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.
