

Chris

Right.

Chris

So Stephanie would walk through the benefits and then also just taking into mind that there's different varying levels of shooters in there.

Chris

So they might not care about a slide cut or top slide serrations.

Chris

They might not just not have that education yet, being then able to then put that in practical application just a few minutes later and have them put their hands on the gun and feel our trigger, I think, was a really good kind of point from start to finish for them.

Chris

So I think that overall, people really enjoyed shooting our gun.

Chris

I think that the feedback from it was, you know, it feels great in our hand.

Chris

The ergonomics of it are fantastic.

Chris

And, you know, I think people found it as a gun that they could see themselves purchasing, and we actually had people go straight to the counter because our gun was being sold at TGE Texas gun experience right there and buy a few right there on the spot.

Chris

So.

Chris

Well, it wasn't necessarily our intention to just say, hey, go buy our gun.

Chris

I think it was just kind of a reaction of being able to shoot our gun on the range.

Chris

And there were a few.

Chris

There were more than a few women that circled back to shoot several magazines through the gun.

Chris

So they were like, is it over?

Chris

Yeah, sure.

Chris

Go on.

Chris

No, not from at all.

John

No.

John

That's awesome.

John

So what is your experience been like?

John

You.

John

You've done a few events now.

John

What's your experience been like, where people walk up to you and they find out that you and Stephanie, who are the owners of the company, are actually standing there at the booth or at the event talking to people, where most of the time, the owner's kind of, like, hidden away somewhere in the office or something?

Chris

Yeah.

Chris

No, I think really that's what Steph and I have really tried to focus on is, even when it comes to customer service, if you see there's reviews people talk about, they're like, yeah, I had a question about something, and literally, the owner of the company called me.

Chris

And so I think that's kind of how it starts, right?

Chris

I mean, and how we want our company to operate is that, like, we are concealed carry people.

Chris

We love shooting.

Chris

We're just the owners of the company.

Chris

We want to provide great products, and we want your experience to be as beneficial as possible.

Chris

So the worst thing that happens to people is they call or email something, and they're like, well, I never heard anything back or whatever this echo chamber or whatever it might be.

Chris

Um, I think that translates to the events, too, is when we're standing at a booth and we're talking to people is, I don't introduce myself as the owner.

Chris

I just talk to them and talk about the gun, and then I sit, and then they ask me, like, oh, do you work for the company?

Chris

Like, yeah, I actually own the company.

Chris

And they're like, oh, my goodness.

Chris

Like, that's amazing.

Chris

And so I think just kind of seeing that reaction is really cool and just, you know, some people might have a negative reaction sometimes, but then listening to that direct feedback also is good to hear, too, because I'd rather hear it unfiltered from someone that is giving me feedback rather than some filtered or diluted thing.

Chris

So I think I want to attend and be in the booth of as many events as possible.

Chris

Schedule, depending.

Chris

We do have two young kids at home, but we kind of split duties, and we'll just try and make it and make sure that we're there in person, because I think that's where you get the most benefit, especially as a young company.

Chris

And that's not to say that as we grow, we're not going to be there because I want to continue to be there because, you know, selfishly, it's also fun to go to these events and see kind of what everyone else is doing and talking about and just kind of.

Chris

Just kind of talk to people.

John

So, yeah, now, we talked about this before the show.

John

The media describes gun owners as old white men.

John

Clearly, you're not an old white man.

John

Stephanie's a female.

John

What's it like being a minority owner of a company as well as having a female owner of a company?

John

What's been the reception from people when they find out?

Chris

Yeah, the thing that is so great about, I think, with our community, too, is, like, people just want a gun that functions well and that they like and that they can go to the range and shoot, and they know that's going to function.

Chris

And so I think people are sometimes maybe taken aback just because it's a little different and it hasn't been very well represented in this industry.

Chris

But I overall, I mean, it's a huge positive reaction to it.

Chris

Everyone's like, oh, that's super cool.

Chris

And, like, I think it just also speaks to where industry is going.

Chris

I mean, we saw it in Covid.

Chris

Like, we have so many more shooters coming into this industry, and, like, I think it's great that, you know, we can be a company that represents something that was a little different, but at the end of the day, we're all striving towards the exact same thing.

Chris

We might, you know, I might be a minority and stuff's a woman, but at the end of the day, all we want to do is create a great gun, great price, and just, you know, do what we can to continue to preserve our Second Amendment rights, because that's really all that matters.

Chris

I mean, black, white, whatever your creed, race, or anything, it doesn't matter.

Chris

At the end of the day, it just means that I want to provide a product that you can shoot and not have people infringe upon that right.

Kayleigh

What I love most is that people are recognizing that the Second Amendment community is not a monolith, and the companies within the Second Amendment industry are not a monolith.

Kayleigh

And the importance of that is when you see the narratives and you see the attacks that are so pointed at gun owners, they love nothing more than to reduce us and say, well, you're old white men or you're this or you're that.

Kayleigh

And it doesn't matter what, quote unquote, you are.

Kayleigh

What matters is that this is a constitutionally protected right.

Kayleigh

And what matters is that you have the right to protect and defend yourself, and that you have the ability to not only buy the firearm of your choice, but to train and train well with it.

Kayleigh

And this whole concept that the left loves to put on gun owners is that we are the portrayers of some sort of cultural war that's anti american, when the only thing that is anti american is the dismantling of our constitutionally protected rights.

Kayleigh

And so I love that you guys handle everything with so much poise and grace, because you all are probably the most pointed attack against what the left is trying to do when it comes to the second amendment.

Kayleigh

And what I love more than anything is that you guys recognize the agility that it takes to be an advocate, and you want to be a better advocate for your children and for your grandchildren.

Kayleigh

And that's what it's going to take to see the restoration of the Second Amendment.

Kayleigh

You know, everyone wants to talk about the defense of the Second Amendment, and I can talk about it all day long, but the reality is, is we've lost a significant amount of ground because people have allowed legislatures and bureaucracies to dismantle the 27 words penned by our founders.

Kayleigh

And so I think it's important that when we recognize these, the wordsmithing of the left and when we recognize the attacks on the second amendment, that we realize that this isn't a new line of attack.

Kayleigh

It is something that they've been doing for generations, and it's up to us to stand up and stop it.

Chris

Yeah, I mean, it's a slow etch.

Chris

Right.

Chris

You know, let's do this.

Chris

And then it doesn't make much noise, and then we'll pass this, and then it doesn't make much noise.

Chris

Excuse me, but, you know, when you add that up over 10, 20, 30 years, and then that's when you start to see.

Chris

Wait a second.

Chris

I didn't know that.

Chris

I wasn't paying attention to that.

Chris

And so we need to be cognizant of this, is that it's an ongoing fight.

Chris

We need to make sure that we're doing what we can.

Chris

We're voting, and it's a lot of local things, too.

Chris

So, I mean, I think we need to ensure that we're, as you said, we're a different representation of what it looks like.

Chris

And so that's really important for us.

Chris

And, John, you alluded to the fact of being at these different shows.

Chris

That's important for us.

Chris

Right.

Chris

Like, us being there because we look a little different than the normal owners of the business.

Chris

That's important to us because it gives, I think people see that, like, okay, like, we've got more advocacy, advocacy, excuse me, advocates for this than we might think that are continuing to do this fight.

Chris

So, I mean, we're, you know, we're into, you know, do what we can.

Chris

And I think that, as you said, Kaylee, just, it's not a preservation, it's an expansion.

Chris

So we need to always keep that in mind that that's really the end goal here, is that the Second amendment is, it doesn't really care what you look like.

Chris

You're an american citizen, and that's your right.

John

Well said.

Kayleigh

So walk me through kind of those early kitchen tabletop when you guys are designing where you're going to fill a need within the second Amendment community.

Kayleigh

We've talked about the fact that you guys have a ton of features in your firearms, but when you guys were designing, what were the things that you were like?

Kayleigh

These are what's left off at the table sometimes.

Kayleigh

These are the things that we're going to make the biggest impact and really be known for.

Chris

Right.

Chris

So we actually, we have a partnership with Arex, so they're a slovenian based company.

Chris

And so Arcgun is a.

Chris

We re engineered that Delta II to be an american made gun that we produce here.

Chris

And so kind of just backing it up a little bit more, we saw that gun, and we're like, man, this is a great gun.

Chris

It runs well.

Chris

We need to add these features.

Chris

And so we walked through the trigger, we walked through the slide, we walked through some of the internals, and we're like, let's tweak this and let's kind of look at.

Chris

I mean, I ordered so many and shot so many guns during this time period because I just wanted to know, like, what myself thought of each gun, and then I would give it to someone else and get their feedback, too, like, hey, what do you think's missing on this?

Chris

And so for us, it was kind of like a, you can't put everything into a gun.

Chris

Like, especially if you want to offer it at a price point that kind of remains competitive.

Chris

But what is it that we could stick out?

Chris

And having even just the addition of our top slide serrations, that's something that you might see more so like an aftermarket product and just kind of thinking through the things that you hear on YouTube videos and things along those lines of, hey, I was shooting cold weather and I had a problem with getting my glove hand into it, accessing the trigger.

Chris

So just extending the trigger guard and making it proportional to gunna even just the ergonomics of just how it sits so you can get a nice high grip on it.

Chris

And so I think that was really kind of some of the things we looked at is just breaking it down from someone thats shooting a gun for the first time.

Chris

And then we had really high level shooters kind of giving our feedback on things, too.

Chris

So it was a very iterative process of, this is what we think this is what were going to add, oh, you went a little bit too much on this.

Chris

Maybe scale that down, because at the end of the day, we have people come to our booth and love your gun.

Chris

I wish you could do this.

Chris

I wish you could do that.

Chris

We would love to have every single customer have every single one of their needs met, but it's a little hard.

Chris

But I will say one of the things we want to make sure we're cognizant of as well is just making sure that when we're hearing feedback, that's not just falling on deaf ears.

Chris

If we hear enough of it, like, oh, you might want to change this, you might want to do this.

Chris

That's something that we're thinking about doing, putting into our next iterations.

Chris

And I will say that for a fact.

Chris

You'll see that on some of our next products, we're pretty nimble in our ability to kind of shift on the fly.

Chris

And so you'll see in our next iteration some of these things that you guys have talked to us about on this first rm one c offering.

John

Yeah, I know that at shot show, when I came over and we talked, and then at the women's event, I came over and I was like, okay, there's a if I was to tweak anything, like, these are the things I would tweak a little bit.

John

And you said, be open, be very critical of it, because that's what we always are advancing.

John

And I brought up a few talking points, and you're just like, yep.

John

You're not the first one to say that.

John

Hey, yeah, we're looking at this for the second one.

John

So it's cool that you're listening to customer feedback on your next iterations of this firearm.

John

And as you guys grow, there's going to be more iterations.

John

It's not just a one iteration and done.

John

So I apologize for that.

John

I also want to get into, you guys started a new firearms company.

John

What were some of the biggest hurdles you had to get over while doing that, starting that company and getting it off the ground?

John

I mean, there's got to be, you said you guys started 2019, 2020, launched at shot show 2024.

John

That's four years.

John

That's a lot of work and time and effort to go into that.

Chris

Yeah.

Chris

I mean, just, first of all, started with just kind of the engineering and process of development of firearm that takes several years to even bring to market.

Chris

So right there, you're looking at, okay, you got this, but now let's give yourself at least 24 months on a low end of just bringing that out.

Chris

So that's kind of one of those things.

Chris

And then also, just as I mentioned earlier, not getting in your own way of like, well, let's just add this.

Chris

Let's have this.

Chris

At some point, you got to say, all right, we're going to market.

Chris

So we definitely had a little bit of that, of wanting to kind of fine tune every last thing and get it exactly where and what we have now, I think, is exactly what we wanted.

Chris

But you can kind of, as I said, get in your own way there.

Chris

But I think also some of the hurdles that we ran into is just kind of making sure that our space also is correct.

Chris

And what I mean is, like, our actual physical space, you know, you have to have a warehouse, you have to have place for manufacturing.

Chris

You have to have a team.

Chris

And so, you know, getting the different permits and oks from different governments and government officials and things like that, whether it's local or whatever it is, was a larger hurdle than I thought it was going to be.

Chris

And then, you know, you have to kind of, as you're coming to market time, uh, the idea of when you're going to kind of scale up your, uh, your team as well.

Chris

So that was, that was something that kind of, we kind of, we brought people on, but we're like, hey, we have this much that we're doing now.

Chris

And, like, you don't want to have too many people on before doing any, like, not doing stuff.

Chris

So that was kind of one of the bigger hurdles and then also just kind of finding your identity, trying to figure out something that's, you know, at the end of the day, we didn't say we're like, creating a completely different firing mechanism that's never been seen in the industry before or anything along those lines.

Chris

It's we took a platform.

Chris

We think we made it better.

Chris

We offered it at a really competitive price to make it here in the US.

Chris

And so how do we kind of steer that messaging?

Chris

What are we giving to the customer that they don't have?

Chris

And so that takes some time, too.

Chris

So it's a multitude of things, and you certainly don't want to rush it when you're first coming to market because you really only have one chance to launch.

Kayleigh

Yeah.

Kayleigh

One of the things that really excites me about your all's price point is it is perfect for that first time gun owner who doesn't have the budget to go and get all.

Kayleigh

Everything aftermarket to make it exactly what they want, but they want something reliable that has a lot of the bells and whistles and out of the box is something that they could be proud of.

Kayleigh

You know, nothing kind of hurts my soul more than going to a class with, like, a first time gun owner.

Kayleigh

And they've just spent all of this money on a firearm.

Kayleigh

And the instructors kind of going through the life applications of owning their firearm and what they want to use it for, and you see the blood drain out of their face because they purchase something that doesn't actually fit their goal or their desired outcome.

Kayleigh

And so I love that your price point, in my opinion, is on the budget friendly end.

Kayleigh

That makes it where you can feel very confident as a gun owner.

Kayleigh

Basically, just get a holster and you're ready to go with some ammo.

Kayleigh

You don't have to go and say, okay, well, I've got several hundred dollars invested in this, and I got to go do another three to $400 to get all of this.

Kayleigh

And the next thing you know, you're looking at your bank account, and half of a paycheck or a whole paycheck is gone, and you're like, well, I can't actually afford to exercise my right, at least not maybe to the level that I wanted.

Kayleigh

And so, especially in this economy, I think that what you guys have done at the price point that you've done it on shouldn't be understated, because it really is for a lot of first time gun owners or people who are looking to upgrade.

Kayleigh

Just about perfect.

Chris

Yeah, no, thank you for saying that.

Chris

I mean, that's really what we wanted to also create as a.

Chris

Something that, you know, the aftermarket, as you.

Chris

As you alluded to, is something that, you know, I got to go do this.

Chris

I got to put this trigger, and I got to put this on, and so I got to get it milled or whatever it might be.

Chris

And so I think that's what we wanted to create is a gun that if you take it straight out of the box and run it, you can run it forever.

Chris

You don't need to do upgrades to it.

Chris

You don't need to kind of take it to your local gunsmith to have them work magic on it.

Chris

You have an ability to run a pistol from start to finish that really can run at a high caliber.

Chris

And so, yeah, I think the price is very attractive, and I think that's actually like the thing that we were like, oh, and we're going to offer it.

Chris

We were really concerned about the reliability, the accuracy, excuse me, of the pistol.

Chris

Then it's like, oh, and now also it's at this price.

Chris

So I think kind of hitting a trifecta of all those, of those items, I think was really kind of crucial in our, in our development of coming to market.

John

When you guys came to market, you came out with a compact firearm.

John

A lot of people are leaning towards that micro compact or micro mid size, whatever you want to call it.

John

Firearm.

John

What made you guys go to the compact versus coming out with like a micro or in that area?

Chris

Yeah, no, I think, yeah, the, the idea there was that, let's start in the middle, because obviously compact, you can still conceal, carry it very easily.

Chris

Let's get this out in the market.

Chris

And then when you start to get to subcompact or micro compact, the adjustments from there, we have to be completely precise.

Chris

It allowed us to get some feedback on what people are thinking of the compact and then put that into our planning of when we want to come out with our subcompact or whether it might be a micro compact, whatever it might be.

Chris

Excuse me.

Chris

So I think it was a strategic play of like, let's get into the concealed carry market.

Chris

Let's look at what things we can add to a potential subcompact offering, and then there'll be a time when it makes sense to launch that.

Chris

But I do think we're going to have some things coming to the market that people are going to be really happy about soon enough.

Chris

We're just trying to let the.

Chris

Because for us, it seems like we've been in the market forever, but, you know, a lot of people, a lot of this market's just hearing about us for the first time, so.

Chris

But, yeah, I think getting to that, the smaller variation is certainly something that we're looking to move into as well.

Kayleigh

Where can everyone find you on social media, on the interwebs?

Kayleigh

All of that great stuff.

Chris

Yeah.

Chris

You can check out our website, rossmartin.com, or you can go to rossmartininc on Instagram.

Chris

And I think it's just Ross Martin on Facebook.

Chris

We're on Twitter as well.

Chris

So Ross Martin there.

Chris

Ross Martin Inc.

Chris

Was the one for Instagram that we needed to kind of work around.

Chris

So someone somehow had that handle already.

Chris

But, yeah, it's, and we'll have, we've got more things coming this summer.

Chris

We've got a couple good announcements coming to you guys.

Chris

So what we're trying to do is just keep giving the customers what they want and keep listening to feedback.

Chris

So we definitely appreciate all the support.

Kayleigh

Hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

Kayleigh

Feel free to, like, share and subscribe and leave a five star review on all podcasting platforms.

Kayleigh

We'll see you next week.