Fifty-six hours into a normal “day at the office” (at least for astronauts), an oxygen tank exploded. When you’re 205,000 miles from Earth in the deadly vacuum of space, that’s kind of a big deal. It was a safe assumption that Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise would quickly suffocate and drift through space for eternity.
But we all know the crew of Apollo 13 made it home, against all odds. Why? The power of effective teams. Led by legendary Flight Director Gene Kranz, thousands of exceptionally dedicated and talented engineers, astronauts, controllers, mathematicians and other technicians fought back the panic and started solving insurmountable problems, one at a time. That’s what great teams do.
Success in the US Gun Market Means … Business
There are lots of examples in the business world of great teams doing great work — that tends to happen when a leader picks great people, gives them a mission, then turns them loose on problems and challenges. One example in more recent history is the newly refreshed Sarsilmaz team right here in the United States.
Sarsilmaz is already a big deal as a renowned Turkish arms manufacturer, supplying law enforcement, military and special ops teams across the world — 80 countries at last count. And they’ve been doing that for a very long time, since about 1880. Now, Sarsilmaz is the largest gun manufacturer in Turkey and one of the largest producers in all of Europe. They make everything from pistols, to rifles and machine guns to autonomous weapons systems (armed robots). You might say they have some experience building proper guns.
What’s new is the reorganization of US distribution and market operations. Tony Pignato took the reins as CEO last fall and immediately commenced building an experienced, motivated and empowerment-ready team. The United States is a tough market to crack, even for an established company like Sarsilmaz, so he handpicked top talent to run all facets of the US operation, known officially as SAR USA.
You might know Tony from his successful tenure at Staccato. Since taking on this new challenge, he’s handpicked a group to catapult SAR USA’s solid guns into the forefront of the American gun market.
As the guns are made in Turkey, the focus of the US-based team is to get the word out and let the products speak for themselves, so business development is a top priority. Gun people listen to gun people, and Army veteran Pignato has filled the ranks with serious and experienced shooters and gun business executives.
Heather Miller has taken over as Vice President of Business Development. Her resume won’t surprise you. In the past, she’s led sales and marketing for Vudoo Gun Works and served in business development lead roles for Krieghoff International and Staccato. And her shooting resume? You’ll see Heather on the firing lines at USPSA, IPSC, IDPA, Steel Challenge, 3-Gun, tactical challenges and precision rifle events. In between matches, you’ll find Heather involved with military and 2A support organizations, including Special Operations Forces (SOF), Gold Star families, and 2A-focused initiatives like Memorial Valor Foundation, Task Force Dagger, She Never Quit and Women for Gun Rights.
Backing up Heather is Juan Martinez, a USMC veteran — seeing a theme here? He’s invested over 20 years in LE Tactical Units, Special Investigations and instruction. You might say he understands the serious side of the gun market.
Another US military veteran, Jim Erwin, served in the 1st SFOD-D (Delta) unit. Yeah, that one. Remember what I said about a team of gun people bringing the Sarsilmaz lineup to the American market? Jim also spent time as a Ranger Platoon Sergeant for a military free-fall platoon in a long-range surveillance unit. After ending his career doing all the tactical stuff, he managed Business Development for Staccato.
Someone has to provide air cover to all these Business Development assets on the ground, and that would be Kristin Marlow. I met Kristin years ago when she was serving as Chief Marketing Officer for Staccato. She and many others from this group led the big change from the STI competitive market product line to Staccato becoming a respected name in the LE and tactical communities.
It’s safe to say these are the kind of folks who thrive on doing big things, so it will be interesting to watch as SAR USA grows.
We’re going to be taking a closer look at some of the latest handgun products from the SAR USA team over the next four weeks. Will Dabbs, MD, will be bringing us a story focusing on the SAR9 Full Size, and Frank Jardim will bring us the SAR9 Subcompact. I’ll be back in week four with more details on the SAR9 SOCOM and SAR9 Compact.
But me being me, I couldn’t wait until week four to start checking out the guns arriving via the brown truck of happiness.
I decided to make a quick trip to the range, accompanied by the SAR9 SOCOM full-size model for a little sneak preview. This model has all the bells and whistles like a threaded barrel (Yes, SilencerCo Osprey, here we come!), a flared magazine well, nifty slide cuts and of course, an optics-ready slide cut and mounting plate.
In less than a minute, on went the svelte Holosun EPS Carry with its combination ring and dot reticle. With zero tinkering, I’m now testing a nice defensive setup with perfectly co-witnessed Meprolight Tritium sights — a bright one up front flanked by two smaller vials in the back.
After getting a feel for the gun freehand, I rested it and fired five-shot groups from the 25-yard mark using five different types of 9mm ammo. Results? Four out of five broke the 2″ barrier (1.1″, 1.4″, 1.76″ and 1.8″), with the fifth measuring just 2.1″. Did I mention this gun carries an MSRP of just $529.99?
It’s clear the folks from Sarsilmaz have come a long way since building and repairing flintlocks back in Ottoman Empire times. Stay tuned for the next few weeks for more on what the SAR USA team is doing.
For more info: SARUSA.com