Cool New TN 1911 Manufacturer

[Guest C3Defense]

Tom, you should arrange a TN Gun Owners Memphis Shooting and tour day for the spring! That would be AWESOME!

[Guest jackdm3]

"Shooting"?

[Ed Zachary]

C. O. Arms,

I would recommend getting ahold of Blue August and asking them to clean up their PR campaign before your online presence loses you a lot of customers.

Cases in point:

The upper left corner of every web page has a space for your logo. It says "Logo Here". Amateurish.

I went to the PR reviews on AmmoLand.com and Tactical-Life.com. Their "reviews" are cut and pasted text from the CO Arms site. Makes a body go "Hmm..."

The "real person" responses on both sites are by the same "Joshua". On Tactical-Life he asks where he can find one. His post on AmmoLand, a whole 18 minutes later, sounds like he has owned one for a while.

Smells fishy...

Click "Joshua"'s name on either site and you are taken to......

Blue August!!

An insult to your prospective customers...

[Guest jackdm3]

Noticed all of that, but figured they have to start somewhere.

[Ed Zachary]

Yes, they have to start somewhere. But Tommy paid good money for that site and the PR campaign.

He should be getting better value for his buck.

Having built corporate and commercial web apps for a couple of decades, I could really ramp up a rant about how BA's work is an insult to him, his prospective customers, and everyone else who builds ecommerce sites for a living...

But I won't.

Best of luck, Tommy. I'll have to give you a call for a visit when I'm on your end of the state.

[Steelharp]

Yeah, did you hear that Hero-Gear was purchased by a new 1911 company in West Tn, that is using Mexican slave labor to make Les Baer pistols?

One of the funniest posts EVER!!! :rock:

[Magiccarpetrides]

Umm...MIM doesn't mean Made in Mexico.

obviously my poor attempt at humor escaped some people

[rentalguy1]

It's cool that they are made in TN, but I will not pay that price for a unknown gun. My $600 Taurus 1911 has all the bells and whistles, is simple, clean, accurate, rugged, and dependable. That is not due to the name of the manufacturer, but is because the manufacturer stayed true to JMB's design. The only other 1911 I ever "plan" on buying is a Springfield GI model, because I love the way they look.

[TGO David]

Since I've read about you, I've wanted to set up a TGO Memphis members field trip. I only expect maybe 10 or so, but I think that would be better than you doing a lot of individual tours. We would need your hours of operation to coordinate and be mindful of your time. Weekends?

Good grief... I hope you actually corresponded with the guy offline before you just threw that out in the open. If not, it was fairly presumptuous of you.

[TGO David]

It's cool that they are made in TN, but I will not pay that price for a unknown gun. My $600 Taurus 1911 has all the bells and whistles, is simple, clean, accurate, rugged, and dependable. That is not due to the name of the manufacturer, but is because the manufacturer stayed true to JMB's design. The only other 1911 I ever "plan" on buying is a Springfield GI model, because I love the way they look.

No offense, but a Taurus 1911... while a decent firearm... is not exactly the paramount of 1911 build quality and the manufacturer has a really horrible reputation when it comes to warranty issues and after-the-sale support.

[TripleDigitRide]

How about an all-stainless bobtail with a skeletonized trigger?

[Guest jackdm3]

C.O. Arms said:

"Lastly we always welcome folks who want to come by but because of the work schedule we ask that you call first and set up a time. I will gladly set down with you share a cup of coffee and answer question or whatever has long as I have set that time aside for you. Do not mean this to be rude but there are many times I can not stop what I am doing to receive visitors and if someone wants to visit I want to give them the time so if you will help me out with this I would appreciate it."

We all understand the issues of breaking your back with a start-up. He offered to see us if it works for him. I don't know of any of us that would force ourselves on him. That would be presumptuous. C3Defense suggested they organize a shoot.

Is that presumptuous? I always prefer to give tours in multiples instead of the laborious ones or twos.

We're (Memphians) all interested in seeing our local builder do well. I've known so many companies that love bragging rites, and we're offering him a chance to do that if he thinks it's good for business.

[TGO David]

Agreed, but when you post something that someone could just glance at and assume, "Oh boy! There's going to be a tour for TGO Memphis members!!!" without first checking to be sure that's an OK idea with the company owners... you sew the seeds of confusion.

Check first. Get approval. Then post it. The first two steps should involve private communication between you and the other party.

[Guest jackdm3]

Understood. Honestly, knowing the schedules of our biggest TGO players, this will probably have a small turnout. The aerials of the plant look T I G H T! I think more members would feel like doing a meet at a range so they can get their own trigger time in after the meeting. Two for one! Good one, Mr. Defense.

[Guest C3Defense]

I spent some time with Tom this weekend. I mentioned to him the TGO tour and range shoot. He liked the idea. So, I got a good feeling we can expect one coming down the pipe for the Spring. Right now, he's busy building guns. I can understand that.

I think he's also going to become a TGO advertiser and have a sectional forum for his products. Guys, lets at least support the dude and all that work with him. Launching a company is hard, especially when you are trying to keep every single thing you sell made in America. I totally appreciate all Tom is doing, and I for one will supporting him and his business associates all the way.

BTW: He's going to have reviews in Combat Handguns and Tactical Gear magazine. he has also stepped up the plate an donated 25 1911's to the Friends of the NRA non-profit statewide organization. For you all who don't know, thats a huge investment for a small company. It shows they love kids and really support the 2cd amendment and all it stands for. Lets be brothers, not haters. So keep an eye out for some unbiased well-respected writer reviews.

Thanks for all you do Tom, and it was a pleasure seeing you.

[Guest C.O. Arms]

Good afternoon. Hope all are well. Let me begin this post addressing the possibility of a plant tour and range day. I do like the idea and will go forward with it. However I will have to make some arrangements with a local range and schedule the time. Most likely it will be on a Saturday. I will shoot for some time in March if I can. As I can get some details worked out I will post them.

Next I would like to address Blue August our marketing and PR firm. Josh, Chris, Monica and the rest of the folks there are in my opinion some of the best folks I have ever met. Do we still have work to do on the web site “yes” but it has only been up about a week and I expect tweaking and tuning things. I appreciate the concern for us however I will ride things out with Blue August and I will continue to recommend them to my friends and associates in the industry.

Next as I said in my first post the pistol we had named the Stinger (before we were aware of Les’s gun) would be under review for a name change. Well the review is over and the pistol will now be called “The Shield”

One other note as I said the warranty information has been posted on the web site.

Thanks for the support and good wishes I look forward to meeting many of you when we can get this shoot put together.

[Guest jackdm3]

[Capbyrd]

C.O.

Thanks for being so open with us. I know there have been a lot of haters in this thread but as a Memphian, I am very excited about you guys and your products. I cannot wait to see them first hand and am already trying to figure out how to budget one in. Please keep us up to date on the plant tour and shoot as I would definitely like to be involved.

Thanks

Chris

[Guest C3Defense]

Awesome Awesome Awesome!!!!!!

Look out, there's a new dog on the porch!

[Chucktshoes]

C.O.

Thanks for being so open with us. I know there have been a lot of haters in this thread but as a Memphian, I am very excited about you guys and your products. I cannot wait to see them first hand and am already trying to figure out how to budget one in. Please keep us up to date on the plant tour and shoot as I would definitely like to be involved.

Thanks

Chris

What he said.

[Smith]

Funny how we moan and groan about the loss of small, American made, local business and then ride a new company so hard based on 2 pictures. So far I'd say C.O. has done everything that could be expected to deserve the benefit of the doubt. Hope they turn out as good as they have presented so far. Very nice.

[Guest C3Defense]

Well said Smith! Well Said.

[Guest BigShot]

Funny how we moan and groan about the loss of small, American made, local business and then ride a new company so hard based on 2 pictures. So far I'd say C.O. has done everything that could be expected to deserve the benefit of the doubt. Hope they turn out as good as they have presented so far. Very nice.

+2

Try building a 1911 and you'll see it's no cakewalk. HOURS of prep!! I admire anybody good enough to do the job right AND still be able to make money in today's sweat shop global market. I'm anxious to see the final product in my hands. They're fixing that hideously huge banner and it's 100% USA... may be a winner!!

[Guest Crunchman]

Tom sent the first FNRA 1911 to the FNRA grant fund meeting last Saturday. All the members were very impressed. This is a full size 1911, stainless, all the bells and whistles, with the FNRA Patriot logo on the slide and serial numbered FNRA****. I'm going to do my best to win the one for our banquet. I wish I had thought to take pics of it, but that may still happen.

[Guest C.O. Arms]

Thank you for the words of support. The FNRA gun has turned out nice. There will only be 24 of those made one for each banquet in the state and they are exclusive to Tennessee. The gun that was shown Saturday was built by my partner Jeff Oswalt with the engraving done by Tony Broadway. My lovely and much better other half Dee assisting Tony in the design of the slide. The specs on the gun are as follows.

It is an all stainless frame and slide.

XS express big dot sights

Match grade Storm Lake barrel

Blued parts such as plunger tube, the standard thumb safety, standard slide stop, mag release, trigger and grip safety with a flat stainless steel main spring housing. The grips that were shown on the gun were Harrret double diamond walnut.

Hope every one likes them. I have to get off the computer now and go to work because Dee says so.