Seeing as this lil sweetheart of a gun is just about sold, we took the opportunity to run a few pellets through it to make sure it is shooting well. Here's a quick vid...
That's 11 shots people (Noli didn't load it completely hehe), and it cycled nice and smooth. Absolutely fantastic.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Post Gun Show Review and Pictures
Well people, it has been a couple of days since the end of the The 2006 Defense and Sporting Arms Show at Megamall. We've had a little time to breath and assess our situation as it stands now. I am happy to report that we all believe that our participation in this show has been an over whelming success. I have many many people to thank and express my gratitude to, and if I don't happen to mention any of you by name, blame it on the over exerted braincells and not the lack of deep and heartfelt gratitude for your help and contribution to our cause. I feel it is only right to devote at least a paragraph to those who have been a source of significant support.
First and foremost, my congratulations for a job well done to my two partners, Joel and Noli, without whom Filarms would still be a pipe dream. And then of course our non-official contributors and the people who make up our core group of steadfast friends; Vic, Rico, Gerald, Vinchy, Clive, Randell, and others I might have missed. You guys are the best, and rest assured Filarms' doors will always always be open to you all. To the inspirations; My father who made sure I pushed on when I thought things had fallen apart, and to our sources of technical advice Tim McMurray, Larry Durham, and Ed Omictin. Rest assured, the knowledge gained will always be used in the pursuit of good, honest, and creative airgunmaking, following the examples you have paved the way with. To all the rest unmentioned, you know who you are, thank you from the valves of our airguns =)
So on to the show, and all I can say is...WHEW! Suffice to say, I believe this gun show has far, far faaaar, exceeded our expectations of how well our products were going to be received. I was praying and hoping to somehow maybe impress enough people to just make a few sales and get our name out there as a manufacturer of fine precision airguns, but whoa! We were mobbed and swamped from the beginning of the show to the end. I guess it shows that Filipino airgunners are hungry for something different, for something that breaks the mold. We seem to have provided that, and it showed! If I say anymore I will already sound like I am bragging hehe. I hope that we did our part in educating people about the benefits of PCP (compressed air) and the subsequent cost (and trouble) savings over co2 and even .22 rimfire. Many people also approached us thinking the guns were imported, or were something other than airguns. The creative display thought up by Noli helped. We had one of our Tornado carbines outfitted like a sniper rifle, complete with a Leapers Tri-Rail, laser sight, and flashlight. This drew atttention even from some of the soldiers who roamed the show. Another big seller was the black pepper laminate stock that we had on display fitted on the Caiman. We ended up with 3 orders for it and actually had one guy counting his pesos trying to pay for it right then and there.
Some of our visitors were obviously fans of our competition. While we welcomed an open discourse on the benefits of their rifles and ours, a rude approach usually got cut short by Joel or Noli. We had better things to do than argue with people who are convinced that their 10 shot, 900fps PCP's are the best in the Philippines. We hope to one day show that a properly tuned ACCURATE rifle that shoots a flat curve over its effective shot count is a much much better proposition in the field than a hot shooting gun that requires compensation after a few shots. We were also finally able to illustrate the difference between an ILL-FITTING gun that you have to force yourself (like in contort your body into forms it was never meant to take) to shoot versus a rifle that is made to fit your body in comfort, which in turn makes your shooting much much more comfortable and enhances your accuracy because of better hold and balance.
This was also our chance to unveil our Multishot Tornado and our newly designed folding stock Caiman. I'll post a video of the multi shot after this. The folding stock Caiman is a joy to shoulder, it is adjustable for length of pull and makes using a scope a lot easier with its full sized cheek piece.
In short, it was a very successful show, Our guns drew a LOT of attention, including dealers who would like to carry our rifles in their stores, and my supply of Leapers scopes were completely sold out. All I can say is... wow.
On to the pics!
Yeap, it was pretty hectic from day 1.
This guy just keeps on showing up, I don't know what he wanted hehe. Here's a short video of him getting sold on the big boy Caiman.
First and foremost, my congratulations for a job well done to my two partners, Joel and Noli, without whom Filarms would still be a pipe dream. And then of course our non-official contributors and the people who make up our core group of steadfast friends; Vic, Rico, Gerald, Vinchy, Clive, Randell, and others I might have missed. You guys are the best, and rest assured Filarms' doors will always always be open to you all. To the inspirations; My father who made sure I pushed on when I thought things had fallen apart, and to our sources of technical advice Tim McMurray, Larry Durham, and Ed Omictin. Rest assured, the knowledge gained will always be used in the pursuit of good, honest, and creative airgunmaking, following the examples you have paved the way with. To all the rest unmentioned, you know who you are, thank you from the valves of our airguns =)
So on to the show, and all I can say is...WHEW! Suffice to say, I believe this gun show has far, far faaaar, exceeded our expectations of how well our products were going to be received. I was praying and hoping to somehow maybe impress enough people to just make a few sales and get our name out there as a manufacturer of fine precision airguns, but whoa! We were mobbed and swamped from the beginning of the show to the end. I guess it shows that Filipino airgunners are hungry for something different, for something that breaks the mold. We seem to have provided that, and it showed! If I say anymore I will already sound like I am bragging hehe. I hope that we did our part in educating people about the benefits of PCP (compressed air) and the subsequent cost (and trouble) savings over co2 and even .22 rimfire. Many people also approached us thinking the guns were imported, or were something other than airguns. The creative display thought up by Noli helped. We had one of our Tornado carbines outfitted like a sniper rifle, complete with a Leapers Tri-Rail, laser sight, and flashlight. This drew atttention even from some of the soldiers who roamed the show. Another big seller was the black pepper laminate stock that we had on display fitted on the Caiman. We ended up with 3 orders for it and actually had one guy counting his pesos trying to pay for it right then and there.
Some of our visitors were obviously fans of our competition. While we welcomed an open discourse on the benefits of their rifles and ours, a rude approach usually got cut short by Joel or Noli. We had better things to do than argue with people who are convinced that their 10 shot, 900fps PCP's are the best in the Philippines. We hope to one day show that a properly tuned ACCURATE rifle that shoots a flat curve over its effective shot count is a much much better proposition in the field than a hot shooting gun that requires compensation after a few shots. We were also finally able to illustrate the difference between an ILL-FITTING gun that you have to force yourself (like in contort your body into forms it was never meant to take) to shoot versus a rifle that is made to fit your body in comfort, which in turn makes your shooting much much more comfortable and enhances your accuracy because of better hold and balance.
This was also our chance to unveil our Multishot Tornado and our newly designed folding stock Caiman. I'll post a video of the multi shot after this. The folding stock Caiman is a joy to shoulder, it is adjustable for length of pull and makes using a scope a lot easier with its full sized cheek piece.
In short, it was a very successful show, Our guns drew a LOT of attention, including dealers who would like to carry our rifles in their stores, and my supply of Leapers scopes were completely sold out. All I can say is... wow.
On to the pics!
Yeap, it was pretty hectic from day 1.
This guy just keeps on showing up, I don't know what he wanted hehe. Here's a short video of him getting sold on the big boy Caiman.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
First Day Madness...
Well, I have to say, I'm pretty happy about our first day. I mean, for a thursday opening, we literally got swamped. I thought there wouldn't be a lot of people there on a weekday, but boy was I wrong. We were talking and demo'ing from the second we got there to the very last minute we left. We had a great turn out and visitors from the Yahoo Group and other friends. We had a suprise guest too, hehe, he picked up a couple of our guns. I gotta try and get some rest as it's another early day tomorrow but here are some pics to share.
Crowd started forming as soon as we got our guns up...
A shot of our gun rack ... notice the big boy tank mounted on the Caiman
Here's our suprise guest, he seemed pretty excited about his new rifles. Notice the Multishot Tornado he's holding. =) That was OUR suprise for you gunshow attendees and no shows.
Well, there's 4 more days of this....hope to see you all there.
Crowd started forming as soon as we got our guns up...
A shot of our gun rack ... notice the big boy tank mounted on the Caiman
Here's our suprise guest, he seemed pretty excited about his new rifles. Notice the Multishot Tornado he's holding. =) That was OUR suprise for you gunshow attendees and no shows.
Well, there's 4 more days of this....hope to see you all there.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The 2006 Defense and Sporting Arms Show
Well guys, it's tomorrow and and don't think I will be able to sleep tonight. Our attendance of this show has been of paramount importance to us and is the culmination of half a year's fight to prove ourselves not only to the Philippine airgun community but also to the rest of the world. It has been a couple of years of hard work and belt tightening, but tomorrow will be the true test of how our products will be accepted by the local market. I have the utmost faith in the Tornado and the Caiman, and I can honestly say that I've yet to see ANYTHING out now that can compare to them in terms of performance, safety, and quality. I believe they can sell themselves.
So, once again, I'd like to invite everybody to come and visit us at the The 2006 Defense and Sporting Arms Show, come and see the Caiman and the Tornado for yourselves, check out the latest line of airgun scopes by Leapers, the precision HW airgun barrels, and the rest of the shooting and hunting accessories that we will have on display. All these products have been given a lot of thought and research, and we carry them because of their uniqueness, usefulness to airgunners, and most of all their affordability, because we all like a quality product at a good price.
We hope to see you all there.
Big Boy Update
Just a quick update, I want to show how the stock for the Big Boy Tank is coming along. We initially thought we had to do something something about the girth of the tank in relation to the stock, but it looks like it will drop in quite nicely with a little creative inletting by Cho the stock magician.
Monday, July 10, 2006
The Pressure is ON (The Saga of the Big Boy Tank)
Well we finally finished assembling our large U.S. T6 Aluminum tank, presently nicknamed "Big Boy".
It is a monster 430cc tank that dwarfs our standard steel and aluminum tank, giving roughly twice the volume, but with the same weight as our standard sized steel tank. Meaning? Well you hunters out there can now hit the field knowing you have 100 - 150 good shots in your tank, all without having more weight to carry. You can leave your pumps at camp.
The true test of this tank is its durability and safety. We couldn't wait to hook it up to our in-house hydrotester to see what it is made of. The standard test is 1.5x of normal operating pressure, so with our projected 2800 - 3,000 psi max rec fill pressure, our target pressure on the hydro was around 4,500 psi. After a couple of false starts caused by forgotten O-rings, we finally got the big boy hooked up to the hydro and started pumping. We were suprised to exceed 4,500 psi quite quickly, and we stopped for expansion check at 6,000 psi. Our big boy was holding strong.
We waited several hours to see if it held pressure without any dimensional changes, then to check for O-ring failure we went on to 7,000 psi.
It is still holding strong. I guess we can consider our testing a success. The first philippine made big tank pcp is ready for market.
(many thanks to Tim M for his advice on the end plugs and for everything else, we wouldn't have this without him
It is a monster 430cc tank that dwarfs our standard steel and aluminum tank, giving roughly twice the volume, but with the same weight as our standard sized steel tank. Meaning? Well you hunters out there can now hit the field knowing you have 100 - 150 good shots in your tank, all without having more weight to carry. You can leave your pumps at camp.
The true test of this tank is its durability and safety. We couldn't wait to hook it up to our in-house hydrotester to see what it is made of. The standard test is 1.5x of normal operating pressure, so with our projected 2800 - 3,000 psi max rec fill pressure, our target pressure on the hydro was around 4,500 psi. After a couple of false starts caused by forgotten O-rings, we finally got the big boy hooked up to the hydro and started pumping. We were suprised to exceed 4,500 psi quite quickly, and we stopped for expansion check at 6,000 psi. Our big boy was holding strong.
We waited several hours to see if it held pressure without any dimensional changes, then to check for O-ring failure we went on to 7,000 psi.
It is still holding strong. I guess we can consider our testing a success. The first philippine made big tank pcp is ready for market.
(many thanks to Tim M for his advice on the end plugs and for everything else, we wouldn't have this without him
Sunday, July 09, 2006
my PITA just redeemed itself....
A few days before my trip to the Philippines to visit the shop, I decided almost last minute to try and transport a laminate gunstock blank to see if we could do something special with it. Turns out the thing was a monster, and I had to switch bags to find one that will accomodate such a long piece of wood. I was loathe to cut it up as I didn't have the exact dimensions for our standard stock so I was forced to carry it with me as is. Well after a couple of failed attempts my buddy Wayne finally was able to stuff it into my luggage and off I went to the airport to get hassled by TSA. Little did I know it wasn't going to fit in my brother's FX35 either, so we had to remove it from my luggage on the drive to the airport and put it back on. Oh joy.
Anyway, to make a a long story short it finally got here but had to wait in line behind other jobs, increasing my excitement and anxiety. Our magician/stock maker Cho finally got around to working on it the other day and I am pleased to say that it is turning out quite nicely. All the hassles of bringing it was forgotten and I'm just excited to see this thing take shape. I'm a bit sad that I opted to have it tailored for RH (and I'm a lefty) just to make it easier to sell, but it seems I will have no problems with it as people have actually started bidding on the damn thing here hehe. I guess laminate stocks are pretty rare in these parts. =)
Getting inletted
Cho doing his magic
On a somewhat related side note, my partner Noli's experimental youth stock is just about done...
Anyway, to make a a long story short it finally got here but had to wait in line behind other jobs, increasing my excitement and anxiety. Our magician/stock maker Cho finally got around to working on it the other day and I am pleased to say that it is turning out quite nicely. All the hassles of bringing it was forgotten and I'm just excited to see this thing take shape. I'm a bit sad that I opted to have it tailored for RH (and I'm a lefty) just to make it easier to sell, but it seems I will have no problems with it as people have actually started bidding on the damn thing here hehe. I guess laminate stocks are pretty rare in these parts. =)
Getting inletted
Cho doing his magic
On a somewhat related side note, my partner Noli's experimental youth stock is just about done...
For a little nostalgia....
Here's a lil piece of air powered nostalgia. It's a locally made air shotgun that my partner Joel brought to the shop. It is pretty fascinating, Joel tells me many a wild duck and snipe has fallen to this baby, usually within 25-30 yards. I didn't have a ruler on me but the barrel is roughly 30 inches, and it is a co2 powered bolt action that has a cupped bolt face, possibly to hold the shot? The reservoir looks to be an inch in diameter, and extends more than half the length of the brass barrel.
It supposedly can shoot 1/2 inch bearings at around 500-600 fps. I've personally never weighed a steel ball bearing but that sounds like some serious fpe coming out of a c02!
Its slim lines may be deceiving, but the barrel is huge!
Here it is along with one of our prototypes to illustrate the size (the proto is 40 inches long with the silencer)
The bolt
Business end, at first I thought that brass thing at the end of the barrel was a choke, but Joel assures me it serves no purpose hehe.
The bolt
It's quite a piece and I'm sure it can tell quite a tale. Joel used to regale me about his past hunting exploits using this exact same gun, and I know it has been through a lot and seen many many birds go down before its barrage of birdshot. I just wish I was there to see it in action. Who knows? I might be able to persuade Joel to bring it along for old times sake. =)
It supposedly can shoot 1/2 inch bearings at around 500-600 fps. I've personally never weighed a steel ball bearing but that sounds like some serious fpe coming out of a c02!
Its slim lines may be deceiving, but the barrel is huge!
Here it is along with one of our prototypes to illustrate the size (the proto is 40 inches long with the silencer)
The bolt
Business end, at first I thought that brass thing at the end of the barrel was a choke, but Joel assures me it serves no purpose hehe.
The bolt
It's quite a piece and I'm sure it can tell quite a tale. Joel used to regale me about his past hunting exploits using this exact same gun, and I know it has been through a lot and seen many many birds go down before its barrage of birdshot. I just wish I was there to see it in action. Who knows? I might be able to persuade Joel to bring it along for old times sake. =)
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Philippine Airgunnin'
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