I will freely admit that I love guns, cans and a little competition every now and then. So when I found out about the new products from upstart Jesse James Firearms Unlimited that was billed as an industry game changer, I was rather curious. Thanks to the vitality of Facebook and the internet in general as well as some reporting by fellow TTAG contributor Nick Leghorn, I was anxious to see the results of a startup challenging an established player in this business. Remember that many looked sideways at Apple when they said they were going to make a phone. I had a chance to talk to Brent Taylor from Liberty Suppressors about the goings on involving his company and Jesse James in a TTAG exclusive . . .
I’ve known Brent Taylor from his time at AAC and he’s always been a real professional. I’ve never had any issues with him and we get along pretty smoothly so when I contacted him last night for a TTAG exclusive on what went down at SHOT Show 2015, he was more than happy to chat on the record about what went down and settle some of the internet scuttlebutt that’s floating around.
After the conclusion of one of the days at SHOT, Brent went over to say hi to the JJFU crowd. After hearing some of their claims, he offered to put his product head-to-head with theirs in a friendly competition. I know Brent to be a polite professional and Jesse James seemed to act in kind and accepted his invitation to put their products to the test. The internet got a hold of some of the smart phone screen grabs and the comments commenced to fly.
After a phone conversation with JJFU earlier today, Brent Taylor reports that JJFU declined to go through with the head-to-head challenge since they had some scheduling conflicts. Adding to the mix, it seems that Jesse James didn’t seem to like all the vitriolic personal attacks floating around the internet and that was a factor in his decision not to participate.
Seems to me that this challenge was over well before it started. What started off with some friendly banter and competition seemed to go way off the tracks thanks to the characters of the internet judging the book by its cover.
“Product challenges like this happen with a handshake and a smile, not with a pitchfork,” Taylor said, and I’m inclined to agree with him. With the internet looking for a knockdown drawn out fight when it was really just a handful of gun guys wanting to just goof off and test out some product. I’d be reticent to saddle up for that goat rodeo as well.
Taylor adds that “Anyone that wants to have a friendly metering event, we’re open to that. It’s entertaining for people to see that sort of thing and it adds to the betterment of the community.” It seems that if any of the readers wants to try putting together a better can and put it head to head with Liberty on the range and see how it reads on the equipment, the invitation is always open. He also added that he contacted JJFU via email yesterday to let them know that if they ever change their minds, the invitation still stands.
So, that’s how the Tale of Two Silencers abortive wild west showdown.
On a personal note, I was rather anxious to see a known, well-respected product go up against a newcomer, not in a “Hey, I hope X person gets crushed at their own game” way, but rather in a Mars Rover Curiosity sit-back-and-see-what-happens-for-science way. Full disclosure: I may also have 300,000 British Airways Avios that are about to be devalued and I love some Texas BBQ so take my curiosity with a grain of salt.
One lesson to be learned here is that if the people of the internet want to see products go head-to-head against each other, they may want to press the mute button until AFTER they get the results.
Disclosure: FirearmConcierge is a dealer of firearms and has in the past done business with Brent Taylor when he was employed by Remington/AAC/Freedom Group and has a social relationship with Mr. Taylor. FirearmConcierge is not a client or dealer of Liberty Suppressors or Jesse James Firearms Unlimited at the time of this publication and has not received any type of compensation (including SHOT Show swag) from any party named in this article. JJFU wasn’t contacted for this article.