Hey y'all!
First thing we wanted to do was say thank you to all our customers. We're humbled and extremely appreciative of the trust y'all have shown us. When I established the company in 2023 I knew where I wanted it to go, but I didn't know how to get there. When we soft launched at GunCon this year we did not expect the warm reception or the level of excitement y'all showed us. Because of y'all's support and trust we've been able to grow from just me full time with a part timer, to now two full timers and three part timers. That may not sound huge, but it's a major change and is allowing us to speed up our product development in a major way, and that's all thanks to y'all. So again, thank you all for taking a leap of faith and giving us a chance, we are excited to prove your trust was well founded in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Earle, Jay, and West
Aside from that thank you and the product support we know we also owe y'all an update on what we're doing, so here's an update on what's been happening.
Personnel
We've recently hired three new people. At the beginning of September we hired Jay full time as our customer service and social media guy. He's a retired SGM and transplant from Boston. He's been able to massively improve our customer support responses, inventory management, and shipping processes.
We also hired Joe and Ava to help us at the shop. Joe is now our resident part time engineer. A NC State University mechanical engineering student he has been helping fix all the designs I thought I could do myself. He has already made massive strides in getting our designs much further in one month than I did in two years of fumbling around with CAD. Ava is also a NC State student who is helping us with QA/QC and shipping. She has been a huge help with speeding up getting orders out within 24 hours.
New Shop
One bit of bad news in this update. Despite our new shop at Chestnut Mountain being ready, we aren't able to move in yet due to an issue with our contractor. If you've noticed that our current shipping address is still in Raleigh instead of Brevard, that's why. We're looking for another shop space here in the area for the next twelve months until we can get that issue resolved, but we just wanted to clear up any confusion that might create. Our hearts are back in Appalachia, but for now our bodies are stuck in Raleigh.
Hardware
OKP Reproductions - Since June we've been working hard to get caught up on the demand for the OKPs. Our inventory is stabilizing and we have more OKPs on the way. We've made a lot of progress with the manufacturer to improve the consistency of the OKPs we receive. Our first shipment had a 10% dud rate and a further 10% were returned by customers to us for repairs. Our last batch had a less than 1% rate for both. We're continuing to make small refinements with each new batch. Starting in November our OKPs will ship serialized so that the warranty will follow the optic instead of the order.
OKP SLAP (Shroud, light amplifying, protective) - Now that we have Joe on staff he's been making a lot of progress rebuilding the SLAP. My original concept worked well for protecting the glass, but the passive light amplification concept did not work. Based on a customer recommendation we looked at using an IR light to trick the sensor, and damned if it didn't work beautifully! Joe's been working to optimize the design for production.
30 Cal Pintle Mount - After testing previous versions and finding a lot of failure points and places we wanted to improve, Joe has been crushing through this project and is rapidly finishing up a beefier, adjustable, repeatable design. This is getting very close to ready to send to beta testers.
Optics - We're still waiting for samples of the OKPi so we can give approval or make additional changes. Same with the Kobra reproductions. We have two other reproduction projects that have entered the earliest phases of prototyping, but they're still to early for any real updates.
Apparel
Campfire Hoodie - We're waiting for the Campfire Hoodie V2 to come in. We got a lot of good feedback about what y'all were hoping for, so we've added thumbholes in the sleeves, a kangaroo pouch, and it's coming in green. Same soft pima cotton, but with what y'all asked for.
Boonies - In production, just awaiting delivery. We had to go back and forth a lot to get the design just right, but they're coming in the next few weeks.
Essential Button Downs - In production now, expect to see them before Christmas.
Thank you all again for all your support. We're excited to prove that we can build interesting products while also proving that it's possible to be a successful company by being honest and supporting your products without nickel and diming your customers to death.