What’s in a name?

My apologies for missing a column last week.  The schedule was indeed hectic last week, what with the four-day Auto Focus Pre-Christmas Test Drive Festival we held at the Mall of Asia concert grounds last Nov. 11 – 15.  Unfortunately for a gun enthusiast like me, the AFAD show was held exactly on those days, so I missed that one again and had to be contented with our TV coverage of the defense and sporting gun show which I previewed as soon as the footages came in.

As usual with this AFAD show, the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall was jam packed, but then again, what else is new?  This show has grown tremendously over the years, always jam packed year after year.

All the major players were there:  Nashe Enterprises, P.B. Dionisio, Imperial, VIP Jordan Guns, Espinelli, to name a few.  In this gun show, however, Armscor took the opportunity to launch their Rock Island Armory brand, and there was much anticipation as Armscor chairman emeritus Bolo Tuason, his son Martin, now the president and CEO, and Gina Angangco, Armscor executive vice president and Deputy CEO unveiled the new blue and white distinctive logo of Rock Island Armory.

Actually, as learned from Martin, Rock Isand Armory started in 1999, but mainly for export. Bolo then was still at the helm and he wanted to change the perception of Armscor and started to make changes in the company to keep up with the times and the growing market.  He wanted to bring Armscor to the forefront of commercial manufacturing and export of firearms and ammunition.  Though the brand Armscor has been around for a long time, actually since 1980 (before that it was Squires Bingham), he felt that it was time for another change. Armscor has always been known for their cal. 22 rifles and shotguns and it was time to put their ingenuity, skill and mastery into the manufacture of handguns. 

The name Rock Island Armory was suggested by a friend, but their choice of this catchy name was partly from our very own rock island, Corregidor. In the United States, they found there is such a company called Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois which makes M-16 tanks, among others, for the United States Army.  But the trademark was available, and so Martin grabbed the opportunity and registered the new company.  Besides, Rock Island Armory was better suited for quick recall for its now global presence in firearms manufacturing.

With Rock Island Armory, the new company also adopted trade practices in the US like lifetime warranty, etc.

Bolo was certainly pleased with the new image. “People recognize us now for that logo and, of course, it goes with the quality it represents, the service and warranty. We have been able to capitalize on this name so much better today,” Bolo beamed with pride.

With this new development, all firearms emanating from their company will now go with the Rock Island Armory brand, while the Armscor brand will now only be limited to the ammunition. With this, the Armscor logo will no longer be used, so if you have those shotguns, and rifles with the Armscor logo, hang on to them because they will be collectors’ items soon.  Or you can still buy the few available ones at Armscor. Martin says whether it is an Armscor brand or the new Rock Island Armory brand, what you get is the same quality and assurance of a reliable firearm.  The creation of a new brand was just the company’s way of unifying the brand and splitting up the production into two: Armscor solely for ammunition and Rock Island Armory for firearms.

In the last AFAD show, they actually displayed their new Rock Island Armory products though these were not yet available for sale. In this recent show, those products you ogled were also displayed and made available to the public. Among the more popular items were the Glock conversion kits, the Baby Rock, TCM Single Stock and the new Rock Island Armory models:  the Pro Series that include the Rock Standard MS, Rock Standard CS, Rock Standard FS, the TCM Rock Ultra, and the XT 22 TAC, among many others.

Bolo Tuason, chairman emeritus of Armscor was obviously the proud father.  When he retired on Jan. 31, 2013, he promised the company would double its production when the heir apparent occupied his big chair. Three years later, Armscor has not only doubled its production, it has in fact tripled it, and that is saying a lot for the company because they are not one to keep a high level of inventory.  Most of them get disposed of quickly, and production has to keep pace.

Martin has obviously learned a lot from his dad Bolo.  One of the lessons he took to heart are his dad’s words:  “when you don’t move forward, you are standing still or worse, moving backwards.”

Armscor is now a multinational corporation with manufacturing facilities in the United States.  They have been on exploratory talks with many other countries, but they have gone beyond that in Australia where they are set to open their new factory very soon.  “We’re a Filipino company that provides Philippine ingenuity, hard work and ethics, and puts them together with new innovative products, and tried to get the best from around the world at the best possible price,” said Martin.

They are also now in the process of standardizing as much as possible their retail price across the globe, so it won’t matter where you got your Rock Island Armory handgun or your Armscor ammunition.  Check out their global website, armscor.com.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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