5.56Mm M855 Rifle Ammunition & Ammo Can

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- As most of you know, we are now into the most important eight weeks in any retail stores year.

This is the time when most of the sales are made – and most of the profit – which used to traditionally start the day after Thanksgiving.

That day has now become “Black Friday” with enormous amounts of advertising and hype, and had now bled over into include “Cyber Monday” and the follow up sales days to that with some pretty creative names. From all reports we’ve been hearing on the TV, radio news and reading in the papers – and from our own experience here so far, the opening of this Christmas season just may be stacking up to be one of the most successful starts to the Christmas season ever.

We thought it would be helpful to you in your shop to know what had been selling really well for us here over the weekend. With the customers you have, we’d expect you to have calls for many of the same items we have had, and it might be useful for you to know just which ones have been the most popular with us.

• Federal 5.56 x 45mm – 420rd ammo can
• Leatherman MUT Multi Tool
• Brownells AR-15 30 round Magazine – 10-packs
• Magpul AR-15 30rd Pmag – 10-packs
• Surefire 60 round Magazine
• Brownells AR-15/M16 Critical Tool Kit
• Brownells Signature Series Deluxe Range Bag
• Magpul AR-15/M16 MBUS Gen 2 Sight Set
• Brownells Magna-Tip Super Set

The above list represents a mix of things you might want to have in your shop available for your customers – or something you might want in your own shop. All will make fantastic gift ideas for your customer’s wives, partners or friends to give and if you have someone who comes in looking for a gift to give themselves, might want to suggest one of the above items. Brownells is in stock and is ready to ship any and all of the above.

With this being the important selling season that it is, right now is the best time to place all orders or get items on the backorder list for those companies who are running out of stock on those items you want to have on hand for the Christmas season. What all markets we are looking at right now are telling us, regardless of being in the firearms industry or some other, is purchasing is getting done early and heavy for fear of items being out of stock the closer we get to Christmas. The deals and offers being presented by everyone on the web and everybody with retail stores are absolutely incredible right now. We highly recommend if you are buying as a gift or for your own personal use, do it now, or if you are a gunshop or gunsmith stocking items, to place those orders right now so you’re in stock as soon as possible for walk-in business.

Economists across the nation have been talking about the state of the economy and the intense focus on share-of-wallet marketing this season. This fancy phrase says that we as consumers have a fixed budget this year with very little flexibility. The company to watch that is extremely advanced in the marketing thinking is Amazon.com. They started their promotional offers back on November 1st this year, when traditionally they would start on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. They did this solely to get consumers buying early from them so Amazon was the recipient of that limited share-of-wallet rather than wait, like everyone else did, to begin their marketing program on Black Friday.

Well, November 1st is gone and Black Friday has passed and yet the special offers and deals continue to roll out inside this industry as well as across all industries throughout the remaining five weeks of the upcoming Christmas season. Don’t forget to sign up for our “12 Days of Christmas Deal” e-mail offers. Each day, we’ll open up a new offer (good for the remainder of the season), so check your inbox every day!

And as the old TV commercial used to say, “Wait, there’s more!”

For our WebBench readers only, Brownells, Sinclair, and Brownells Law Enforcement are running yet one more special offer thru December 9th: when you place an order of $199 or more, give the offer code DLL and get an extra 10% discount off your order.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells Center For Zombie Awareness Video Warning

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Recently in response to certain health out breaks the newly formed Brownells Center For Zombie Awareness (CZA) was created.

Company President Pete Brownells said, “…because we all know the Zombie outbreak is coming and we want our customers to be educated, equipped and ready to engage the undead.”

“Halloween is a well-known time for the recently deceased to become re-animated,” Brownell continued, “and the CZA will play a vital role in winning the coming Zombie apocalypse. That’s why we urge all concerned citizens to visit the CZA site immediately.”

Videos to help educate the still-living and products to help them fend off the hordes can be found at http://tiny.cc/brownellszombie with special deals to save money while protecting the neighborhood.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, ammunition, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 50,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Competition is a good thing. It always raises an interest in an area.

The traditional way to think of competition is there is only one winner at the end of the run. But that’s not how the marketplace really works.

To understand your market and how to reach it, we’ve come up with three ways of looking at competing in a competitive market place.

First, you must “Differentiate” yourself. Your offering of products and services should fill the basic needs of customers with the added twist of something greater or better than they can get from all those other folks out there trying to sell to the same customer.

As a Gunsmith or Gun Shop, you’ll compete with “big box” stores that have overlapping items at possibly better prices than yours. Then there are the “trunk of his car” guys who can deliver products right now to be used in the field – but their primary warehouse is what they’re carrying with them to sell to some of the shooters at the range, or other competitors at a match.

Obviously, if you have a bricks-and-mortar location, you will fall somewhere between these two in size and floor space. All three types of businesses bring great value to the outdoor market. But, to succeed, you need to do something with your store or your staff that takes you out of the background noise and gets people thinking about you as the place to go.

Examples of effective differentiation could be making your shop the local Three Gun Shop or catering to Western shooters or being the big Custom rifle/pistol/shotgun shop in your area. Or have the best selection of optics and service ’em all, offer the best custom ammo loads, post all the local match scores on the wall, have a wonderful layaway program, or . . . So you’re going to have to do your homework. Spend some time wandering through other stores for some ideas. Read their newspaper ads and local channel TV and radio ads. Learn what they’re doing, but don’t copy it. Come up with something that will cause the customers out there to recognize that you’re different, you’ll treat them better, or offer a unique service the other guys don’t have.

OK – so think outside the box; come up with a neat, recognizable, marketable way to make you stand out from the crowd.

Second, try “Clustering”. Try to get a group of “Like-hobby” suppliers and services to open up shops in the same neighborhood or strip mall or area. Think about it. If you’re a gunsmith, why not open up close to a full-line sporting goods store? Then the customer can buy some of their stuff over there and bring it to you to put together or mount or adjust to fit or whatever. Carry the idea further . . . using the concept of “Coopetiton”, you link up with all kinds of folks and shops serving the same customers, but each of you has something unique to differentiate your shop, as we discussed above. You can link up with shooting ranges, taxidermists, guides/guide services, archery shops, or reloading shops. The whole idea is to be cooperating and competing together. The key to “coopetition” is to specialize but be in the same marketplace.

Third, Understand Your Customer. Really finding out what your customers want and what their future needs will be is a tricky business. You can find out by asking them, doing a survey, or by just checking the sales slips copies and making a chart. You’ll soon know – and then you can use that knowledge to do a better job of differentiating, of knowing which product areas have growth potential for your shop.

For instance, Iowa is a shotgun-only state for deer – except for 2 rows of counties on our Iowa/Missouri border where rifles can be used. Therefore, your customer analysis and common sense will tell you not to load up on centerfire rifle ammo or rifles for deer season. However, figuring out the deer slugs in all of their permutations and finding out which your customers like to shoot would definitely be a step in the right direction. And could easily lead to that necessary differentiation I talked about earlier.

Today’s competition requires you to meet a minimum threshold of competency in your gunsmithing or your outdoor retailing, with the added twist of a specialization – say in competition rifles, three gun, concealed carry, or range experience – tagged onto your retail store. Having the same products and going head to head with more established large retailers is a recipe for disaster. Nobody wants that.

So, think about the above guidelines. Figure out how to make your shop unique, how to hook up with customer-connected specialty shops, and really understand your customers. All basic requirements for your shop to succeed.

Well, yes, it might be tough. But thinking outside your comfort zone, your “box” as it were, might just be the place to start!

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, ammunition, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 50,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Team Brownells at Stage 1 of the AR15.com/Rockcastle Pro Am

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Five staffers representing sponsors Brownells, Sinclair and Brownells LE Division finished in the top 50 of the Amateur division at the recent Pro Am 3-Gun held at the Rockcastle Shooting Center in Park City, KY.

Corey Schwanz (1st), Duane Liptak (10th), Matt Buckingham (33rd), Tony Barnes (41st), Monty Crain (48th) turned in the best scores.

Company President Pete Brownell also competed and said, “I definitely need some more trigger time! I don’t get out as much as I’d like to and the Pro Am format was perfect. What a great, well-run match!”

The three-day, Pro Am event was held at the Rockcastle Shooting Center, Park City, Kentucky. The Amateur Division required competitors to compete at seven different stages using handguns, rifles and shotguns from a variety of shooting positions. Members of the Brownells/Sinclair/LE team used a Glock and 1911 handguns and while most of the rifles were based on the AR platform, Liptak shot an AK-47. Shotguns included Benelli, Remington and FN brands.

Winner Schwanz said, “I’m definitely looking forward to coming back to Rockcastle; how often does the average guy get to shoot a rifle out of a car or kick down a door while shooting?”

Rockcastle Shooting Center is the newest addition to the Park Mammoth Resort property, which is developing into the nation’s premiere shooting sports resort. The shooting center offers a 15-station Sporting Clay course, 5 Stand, Pistol and Rifle Ranges out to 1,500 yards, a SASS Range and two 3D Archery Ranges, which are open to the public with various levels of membership opportunities available. The center is nestled among the wooded ridges and valleys of the historic property encompassing 2,000 acres of the Park Mammoth Resort located in south central Kentucky.

Company President Pete Brownell charges to the shooting box on Stage 1 of the AR15.com/Rockcastle Pro Am

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, ammunition, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 50,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Concealed Carry Weapons

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- We’re finding that today’s hottest market segment right now is the Concealed Carry market.

Besides the firearm of choice you are using yourself or selling to your customers, there are some important accessories you need to educate yourself about prior to their purchase or display and sale in your shop.

We’re going to talk about accessories because we don’t sell guns – but you have to thoroughly understand your handgun before you look at or buy your accessories.

So the first step is to really understand your firearm. Know how to open it and make sure the chamber is empty and safe. (By the way, if you watch knowledgeable gun handlers, you’ll notice they always open and check the chamber when they are handed a gun – even if the person handing it to them has just done so. That rule drilled into lots of us when we were kids – safety first and always – is the best way to prevent an accident.)

Plan How To Carry
Next, of course, is to decide how you want to carry your handgun. This brings up your most important accessory, the holster. With the help of some industry-leading experts on staff, we have created a great educational guide and video on the different concealed carry holsters, purses, and technical gear you can to choose from.

The number of options is dizzying, and a good, solid grounding in why certain styles/designs are better than others will get you on the street with a comfortable concealed carry holster or option. In addition, we have everything in stock to get you whatever you need. Just click here to go to the video. You’ll find it mighty helpful and useful for you and your customers. Matter of fact, I’d show it to them when you’re training them on concealed carry to help them understand and pick the right carry method for them.

While we don’t carry handguns, let’s talk about them for a moment. Your choice of handgun is a very personal one. It must become a part of you and a piece of equipment with which you are extremely comfortable. Therefore, you want something that will fit your hand properly and comfortably, yet be small enough to be easily hidden. With a concealed carry handgun, you want to knock off the sharp edges so it doesn’t get caught on clothing, holster, or cut your fingers in the process of getting it out. This is where Brownells really shines, starting with hundreds of different sights to choose from that’ll lower your sight profile or offer a rounded-off profile without the sharp edges. There are different sizes of grips, too, so do some experimenting to pick the right one to fit your hand. There are many different textures on the grips to give you the right kind of feel when you have your handgun in your hand. Different safety levers either expand or shrink the size of the safety – or even change its location.

And, a different trigger plus a new recoil spring that helps tame felt recoil can make the gun easier to shoot.

The options are just endless. Some of these options require a gunsmith to help you install or make a selection. We strongly encourage you to talk to your local gunsmith, who can help you make the right choices for personalizing your handgun. Or if you are a gun shop working with a customer, we hope you are able to walk them through all the options available. Of course, this means that you’ll need to learn about them yourself, and the magazines, the web, and the Brownells Catalog are the most available sources for that knowledge.

Now a personal note – although it is not my “carry” gun for personal protection, a number of years ago I had a full-size Colt 1911 Series 70 done by Jim Clark (318-949-9884 or clarkcustomguns.com). Jim gave the gun what he calls a “Meltdown” treatment, which consists of rounding everything off and making it mighty comfortable to carry and draw. No sharp corners, sharp edges, bulkiness. Of course, he tuned it for me too, which I know helped, but it’s the handgun I always carry when out with my Prairie Dog Population Control Society simply because it’s fun to shoot, easy to carry, and quick to draw in case of a crazed attack.

I called Jim’s shop, and they will do the “Meltdown” treatment on your handgun or on one of theirs for you. Check them out. I give their treatment my highest personal recommendation.

Trigger Time
The last “accessory” we need to talk about is called “Trigger Time”. Make sure you spend enough time training in gun handling and shooting at the range with your handgun to become comfortable with how it operates, how it handles, and how to correctly draw it from the holster you have chosen.

Be sure you get training on how your holster works. Be really sure you understand everything. There are differences between how holsters contain the handgun and how you release it, and you can get into trouble not knowing how to do a safe draw.

Again, your local gunsmith and local gun range should be able to help you on this; and if you’re the gunsmith, be sure you train your customers well. Otherwise, you can go to the NRA website to find some training resources in your area. If you’re willing to travel, there are some great training options out there. We are great fans of the training taught at Gunsite and Thunder Ranch, and add to that the training available at Suarez International, I.C.E. Training, and our own Brownells Training Group.

Of course, Brownells can fulfill all of your ammo needs now, provide eye and ear protection needed at the range, and set you up with any tools you may need to tweak your handgun as you fine-tune your skills so you become really proficient.

The whole point of Concealed Carry is to protect yourself.
In order to do this, make sure you are comfortable with your handgun, you are comfortable in its use, and that you tap into your local network of trainers and educators. We would also include in this list a talk with your local sheriff or police chief if you have any questions about your local laws. And of course, you can always give us a call with any questions you may have about products and how to use them or you can check out this special Concealed Carry page that we’ve made as a resource for all things Concealed Carry.

Brownells.com

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Team Sig’s Max Michel

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Just in case you’ve not moved your rock lately and peaked out to take a look at our favorite industry, we’re right in the real heat of COMPETITION SEASON!!

So, if you are of a competitive nature – or just love to shoot – or just want to watch and hang out with a gang of like-minded folks, check out what is going on in your favorite shooting sport.

As I’ve said several times before in these opening comments, I’m a faithful reader of Jim Shepards’s daily emails, The Shooting Wire and The Outdoor Wire  in which he lists a whole lot of places you can go shoot and compete. This is always the first place I go to check out what is coming up around the country. Frankly, I’m always amazed at the sheer number of competitive events that are listed in the two newsletters.

There are also lots of other places to look. Many of the major shooting sports have a magazine written specifically for that venue, or you’ll find that one of the major “gun” magazines may have large sections devoted to a specific shooting venue. I frequently go on Google when I’m looking for info, and find just about anything. So when in doubt you can always search Google for shooting competitions to attend. For instance, I put in “3-gun matches” (be sure to put in quotes or you’ll get everything from nail guns to kitchen matches) and got about 295,000 results (in 0.25 seconds). WOW – that’s lots of results – and lots of events to check out. Try it on your favorite shooting sport – I know you’ll be as amazed as was I.

Then, there are all the popular TV channels and programs that you can take a look at to see how your particular favorite competition is going. The “Sportsman Channel” is a major carrier of all kinds of competition coverage . Others include “Versus“, the “Outdoor Channel” – the chocked-full Wednesday night block plus 3-Gun Nation and various hunting shows; the “Discovery Channel” − Sons of Guns − about a gun shop that builds weird stuff; the “History Channel” − Top Shot – reality/competition w/guns; plus all the hunting shows that pop up on “ESPN”. There are also many regional cable systems that feature local hunting and gun shows, plus the local news shows, and even some “PBS” stations run hunting shows. Keep your eye out for your favorite venue. There will be something about it out there somewhere.

Whatever competition you are shooting, besides the gear specific to that type of shooting, we recommend some core tools/gear for your range bag.

• • Brownells Micro Magna Tip Screwdriver, plus the extra bits you need for the sights or other gun-specific repairs/adjustments.
• • Hearing Protection Pad Cover to absorb sweat, and keep your ears more comfortable.
• • Small leather or synthetic mat so you can lay your gun down on a safe, clean surface.
• • Brownells Friction Defense Xtreme Gun Oil to keep your gun running in the heat in which you’ll be shooting.
• • Brownells Q-tips and Mops for clean up/out plus handy for oil application.
• • Brownells chamber & bore brushes for cleaning out gunk from hard-to-reach places.

In preparing for your matches, of course, we have all the ammo you may need, all the reloading components. If you need eyes and ears protection, we’re carrying the best the market has available. And once you’re doing your final gear check and you find you’ve got questions on what equipment to buy or how to use it successfully, please give our tech line a call.

We’re here to serve you.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, ammunition, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 50,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Ammunition and Bug-Out-Bags - Frank Talk About Guns

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- WOW!! It has been busy around here.

WE ARE NOW CARRYING AMMUNITION! And, we’ve nailed the price. You’ll find us to be priced at some of the lowest in the industry.

Full lines of all the good stuff from the best-known makers. This is a major jump into the market for us, and we’re determined to make Brownells a great place for you to shop for ammo. You asked and we listened. See it all at brownells.com

Service, Selection and Satisfaction, is what you can always expect from Brownells at all times. For ammo, we have Winchester, Hornady, Remington, Federal, CCI and a whole lot more brands in all kinds of calibers – 2,200 different items to be exact at this writing – and that offering is growing daily. You can expect the same down-home help you have always received from Brownells with a human being you can trust at the other end of the phone. And, ordering on the web is amazingly easy.

Plus, we offer you something no other supplier in the industry offers. With us, our no hassle, 100% satisfaction - forever guarantee applies to ammo, too – you can return it and get a refund or credit toward another purchase. This is totally unique to Brownells – and is a genuine service to you, our customer. You cannot do this with any other supplier in the marketplace. With everybody else, once you’ve bought it, baby, you cannot return it – even if you’ve ordered the wrong one. With Brownells, you can just return it!!

In addition, we will be charging you “flat rate” shipping. This means your ammo purchases from us will cost you cheaper shipping than from the other guys, and you can mix ammo with all kinds of other products from all three of our companies without getting billed a separate price for shipping the ammo.

Next, we have a really unique and mighty useful “Ammo Advisor“. Just click on the Ammunition bar on the top of the home page, and the “Advisor” comes up. Start by identifying gun choice, then cartridge, application and brand, and you will get the family group which includes the ammo you want. Locate the specific one you need within the group and place your order. If you want faster searching – or narrower filtering, click on the “more filter options” and you’ll have 9 more criteria you can select from pull down menus. Makes getting to the very specific ammo you want extremely fast.

In stock, great pricing, great selection, GREAT service. Give us a shout or a look us up on brownells.com when you need ammo.

Bug-Out-Bag
Last month I included a couple of articles on preparing a grab-it bag – or a “Bug-Out-Bag”. I got some really useful additions to the list from some of our readers, and I wanted you to know about them, too.

From Benn Scherzer: Comments from the Hurricane Zone in Eastern FL

“A chest freezer holds cold better than an upright. An upright will lose its cold air (which is replaced with ambient, hot and muggy air) when you open the door to chuck in some dry ice – you will feel it cascade out the bottom on your feet. Watch for sales on the larger ‘group’ size picnic/camping coolers on sale. Fill with ice if time allows and transfer 1 to 1.5 days cooling-required food to it so you can leave the fridge & freezer door closed. If you have time, set up a second cooler for day 1.5 to 3. Add dry ice (wrapped in paper or on a piece of Styrofoam to avoid freezer burn) if possible to the freezer and ice chests.

“The main power disconnect is necessary to prevent Flicker & Flash from applying power to your area and destroying your generator and house electronics. It also prevents your generator from electrocuting the Flicker and Flash repair party (possibly from out of state) trying to get you back on line.

“You bought boots for yourself to try to keep the nails from your feet; doesn’t your dog deserve the same?

“Light sticks, white, many each. With the white ones you can see what you’re looking at. The green ones don’t show up the leaking water from the ridge vent until your foot goes squish. Red light sticks can mark danger areas.

“If you have maintenance meds and get 3 months supply at one time, move a couple of week’s worth to other PROPERLY LABELED containers and keep the rest in the original containers in a Ziploc Freezer Bag so you only have one thing to grab.

“There are good monoculars out there for a smaller footprint than a set of binox.”

From Dan Coloccia

“Two things you might add to Roy’s list is an extra flashlight BULB and a few ‘Space Blankets’.
(My Response…)

From: Robert Guzauskas

“My first thought upon seeing this article was that they would tell people about how to store your guns in case of a storm. But there is not one word about that. That really surprised me. How many weapons are lying around on the ground? Hundreds? It does supply good information but misses that particular bit that its readers could certainly use.”
(My Response…)

I’d like to hear from those of you with other things for the Bug-Out Bag list. We had a small tornado go through our next neighboring town just last week, and huge lightening and hail storm with several inches of rain this week. Looks like the need for the bag still exists out here in the heart-land!

As you go forward this summer, we’d really appreciate you checking out our ammo offerings – and tell us what we’re doing wrong and what you’d like to see and – if you’re of a mind to – what we’re doing right, too.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Ron Power - Keynote Speaker at Brownells 5th Annual Gunsmith Career Fair

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Forty industry employers had a chance to interview almost 150 gunsmithing school students and experienced gunsmiths at the 5th Annual Gunsmith Career Fair.

The Career Fair’s mission is to provide gunsmiths and gunsmithing students a one-of-kind chance to interview and network with employers from around the industry.

The event was held April 15 and 16 at the Downtown Marriott Hotel in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I came to get a better idea of the skill sets the students could bring to Ruger. I found them to be very good mechanical kids, a very creative group and was impressed with how many were here and how far they traveled. They’ll be servicing Ruger firearms and it’s really good to get to know them,” said Steve Maynard of Ruger.

Industry legend Ron Power provided some insights into the industry and a couple of great hunting stories as Keynote Speaker at the Friday evening dinner. The students and gunsmiths were also able to attend seminars to help them improve their craft. Twelve seminars on a wide variety of career topics and how-to’s were well received. ATF covered many of the fine points about regulations gunsmiths need to be aware of, while custom gunmaker Sharon Dressel explained to attendees how to find their niche in the industry and Tom Shay educated them how to keep from going out of business.

“The Career Fair provides a venue for current industry members to meet the future talent. It makes me feel good to hear how impressed the employers are with the students. The firearms industry is growing and gunsmiths are an important component to the industry’s successful future,” commented Pete Brownell, President of Brownells.

The 2012 event will be held in April. Visit gunsmithcareerfair.com for additional information and the latest updates.

Jerry Fisher with the students from Trinidad at Brownells 5th Annual Gunsmith Career Fair

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

2011 Brownells & NRA National Youth Shooting Sports Ambassadors

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Six young people from Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin have been named to serve as the 2011 Brownells/NRA National Youth Shooting Sports Ambassadors.

The Youth Ambassador program, sponsored by Brownells, encourages growth of the shooting sports and increased industry support of youth firearms-training programs. The Ambassador program offers participants many benefits, including travel opportunities and the chance to meet national shooting celebrities. The 2011 Ambassadors made their first public appearance at the recently concluded 2011 SHOT Show in Las Vegas.

“During their term, these Ambassadors will provide a young person’s perspective on the shooting sports and serve as youth advisors on shooting-sports topics involving young people,” said Pete Brownell, the company’s president.

“They were nominated by some of the most important youth groups in the country to represent their organization, Brownells, and the NRA at national-level events.”

The 2011 Brownells/NRA National Youth Shooting Sports Ambassadors and the organizations they represent are:

Boy Scouts of America – Tyler Ebert, 17, from Weston, Wisconsin; National High School Rodeo – Bailey Kate Conner, 17, from Malta Bend, Missouri; Royal Rangers – Henry Jentz II, 16, from Cincinnati, Ohio; Venturing – Thomas Cunningham, 17, from Canyon, Texas; USA Shooting – Courtney Anthony, 19, from Lexington, Nebraska; NRA – Garrett Walters, 18, from Burr Oak, Michigan.

“Each of these young people embodies excellence at the scholastic level, within their communities, and also in the shooting sports. Their ideas and perspectives can help us get more youths involved in shooting, and they serve as an example of what young people can accomplish through participation in the shooting sports,” said Larry Quandahl, manager of NRA’s Youth Programs Department.

For more information on the Brownells/NRA National Youth Shooting Sports Ambassador Program, contact Claudia Olsen at colsen@nrahq.org or by calling (703) 267-1597.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells to Sponsor 3-Gun Nation Team Shoot-Off Series

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Brownells is proud to partner with 3-Gun Nation to sponsor their Team Shoot-Offs at a variety of major, televised, 3-gun matches around the country in 2011.

In the Team Shoot-Offs, the top female contestant and the top junior contestant will each be invited to draw two additional, random competitors from the match contestant pool to make up a three-person team.

Those Lady and Junior Teams will then compete in a head-to-head relay event, with cash payouts to the winning team, “For the first four matches, each shooter on the winning 3-person team will receive a check for $500 (totaling $1500). At the 3GN Championship, each winner will take home $1,000 (totaling $3000), running the total cash payout for the 3GN Team Event to $9,000 for the season. In addition, each member of the opposing teams will receive consolation prizes from Brownells,” Brown said.

“Involving women and juniors is critical to growing the shooting sports. 3-Gun Nation’s shoot-off format is exciting and we feel that adding events for women and juniors will encourage more of them to get active in shooting sports like 3-gun,” said Brownells President Pete Brownell.

3-Gun Nation will hold four regular-season team shoot-offs and a National Championship in 2011, said Pete Brown, president of the National 3-Gun Association and executive producer for “3-Gun Nation Televison,” which covers the events.

The locations and dates for the regular-season 3-Gun Nation Team Shoot-Offs are:

• Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun. Mesa, Arizona, March 25-27, 2011
• MGM Ironman, Parma, Idaho, June 5-11, 2011
• JP Enterprises Rocky Mountain 3-Gun, Raton, New Mexico, August 4-6, 2011
• Adams Arms Ozark 3-Gun Championship, Osage, Missouri, Sept. 9-11, 2011

The final Team Shoot-Off will be held at the:

• FNH USA 3-Gun and 3-Gun Nation Championship, Glen Gary, West Virginia Nov 10-12, 2011

Brownells stocks hundreds of products for the 3-Gun shooter, including all the parts, accessories, sights, optics, slings, holsters and cases to customize your rifles, pistols and shotguns to suit the unique aspects of 3-gun competition.

To learn more about 3-Gun Nation shooting events, log on to www.3gunnation.com.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Our Gang just got back from the SHOT Show – goodness want a bash!

I’ve talked with a number of our folks that went and we’ve got some comments for you.

Kinda disconnected in some places maybe, so I’ll just start off and run until I run out of things to pass along.

We were somewhat apprehensive going in, because nobody knew how the year was going to shape up.

Coming off the last two years of economic stress and an “odd” SHOT Show in ’10 – we all were very surprised how upbeat and productive it really was. The SHOT Show is a bellwether for the year. The words I kept hearing from our folks were “positive”, “enthusiastic”, “exciting.” The anxieties for 2011 seemed to slide to the backs of peoples’ minds, as they were caught up in the huge crowds and the huge wave of “optimistic vibes” flowing through the place. This show left all of us really charged up and raring to get back home and put the things we found and ideas we heard into place.

Each of our group commented on the really big group of new products we found – for all of our divisions.

For the Gunsmithing Group, what we saw were not so many new shooting platforms as we did lots and lots of neat little accessories to go on already existing accessories. Many or most for the AR-15 platform. Huge number of these items still coming. We saw lots of clever ideas and developing products from inventors looking for investors/developers. We saw huge interest in flashlights and the Glock and 1911 .22-cal conversion kits. Also the AR-15 in the .308 platform, and the very new .300 Black Out ammo from Hornady, which takes only a new barrel to be able to shoot. Also conceal carry is showing huge growth with lots of factory interest in this market. The factories were very open to suggestions about existing products, new products, modifications, service. And our key vendors were exceedingly positive about this 2011 year and the potential it has.

The Sinclair Group saw lots and lots of new products. Plus many new accessories to already existing products – again nothing astonishing so much as tweaks and refinements. Some new lines of ammo came out, more bullets, more cartridges. Ammo market’s big boom is “defense rounds” for all the guns coming out for that group of shooters. The market is still very strong and vibrant. New young blood coming into the reloading industry with some great new ideas. Overall, ammo delivery problems seem to be going away, and primers are becoming more widely available. Of course we’re all watching Hornady – waiting for their next amazing introduction. They’ve teamed up with Hodgdon Powder to make a “Su-performance” ammo, which the new Hodgdon Powder gives super velocity. Again, very positive feed-back from customers and factories.

From our Law Enforcement Group, there was tremendous positive reaction to our getting more involved in a full line of duty gear. Our guys and gals found an amazing number of new products to go into the LE catalog. Departmental customers commented that even with some of the Fed money running out, causing lots of conservation in the departments, it is beginning to look like it might not be as bad as they once thought. Our booth in the LE area of the show was very busy with many, many departments, customers and factories swinging by to catch up and see what was new and exciting – and to work with us to make the division even that much more successful. Our gang working that booth was totally delighted with how the show went for them.

We did something “progressive” this year and took pictures and video of as much as the show as we could fit in. You can find all of this on our Facebook site. Sign-up and take a look. We are doing more and more of this “Social Thing” my kids and grandkids keep talking about. Frankly it’s fun, informative and seems useful. Oh, keep checking back on the Facebook site for specials and other neat stuff we’re going to be introducing to you there.

Final wrap – all levels of the industry we interacted with seem positive, and it seems the industry is stabilized or stabilizing, catching its breath and really getting ready to embrace the future. While a lot of those in other industries around us are feeling the effects of the generally bad economy, the unemployment and the under-employment, the growth in the emerging economies with the U.S. Dollar losing value in the world market – our industry seems to be full of self-starters, folks who love their guns and their constitutional rights to self protection and making an honest living. They’re buckling down and doing it.

We saw deals still settled with a simple handshake. We saw a big push for that label “Made in America”. (By the Way, a major issue with Pete and me personally, and one we push with all our people here. We ALWAYS try to find a US made product first. Look for the American flag next to products we know are MADE in the good old USA – both on the web and in our catalogs. It’s important to support our own workers, factories and companies. These are our people we’re talking about.)

At the 2011 SHOT Show, we saw a bustling, active, energized, committed crowd of displayers and attendees connecting, interacting and working together to make it a growing, better industry.

Frankly, we’ve got great expectations for the potential of 2011. Keep checking back to the New Products sections of Browenlls.com, SinclairIntl.com and PoliceStore.com for all the new products we found at SHOT 2011 and will be getting on line just as fast as we can get inventory here.

****

John Hornby, the sender of so many great jokes, sent me the article that follows. I’d never looked at our beloved sport/vocation/avocation/hobby like this before. Makes you stop and think – and thank the good Lord that what we love to do and enjoy so much can also be so very important to our continued freedom.

The World’s Largest Army

I bet you didn’t know this. . .

In WWII, Japan’s highest-ranking naval officer was Isoruku Yamamoto. Although he was Japanese, and his loyalties were unquestionably with The Empire, he studied for many years in America, graduating from Harvard University. There is an oft-repeated (and sometimes disputed) quote attributed to him regarding the possibility of any nation taking a war to American soil:

“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Here is why he was correct:

America’s Hunters. The World’s Largest Army.

The state of Wisconsin has gone an entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed. That’s great, considering there were over 600,000 hunters that got permits this year.

Allow me to restate that number: 600,000

Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world – more men under arms than Iran; more than France and Germany combined – deployed to the woods of a single American state to keep the deer population under control.

But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week. Michigan’s 700,000 hunters have now returned home. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

And that is just FOUR states.

The total population of registered hunters in America today ranges from 23 million to 43.7 million individuals. (Based on annual data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.) As long as the American Hunter retains his right to Bear Arms, America will forever be safe from foreign invasion of troops.

Hunting – it’s not just a way to fill the freezer. It’s a matter of National Security.

Brownells.com

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Big Improvements to Brownells.com Make Shopping Easier

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- As part of their constant effort to make ordering easy, Brownells has upgraded their website.

The latest generation of brownells.com is now integrated with a world-class search engine, for drastically improved search results. At the same time the product categories were thoroughly examined and reduced by more than 50% which means fewer clicks to navigate the site.

The most noticeable change is the addition of a Make and Model filter. You can now look only for parts, accessories and tools that fit your specific firearm. The owner of a Remington 870 no longer has to wade through products for 1100s or Mossberg 500s.

When you land on a product page, all the information is there, no more clicking to see the full copy or specs, everything is in front of you. The left side navigation area has some new filters to make things faster, and bigger type to make it easier to read. And, the whole site is now hosted using cloud technology for even faster speed and greater performance.

Company President Pete Brownell told us, “We want our online shopping experience to be the best possible, and the web team has done a great job with this latest upgrade.”

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(Ammoland.com)- Brownells has donated and shipped 43 cases of shotshells to the 9th Annual Klays for Kids Sporting Clays Team Challenge, scheduled for September 24, 2010, at the Coyote Valley Sporting Clays range near Morgan Hill, California.

The Klays shoot is hosted by the NFL Alumni Northern California Chapter (NFL Alumni-NCC).

“The Klays for Kids Sporting Clays Team Challenge is a great way to promote youth shooting sports in a safe, competitive setting. We’re glad we could help the NFL Alumni by donating ammunition for the event,” said Brownells President Pete Brownell.

Gary Weaver, chairperson for the Klays event and a member of the NFL Alumni-NCC’s executive committee said, “We appreciate Brownells’ donation, and we’re happy to have them as ammunition sponsor for the event.”

At the Klays event, shooters compete in teams of five, which include a celebrity captain. The tournament consist of sporting clays targets presented in a casual tournament format.

Proceeds from the tournament will benefit Bay Area kids’ charities, said Weaver, who is a former linebacker for the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers.

“Brownells’ ammo sponsorship covers one of our big costs,” he said, “which it allows us to donate more money to the charities. It’s a generous contribution that will help a lot of kids.”

For more information on the event, log on to www.nflalumninoca.org or call (650) 366-3659.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! …Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa – -(AmmoLand.com)- Development of the third-year Gunsmithing program began with conversations between the college and Brownells about the need in the industry for gunsmithing graduates who understand the firearms business, including retail sales, inventory control, counter sales, customer service, dealing with vendors, and management functions. Pete Brownell’s vision for this program was that it reflect real world employment in a working gun shop environment.

“Students come out of the gunsmithing schools with the knowledge and ability to build and repair guns, however, they have not had enough time to experience running a business,” said Brownells President Pete Brownell.”Whether they want to start their own gunsmithing shop or to work for someone else, they need to know how a business operates. That’s why we teamed up with Trinidad State Junior College (TSJC) to start the third-year program.”

The TSJC Gunsmithing Department Advisory Committee began work on developing a third-year gunsmithing curriculum and resolving challenges to get the program started. Brownells provided $250,000 of funding for facilities remodeling plus the inventory and equipment for the new retail-repair facility that has been named the Brownells Trinidad American Firearms Technology Institute.

Students will learn through hands-on, practical experience in the new retail/repair shop, as well as in classes provided by instructor “Speedy” Gonzales and other college gunsmithing and business instructors. Additional ‘Gunsmithing Business Practices’ and ‘Gunsmithing Shop Management’ modules will be taught year-round by experts directly involved in the industry. Working gunsmiths, gun shop owners and managers can choose to attend modules of particular interest to them.

“Our intent is to open and operate a real life gun shop with third-year students who will provide top quality gun repair, parts, and services for gun owners, collectors and hunting and shooting sports enthusiasts. We will offer retail, repair, bluing, reloading, and even some light manufacturing,” said Gonzales.

About:
At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! …Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Scholastic Steel Challenge

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. --(Ammoland.com)- Through a grant provided by Brownells, the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, equipment and accessories, the Scholastic Steel Challenge (SSC) program has purchased a portable indoor range allowing the program to perform demonstrations of the team-based youth shooting sports program anywhere in the country.

The program’s first demonstration took place in Reno, Nev. during a meeting of the adult leadership staff for the Young Marines, a youth education and service program for boys and girls with over 14,000 participants.

“When the Scholastic Steel Challenge was invited to set up a demo at the Young Marines leadership conference we immediately realized we’d need an indoor range capability that was hotel friendly. We turned to Brownells for help, and with their support we were able to purchase a Crosman portable range,” explained Scott Moore, director for the Scholastic Steel Challenge.

“Reno was our first experience with the new set up and the demo went flawlessly, but more importantly it was extremely well received by the Young Marines. Without Brownells’ help we would never have been able to be in the position to reach so many potential SSC competitors. Many of the leaders that we talked to and shot the demo are now returning to their home units and spreading the word about SSC.”

Immediately following the conference a Young Marines unit from Knoxville, Tenn. scheduled an SSC live-fire demonstration to be held at a local range run by the Sheriff’s Department.

Brownells.com

“Brownell’s has always been active in supporting youth shooting sports – kids are the future of our sport. Through our sponsorships of matches around the country, plus local 4H and SCTP teams, along with the building of our own Big Springs Range facility, we’re helping to grow recreational shooting in America. SSC represents an important new growth opportunity and we’re proud to partner with them and pleased to see that our support is already seeing results with the Young Marines,” said Pete Brownell, president of Brownells.

The Scholastic Steel Challenge is a national team-oriented youth shooting program developed by the Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) and funded in part by a grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The program is open to young men and women ages 12 to 20 and offers them the opportunity to compete as a four person team for a national title in the action pistol discipline of speed shooting.

Already the program has received support from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Smith & Wesson, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network, Glock, Action Target, EOTAC and Precision Delta, which have committed over $150,000 in funding and product.

For more information on the Scholastic Steel Challenge and the Steel Challenge Shooting Association please visit www.SteelChallenge.com.

About the SCSA:
The Steel Challenge Shooting Association (SCSA) is the national governing body of the sport of Speed Shooting and organizer of the Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships. To learn more about the Steel Challenge Shooting Association and the Steel Challenge visit the Web site at www.steelchallenge.com. There you will find diagrams of the stages of fire, complete listing of past results, a list of past champions, world record times and more.

Brownells "Shoot Like A Girl" Products Support The American Cancer Society

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)-  Now, gals – and their guys – can help shoot the lights out on breast cancer by carrying Brownells attractive and functional line of “Shoot Like A Girl” gun cases.

Ten percent of the proceeds of sales of the cases will be donated to the American Cancer Society to help fight breast cancer, improve breast cancer awareness, and invest in research towards a cure for breast cancer. So, for Mothers Day, a birthday or anniversary, treat someone you love, or lavish yourself with a pink gun case.

The cases offer high-quality, heavy protection for guns and gear. The Pistol Range Bag, Scoped Rifle Case, and M4 Rifle Case are made in the USA and supplied in pink in honor of the breast cancer awareness campaign. They’re made of tough, 1,000-denier Cordura nylon with black trim.

All feature generous padding, double-stitched seams, full wrap-around, boxed-stitched handles, YKK zippers, a clear window for a business card or ID tag and shoulder straps for easy carry. See them at brownells.com/shootlikeagirl

“We’ve all been touched by Cancer at some level,” said Pete Brownell, company president. “In tribute to my mother, I’m pleased to offer products that support efforts to find a cure for breast cancer.”

CEO Frank Brownell added, “Breast cancer is one of the scourges of our families. It affects so many of us as we lose our wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. We are pleased to make these contributions in addition to our strong support for the Relay for Life program to help find the cure.”

Like all Brownells products, the Shoot Like a Girl gun cases are backed by a no-questions-asked, no-restocking-fee, 100% satisfaction guarantee. Founded in 1939, they supply more than 30,000 firearms parts, accessories and gunsmithing tools to armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. Brownells provides free tech help and there’s no minimum order size or small order fees. To order, or for more information, call 800-741-0015 or visit brownells.com and mention code PFZ.

* Girls Can Shoot

• Annie Oakley, born Phoebe Ann Mosey in 1860, was the Wild West Show’s star attraction for 17 years, marveling spectators with amazing shooting feats. At 90 feet, Annie could shoot a dime tossed in midair. In one day with a .22 rifle she shot 4,472 of 5,000 glass balls tossed in midair. With the thin edge of a playing card facing her at 90 feet, Annie could hit the card and puncture it with five or six more shots as it settled to the ground.
• Plinky Topperwein – A pioneer trapshooter among her sex and one of the greatest-if not the greatest – woman marksman of all times. In 1904, she became the first woman to break 100 straight at trap, a feat which she was to accomplish over 200 times in her career. She recorded fourteen 200 straights before the days of registered shooting. Plinky set an endurance record at Montgomery, Ala. in 1916 by breaking 1,952 of 2,000 targets thrown for her.
• Margaret Thompson Murdock – First markswoman to win a medal in Olympic history. Three position small-bore rife shooting (1976) silver medal winner. Graduate of Kansas State, 1965.
• Kim Rhode – Four-time shotgun Olympian, 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze (1995 – 2008). She won her first Gold Medal for double trap, in 1996 at age 16 and as the youngest member of the U.S. Summer Olympic Team.

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells is proud to announce a 37,000 square foot expansion of their Montezuma, Iowa warehouse...

Brownells.com

Des Moines, Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)- Brownells is growing. The company is proud to announce a 37,000 square foot expansion of their Montezuma, Iowa warehouse is well underway.

According to company President, Pete Brownell, “The extra space makes room for the additional inventory needed to maintain our industry-leading in-stock position and to also help us get our orders out even more efficiently.”

Along with the new space, plans call for the addition of several people, plus more technology to assist order picking, packing, and bulk warehouse staff with their jobs.

CEO Frank Brownell told us, “I remember working for Dad in the basement of the old movie theatre on the town square. We couldn’t imagine filling the current building when we moved in back in the 1970s and we’ve had to add on every five years. What’s really neat is we’ve been able to expand without losing the personal service that our customers deserve.”

At Brownells Everything is Guaranteed period! …Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Founded in 1939, Brownells provides free tech help and there’s no minimum order size or small order fees.

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Pete Brownell for NRA Board

Pete Brownell

Des Moines, Iowa - -(AmmoLand.com)-  Nominated by both NRA Nominating Committee and by General Member Petition.

Pete Brownell: President of Brownells Inc. Life Member since 1972; NRA Benefactor level; NRA Membership committee member; NRA Shooting Sport Committee Member.

Owner Sinclair International; Board member NASGW; Board member Knife Rights; CP Director and Board member of POMA; Board member Shooting USA Foundation; Pheasants Forever Reload Iowa Chair.

• Proven shooting industry business leadership.
• Experience in use of New Media to reach all Americans regarding protection of our Constitutional Rights.
• Communications and brand-building executive experience needed to Broaden the NRA’s Reach.

“The true power of the NRA is the individual’s voice. With the advent of the internet, all of our voices can be heard. It is my hope the NRA will further assist 2nd Amendment advocates in leapfrogging the liberal media through web technology.” ~ Pete Brownell

“Having directors who intimately understand and work in leadership positions within the firearms industry ensures the NRA’s focus is honed on the overall mission of the organization. These individuals bring a keen sense of the industry and of the bigger fight to the table.” ~ Pete Brownell

For more information on Pete’s campaign, please visit www.petebrownell.com.

NASGW

Las Veagas, NV --(AmmoLand.com)- NASGW’s Board of Directors held its last meeting of the 2009 membership year on January 18th just prior to the opening of SHOT Show.

A warm welcome was extended to new President, Mark Kresser and newest Director, Pete Brownell.

Pete Brownell

As a member of the NASGW for many years, Pete certainly appreciates the role the association has played in advancing the position of wholesalers in the shooting sports industry.

“The market sometimes forgets how important the middle channel is,” said Brownell. “We provide a tremendous value to both the manufacturers and the retailers.”

Always on the forefront of both brand-building and customer service, he has watched as customers have migrated from Brownell’s famous horizontal-format catalog to the Browenll’s internet website. And yet, it’s still the people that matter.

“The web just doesn’t replace relationships, and that’s what we wholesalers bring to the marketing process,” added Brownell. Brownell has high praise for the industry’s manufacturers. “Their innovation in design and expertise in manufacturing provide all of us with fantastic products to sell. Getting those products to market efficiently is where the distribution channel is so important. “

As a Board member, Pete will do everything he can to help the NASGW support the wholesale channel so everyone, manufacturers, distributors, retailers – and consumers – benefits.

“After three generations, we’ve got a lot of friends throughout the industry. We want everyone to succeed,” stated Brownell, “and a healthy supply chain is an essential ingredient.”

As always, the Board welcomes your comments, questions and concerns at any time.

For additional information on the NASGW and the services and benefits it provides for members, visit www.nasgw.org or contact: Tracy King Kolojeski, NASGW Director of Operations at PO Box 721564, Orlando, FL 32872 • Telephone 407-362-6391

Gun Talk Radio

Natchitoches, Louisiana – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Scottsdale Gun Club is a world-class facility offering everything from handgun, rifle and machine gun rentals, to gunsmithing, to training courses and shooting leagues.

Members and Non-members can shoot at the range, which features 32 lanes and a tactical bay to practice drawing and shooting in defense situations.

Tom’s broadcast at the Scottsdale Gun Club is part of a strategic planning session for the new group, Knife Rights, and he will be talking with that group’s founder, Doug Ritter. Knife Rights was formed to prevent in the U.S. the restrictions on knife ownership and use such as those in England, where even pocket knives are outlawed.

Tom also will interview Jim Shepherd, of the Outdoor Wire and Shooting Wire; Pete Brownell, President of Brownells and Sinclair International; and Ethan Becker, wilderness survival instructor, knife designer, and co-editor of The Joy of Cooking.

In addition, instructors and managers from the Scottsdale Gun Club will join Tom on this week’s broadcast.

Gun Talk Radio is in its 15th year of national syndication. Gun Talk Radio currently runs on 89 stations and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio (channel 139 on XM and channel 108 on Sirius). All Gun Talk shows can be downloaded through Apple iTunes or at www.guntalk.libsyn.com.

Find more information available at www.guntalk.com.

Frank Brownell - Brownells.com

Montezuma, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- Shot show 2010 just ended Friday, last week. It was a show of mixed results with 1,023 vendors and 56,000 show attendees.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation says this was the largest show to date, and we certainly had huge crowds at both our Law Enforcement and Gunsmithing booths with people 2 to 3 deep most of the show. We especially want to thank everyone that stopped by to say Hello. I only wish Pete and I had been able to spend more time in the booth meeting and chatting with you.

There was some drama at this year’s show. . . The layout and navigation of this year’s Shot Show held at Sand’s Convention Center, was terribly unorganized and could probably be used as the bench mark for the worst laid out Shot Show ever. I suppose this probably has to do with the Sand’s expo not delivering on their promise for a new convention center when the contracts were signed.

We also had 23 people in the industry arrested on the Shot floor the very first day for some export bribery schemes. The FBI was certainly using something other than the NSSF map to find the bad guys; Pete and I were well into our 2nd day before we could find our booth without a guide using the same map! Then there was the unfortunate circumstance where some high-profile vendors boycotted renting a booth space from NSSF and decided to “backpack” their products to the industry, which means they would put all their products in backpacks and go from booth to booth selling or set up rooms in a near-by hotel for a “off-campus show-and-tell”. Both No-No’s with NSSF.

All the above notwithstanding, the primary mission of all the folks we take along to Shot Show is to get to know our customers and our vendors and the other great people in the industry. From this point of view, we had an enormously successful show!! Here are some of the industry bits of this and that we picked up and would like to pass along to you. (For some wonderful in-depth, detailed reviews of this annual bash, I recommend you go to Jim Shepherd’s website for his “The Shooting Wire”, and check back through the archives for the past couple of weeks. Jim’s a great writer with a finely tuned ear who does a great job of “nailing it”!)

The firearms market took a very deep breath after running the 2009 sales marathon, and are a little apprehensive of what 2010 will give us.

Factories, wholesalers and buyers are looking for “Value” this year. Last year it was all about “delivery”. Value does not mean “cheap”. It means how we can all do business better if we work together.

Everybody seems to be focusing on their “Core”.
The most important for all levels of business is to communicate with your customers, spend the time understanding what they are looking for and why. This is the best way you can learn, and you can direct your business to provide the service/product/solution they want and will pay for.

In retrospect, 2009 was the year for deliveries – getting things actually in the hands of the customers. 2010 is going to be the year of “I don’t know what’s next”. With this big mystery staring us in the face, the best way to go into the next 12 months is to focus on communicating with your customers, finding out what they want. And focus on defining what your Core business really is all about, and make it as streamlined and as efficient as possible.

With these two handled well and under tight control, you’ll be able to face – and deal with – whatever comes at you.

Finally, one of the services we provided at Shot Show this year came from the partnership we made with E-Myth Benchmark, the business development consultant. E-Myth was presented at Shot Show University during a seminar on “How To Grow Your Business”. Essentially, E-Myth is a very regimented and systematized coaching method that has been used world-wide in many different industries over the past 30 plus years. If you feel the gunsmith shop or the business you are running is really driving your schedule instead of you driving your business, this is something you need to check into.

I would recommend first buying the book “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It” by Michael E. Gerber (you can find it on http://www.amazon.com/ or buy at a discount from E-Myth Benchmark at number below).

It’s an inexpensive investment and yet gets the point across of how to take your business and your life to that next level. After you have read the book and want to explore E-Myth further, please contact Benchmark Coaching Center at 1-888-959-0621 if you are a business owner. Please mention you are responding to Brownells WebBench e-mail. The E-Myth team will contact you with a web link to an Online Assessment followed up with a personal phone call to follow-up this assessment with a Business Check-up session. Or go to http://www.e-mythbenchmark.com/ on the web and check out all the ways you can get further involved with the program.

Brownells.com

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells.com

Montezuma, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- Get a jump on your gun stuff Christmas shopping starting at 12:00 AM, Friday, November 27!

Go to brownells.com this weekend and use Coupon Code CYB to get 10% off any order over $150! The special savings run through midnight, on “Cyber-Monday”, November 30 so grab your Santa wish list and get ready to save!

Plus save on some specially priced items which will be available all weekend long; AND, the 10% offer is good there, too!

Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, equipment and accessories.

Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. A

ll of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee.

To order, or for more information, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com and mention code PFM.

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Monty Crain (right) one of Brownells GunTechs demonstrates an alternative finish technique to a gunsmithing school student

Brownells.com

Montezuma, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- During 2009, the members of Brownells GunTech Staff took time away from answering customer questions to pass along their knowledge in various areas of the gunsmithing trade. Taking turns, all members of the group taught classes at several gunsmithing schools across the country.

According to Brownells CEO, Frank Brownell, “We’ve always believed that sharing information freely will make the gunsmithing profession stronger. It’s an honor to be able to send our guys out to share what they know. Our GunTechs have helped develop the products and processes they teach about, they know ‘how-to’ better than anyone.”

Almost 160 students attended 10 different classes at schools including Montgomery Tech, Trinidad State Junior College, Murray State College, Wabash Community College and Pennsylvania Gunsmithing School. Classes covered Alternate Finishes, Custom Bluing, AR-15/M16 Maintenance and Repair, Gunstock Refinishing and 1911 Building.

In addition to sending their GunTechs on the road, Brownells also hosted a weeklong series of classes on the Remington 870 and 700, Colt M16/AR-15 and 1911, plus a one day Glock Armorer Class – all taught by factory experts – at their Montezuma, Iowa facility.

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells Expands Firearms Product Listings

Frank B - Brownells.com

Montezuma, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- We have just added a super new “filing & saving” system to the web site. It’s called the “Saved Cart“, and its whole purpose is to make running your shop a whole lot easier for you.

What this neat program does is allows you save orders electronically in the absolutely best and most perfect filing system for you because you set it up to fit the way you look at your world.

You quite literally can now save your shopping cart to any folder you want to and can put any name on that cart you want to.

Brownells Saved Cart is Back

This makes the possibilities limitless!

For instance, if you’re working on a 1911 for a customer named Bill Jones, you can establish a folder named “1911 Projects”. Within this folder create a saved cart for “Bill Jones”. As Bill’s project continues to grow you just add them to “Bill Jones” saved cart until you are ready to place the order. It makes project management and tracking very easy.

Or, if Bill Jones is a customer who has a lot of guns you make an entire folder for Bill Jones. Then you’d label this particular project, “.45 1911″ and so on as additional items are purchased for Bill Jones’s. If his next project is mounting a scope, you can put the items you bought for that project into the Bill Jones folder, but label this cart “Scope mount on Rem. 700, .243 cal”. Thus keeping all of Bill Jones projects together. Another really great feature of this system is that you can write yourself notes on the project you’re working on and save them for future reference. A fantastic way to keep track of your various jobs and projects.

Because of the complete flexibility of the new system, you can literally set it up any way you like. By the kind of project (rebarrel .45); by the name of the customer (Bill Jones); by the day date, or month date (October 2009); by the items you’ve ordered (Leupold Rings/Bases); etc., etc., etc. It doesn’t matter if you’re left brained or right brained, since you’re doing the labeling and you’ve put the carts into the folders, they are going to be where you think they should be. You just don’t have to conform to any body else’s ideas on filing!

What’s more, for those of you who had “Save(d) Carts” in Brownells’ old website before the upgrade in June to this new one, we have brought all those back in so you can access them and decide how you want to file them.

Check out our tutorial at brownells.com/help for a little more information on how it works.

As I sit here writing this, my mind goes into grid-lock thinking of all the possible ways I could set it up for me so I could find things I want to save. I had lots of fun testing it on the “Beta” site with our Web Master trying to make it crash or spin out of control. The old “Save Cart” was mighty popular, and we’ve heard from lots of you about getting it back. Well it is back…but on steroids. Gonna be a really huge winner for you. Find it and give it a try. I guarantee you’re going to love it!!

Brownells.com

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells.com

Montezuma, Iowa --(AmmoLand.com)- Pete Brownell, President of the Iowa-based gunsmithing supply company, Brownells has announced that he is running for a seat on the NRA Board of Directors.

“Thanks to my dad, Frank, I’ve been a Life Member of National Rifle Association since I was a baby. I’ve grown up believing the NRA is the best way to protect our 2nd Amendment rights and our shooting and hunting heritage.

I grew up in the industry and believe I can serve as an effective link between the people who built our traditions, and those that are enjoying them today,” said Brownell. “As President of Brownells,

I’ve continued the family tradition – started by my granddad, Bob Brownell – of supporting the NRA with our contributions to a variety of programs. Now I want to apply my knowledge of the firearms industry and my business experience to help the NRA serve our members.”

Pete Brownell

Brownell was nominated by the petitions of members, far surpassing the required number of signatures, and by the NRA’s nominating committee.

Ballots will be delivered to eligible NRA voters in the annual voting issue of their selected NRA publication.

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com

Brownells Expands Firearms Product Listings

Brownells.com

Brownells.com --(AmmoLand.com)- Brownells has added hundreds of new products which are available exclusively on their newly upgraded website, www.brownells.com.

Full lines now offered include Bushnell Trophy Series Scopes, HiViz Sights, Otis Technology cleaning products, Hawkeye Borescopes, plus Pro Ears and Radians hearing protection.

According to company president, Pete Brownell, “This expansion is part of our mission to provide our customers with the most complete selection of quality products possible.”

Brownell continued, “We’re going to keep expanding the line in the future by offering select full lines to our customers, this is just the beginning!”

About:
Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, gunsmithing tools, reloading equipment and accessories. Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company supplies armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. All of their products are backed by a 100% satisfaction, unconditional, lifetime guarantee. For more information, or to place an order, call 800-741-0015 or visit Brownells.com