Well, I'll start this for the third time, it seems, as Texags keeps eating my post. I miss you guys, but I don't miss that feature!
We're still around. The gun industry is one of the most up and down businesses that you can get into and... I've said it before but worth saying again, it's been a roller coaster of a ride.
As stated in the other thread, we have really streamlined a lot of our operations. The firearm industry has contracted a lot in the post-Covid world and I've had to stay ahead of the game to keep things from imploding on themselves.
It's been a rough ride, but we survived through it when a lot of others, big and small, did not. A few big local names like Fountain ate it while I watched several smaller shops come and go. Definitely not out of the woods yet, but it feels like things have been stabilizing more lately... and that's a great thing.
In the meantime, we've cut out some of the business that just wasn't making sense to keep going, like cerakote and having an instore gun smith. While moderately profitable, they both came with their own set of problems and frustrations. My cerakote guy was unstable (literally) and finding the right blend of price point and reliability on a gunsmith has proven to be nigh impossible.
As such, we've really focused on our Rudolph distribution and I have a growing laser engraving business.
In fact, if any of you were at the Houston A&M Club golf tournament, I made the wallets that you guys got.
Trading gunsmithing and cerakote for laser work and Rudolph was probably the correct choice.
In all of that, I also haven't talked much about this publicly, but about the time I really slowed down on posting, the real reason behind it was that the ATF came after me and I had to go to war with them.
It was a little over two years of pure nightmare fuel and they tried to take my license. I'll be the first to admit that there were things that we didn't do correctly in regards to paperwork, but we had never been in trouble with the ATF before and really should not have been facing actual revocation.
It sucked.
It was two years of not knowing if I had a business that would survive all because of a political agenda by the Biden administration. Fountain Firearms was partially because of this same issue.
That really affects a man.
Luckily, I had also started getting back involved in Church again and that really helped give me strength as I worked through fighting them while also keeping the store afloat in a business climate that was slowing down drastically.
But I won.
Truthfully, spiritually and emotionally, I'm still recovering from it but we are on a good path.
And, if you guys would have me back around, I'd love to get back to posting more.
We're still around. The gun industry is one of the most up and down businesses that you can get into and... I've said it before but worth saying again, it's been a roller coaster of a ride.
As stated in the other thread, we have really streamlined a lot of our operations. The firearm industry has contracted a lot in the post-Covid world and I've had to stay ahead of the game to keep things from imploding on themselves.
It's been a rough ride, but we survived through it when a lot of others, big and small, did not. A few big local names like Fountain ate it while I watched several smaller shops come and go. Definitely not out of the woods yet, but it feels like things have been stabilizing more lately... and that's a great thing.
In the meantime, we've cut out some of the business that just wasn't making sense to keep going, like cerakote and having an instore gun smith. While moderately profitable, they both came with their own set of problems and frustrations. My cerakote guy was unstable (literally) and finding the right blend of price point and reliability on a gunsmith has proven to be nigh impossible.
As such, we've really focused on our Rudolph distribution and I have a growing laser engraving business.
In fact, if any of you were at the Houston A&M Club golf tournament, I made the wallets that you guys got.
Trading gunsmithing and cerakote for laser work and Rudolph was probably the correct choice.
In all of that, I also haven't talked much about this publicly, but about the time I really slowed down on posting, the real reason behind it was that the ATF came after me and I had to go to war with them.
It was a little over two years of pure nightmare fuel and they tried to take my license. I'll be the first to admit that there were things that we didn't do correctly in regards to paperwork, but we had never been in trouble with the ATF before and really should not have been facing actual revocation.
It sucked.
It was two years of not knowing if I had a business that would survive all because of a political agenda by the Biden administration. Fountain Firearms was partially because of this same issue.
That really affects a man.
Luckily, I had also started getting back involved in Church again and that really helped give me strength as I worked through fighting them while also keeping the store afloat in a business climate that was slowing down drastically.
But I won.
Truthfully, spiritually and emotionally, I'm still recovering from it but we are on a good path.
And, if you guys would have me back around, I'd love to get back to posting more.
Owner of Texian Firearms:
Dealer in Firearms, Optics, Night Vision and other shooting accessories.
US importer/distributor of Rudolph Optics
Supporting bad financial decisions since 2015
Dealer in Firearms, Optics, Night Vision and other shooting accessories.
US importer/distributor of Rudolph Optics
Supporting bad financial decisions since 2015
