EP 52: Making Every Stalk Count with SIG OPTICS. In this episode of the Epic Outdoors Podcast we talk with Craig Pfiefer of Sig Optics. We go over the product lineup of SIG Optics and take a look at some of the products that are available to make each hunt more successful and every moment count. A hunt can be determined in an instant and having quality gear makes all the difference.
Disclaimer: this podcast has been transcribed from the original audio and likely contains errors. This transcription does not reflect the views and opinions of Epic Outdoors LLC. Please consult the original audio with any concerns.
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It is the best rangefinder I’ve ever used.
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Very rarely do we have a level shot at a sheet.
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Lightweight, compact, accurate, long ranging,
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Anything to do with Western big games.
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Welcome
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To the Epic Outdoors Podcast, powered by Under Armour.
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Hey everybody. Jason Carter here and Adam Bronson of Epic Outdoors with another podcast. We got an awesome guest with us here today, Craig, it’s six hours. Super excited to dive in with him here. We do wanna, before we get started, thank Under Armour for sponsoring this podcast as well as some of the different things we’re working with them on. So anyway, really appreciate them and the hunting industry and the support they give us as hunters. Anyway, the Hunt Expo will be happening February 8th to 11 up here in northern Utah at the Salt Palace Convention Center there in Salt Lake City. We’ll be there, we’ll be booth number 2 8 4 5. So Epic Outdoors will be there. It’ll be Adam, Bronson, John and Chris Peterson, as well as Jeff, John, and myself, Jason Carter. Booth number 2 8 4 5. We’d never miss it. It’s a 20 by 50 booth. We’re gonna have a lot of great animals there.
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And of course, visiting with everybody about their hunt strategies and, and applying across the west and obtaining tags and hunts and whatnot. So it’s a place we get to meet and greet a lot of our different members of Epic Outdoors and just spend a lot of time there with people. And so anyway, we’d encourage everybody to go. It’ll be the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo. You can sign up, which is basically, there’s different packages available if you wanna take part in the day events as well as the night events. You know, you can sign up and, and reserve your place there, or you can walk the floor and you can do that by just showing up and, and buying a, a simple, you know, day pass. And so there will be conservation tags to apply for. They’re five bucks a piece and, and it’s kind of a separate application for Utah tags other than the regular drawings. So you do have to validate those in person. So it’s a good excuse to kind of show up, apply for some of the different hunts, excuse me, tags as well. And then walk the floor and visit. So anyway, plan to be there February 8th to 11th. We’ll be there in booth number 2 8 4 5. Craig, Hey Jason Carter and Adam Bronson here at Epic Outdoors. How are you?
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Hey guys, how you doing? I’m great.
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Good man. Well, I appreciate you being willing to spend a little time with us here today and just kind of talk about six hour and a few things you guys got going.
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Yeah, absolutely. Really appreciate you guys affording us the opportunity to get on, so we’re looking forward to
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It. You bet. So anyway, I guess I don’t know really where to start other than I guess maybe give us a little introduction of yourself, your current position, and then maybe just a little history and background on yourself, and then we can dive into the, to the company and some of those fun things.
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Yeah, absolutely. No problem. A little bit about my background. Born and raised in Oregonian, never left the state really. I even went to college here, and so grew up in the hunting industry, so to speak. Just being out and outdoors and just being taught the heritage of hunting and, and you know, the, the food that provides and obviously the camaraderie and just the whole dynamics of family behind it. So, so that’s really it. The small towns or Oregonian grew up serving in Oregon and how I got to SIG was kind of a, a long route getting into the industry, but always kinda looked into getting into it, coming outta college just a lot of times it’s just being the right place, the right time or, or being connected. So that’s kind of how it worked out, you know, a few years later. But I met Andy York, our current president of SIG Optics division, and Scott Smith, our vice president of product development and another one of our team members, Joe Friel, when we were all working together over at Blunt International for a couple years in 2012, I met those guys and then shortly after, when they started Sigop Optics up and got it really off the ground, they brought me over and to kind of fill the same role I was doing over at Blunt International, which which at the time we were, I was operating with the Oregon Cutting System.
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So those are the, those are the people out there that might not know the name Blunt, but Oregon was the modern day inventor of chain side guide bars and, and talk chain, so. Oh, okay. Makes sense. Anyway, so channel distribution sales support is really what I do over here. It’s big optics, so distribution to dealer rep support all the way down to consumer support. My team here runs technical service and customer service specifically through the optics side. So really kind of a all around role here at big optics involving, you know, sales operations, marketing and, and the customer service role.
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Okay. And so like how long, how long have you been involved or how long have you been employed with sig? How, how
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I’ve been over, yeah. Okay, thanks. I’ve been with sigop for two and a half years. Okay. I came over in June of 2015 and just in time to kind of ramp up, get ready to start shipping product, we started shipping in latter part of September, 2015.
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Okay. And so we’ve always known, I mean, just to kind of maybe, I guess we’re kind of into the company portion of it, but we’ve always known SIG to be major into the firearms pistols, things like that. And, and then now they’re kind of, you know, I don’t know, almost somewhat of a leader in some portions of the optic side of it. When did all that occur? Who, how did that happen?
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Okay, yeah. So the leadership of S C U S A came in and, and was starting to take a look at how to be more innovative in the, in the industry and provide more, more system offering, so to speak. So part of that was why not equip sig firearms with an optic line? Well, SIG did, doesn’t wanna just go strategically partner or slap a name on a product, so to speak. So, right. We decided in 2014 that they wanted to go around strategically to grow the business. And so roughly in Q four of 2014, excuse me, Q two, 2014, the company started to acquire talent in the optics industry and started to grow the business organically. Wow. So along with the system approach, so to speak, Cigna offers products in the line of silencers ammo, and we also have a air rifles division that, that the spec is to match our current firearms. So it’s, they used as training modules at different places domestically and internationally.
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So that’s the last two, three years, like, you know, about the time you came on then, is that when I I, they, they probably needed, if you’re gonna branch out and do more in optics and whatnot, they obviously need to employ some more people to get the word out work with dealers, reps and all that. Is that kind of when you got on board Yeah. Is when that branching out all started taking place?
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That’s correct. You know, like any, any ground up company so to speak, obviously we had the foundation of the support of SIG U S A and, and the experience and leadership from there. But really we grew it organically from the ground up. And as any new startup, you have to start small and, and add pieces as, as the investments come in and then you grow it further as revenue start coming in. So I put a little bit of perspective of how we’ve been successful and the, you know, this really being not even our complete second year full year of shipping. We’re still at, get through November here and one more month in December, but I was approximately the 10th full-time employee brought in, and now we’re sitting at 32 full-time employees. Wow. So 32,
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Is that 32 just in that hunting side optics, or is it for, and obviously, I mean, I don’t know on their firearm side probably, I mean, is that just 32 on the hunting side or is that the company
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As a whole? No, that’s, that’s a, that’s a great question. That is specifically to the optic division. So that doesn’t include any of the several hundred that are back in New Hampshire. So that is specifically our division. No shared services involved with those numbers. That’s basically out of the facility here in Portland, Oregon. And we do have one remote in Portland that works, or employee that works outta Bozeman, Montana on the sales training side, but that’s, that’s specifically the ops optic basically division.
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Wow. That is crazy. And I’m looking, I’m looking on your website and I can see all kinds of, you know, rifle aml, pistol aml, I mean, you guys are, you guys are going crazy on this stuff.
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Yeah, we are. You know, it’s just really the, the approach is to provide a system to the user, whether that’s the leisure leisurely shooter or the collector or target practice enthusiast, all the way down to the hunter and the tactical users. So it’s a really exciting time to be involved and to see the business grow. You know, there was actually a, an article just posted yesterday by American Rifleman that talks about, you know, our success with our system and our approach and kind of a gamble we took to grow, you know, strategically and organically. And so yeah, we’re really starting to optimize to, you know, additional quality of our optics and our ammo and everything else that the company does. So it’s, it’s exciting time to be at SIG as an employee and representing the also exciting time to see consumers like yourselves and users to start picking up product and really start to embrace the quality of, of what we’ve done over at the optic side.
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So how would you, I mean, give us your sales pitch, but that kind of sounds pretty generic, but since you are, you know, an optics company or, or the optics division is so new, tell us what is, why should people consider optics? You know, our listeners probably sometimes are today are gonna hear about some of your products for the first time, what, where they made, how they made, all those types of things, what make them great options for them to consider. I mean, we’ll get into the specifics here about some of your products that Jason and I have been using the last couple years, rangefinders and whatnot later. But, but just as kind of an, an overall fill of the optics division because you know, there’s a lot of other options out there, obviously. Yeah. And so what, what do you guys feel either is new or innovative or unique to you? A little bit, you know, where is it made and all those types of stuff just to help educate our listeners.
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Okay. Yeah. Alright. That’s a good question. Thanks Adam. So for the most part, we’re gonna, we’re going to all come from hunting outdoors backgrounds. And so we feel we have a really strong grasp of what we would like to see in the field. So then that transfers to what is useful to the user, whether that’s an individual entering into the hunting industry or they’ve been around for a while, or even people that are just bird enthusiasts. And what it comes down to is just really keeping products to the forefront on the sides of quality, which is six hours, mantra, repeatability, and then accuracy. So that that may not apply to the full entire line, you know, if we’re talking about binoculars or spotting scopes from the standpoint of point A and point impact with such a rifle scopes and red dots. But we want to keep that in mind.
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And then where we as typical passionate outdoors people here, ergonomics are really important to us, whether it’s the fit and the feel or you know, how does it feel on our eyes, how is that glass working in low light, bright light environments? How is the range finders reading in accurately and all different ambient light conditions. So we wrap that all up and put that into our specs, our engineer designs, whether that’s, you know, an ID or internals. And then we go out like most high quality brand branded optics manufacturers, these or optics brand these days. And we are going to the contract manufacturers and we’re saying, Hey, we want, for instance, in Japan would be one example. And we would say, Hey, there’s our design, here’s our spec, here’s what we, how we want it to be built to these standards. And then, you know, it’s from a, from a Franken type to a prototype stage, obviously these contract manufacturers are, they’ve been in the industry for a while.
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There’s, there’s, you know, a handful that do the majority of the manufacturing of optics in the world. So we partnered with, with the best of those. And, and then we take the, you know, prototypes and then we test them rigorously against our standards, whether that’s a SIG standard or our own internal SIG standard. But we have the ability to live fire and test our products unlike any of our other manufacturers in that we’re a firearms manufacturer. We have the, the assets to do that equipment and the ability to do that. And if from a sample of repeatability and accuracy, we wanna be able to know that with the sick name that we’re putting on a product, it’s gonna hold up.
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So what maybe kind of an overall view? Are you, what, like what’s your mission statement? Are you trying to be the best, are you trying to, are you trying to match or beat Swarovski or ze, sort of like, is it, or you don’t care about those companies? You don’t, you pretend there’s no optics out there, we’re gonna do it what we wanna do at a price point that that fits average, the average income, the high income. Are you trying to be the number one product? Like what is the mission statement, so to speak, of your optics division?
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You know, we always talk about, you know, see the difference and where that comes from is really the electro optic side and the innovation that we’re bringing into it for the available technologies that may not have been used prior in the optics industry. And backing that up with superior design and engineering. And so we, we feel that with that high quality that we’re coming with, we are gonna be of like a European i e roky, like quality, but at a price that would be not at that premium. So we’re coming in at a very affordable price to the le let, let’s say average user, so to speak, some guys that are really wanting to step up and I’ve always been the believer of buy the best class that you could afford. Yeah. So yeah, I’ve got several swarski pieces of equipment.
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Do you feel like they’re comparable? Like do you feel like they’re comparable?
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Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, our rifle scopes compare very well. Low light conditions with, with with roski. Even our, some of our binocular line, our fantastic, our Oscar seven spotting scope will hold up very well against some HD stuff. We, we have some, some things that we would need to work on. But yeah, as far as Christmas clarity, ergonomics, trying to keep, you’re
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On the right track. You’re just saying we’re on the right track. We’ve been doing it a couple years, we’re on the right track and yeah. And very comparable. And that’s kinda, that’s kind what I wanted to get to. And part of this, and I don’t mean to grill you, but, but we kind of do that a little bit, but is, Adam and I have been using your rangefinder. We’ve got the kilo 2,400, I think Adam’s got a couple of models, 2000, 20 402,000. But, but anyway, and, and it’s very impressive. It’s the best rangefinder I’ve ever used. It’ll, it’ll range find through my front windshield, which means, you know, if it’s, if it’s snowing or, or starting to snow or a little bit of fog, if it can do my front curved windshield, I’m sure. And, and it’s fast. It’s, it’s, it’s unbelievably fast. It’s instantaneous.
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And, and of course the angles built into it, the temperature, your humidity, all of the factors your elevation automatically are in there. My, my gun load’s in there. It’s just telling me dial to this m o a mill rats, whatever units you’re in, you can put that in. There’s an app on your phone. And I’m just kind of giving a, just a brief overview for, for our listeners ’cause it’s, it’s relatively new and you know, as far as the industry and, and, and Adam and I are aggressively involved in the industry and it’s fairly new to us. So I’m sure it’s new to a lot of users out there. And, and so with that, that’s why we wanted to talk to you is, is if it’s, if your range finders are that good and it’s dealing with all the electronics in there and it’s in a small package and, and built right and it’s working, we’re killing stuff with it using that system. I wanna know more about the optics, I wanna know more about the rifle scopes. Like you’re onto something and that’s, and that’s why Adam and I are, you know, and the rest of the guys here at Epic and of course our listeners are, are hearing more about you and, and we wanna know more about what, what you guys have got going on.
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Well yeah, thanks Jason. Obviously I’ve seen your success with what you guys have been able to do with those rage finders. So I call that the litmus test. So guys that are successful and are showing people that hey, I’m using some equipment and it’s helping me, you know, harvest animals or just be a better a hunter, you know, being able to use equipment
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Yeah. In a manner that may not have been used before. I mean, I’ll use my rangefinders up in the wilderness area in Idaho just for, you know, I’ve got a herd spotted ’em and I’ll Okay, I know where they’re at, how far are they? Okay, I’m, I’m at 2000 yards ’cause I know I can hit trees sometimes at 2000 yards and dead light. Wow. So I’ll be able to dictate, okay, how, how long is it gonna take me to get to that her and get into a shooting position to take a, you know, an ethical shot at, at, at the last few minutes of legal shooting lights. So not everyone has got a range grinder out there that can range, you know, what’s, you know, our spec’s written that on that kibo point per hundred up to 1890 yards on trees. That that’s typically in your, your lower light situation. And that’s, that’s your, that’s your more of your hard, your hard foliage on de ous trees and things like that. But there’s, there’s nothing out there today that is in such a lightweight, compact, accurate, long ranging. And you spoke about being quick, I mean it’s, our hyper scan system will give four readings per second. We’re sending several thousand pulses of, of laser down a second. We’re getting those readings back. So even if you’re not able to get on a single touch, you typically can hover on your target as long as it’s a thin range and it’s gonna give you a reading back. So it’s, it’s tremendous how this, how our range finders have really, you know, given us a substantiated foundation in the optic optic
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Industry. What’s the, what’s the big difference when you say the kilo 8 50, 12 50 2000, 2200, is that, is that yardage, is it? Or is it the, the different features within it and it’s just a number, you know,
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A good way, a good way to understand the, the, the product line breadth there is just, yeah, it, it’s typically a summation so to speak. Or a, a better way to put it is probably an average of the typical targets we will range spec. So we’ll range spec steel targets, you know, metallic targets, reflectives trees and hide. So it’s typically an average of all those yardages put into one a one unit. So if you wanna consider the kilo eight 50 Yeah. It doesn’t have, its the features and benefits of the 2,400 and we treat that as a good, better, best so to so to speak product offering. But the eight 50 would not range as far based on the capabilities. So, so that’s really a good way to put it.
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And I’m not saying it could, it’s gonna necessarily range up to eight 50 on all targets. It’s just that you’re probably gonna get down, you’re gonna get some good ranges on reflectives, probably about 600 on trees and then four or 500 on animals. So, but for the price point for that particular unit that with the hyper scan mode and the angle modification range on that kilo eight 50, there’s nothing in the industry that can, that could compete with it at that price point. Yeah. That thing sells for less than $200. So if you’ve got Midwest archery guy that doesn’t, you need to range, you know, over a thousand yards, that range finder will give them four readings per second. We’ll give ’em a m r and then also back it with a, basically basically an industry leading warranty of, of lifetime on, on product that for lenses, laser apertures. And then we do have a five-year electronics warranty. But for anything that would keep that unit from giving the function of observation, you got a lifetime on the rangefinder.
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Well,
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Well I know, I know this year I used a lot year 2000, a lot this year both from, I was looking for, you know, obviously smaller the better this day and age from a rangefinder standpoint. But one that could be used in all, all the things we’ve been talking about that that hit quick could be used long range when I’m rifle hunting, but also can be used up close when I’m archery hunting because you know, whether we’re hunting elk or deer or whatever in very steep train, you know, the difference in 10 yards is, is a miss with a bow. If you’re ranging something at 16, it’s really 42 yards ’cause of the angle or whatever, you know, or 48 yards or whatever. So I wanted something and that’s the one I settled with and I really, really enjoyed it. And I also end up taking a lot of clients as an outfitter primarily for bighorn sheep and yeah, used it on all 12 of my sheep hunts this year with clients.
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And there’s very, very rarely do we have a level shot at a sheep. Usually we’re below or above and we’re shooting down on ’em, usually down on top. ’cause we usually try to approach our sheep from up above if at all possible. Yeah. And very, very impressed with how, how accurate because whether they use my rifle or they bring their own, which obviously the 2000 doesn’t have the program ability of, of all of the guns, which, you know, hunters are bringing their own guns. I’m not gonna be able to do that in my 2,400 like, like we have now, but just hold over accurate yardage readout so I know where to tell ’em to hold if they’ve got a red or I know where to dial if they’re in a yardage system or whatnot. Very, very impressed. You know, you know, we don’t, we don’t lob a lot of long shots at, at bighorn sheep.
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It’s a once in lifetime hunt. Yeah. We’re not, we’re not sitting down and seeing how far we can kill one of those. That’s not our target. However, many times we’ve got nothing but open air between us. We’re on a rim. Yeah. And the sheep’s across the canyon and they’re 515 yards and with angle and you need to know exactly where to hold on that because you can’t get any closer. And if you miss your follow up shots, if they’re running away are gonna be very difficult because yeah, you can’t get closer. You got open air. So anyway, lots of things like that where precision matters and I’ve been very impressed this year both, you know, both from an archery standpoint. I used it on Deere and elk hunts this year at the bow as well as rifle hunt. So I, you know, it’s the only products up to this point that I’ve used been very impressed as Jason’s talked about himself with, with everything I’ve seen. So, you know, from, I guess maybe tell us how you feel that translates. I know maybe talk a little bit about, I know you do rifle scopes, you know the bins, the spotting scopes, everything. Tell us what you feel maybe some of the, the best models and or features or specs within those types of products that you give that our listers might be interested in. You feel?
00:26:41:03 –> 00:27:38:02
Okay? Yeah. Great. Yeah. Well first of all, that’s fantastic relevant success you, you had with your clients in the field. I mean the harvest 12 big horns is incredible in one year. So that’s awesome. And I’m glad to hear that our equipment helped, helped with you and you know, give the suit some confidence to put some animals on the ground. So that’s awesome. So just a little bit about the A M R before I jump into some of the other products. So just for the listeners that may not understand what angle modified range is, is basically it’s an onboarding incline meter that helps us read incline decline angle and then modifies it to the effect of holistic shooting range where that’s for a rifle or bow. So, we’ll we can go down to five yards up to whatever the range spec is, but, and then really detailed, we’ll go all the way down to the 10th of the yard.
00:27:38:06 –> 00:29:14:13
So a lot of, a lot of that built into that unit was due to the, you know, passion for bow hunting that, that some of our leadership team here has and our engineers. So they knew how important it was to provide a tool like that and be fully confident that they could depend on it. So that’s something that we took using some of that standard, you know, technology and concepts and then built that into, let’s say our whiskey five and our tango six rifle scope line. We now have within that product line, what would be called our level plex anti cant radical. So guys that are shooting longer ranges and old school call it 500 yards and, and out so to speak. But there is such thing that red can or rifle can’t, can actually affect bullet riff that yards of five yards and greater. And as we know, the long range hunting is becoming more popular. Know some people would second guess the ethics behind that, but I think his technology’s become better and shooters practice more and elements are learned and areas of hunting are patterns are understood in the el the climate, it’s probably becoming a lot more. Well
00:29:14:13 –> 00:29:38:02
And in the past we’ve had in the rifle Yeah. In the past, well in the past currently we have levels on, we have levels on our scope, you know, and we yep. We mount our scope level with the rifle with no rifle. Kent, the scope’s, you, you hang a bubble. Yeah. You, you gotta pull ’em out there and you basically, your level or your, your radicals straight up and down, then you set that with your bubble level. You check the level before you pull the trigger.
00:29:38:28 –> 00:29:39:07
Yeah.
00:29:39:17 –> 00:29:48:07
How now, and I, and I know I’m prefacing, but what does your riflescope do? I mean you’re, you’re gonna tell me, okay, you’re fixing it for me.
00:29:49:09 –> 00:31:00:26
Yeah, absolutely. So most mainstream riflescope manufacturers can only get the radical within about a one degree of accuracy within the scope. Okay. So that’s pretty much a, a standard, you know, through the years it kind of was 3% because 3% is what the human eye could, could see. But now the standard is down to one degree of accuracy. But okay. And then you throw, so lemme take a step back real quick. So leveling and plumbing your scope and the rings is important also depends on eye position and how you’re viewing it. So the everyday user may have to rely on someone to mount that scope, form those rings, make sure everything’s all sure copacetic form. Sure. From an onset, this allows the user to put it in the rings and confidently know that they’ve got their radical level. Once they know that their rifle scope is, you know, that’s in the rings plum, they’re still gonna use a, a level to make sure their scope’s plum in there.
00:31:01:09 –> 00:32:36:14
But once you, once you have that scope in there, then you wanna level out the accuracy of how it’s bed in the rings level. Flex is activated by the side side knob on the, in on the illumination dial. And it, and it’s on our whiskey five and our tango six line whiskey five is our honey line and tango six is our tactical line. Okay. And these are our newer models. This wasn’t the technology we, we came out when we established a product line. So this is more of a 2017 model. So obviously if, if you’re buying online or, or you know, buying at a retail store, you might wanna make sure that if that is what you’re, you know, that your user’s interested in, in that particular technology, make sure it’s got the level plex system. So there’s still some, some product out there that may have, may not have this technology that’s at, at our dealer base. But anyways, it’s activated at the illumination dial. And so what it does is there’s triangle left and right within the field of view, inside the scope. So it’s an ambient yellow light. You can change the intensity of that brightness, but it also has a two step round robin mode that you can get it down to half, half degree accuracy or one degree. So what that allows us to do is to get even more accurate for radical camp than the manufacturer.
00:32:37:10 –> 00:32:37:19
So in
00:32:37:19 –> 00:32:38:19
Simple, the process can do
00:32:38:26 –> 00:33:08:02
So in simple terms, I’m looking through your scope, I I’m looking through your scope and Yep. And it’s electronically telling me if it’s level or not is correct. Is that what I’m, I mean just tell me simply like I’m looking through the scope, it’s mounted properly. Yeah. The scope’s mounted properly. I’m gonna shoot something and I, and it’s within the scope, there’s an illumination, yellow light illuminated that tells me if it’s can or not or if it’s level
00:33:09:04 –> 00:33:29:25
Correct. Yeah. Sorry, I was getting kind of get long-winded sometimes. Anyways, what I was getting to was, so you were speaking before Jason, Adam was about the bubble level on the outside of your scope. Yep, yep. So it removes really the, the need to have a bubble level, which
00:33:29:25 –> 00:33:50:26
Is, which is kind of nice because you, you got your eye has to leave the scope, look at the bubble Yep. And go back into the scope. And you kind of do that a couple of times before you squeeze, squeeze round off. Correct. Now I get to look at this, I, I look in there and I can see by the illuminated light, if it’s level, it’s giving me the green light to go or yellow light, so to speak, to go ahead and pull the trigger. Yeah.
00:33:51:23 –> 00:34:18:15
Oh absolutely. Interesting. Yeah. So, yep. So, so bubble levels are at the most about a three degree accurate. So if we have the ability to remove that and keep the shooter on target by seeing the levelness within the field of view in the scope, it’s, it’s a tremendous value add and a benefit. No,
00:34:18:20 –> 00:34:43:26
Dude, there’s no question to the shooter. And having used your rangefinder, I’m pretty, I’m pretty sure you’ve got the technology to do it. And so I believe you, when you say it works, I just, it’s somewhat of a new concept to, to us and maybe, maybe it’s been out there for a while, but, but, and maybe in tactical lines, it’s been out there for a long time in, in different manufacturers. I’m not sure. Not as long as the hunting for sure though. Yeah. Not the hunting line.
00:34:44:06 –> 00:35:50:06
Yeah. Well yeah, it’s, it is patent pen technologies. So there is a, there’s another manufacturer that came in behind us with a similar product, but it, ours was first to, to hit, to hit the street, so to speak. So there’s no other technology out there other than two different options today. And then as the patents get, get approved and clear, we’ll we’ll see how things work out. But lemme put in a little little bit of perspective to the, to your listeners. So let’s say you’re using our kilo 2100 rangefinder and you’re on your sheath fund, just like you were talking about Adam. And you range, you range, you range the animal at four oh oh yards and you’re shooting downhill. It’s already giving you the angle modification range and you know, Adam and probably a lot of users is the world’s not level. So you could be on a, a slope, shooting downhill and you might still be candid not only shooting down at a, at a 60 year angle, but you might also be, you know, sloped to the right.
00:35:51:01 –> 00:36:35:04
’cause you’re side hilling, correct. Yeah, yeah. So you’ve range the animal four, four on yards and now you are using a kilo 2,400. So with environmental sensors built into, it’s built, it’s got humidity, temperature pressure, it’s now telling you in a wind reading, it’s now telling you how to make your adjustments based in that yard. So you’re able to make your adjustment with your elevation and if you need to on the wind, you can make those adjustments, get back on scope, animals still in your field of view. And at that point, with the level flex engaged, you’ll know when you’re level ready to take that shot, it’s gonna reduce the amount of bullet drift at longer distance. So, yeah.
00:36:35:16 –> 00:36:36:24
Impressive. It’s
00:36:36:24 –> 00:36:49:18
Really impressive. It’s gonna allow, allow more accuracy, more animals to be put on the ground. A lot more shooter confidence out there, happy hunters, happy guides, all, all the above. So it’s,
00:36:50:07 –> 00:37:00:22
So what, what else? It’s really exciting. So you’ve got the level, part of the scope. What, what else is setting your rifle scopes apart from the standard rifle? Just their architectures. Like what else?
00:37:00:22 –> 00:38:29:09
Yeah, I think just our, these, our design that we do with the, with the turret systems, make sure that they’re the, the best materials being used that may not be always the case with, with other, other brands. Just making sure that we’re gonna have a allow for repeatability know a a a shooter that really shoots a lot or hunts a lot’s gonna be turning those TURs left, right up down. Yeah. Substantially. So we want materials to, to hold up in there. We’re using some of the best class technology that’s available, available to us. We do some things with the glass. All our systems have spectro code in there. So there’s a wide, wide broadband of spectrum of colors with clarity at Christmas to go along with it for low end, low end highlight. Okay. Light conditions. We’re gonna add things like lens armor and lens shield to, to the glass and those, those two scope lines. Lens armor would be basically scratch resistant glass. And then lens shield is an phobic mill spec layer that we put on it to allow things like water gun, dirt, oil, blood, whatever to cleanly wipe off and then smear and how many times we all been out there, we can’t quite get something off or pinch up our lens and it’s kind of bothersome. So. Yeah.
00:38:29:19 –> 00:38:33:15
So do you guys have, do you guys have radical options as well as turrets? Yep.
00:38:34:24 –> 00:38:39:11
You get to choose. I’m not gonna probably go into a lot of detail with each of those, but that’ss
00:38:39:11 –> 00:38:41:17
Fine. Either. Yeah. Either options for gas
00:38:41:23 –> 00:38:42:06
With their eyes.
00:38:42:06 –> 00:39:13:21
Yeah. On our T six tactical line, which we’re probably, I won’t go all the way down to the, the one power stuff. We’re just mostly talking probably Western Western style head guys. But we’re gonna have a mill million redle, m o A and Emed Mill Radical. Yep. We’ll have an m o a an Emad, what’s called our dev l redle, which is basically a holdover redle. So more of the guys are used to quote unquote Christmas tree style redle. We have that available. Yeah.
00:39:16:20 –> 00:39:17:29
What’s in the in’s, the,
00:39:18:02 –> 00:39:18:22
In the hunting lines,
00:39:18:25 –> 00:39:19:25
What’s in the works and in our
00:39:19:25 –> 00:39:20:08
Health fire,
00:39:20:14 –> 00:39:52:05
What’s in the works, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of technology. Technology’s going crazy right now. Of course it’s on the minds of game and fish agencies across the west on, on ethics. And at some point, you know, when does a guy say Enough is enough. But just wondering what’s in the works. You guys are so innovative, you’ve proven it with some of the range finders. I mean, have you got some other things coming out 2018 2019 beyond? Or anything you can talk about as far as that? That’s
00:39:52:05 –> 00:39:52:20
Not too secret.
00:39:52:26 –> 00:40:42:27
Yeah, there’s, there we’re going to continue to build on rifle scope in electro optics innovations and range finders. That, that that’ll be a hot topic for us. ’cause that’s what we’ve done very well at and that’s what we’re passionate about. So won’t see anything that’s a shots show in advancements of that. But, you know, later towards the year and for the, the N R A shows, the typically their our half year launch of items. So further advancements in rangefinder and rifle scopes, I can’t get into too many details on that, but some really mind blowing sort of concepts that will continue to evolve all the way through many different
00:40:45:21 –> 00:40:46:00
Okay.
00:40:46:09 –> 00:40:58:08
Arenas of the hunting industry, you know, awesome. Would probably eventually start crossing into more of the crossbow and even more bow hunting sort of technologies. Wow. Which would be a huge advancements.
00:40:59:17 –> 00:41:41:12
Well yeah, because you guys have, I mean, it seems like unlimited potential where you’ve, you’ve dove right into ammo, all kinds of, all of this stuff, all of the stuff we’ve been talking about isn’t something maybe that I’ve always, when somebody said six hour that, that I’m always Yeah, that’s what comes to mind. Oh, for sure. I’m thinking, you know, I’m, I’m thinking of, you know, obviously your pistols, pistols and some of your, you know, firearms and so anyway, that’s all, it’s all really exciting. I noticed on the binos you’re running with eights, nines, 15 power binos and, and so jumping right into the kind of some of the long range, you know Sure. Optics and, and different things like that as well.
00:41:42:25 –> 00:42:23:14
Oh, absolutely. So if you, you’ve got users or listeners out there that are wanting to get into an affordable pair of high quality binoculars. The Zulu nine line and the Zulu seven are absolutely a home run. The Zulu nine has got some of the best glass and, and light efficiency and light transmitters in, in the industry. And we would put our Zulu nines up against any European brand out there. And we will be rolling out a 15 by 56 model in that, in that set. And I’m guessing that that’ll become one of our hottest movers.
00:42:23:23 –> 00:42:34:01
So you’ve got the Zulu six, Zulu three, Zulu six, Zulu seven, Zulu nine, and, and obviously so nine’s your kind of your top end and your top of the line. Yep. Okay.
00:42:34:10 –> 00:43:31:03
Yep. Yeah, it’s kind of a good better, best platform again on that. The zero to five platform’s gonna change a little bit. We’ll, we’ll announce those changes to shot show. Just some general Id look changes on that. Just a fit field added in the 12 x 50 set in there because we currently do not have a 12 power in the, in the lineup. Okay. Added that as well to the do the seven line, but do the three’s a fantastic field set. That’d be a great for, for use or a light user or maybe a waterfowl hunters, someone that’s wanting to get into a real good entry level set of binoculars. I I love the fact that they’re an open bridge one hand use, which is, you know, I’ve used them on Turkey hunts, got guys on that are archers that are, that’s perfect for them.
00:43:31:23 –> 00:44:38:08
Yeah. We’ve still got a guy that might be, we need to look, look at at the quarry out of a thousand, 1200 yards. And then my favorite, just because I really love that, that open bridge, it’s still got pretty high light transmittance, you know, upwards of 90% of light transmittance. Yeah. There’s ulu sevens 10 by 40 twos and like I said, we’re gonna roll out a a 12 x 50, which I’ll probably end up shelving my 10 by 40 twos. But yeah, just from a light pack or a light lightweight ergonomic Christmas clarity highlight transmitters, they’re, they’re fantastic. Yeah. And then all, all, all we have to do, the nines do The nines are the best class that we have out there. It allows us to really look into the shadows instead of just seeing the shadows. So that’s important that you guys know, usually running your, your high endoscopy, it’s be able to see into the rock crevices and be able to see into the deep shade of the trees and and all that to where you can say, okay, there’s an animal bedded there. Yeah.
00:44:38:25 –> 00:44:39:13
Well and I think
00:44:39:19 –> 00:44:40:11
Zoo are great
00:44:40:20 –> 00:44:54:07
And I think the price point, you know, is key when guys are guys are dealing with so much money and gear and trying not to Oh yeah. Trying not to get divorced three or four or five times. Oh
00:44:54:07 –> 00:44:55:20
Yeah, oh yeah. Because
00:44:55:20 –> 00:45:03:06
It, it’s got, there’s so much money involved and that’s what I think’s interesting about your price points and, and, and different things. And so yeah,
00:45:03:07 –> 00:45:16:29
You’ve also got some spot scope blinds as long as well as some technology. Maybe you can talk about this electronic image stabilization feature in some of your scopes and how’s that working and you know, because
00:45:16:29 –> 00:45:33:14
You had, back in the day, Zeis had a 20 power pair of vinyls with image stabilized, stabilizing clear back like what, 15 years ago? Adam ’em, 20 years ago. Yeah. But, and they were cool. Like they were cool people used them and so that kinda, I mean, when we noticed that, you know, just wanted to know more about that.
00:45:35:05 –> 00:45:47:07
Yeah, no, that’s awesome. I, I’m, I’m guessing 20 years ago the technology did not allow those, that that set of vernaculars, that the real ergonomic
00:45:48:01 –> 00:45:58:07
No, they were pretty, pretty big cumbersome. And then they were sensitive too. Like you could, you know, easy to, easy to break the components of it. Yeah. So anyway,
00:45:58:20 –> 00:47:06:01
Yeah. So a western style, maybe back country hunter were trying to cut down a little bit of weight and shelved the big spotter and the tripod would be interested in looking at our Oscar three mini spotting scope comes in a 10 to 20 power. And basically it’s got built in sig optic stabilizer in it, in it. So with a pull of a lever, once you’ve got your, you’re on target and you’ve got your focus dialed in, you’re fine focus, you can pull the electronic lever over from basically off the on and it will electronically pull, freeze the frame by use of some gyroscopic electronics within it. Wow. So it’s pretty common what you might see in the camera world today. And so we were able to use some technologies that have advanced and plug it in there and keep it lightweight. This thing comes in at 16 ounces and it really does reduce the BLEs and lolls for a hand handheld stabilizer.
00:47:06:09 –> 00:47:12:00
So is this in, it’s in a spot in scope. So it’s a monocular, I mean it’s not, you don’t have ’em in the binos yet?
00:47:13:02 –> 00:47:15:14
No, no. And it’s binocular style and
00:47:15:14 –> 00:47:19:14
It’s 10 to 20 power. You, you not, not got ’em in a 60
00:47:19:14 –> 00:47:21:14
Power Oscar seven. Got that.
00:47:23:09 –> 00:47:24:05
I’m sorry, what’s the question?
00:47:24:25 –> 00:47:30:13
In your Oscar seven and your, your higher magnification status or is just in the lower one? Lower dication.
00:47:30:13 –> 00:47:49:15
Oh, so that’s that often that, that sig optic stabilizers is in the Oscar three and that’s that handheld unit. So our Oscar seven would be our 10 by 60 by 82. I’d start to get in more of your, your your larger Yeah. Spotting scopes.
00:47:49:25 –> 00:47:50:20
Any, any plans.
00:47:50:20 –> 00:47:52:09
Start start carrying more, start
00:47:52:23 –> 00:47:53:14
Any plans. You
00:47:53:14 –> 00:47:54:04
Start carrying more weight.
00:47:54:10 –> 00:48:01:03
Yeah, little more weight. But any plans to put the image stabilizing in higher power spotting scopes down the road?
00:48:01:24 –> 00:48:52:24
Not, not, not at this time. It’s just not real in some, like, it’s cost conducive. So when you’re starting to get into a, a $1,500 spotting scope, you know, you start adding some optimization features that’s gonna starting to increase the price. So, and most of those guys or users are going to be running that on a tripod. So we haven’t really looked at that. We will advance the, the spotting scope line, but we got a fairly solid foundation right now we’re happy with and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll grow it. We got some whiteboard projects out there, so we’ll start seeing some stuff and you know, obviously we have some influence in the tactical world and the military side. So we might see, be seeing some stuff that would advance towards, towards that kind of crossover use.
00:48:53:14 –> 00:49:33:29
That’s cool. Well, you know, Jason, I’ve told you I guess a little bit of about a couple of pieces of your optics that we’ve used in our own hunts and, and some of our guided hunts and whatnot. And I don’t mean to make you pick one, but do you have a personal favorite piece of gear that you use, whether it’s your vinyls or your, or your rangefinder or, or maybe a combination that you use in your setup if you’re, that’s caught a broad range of appeal maybe for our listeners to maybe really go put in their hands somewhere and we’ll get into that in a minute. Where to find your products, what do you, what do you really feel like you guys have maybe hit the home runs with it and you, for you personally and what, how you use your stuff?
00:49:35:04 –> 00:50:17:02
Okay. Well it probably depends on what hunt I’m going on, but I, I typically don’t go on a hunt without my Zulu seven binoculars. Without a doubt. I might bring the nines with me and I’ll bring my spotters, but I’m typically gonna use those for my, for my all day field glasses and, and they’re tripod mount. All our, our binoculars for the most part are tripod animal too, if they, if they need to be. But, so those are always a must for me. If it’s a backpack hunt and I’m not bringing my big spotter, I’m gonna throw in that Oscar three. I mean, I may not get it out and use it necessarily, but it’s, it’s one pound, so I figured I can cut, cut a pound somewhere else. Yeah,
00:50:17:08 –> 00:50:24:22
It’s low, it’s low weight. But my thing would be you’ve got 15 power binos, you know, and if you’re 10 to 20 power, it’s just
00:50:24:22 –> 00:50:26:05
Not, not that much difference. Yeah.
00:50:26:13 –> 00:50:28:13
It needs to be 30 power, you know what I mean?
00:50:28:18 –> 00:50:29:23
Yeah, no, I, there’s an
00:50:29:23 –> 00:50:30:19
Extra pound though that’s
00:50:30:22 –> 00:51:23:13
Not gotta run with 15 much. Yeah. If you got a guy run with 15, just with my setup on those do seven, they, they’re 10 by 42. So I’m just have a little bit more, little more to decide if I’m gonna go after an animal or not, you know, in the back country. It’s just what I need just to get closer and, and, and then be able to, you know, size it up so to speak. But, and then I think really the rangefinder, whether it’s the 2200 MR or the 2,400 is always with me. I used the 2,400 more this year just because that was newer and I no longer had to, you know, basically range and dial with a, with a signal ballistic to it. But I, I could put my, my gun ballistics and manipulate the environmentals if I needed to for wind in, in the keto 2,400 and be able to know that I was holding point of eight point impact on the animal.
00:51:23:18 –> 00:52:51:10
Yeah. As you guys know, you guys ran the 2,400 that be able to have your environmentals, your ballistics, all in one piece of technology and then allow you to incorporate that into how you made your adjustments for elevation of Windage is, is an absolute grand slam you can store, even if you’re using multiple guns on a hunt or you’re, or you’re guiding a hunter or, or what have you, you can put their dope in it so you can be able to articulate to them where they need to hold. So it’ll store up the four gun profile. That’s a fantastic tool, that piece of equipment that I would absolutely recommend. Sure. If you can’t afford the 2,400 or it doesn’t make sense, even if you’re an archer, I would definitely consider the kilo 2200 Mr. Just because of the price point and what you’re getting for it. You’d be much more happier with that even if you don’t need the super long range abilities. If, if your Woods archery hundred with a 1250 and 8 50, 8 50 and 1250 are great. I’m just saying if you can afford the 2200 step up and do it. And then on my hunting rifle set up, I would go Whiskey five, three to 50 by 44 is perfect. Or hell hellfire quadplex, it’s got level flex built in the best glass that we can offer. Super, super compact, fairly lightweight for a 30 millimeter main tube and
00:52:52:25 –> 00:52:53:04
Okay.
00:52:53:04 –> 00:52:56:16
That’s, it’s pretty much would be my go-tos. Good.
00:52:58:03 –> 00:53:28:14
So we’ve told you absolutely, we’ve told you a couple of our hunting experiences. Well there is one I want to, I, I, and Chris reminded me of this, but we went in on the Escalante course, Adam and I and I had an escali sheep tag and, and literally 10 years ago, 11, yes. It’s been a little 10. Yeah. Before all this technology has really just cranked since 2007 ish. Remember Adam, I mean they were, we were running like even trail cameras were on 35 millimeter
00:53:28:14 –> 00:53:30:19
Film know with D and c batteries.
00:53:30:20 –> 00:53:45:07
Yeah. D, D and Cs. And we were running to Walmart doing the one hour photo thing and 36 exposure and I mean it was, it’s ridiculous. Yeah. It was dumb. It was ridiculous. But you know, and and that wasn’t that long ago. We’re talking oh, five ish or
00:53:45:07 –> 00:53:54:16
Six-ish. Yeah. And Rangefinders were, there’s no angle compensation. No. And if, if you could get a good ringing at, honestly at 500, that was pretty dang good. You’re doing
00:53:54:16 –> 00:54:07:26
Good. And now some of our long range rifles are limited to the rangefinder. You have, you, your rifle can do it. You can do it. Yeah. But your range, you, you sometimes and, and antelope we’re always gonna give you grief ’cause you don’t have a
00:54:07:29 –> 00:54:08:19
Definitive
00:54:08:19 –> 00:54:23:16
So flat. Yeah. You can’t tell you can miss them by a hundred or 200. But, but I guess, you know, we were going out on the escali and we were, I was shooting straight down on this ram. In fact a buddy of mine held onto my feet and, you know, ’cause it was a literal
00:54:23:21 –> 00:54:25:20
Yeah. Hanging off Yeah. Edge cliff.
00:54:25:20 –> 00:54:31:00
Yeah. I get off the edge. Yeah. Wouldn’t do it again. Just kids.
00:54:31:01 –> 00:54:33:13
We were just kids. Th dumb 30 year olds back then. Sure.
00:54:33:29 –> 00:54:41:02
So anyway, but the ram did end up dying, but it took a minute, you know, and
00:54:41:21 –> 00:54:43:06
That’s all he’s gonna say. Yeah.
00:54:43:23 –> 00:54:45:25
And I hear you. And it was angle compensated.
00:54:46:03 –> 00:54:48:04
That was the whole issue. That was it. Yeah.
00:54:48:04 –> 00:55:07:07
And, and, and I don’t know, even nowadays, if you were to angle range straight down, if it truly would give you the where to, how to hold because you’d have had to hold a foot under his brisket to, to, you know, hit him in the chest. And so anyway, and, and it may work some of, you know, but it was an extreme, extreme angle and you
00:55:07:07 –> 00:55:14:19
Were learning after each shot and you saw where it was missing. We were learning, we were, we start aiming, you’re adjusting, you’re adjusting.
00:55:15:13 –> 00:55:59:23
I might’ve shot himself if he’d have ran away. ’cause I mean it was a tough hunt. We’re 20 miles with, you know, 70 and 80 pound packs to get in and even 90 pound packs. But anyway, and, and yeah. With 10 days of food and, and being prepared for cold, cold weather and warm weather. And it was at the end of September. But I guess, I guess my point of it is now with these angle compensating range finders and some of this gear and, and you got lifetime tags once in a lifetime type opportunities, you do wanna step up your gear. And it is nice. It tho those, those features are much needed. It’s one thing to, to angle range out of a tree stand at 25 yards or, or 30 or 40 yards like maybe some of the eastern guys are doing with white tails. But it’s quite different.
00:56:00:02 –> 00:56:05:12
Four, 500 yards. Four with 4, 5, 6, 700 severe angle. Yeah. 60 degree plus in some cases.
00:56:05:15 –> 00:56:16:14
Some of that like Adam sheep and, and Adam’s dealt with it a lot. And so, you know, of course we’re, we’ve learned a lot. ’cause he’s, he’s taken a lot more sheep hunters and shooting extreme angles. Fairly regular.
00:56:16:19 –> 00:56:57:14
Yeah. I will say this, there’s many times when I scoot out on the edge of a cliff and I’m looking off when I’m, ’cause you, you have it in your mind what you think it might be. Yeah. And then you hit the range and I’m like, okay, we can kill this thing. And I’m a little surprised and it’s the angle which is making up that difference. Yeah, absolutely. You know what would might be a hundred, 150 yards farther. Yeah. Without the angle. Yeah. With the angle compensation, the, you know, a m r technology you guys stuff has, as you call it. It’s, it’s in the wheelhouse, you know, and, and what, what I say by that, I mean, if I can get it under 500 yards, that’s still a long shot. And it has to be no wind, it has to have the right gun and all that.
00:56:57:16 –> 00:57:26:22
And I Good rifles can do Yeah. Good rifle and all that. Yeah. But in some cases, like I described earlier, you have nothing but open air between you, you’re on a cliff and they’re in the canyon and you know, there’s no getting closer. And if everything is right and perfect and all that, and you can get a very accurate range, you’re prone out and all that very ethical and all that. It changes your life. It changes everything. It’s makes some of these sheep go home with you in a backpack versus all right, we’re 10 days hunting another three to eight days. Yeah. So,
00:57:27:03 –> 00:58:30:00
And you know, and so it’s just, it’s just, it, it’s crazy. You know, how things have changed and, and some of that I feel, feel like I rely on this piece of equipment so much Yeah. That if it fails me or the battery goes dead, I’m gonna be screwed. You know, and so I’ve thought about that often. Is that 24 hundred’s telling me, you know, mrads on, you know, how to dial, where to dial if it, if the range finder fails me and I don’t have a cheat sheet on my stock for just kind of an average day out there at that particular elevation Yeah. And temperatures, then I would be truly, you know, s o l so to speak. So, so anyway, I know you guys, you know, built the best quality products, but I mean, what’s the chances of failure or, I mean, you, you, I mean, if I drop this thing 10 feet onto a brick, you know, floor or something, I mean, is it, you know what I mean? There’s things like that that run through your mind because we become so relying on ’em, it’s like go, it’s like walking away from the truck without a pair of tens around your neck, you know, what I mean?
00:58:31:07 –> 00:59:24:25
Yeah, absolutely. You know, we, we do a lot of drop test standards on our, on our, on our products. So obviously on the way it impacts might, you know, alter use one way or another. But, you know, we’re pretty, pretty comfortable that our product’s gonna hold up, hold up to know your standard drops like that. Yeah, we’ve had a couple guys loose some sliding scopes off a cliff and quite honestly, they were still functional. Wow. They didn’t break the glass. They still worked not hundred percent of the time, but we’ve had a couple guys, one guy drop, drop his range finder in, in, in a creek. One guy ran it to the washing machine. The great thing about it is we covered that on warranty. It’s, it wasn’t, you know, it was, it was their fault, but we call it a no fault. So we, we replaced it at no cost to them. He
00:59:24:25 –> 00:59:25:05
Was probably
00:59:25:05 –> 00:59:25:24
Paid for freight.
00:59:26:03 –> 00:59:29:06
He was probably just trying to wash the lenses, so,
00:59:29:06 –> 01:00:38:24
Yeah. So that paid. Yeah, so I mean, well we had a guy run over his kilo 1200 and we replaced it. So things are gonna happen with that guys run their scopes over, you know, leave the whole rifle back of the truck. Kind of got in a hurry, forgot about it. Yeah, we’ve had guys do that. We replaced ’em, but you know, for the most part, we’re pretty confident based on our testing standards and what we’ve done with our products, that they’re gonna hold up for durability, the ability and accuracy. Now we’ve had, we’ve had some guides that have got out on the hunt and, and they’re memorable to me because, you know, at the time they weren’t real happy about it and they made a, drove three or four hours to get self service or get a hold of us. But you, we’ve had a couple wins in those cases and we arranged to overnight a replacement to ’em. Might’ve held ’em up for half day on their hunt because they had to, you know, stay in the area where they could, you know, accept that, accept that shipment. But yeah, we seem to, you know, we’re, we’re mostly outdoors people here. Yeah. Cash, milk, sport, you know, like you said, I’ve been in those same situations where they had a battery go out. Yeah. You know, I’m rum it through my pack to find another rangefinder battery. Oh,
01:00:39:02 –> 01:00:49:15
I carry, I carry two extra. I just one just make them So you just make them use double as. We all use double As for flashlights. That’s right. Just make them use double instead of them C two. Seriously, it’s probably your best.
01:00:49:20 –> 01:00:51:20
You can add some weight. Boy, you, I’m not,
01:00:51:28 –> 01:01:10:08
We’re not even gonna charge you for that tip. Just make them use aa. You’re gonna sell twice the volume, so. Alright. So just to wrap it up and, and we appreciate your time, but just, is there anything you wanna share with us? A hunting experience or, or anything you that we missed that you were hoping we’d talk about? Or, or just as a, as a wrap up?
01:01:11:08 –> 01:01:57:29
No, you know, I mean I, yeah, I, I enjoy hunting. My, my favorite hunts are probably going back in the Frank Church with my, with my father-in-law on, on elk hunts. You know, we’ve horse backed in, hiked in, you know, 10 miles before and packed out bowls and it was all great. But you know what, honestly, it’s like doing what we do over at sig Optics. It’s just sitting down, having a hour conversation with you guys, hearing your stories Yeah. Is what makes us feel like, hey, we are, we are making a change in this optics industry. You know, you guys sharing your story about the sheep hunt with the being able, confident, being confident you could take that shot and Yeah. In track we know where you’re hitting and you know, with the angle modification range or whether you’re using the istic app, that that’s, that’s why we’re in this industry.
01:01:58:00 –> 01:02:43:08
That’s why we all wanna make sure that we are improving, whether it’s hunting experiences, ethical shots, make memories out in the field. I mean, that’s what it’s all about. Yeah, yeah. You know, the, the, the hunting industry, so to speak, we all kind of have to, we’re up against a lot of, you know, conservation nemesis and, you know, anti-hunting groups. So we all kinda gotta stick together. So if there’s a way for us to have common ground and use use, whether it’s a manufacturer like Taw or, or some of other competitors that are doing some good things, if we all can kind of keep coming together and produce a good product to allow for us to, you know, continue to grow the heritage hunting.
01:02:44:08 –> 01:03:15:05
Well, and I think there’s, there’s multiple’s. We’re doing multiple’s we’re, yeah. And there’s multiple angle mo you know, range finding systems out there and they, and they, they work. We we’ve used them and, and we’ve lacked them and stuff, but just what sets you apart, in my opinion for that particular thing is, is the speed and, and yeah, obviously they’re accurate and I was shocked when I put it through my window and I was just like, all right, yeah, they’re onto to something. And so I would just say keep working, keep doing, putting on good stuff, make better stuff, which keep putting up
01:03:15:05 –> 01:03:16:02
Good stuff and we’ll
01:03:16:02 –> 01:03:17:13
Use it. That’s, that’s bottom line.
01:03:17:19 –> 01:04:06:08
Well we’re, yeah, we don’t have any, we, you know, we started, we started the product line like when we originally launched in, you know, the end of the 2015 season we launched with approximately 50 items, I’d say 50 SKUs if I remember correctly. And then, you know, we’re up to darn near two, 200 and we have some, we’ve, we’ve had a couple products that we’ve moved out of the product line, but with the solid foundation that 50 we’re all up, we’re already up to 200 plus skews. So we are gonna keep moving product, whether it’s rifle scopes, binoculars, range finders, you know, we didn’t even get into our whole red dots. Well let’s red do it
01:04:06:08 –> 01:04:10:07
Maybe, maybe down the road. We’ll we’ll dive into some of that.
01:04:11:02 –> 01:04:53:14
Yeah, no, we could, because it’s becoming a lot more prevalent, whether it’s for muzz loaders or cross or shotgun hunting or you know, just enthusiasts that are out shooting and competing with, with red dots, but, or even predator hunting, excuse me, but forgot that, forgot to include them. But Red Dots are becoming, you know, part of our, you know, our huge success. So down the road as we, you know, you guys expand on, wanna expand more, it’s dialogue. We talk more on product line, but you know, we have thermal, thermal technology, we’ve got pistol sites, we’ve got flash weapon flashlights, so to speak. Anything rail mounted. The red dots have been a huge success to go along with our, our
01:04:53:26 –> 01:04:54:23
AR platforms and
01:04:54:29 –> 01:05:15:02
Our range finders have been home on, I mean, us launching at the time the QO 2000 really, really put us on the OPEX map. And yeah, with that foundation of some of our red dots in that rangefinder, I mean that’s why we’re having this, this conversation today. It’s, it’s been absolutely fantastic and fun to, fun to be on the journey
01:05:15:22 –> 01:05:35:19
For our listeners and whatnot, or anybody that ask us or wanting to know more about your optics or put their hands on ’em, I guess what are, what are some of the best ways some of your, maybe your bigger dealers obviously gonna be some small ones out there, but what are some of the bigger dealers or places they can get their hands and look through and Yeah, fondle your optics and stuff?
01:05:36:09 –> 01:06:24:20
Yeah, just in general, I would recommend to go online and go to, you know, safe tower.com and there’s a dealer locator on there. It’s by zip code proximity. So that’s always a, a good way to go. I know there’s probably people out there that like to support local and yeah, maybe some of the, the mom pop the brick and mortar shops, so you can take a look there, see if there’s a local dealer there. Not all of ’em carry the full line or may not carry optics, but it’s just worth a phone call or, you know, inquire then. And then after that, you know, obviously the, the big players, big boxer, you get Cabella’s Sports, warehouse Shields, big r it’s, it’s your more common large retailers. Yeah.
01:06:25:07 –> 01:06:27:16
And they can go on your website then online like we did. Perfect.
01:06:27:29 –> 01:06:38:02
And then a heavy online, then a heavy online presence too. Wow. Brown Hills Midway. I know ’em. Do
01:06:38:02 –> 01:06:38:17
You take, do
01:06:38:17 –> 01:06:39:20
You take Optic Planet, your
01:06:39:20 –> 01:06:45:13
Optics, do you take emails yourself or is it something where they’d go through customer service? Somebody just had specific stuff?
01:06:45:13 –> 01:06:52:18
Oh, we take ton of emails. Sometimes it’s, sometimes it’s, it’s nice be connected but then, but then
01:06:53:03 –> 01:06:54:04
You don’t get anything done when
01:06:54:04 –> 01:06:54:20
Someone actually needs
01:06:54:26 –> 01:06:57:07
A favor. Don’t anything done with all this new technology. So what
01:06:57:18 –> 01:06:58:29
It’s gotta come in, Craig,
01:06:59:02 –> 01:07:01:02
It’s six hour to come or what, what are we
01:07:03:06 –> 01:07:23:28
Yeah, no, people are more than welcome to reach out to me. They need, I have an inquiry. I mean, I might not be the one that answered it directly. Yeah. Or it’s one of my team members or know, I, I do, I do handle a fair amount of warranties directly just because I’ve been connected and Yeah. People wanna assure that, you know, I’m on top of it. ’cause sometimes it could get mixed in with the, the general masses of, of
01:07:24:06 –> 01:07:24:26
Well, and they might want,
01:07:25:19 –> 01:07:26:23
We do have surely comes back so
01:07:26:29 –> 01:07:29:26
They might want a few wolf hunting tips there in the Frank Church, you know.
01:07:30:11 –> 01:07:49:05
Yeah. Who knows. Yeah, they’re in there. Yeah, we’re, we’re, we get in on ’em. They, they alluded us this year, but the previous two we’d, they guys in our camp for, you know, a yeah. Adjacent camps we put, put some Ws on the ground. So that’s always helpful to the, to the hers up there.
01:07:49:15 –> 01:07:51:13
How’s the, how’s the best way to get ahold of you?
01:07:53:28 –> 01:07:57:08
Probably the best way is to drop me an email. Craig do Fier.
01:07:58:05 –> 01:08:00:08
P F I or p h p,
01:08:00:16 –> 01:08:06:15
Excuse me. P p yeah. Silent F p f E I f e R at six do com.
01:08:06:20 –> 01:08:06:29
Okay.
01:08:08:21 –> 01:08:19:21
My landline is, might be a way too, leave a message if I’m not in the office, but 6 1 0 3 8 7 9. Okay.
01:08:20:19 –> 01:09:05:14
And then, and then for the, we do have, we do have a pro program out there. We don’t market it tremendously right now just because of how our systems don’t allow us to automate orders, so to speak. We’re still trying to get, get to where we can utilize our web store, like most of our industry partners do these days for, for pro deals, you know, but we’re, we’re not quite there. So we do have to mainly process a lot of these orders. So we haven’t been huge on offering it, but it is out there. But we do have a, a pro program and if the user qualifies, we’ll set them up on a PRO program to allow to, to get discounts on product.
01:09:05:18 –> 01:09:06:26
Everybody’s a pro Craig.
01:09:07:06 –> 01:09:07:15
They
01:09:07:15 –> 01:09:10:10
Have to really take, put ’em through the ringer ’cause we’re all pros. Yeah,
01:09:10:10 –> 01:09:13:29
Yeah. You know, well that program’s built around License, license Guy and Outfitters.
01:09:14:28 –> 01:09:16:09
Okay. Makes sense. Guys
01:09:16:09 –> 01:09:26:16
That are on a bonafide competitive shooting, whether it’s p s or any other division circuit or something that’s nationally recognized or or an industry partner,
01:09:27:07 –> 01:09:29:13
Not the Iron County Trap Club Association.
01:09:30:02 –> 01:09:39:17
No, no, probably not. Probably tea, but Tea but Epic, epic Outdoor guys are obviously qualified in any the other industry partners. So yeah,
01:09:39:17 –> 01:09:44:02
We’re gonna need to, we’re gonna need to test out some of these optics that’s for sure’s
01:09:44:08 –> 01:10:06:15
A little bit more good. Yeah. Yeah. The t the t e stuff probably available for, for you guys. But anyways, to get to that. Any other, the other email you guys could re that they could reach out to is Sig Optics Pro. Okay. And that’s just all one word. Sig Optics [email protected]. Okay.
01:10:07:00 –> 01:10:07:12
All righty.
01:10:07:15 –> 01:10:14:21
And that, that allows us to funnel those emails into that inbox where they
01:10:14:21 –> 01:10:45:16
Go. Okay. Alright Craig, well I wanna, I wanna tell you how much we’ve appreciated you spending some time with Adam and I here at Epic and, and appreciate that we just, you know, just wanted to see what you guys were doing and what you’re all about and brace ourselves for what’s coming. You guys are obviously, you know, I don’t know, doing some things dry, setting the pace in some aspects of the hunting world and, and we’re definitely watching and wouldn’t mind being part of that too at some point down the road.
01:10:46:03 –> 01:10:46:06
Absolutely.
01:10:47:09 –> 01:10:47:29
So anyway.
01:10:48:00 –> 01:11:06:12
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely appreciate you guys affording this opportunity to come on and, and having the confidence in the product line and the, and the brand to speak of it with your users and, you know, we’re excited about where we’re going. We’re, we’re not going away anytime. Yeah. Anytime soon.
01:11:07:24 –> 01:11:27:17
No, it’s not cheap to, it’s not cheap to do all that r and d and go overseas. No. All these technologies and No, and I, I can’t imagine the, the kind of money you guys have sunk into that and so anyway, it’s awesome. It’s, it’s fun to see it. Yeah, it’s fun to watch you guys grow and, and anything we can do to help you let us know and we’ll, we’ll go from there.
01:11:28:27 –> 01:11:33:06
Absolutely fellow. Thanks Craig. Appreciate it. Yeah, no, it’s been great you guys. Thanks guys.
01:11:33:06 –> 01:11:34:24
Alright. Okay, thanks Craig. Talk to you later.
01:11:35:01 –> 01:12:21:04
Here at Epic Outdoors, we publish a Western hunting publication nine months a year. The, the Epic membership includes nine issues of the magazine, where the first six months of the year are totally geared to breaking down all the Western states, draws their application process, their deadlines, units kill rates, drawing odds, everything that we feel is very important for you to make a calculated decision on whether you apply for that state or not and how you wanna apply for trophy for more opportunity hunts. But, but do it from a a current year perspective. You also have, you know, a bunch of different articles in there from biologists from the states, hunter, next door articles, what else Jason?
01:12:21:06 –> 01:13:08:22
Yeah, the a hundred dollars subscription, you know, includes consulting. So we deal with our clients on a regular basis over the phone, help them develop their hunting plans and any, anything to do with Western big game. Once guys draw tags they can call in, we’ll put ’em on a list, give you a list of members who’ve hunted in the past or help you find outfitters. And so, and, and we’ve got a, you know, lot of experience across the west and, and it might be that you draw a unit that we’ve got experience in, we have no problems helping you. So anyway, this is just a very interactive service, a hundred bucks a year, try to be all inclusive on Western big game. And, and of course on it from a trophy perspective, you know, we, we all like the big stuff and, and so we really try to, you know, capitalize on, on the changes that are happening and some of the different great opportunities out there.
01:13:09:14 –> 01:13:18:08
Yep. So if you’re interested, you can find us on the [email protected] or call us at (435) 263-0777.
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