Join us on this exciting episode of Sportsman of Colorado as Scott Watley welcomes Kyle Williams and Brandon Anderson from LT Arms. We delve into the highlights of the recent Mile High Hunting Fish Expo and discuss the unique services offered by LT Arms, including custom gun builds, gunsmithing, and a family-friendly store environment. Discover how LT Arms aims to provide top-notch customer service and knowledgeable staff to enhance your hunting experience.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado’s premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado’s top outfitters featuring the industry’s leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here’s your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us. We are glad you are here. It’s the first Saturday of the month, so that means it’s LT Arms. 720-727-0400 is their number. They are located at 8130 Schaefer Parkway in Littleton. Again, that’s 8130 Schaefer Parkway in Littleton. And their website is ltarms.com. We are recording live today once again from the world headquarters. and um kyle williams with us owner how are you doing i’m doing great good mr brandon it’s always on uh yeah every time he just always hogs hey i’m on i’m on get me on no i’m kidding but uh no good to see you man so hey we finished up the mile high hunting fish expo a couple weeks ago and uh that was our first time to be there and of course it was your first time to be with us so you weren’t out with us at the gaylord but it was at the national western event center but Just from the showroom floor and things, and when you guys set up, man, that’s a pretty nice building out there. They built some new buildings that are nice out there.
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, yeah, they definitely did a good job on those buildings and everything, and the atmosphere is very inviting.
SPEAKER 04 :
And a lot of quality vendors there, you say, as you walked around the floor?
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, yeah. As far as the vendors, I mean, it was a great time for people coming through. If you needed anything hunting-wise, that was the place to be.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, for sure. Well, how’s the, if you look kind of the first quarter of the year, I mean, what’s it kind of been like after the holidays and all up until now, getting into spring?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I mean, first quarter, I mean, everyone is recovering from hunting and all that, getting their boo-boos that they got on their guns fixed. So it’s always a nice one to get that taken care of. But now we’re looking towards summer and getting things ready for the next hunting season.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, mentioning that, you guys just finished up a pretty cool hunt, Brandon. Yeah. Tell us about it.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we just got back from Elmdale, Kansas. We went out there to visit our buddies at the Clovercliff Bison Ranch. Got a couple of nice bulls. So yeah, we used our Shikari brand of in-house rifle to take those. So it was kind of a cool thing to make guns here and bring them out there and harvest a couple animals. And we’re actually… While we were out there, we came up with an idea. We’re going to do a rifle bison hunt raffle to where we are. We’re going to do one of our custom guns, and you get a gun from us, caliber of your choice. Make it a big one because bison aren’t small because it also comes with a bison hunt with the guys out at Clovercliff. Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
$100 per ticket.
SPEAKER 12 :
You can buy five tickets, you get the sixth for free, so it kind of incentivizes you that way. But, yeah, if you win, I mean, you know, you have the opportunity to win, you know, a $7,000 value of a hunt and a rifle for $100. So, yeah, it’s pretty exciting stuff.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s one of your custom ones.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yep, one of our custom guns.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, what caliber do you use?
SPEAKER 12 :
375 H&H.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, I mess around.
SPEAKER 12 :
It works every time on big stuff like that.
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s proven itself time and time again, so you can’t go wrong with it.
SPEAKER 04 :
But you do some, of course, the way you all do a lot of your own loading and stuff. Do you make special loads or do you just shoot a factory ammo?
SPEAKER 12 :
We actually used factory ammo on that one because we’ve had really good luck with the Barnes TSX.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s a good bullet.
SPEAKER 12 :
Bullets, those things work great. I mean, every single time you… Last two years while we’ve been skinning, I’ve been able to, you know, hitting ribs and I can feel something hard in there and I’ll reach in and can find a… You know, the whole bullet’s still in there. It’s blossomed the right way and it doesn’t lose any weight and it hasn’t lost any… there aren’t any fragments in the meat or anything. I’m a tried and true believer in those things. I think they’re great bullets. It’s one of my favorites, I think. It would really be nice to actually build up some hand loads using those bullets and see what kind of performance you could get out of them. Maybe that’ll be a thing we can get Evan on next time he’s in here and talk about it.
SPEAKER 04 :
We were kind of talking about it before we started today’s show, and it’s been a fast year, but Uh, we’re kind of wrapping up this month, our first year with you guys and man, it has gone quick. And so Kyle, let’s reset a little bit for folks that may not have caught the first few months of the show and just, um, Cause this gun store is different from anything in town. Okay. By far. Try to be on many levels. All right. We only got an hour and I can’t go through the whole hour with you, but, um, kind of give some, a little bit of background of how you got started and kind of what your dream was. Um, you know, when you had all this in mind to build.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, so, I mean, my dream and goal of the shop is, and always will be, to be the most inviting gun shop for anyone to come to. A nice, warm environment. People can come in, sit down, take a load off, have a fun time, and talk to knowledgeable people that aren’t going to try and push you to buy their favorite gun or caliber or whatnot. They’ll figure out what you need, what will work best for you, and what your preferences are. Customer service is the number one thing that I strive for. If you walk into this shop and you don’t get customer service, then we failed. And so that’s my biggest thing is…
SPEAKER 04 :
being a one-stop shop for everything hunting with knowledgeable staff and great people to talk to right uh for several years i worked for jake jabs at american furniture and jake always said find a need and feel that need and you’ll be successful okay besides jake and i’ll put you in that category which is a compliment but man it seems like if you hear of a need or think about something that would fit with this, in the next three weeks I come in, it’s here and it’s done. Oh, yeah. Brandon, that’s kind of like him, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, text at, you know, 8, 9 o’clock at night, like, so, here’s what I’m thinking. It’s always a new business idea.
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, I would text him later, but he’s old and, you know, has to go to bed early.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, man, I walk in here and all of a sudden if my phone dies, there’s chargers in here, you know. Hey, if your head’s cold, he’s got cowboy hats. And custom. They’ll make them to fit.
SPEAKER 14 :
I don’t want people to, you know. not have what they want. It’s always the worst when you go somewhere and your phone dies. We want to accommodate them. As far as hats, it’s always the worst when you’re hunting and the You know, the sun is in your eyes. I’m sure Brandon’s used that excuse multiple times.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER 14 :
So, you know, you’ve got to give them the hat to cover the sun, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
No doubt, no doubt, yeah. And, you know, at the end, too, you know, you look at the gunsmithing that you have. I mean, most shops that have any kind of gunsmithing, it’s a cubicle-sized room almost. You know what I mean, where they’re just kind of in the back, and it’s very small. I mean, this is like a separate building almost back in the back for gunsmithing. And, man, just the machinery alone back there, let’s be honest, a big investment.
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, yeah, definitely a big investment. And, you know, I pride myself on how nice our showroom is and how big it is and all that. But our gunsmith room is twice the size. So that’s, I mean. We’re not a fly-by-night shop. We’re going to be here for the long haul. We’re going to be making things until my kids take over. We’re not going to be just doing it willy-nilly.
SPEAKER 12 :
They were in here selling stuff the other day. I mean, they’re all, you know.
SPEAKER 04 :
five and younger or whatever and yeah she she was selling we have like hunting set up toys and yes selling them to other kids and she came she’s like i just sold those like you you have your dad’s spirit so they got it all they got the guns and ammo they got the gunsmithing uh restoration training we’ll get into a minute reloading um you know custom they can do a lot of things custom with guns um you know repairs um And when you get into the training side of things, you know, boy, through the few years we’ve been through things, that whole concept has changed, hasn’t it, from the training aspect? I mean, when I got my concealed carry first one years ago, I sat in a class, I think, for four hours. Done. You know what I mean? So what is it now?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, it’s not quite that easy anymore. So in the state of Colorado, you have to pass a written test and you have to shoot at least 50 rounds of live fire. If you’re getting your first initial concealed carry It has to be you know an eight-hour course if you’re doing a Renewal it doesn’t have to be that long. It can be a little shorter, but you still have to pass a written test and do live fire most the shops or people teaching classes now, 50 rounds is not really much as far as training-wise. And so a minimum of 200 rounds is usually what you’re looking at for a live fire training.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And, you know, I’m all for training. I’m all for having people shoot. You just hate the government to dictate it to you. Yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
You never like when Big Brother tells you to do something, but it is for the best and all that. People need to be trained, but it’s also our constitutional right to have firearms and all that. So I get where they’re coming from there, too. Yeah. Even in my classes, I’ll still tell you that I scratch the surface. I don’t give you every little aspect of the training. An eight-hour course is not enough to learn how to handle a firearm properly in self-defense.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And then at the end of a training, they pass, they get a certificate, they sit into their individual county then and just pay the money and – Wait to get the card.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, wait to get the card. Some people are lucky like you and get it in 10 days. Some people have to wait three months.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I actually got my certificate of training here. And I tell you, Douglas County, I was shocked. I mean, it was literally about 10 days until they said, come pick it up. I’m like, man, that’s awesome. So that works good. If you’re just joining us, Kyle is with us, the owner, Brandon Anderson. It’s LT Arms, 8130 Schaefer Parkway, Unit C. It’s kind of an industrial area here. Best way, I’d say, just put in your GPS. It leads you right to the front door. A big elk painted right on the front door. You can’t miss it. And what are your hours, Brandon?
SPEAKER 12 :
We are 10 to 6 Tuesday through Friday and 10 to 4 on Saturday.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. All right. Good deal. And I think, Kyle, getting back to you in the store, lot of gun a lot of stores you walk into you know there’ll be a few handguns or whatever but a lot of times you kind of see just a lot of the same thing around you know this store is again vastly different at that i mean where we record in here you’ve kind of got a really cool military type room with a whole bunch of cool stuff in it you know and you carry you know some some modern guns you know you’ve got some
SPEAKER 14 :
cowboy looking gun i mean i’ll let you describe it but you’ve got a great choice for folks here oh yeah and and i i kind of you know want to touch on you know i always say i want a one-stop shop for everything hunting uh and i kind of say that quickly and you know just brush it off But that is truly what we have here. You can come in. The people here, we have the staff. Everyone here hunts. We all have the experience. It’s not like going to a big box store where the person behind the counter has never actually really hunted. fired a gun yeah and so everyone here has the experience has the knowledge and we’re all out hunting you know two or three times a year so let’s we have the experience and knowledge the best thing is the firearms that we have here in the shop are ones that we would stand behind yeah uh Now, we’ll get you any gun, and we’ll educate you on anything that you want, but… We will give you all the information that we know is out there to give you the best benefit of buying a firearm. Because it’s always the worst when you buy something. And Colorado has weird laws to where, you know, oh, this scope is awesome. It connects to my range finder. It gives me the perfect, you know, drop and everything, holdover. Those are illegal in Colorado. most people won’t know that so it’s like that that’s the big thing is there’s all these gadgets and gizmos and all that you can buy but we’ll educate you on the pros and cons of everything right right and you know hey new game brochures out of course or draw is um
SPEAKER 04 :
coming up right here where you I mean where you got to get your applications in and do yourself a favor and it’s just a PSA all right read what’s new for 2026 inside the cover there’s always valuable information there and I mean you can’t plead stupidity when a game warden comes up and you got that kind of optic on or whatever you got to know so highly recommend you do that and again Remember, I believe it’s April 7th. And for that, at 8 p.m., you’ve got to have those in. So good luck to everyone in the draw. And that’s another whole show that’s been pretty frustrating for many people over the last few years, not being able to draw tags here. All the different rules we got. But anyway, that’s another show. But hey, come on over to LT Arms. Again, great store. And I do want to mention this, Kyle. And I realize you have one of your employees here. But the staff here, let’s be honest, is what makes the store, too. You know, I mean, 50% of it is all you’ve talked about so far. But that other 50%, man, it’s just staff. And, man, I’ll say, and I’ve told them in front of them, man, you’ve got a great staff here.
SPEAKER 14 :
And we strive to have that. We try to keep it a friendly environment for people to come in to, have a nice personality. This is a family shop, and we try to have family values.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, very, very good. Now, optics and all. You’ve got a few brands of optics. Who do you have? Who do you currently have?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, so, I mean, we carry all of them. GPO, Leupold, SIG. Trijicon’s over there. Trijicon, yeah. We have the Gambit on the shelf and all that, but we can always get whatever anyone wants because everyone has their brand loyalties and all that. We completely understand that. Yeah. but we can also give them good, better, best options. I would love to have Swarovski’s on everything, but as far as those customers that want those, I’m happy to bring them in for you. But for everyone else, we have options for you as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, man, growing up, Brandon wasn’t born when I was hunting. I hunted with my dad, a Redfield Scope. It was a low profile, three to nine. Dude, that’s all I hunted with my whole life for many, many, many years. And now, what optics are out there now? Good night. It is crazy. And I tell people, that’s where you need to spend the money. You’ve got to have a good rifle, of course, and all that, good ammo. But if you can’t see it, it doesn’t matter.
SPEAKER 14 :
Growing up, my dad, he had a little, I think it was a 7-power scope on his rifle and all that. Nothing fancy, anything. He hunted with that his whole life. And then when I got into the industry and got him a nice optic on his rifle, it was a complete game changer. Your average person is usually not putting a fixed power scope on their gun anymore.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. Now, consignments, you offer that. I’ll let you explain your program.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, definitely. We offer consignment and everything. We try to get you the best value for your firearm. It doesn’t matter if it’s your family heirloom or if it’s something you bought last week. We’re going to try and get you the best value. Now, the reason we do that is we work off a percentage, so commission. So the better value that you get, the better value we get. So that’s in everyone’s best interest to do it. And Evan, who’s been on the radio several times, he’s the most knowledgeable person I know about firearms. He’s a walking encyclopedia for firearms, for those people that still use encyclopedias. Britannica, I think. Yeah. But yeah, so he’s super knowledgeable and will give you the history of every firearm out there. And he knows what the value is and what things are going for because he’s on those sites all day, every day. And so we will have it on our shelves. So if anyone walks in and wants to buy it, they can. But we’re also posting it on several platforms. And so it’s out there all over the nation to be sold. And so that’s one of the benefits of using us is we’re knowledgeable, we’ll get you the top dollar, and we’ll get it in front of millions of people.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. All right. Now, if you missed it earlier, I’m going to let Brandon run through. Now’s the chance to go on a buffalo hunt.
SPEAKER 12 :
get a custom rifle all in one drawing tell us again brandon tickets are a hundred dollars a piece it is for one of our shikari custom-built rifles and a caliber of your choice again pick a big one because bison are big but then yeah you get the gun you get to go on a bison hunt at clover cliff ranch in elmdale kansas And that contest will be going, looks like, through the summer. And I believe that hunt will be in December.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. That’s when you want it because, man, that hair is good.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, nice thick coats on them. And you can get a nice hide. That’s when you want to go. Good meat.
SPEAKER 04 :
And a ton of meat.
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, tons of meat, yeah. And, you know, with Clovercliff Ranch, you know, this is a very nice place to go. We’ve been going to it for years. We’re good friends with them and all that. But the… Lodging is top notch. It is nice. Last year, I took my whole family, my three kids and my wife and all that. We had a fun time, blast. They are super accommodating for families. That’s one of the nice things. This is a good retreat for your family to go on.
SPEAKER 04 :
Tell them we’ll get them on sometime.
SPEAKER 12 :
They have a few bunk houses. The main house is the original house from the guy who started the ranch in 1883.
SPEAKER 04 :
And how far of a drive from here?
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s about seven hours.
SPEAKER 04 :
Not that bad.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. But you walk into the house and it looks like you’re in 1883. All the original furniture and everything, decorations. I mean, it’s like stepping back in time. And Susie and Warren are the owners. And Susie cooks up an amazing breakfast.
SPEAKER 04 :
So that’s also something you have to look forward to. Good deal.
SPEAKER 14 :
Anything we missed? No, I think we got it. Yeah. Appreciate you coming.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, man, of course, man. Come on out to the store, folks. I’m telling you, great store. It’s a store, really, you want to come over here a couple times a week. I mean, you never know what’s going to walk in the door, so to speak. They get a lot of great collections. They get consignment guns. And they’ve just got a lot of cool ones already here. So come on over. And when you come in, let them know you heard them here on Sportsman of Colorado. We’d appreciate that as well. 8130 Schaefer Parkway, Unit C in Littleton. Again, guns and ammo, gunsmithing, restoration, training, reloading classes, repairs, all you need right here under one roof at LT Arms. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
This is KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. We appreciate you being with us. Well, Colorado Gun Collector Show is coming up May 16th and 17th. Go to CGCA.com for all the information you need there. Always good to have the president of the Colorado Gun Collector Association with us. That is Rick Wilson. Rick, good to have you back. How you been?
SPEAKER 06 :
I’ve been good, Scott. Thanks for having me on your show again. And the older I get, the more I appreciate radio because I can be driving down the road or working on my house. As long as I’ve got my phone, I’ve got the radio to entertain me and interact and learn new things.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. For sure. You know, does it seem like from last May that this May is already here again? I tell you, the time has, it seems like six, you know, just six months ago we were here.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, young people will laugh at us old people. But, yeah, the older I get, the faster time goes. I’ve been so busy with things from the last show to this next show, I can’t believe it’s here already.
SPEAKER 04 :
Do you have some people that have been showing with you for 30, 40 years? I mean, they’ve come every year. I know this is your 60th anniversary. Right. But, I mean, I’m sure you’ve probably had some vendors that have been with you every year.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, it’s funny you should mention that because one of our founding members from 1964, he still is at the show every year. He still has a display. And John is just such a great guy. I mean, he’s got so much knowledge, so much history. I just love to be around people like him.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that is so cool. And, again, on a previous show Rick was on, we talked about this. Folks, this is a great family event, all right? And Rick even shared some great history last time he was on. And I’m going to get him to pick his brain and tell us another story or two here on today’s show. But this is a great event. It’s at the Island Grove. Is it just called the Island Grove Event Center?
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s my understanding. I think it may be called something else because it’s on the radio. the rodeo grounds there in Greeley. Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
But it’s in Greeley Island Grove. Just, you can just Google that. But, uh, again, it’s May 16th and 17th and, uh, Hey folks, only 15 bucks, uh, that gets you for your two day pass there for the 16th and 17th. Now, if you want to get an early pass to get in there and check things out before the, the crowds show up, although the early pass is quite busy itself, it’s $75. But again, that gives you kind of a, pre-show look at all they have available. And how many vendors do you think you’re probably expecting this year?
SPEAKER 06 :
We had about 750 vendors last year. I should say tables. Some vendors have two or three tables.
SPEAKER 04 :
Man, that’s awesome. And as we said last time, we call it Colorado Gun Collectors, but there’s a ton of other stuff to see.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely. We have One of the biggest display shows in the country, the biggest, really. We have over $10,000 worth of awards and prizes that people compete for. But it covers the whole facet. Some is just about boxes of shotgun shells that people have collected over 100 years, for instance. But you can find Western stuff. They have leather goods. They have… Native American artifacts. People are knowledgeable about so many different facets of things. It’s just incredible.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and I think it was Tom Hillman last year brought in, like, some swords and knives. Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
All kinds of cool stuff. Yeah, Tom has a few guns, but he’s mostly a sword and knife collector.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
And just talking to him is fascinating. His knives from the Philippines, he knows all about that stuff. Spanish swords. Yeah. You know, the Spanish were here in Colorado hundreds of years ago.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
Even before the Revolutionary War.
SPEAKER 04 :
Mm-hmm. Right. Now, you said your love, last time you were here, you said your love was kind of the Western. One of your loves was Western guns and all. You told us a cool story. Any other guns you got you want to mention real quick? Sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, when I was a kid, maybe 12 years old, I read a gun book, and I read the book several times, numerous times. I memorized it, basically. I thought, I’m a gun expert. And now I’ve learned that there’s tens of thousands of different guns that were made in the last couple hundred years. It’s just you have no idea the breadth of this subject. And so I’ve come to love Marlins. Marlins were a lever gun. lever action gun that was made the same time as the Winchester, not as, uh, well advertised as the Winchester, but every bit as good. I love those. Um, shotguns. I’ve become a fan of side-by-side shotguns, and I shoot with a group called the Rocky Mountain Vintagers that shoot side-by-side shotguns that trap shoots throughout the state. And we also go out of state to shoot against other states. And there’s just something for everybody, really.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sure, sure. And man, when you look at the cost, and of course, Money, the value, how it translates to today. But, man, when you look at what you used to buy a .30-34, a lever action. Right. You know, I mean, I remember back, you know, I mean, I was born in 58. So, I mean, I was hunting, you know, easy at 10, 11 years old in Texas and all growing up. But, I mean, some of the range, you know, $150, $200, you know, I mean, different things like that. And you could go in a lot of different stores that sold guns. I mean, a lot of stores.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, Mikey Ward’s, Western Auto.
SPEAKER 04 :
Western Auto. I was just going to say, there was a store in Texas called Gibson’s. I mean, you know, you could just walk in any store and pick them up, do whatever you want. Right. Walk down an aisle, show your dad. Yeah, Sears, yeah. All that. But, boy, times have changed, haven’t they?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yeah. Funny you should mention that because in the sixties you could buy a Winchester 94, the old 30, 30 for 64 bucks. Um, in 1900 you could buy it for about 19 bucks, I think. So yeah, guns have really appreciated and collecting guns. Um, One of our past members who’s passed away now, but he said, you know, guns are a great investment. You know, forget stocks and bonds. Guns always increase in value.
SPEAKER 04 :
I could tell my wife that, but I don’t know if she believes me. Well, exactly.
SPEAKER 06 :
That was one of the things he mentioned. Yeah, tell your wife it’s a great investment. It really is. Wives don’t tend to believe that all the time. Sometimes they do.
SPEAKER 04 :
Do you get some people that, if people maybe have an old pistol or old, you know, army gun or something, they want to bring in and just let somebody look at it and decide maybe what the value is. Do people do that sometimes at these shows?
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely, and that’s a great benefit to coming to this show. It’s only once a year, but we have experts from all over the country, experts on everything. So if you have a gun that your grandfather used in World War II or somebody had on the ranch in 1900 or whatever, they can tell you all about the gun. They can give you an idea about what it’s worth, what you should insure it for. If you want to get rid of it, I’m sure there’s somebody there that would like to buy it from you. But just to learn about that gun, the history that your grandfather went through with that gun is just fun. So that alone would be fun.
SPEAKER 04 :
I bet you some people have been shocked at the value of something that they had no idea.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Some of these guns will have an inscription on it, like, you know, it has a man’s name. Then you find out it was the district attorney from Canyon City or something in 1920. I mean, we just love that kind of history. Sure. To research that and things.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. Again, Rick Wilson is with us. He’s the president of the Colorado Gun Collector Association. Hey, if you want to become a member, you can do that. Go to CGCA.com for more information there. And if you want to get a booth, maybe you’ve got a good collection of some things. You can certainly apply for a booth there as well, and they will get that back to you. How long does it usually take if people fill out an application for them to get word back from you if they’re approved for a booth or not?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, okay, let me start with if you want to apply for membership, that takes a good month or so because you have to be approved by the – the board the board and the uh the members at our next meeting so that takes a month or two um an application for a table you can uh get in just a couple of weeks okay okay cool you you fill out your application you can call uh our show chairman up and say hey i want to get a booth here and uh he can give you a lot of information and and tell you you know what’s what’s involved and uh All that. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
And as we said, hey, this is a great family event. And, hey, $15, folks, for two days you can go. And it is hard to see in one day. So just a great weekend there with the Colorado Gun Collectors Association. If, let’s say, you want to sneak in the door early a day before, that’s a $75 pass. But it does give you a chance to get in there before all the crowds do as well. And it’s the 60th anniversary. And once again, the website is CGCA.com. How do you insure things like this? Your homeowner’s insurance doesn’t tend to cover a whole lot with guns under normal circumstances. How do you insure things like this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think homeowners policies are meant for people that just have a gun for that you take hunting or maybe for your personal defense or something of your home. So homeowners insurance covers up to $1,500 for instance. If you join the NRA, they have a policy that maybe goes up to $2,500, but a lot of these serious collectors will insure their collections, you know, 500,000, a million dollars. So they’ll go through a specialized insurance company like Corvins or something. Right. Right. Okay. That’s good.
SPEAKER 04 :
I tell you, it’s such a cool deal. And when you, you know, last year, like I said, we had a lot of different people in from your organization. But it’s just great to see the personality, these different things they love to collect and their passion for it. And, I mean, it’s just got its place, doesn’t it? Well, it does for me.
SPEAKER 06 :
Maybe I’m not the ordinary person, but I’ve just been fascinated with this all my life. And the more I’m around it, the more fascinating it is. I talk to new people with other interests. I don’t know anything about their interests. And they teach me. And it’s like, well, I love that stuff. So it’s also fascinating. So it is good for all age ranges. Even if you’re in your 20s and you like these modern guns, that’s great. And we all shoot modern guns. But the history of where these guns came from and how they developed over time It’s just fascinating to me. Yeah. Just like going to a old plane museum. I just love the history of airplanes, for instance.
SPEAKER 04 :
Have you been to the Cody Firearm Museum?
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, many times. Yeah. I tell you, that’s a trip people need to go see. I absolutely believe it’s five museums in one. So you have the firearms section. You have the. The art section, yeah, five museums in one, basically. And they always are changing their exhibits. The firearms they have on display are fantastic. So you can go to basically our gun show and see the same kind of stuff without going to Cody, Wyoming. But, yeah, both are great.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. Once again, it’s May 16th and 17th, Colorado Gun Collector Show. Go to CGCA.com. You can get tickets simply at the door. You don’t have to mess with anything online. Once again, if you want to become a member, you can go on the website for that. If you want to get a booth application, you can go to the website for that, cgca.com. Rick, great to see you again. Great to be here, Scott. I know we’re going to have a great show, so it’ll be cool. Thank you, Scott. You bet. Hey, you’re listening to Sportsman Colorado.
SPEAKER 15 :
We’ve got to take a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this. Visit hometownherooutdoors.org.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
Here’s why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you’ve been hurt by someone else’s negligence. The idea is that you’re going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist’s perspective is that you’re going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we’re talking about six people that you don’t know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you’re the one who’s hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it’s worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don’t know and were witnesses to believe that’s what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation, 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 04 :
Here’s your Water Talk Minute with Paul the Waterman, brought to you by Water Pros.
SPEAKER 01 :
So, one of the things that we’ve learned, and you can check this out factually information for yourself by going to theepa.gov. The EPA has a laundry list of unregulated contaminants, and what that means, folks, is that your municipality does not have to test for these contaminants, and so they’re not reported in your annual water quality report. This is something that has to change. We have a false sense of security about the quality of our drinking water, from pharmaceuticals to the levels of PFAS and Gen X chemicals, which was recently removed from the EPA contamination list. And for example, there’s a contaminant on the unregulated list called 1,4-Dioxin. 1,4-Dioxin has been in our water supply since the early 1900s. Check out my podcast on Spotify, Paul the Waterman, or waterpros.net.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sportsman of Colorado Radio is brought to you by the Colorado Wildlife Council. The Council works to educate the public on the importance of scientific wildlife management, conservation, and the benefits of wildlife-related recreational opportunities, specifically hunting and fishing. For the hunter and angler community, this educational mission is vital. It empowers us to become effective advocates for the wildlife and outdoor traditions we value. Their mission is to ensure that Colorado’s wildlife is preserved for future generations through public education. Learn more about their work and how it supports your role as an advocate at cowildlifecouncil.org. We thank the Colorado Wildlife Council for their support of Sportsman of Colorado Radio.
SPEAKER 11 :
KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to the show. Well, if you were just tuning in, we are replaying some interviews that we recorded last week, and some of these may flow into the next week. So, hey, March 20th through the 22nd, we were at the 2026 Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo out at the new National Western Event Center. And, man, just a great, great expo. And always great to run into some new friends. I certainly have known of the brand, but the first time I’ve ever got to get it explained to me was today. And Kevin Flesch is here with me also. So, Kevin, thanks for being with us.
SPEAKER 05 :
You bet. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 04 :
I wish we could do these once every couple of months. I know exactly exactly.
SPEAKER 13 :
We just work with their fun. We gotta we gotta go on the road I guess.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that’s all we need. But our side you are SI outdoor gear. They are across the aisle from us here at the Expo and Aaron Bland, one of the owners joins us today. So Aaron, thanks for being with us. Thank you for having me. Hate to make you repeat all your things you told me earlier about your gear,
SPEAKER 03 :
give us a little background history and how this i always like to hear the stories of how something came about you know and so tell us all about it because this is a competitive field man the clothing industry and the outdoors it is there’s quite a few that are in there and uh we’re owners engineers on on doing the product and we try to provide quality product we’re all hunters all mountain hunters here in the west from nevada up in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado. And we launched this four years ago, came up with a proprietary pattern using backgrounds, different flora, fauna, things that you’ll find out in nature, and then digitized and took the micros and macros in a six color palette and digitized it, ran the pattern until we got it the way we liked it and went to print. And then as far as the clothing gear, we all kind of run and gun early seasons. So we started off with an earlier, lighter weight. It’ll get you midway through earlier rifle seasons. And then we have a lot of friends that run it down south with it being lightweight. It has the UV protection. It’s great down down in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri. Have a lot of friends that run it there and really enjoy it. It’s good gear holds up durable. We don’t skimp on the fabric quality and. Get a lot of good feedback on it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Man, I mean, how do you start out with trying to pick? Because you look at all the different camo patterns that’s out there today and all the, like I say, engineering, I guess, that goes into that and just the brain thought of doing it. That is a lot of.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, I think the better question is with all of the stuff that’s out there, Five years ago or seven years ago, you were like, I want a piece of clothing gear that’s not out there, right? Because that’s what made you guys decide to do this? Correct. So what was it that you wanted to make and what makes your sort of clothing different than what’s out there now in your competition?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Caleb, one of the partners, is the brains behind the design. And he’s from Wellington, Colorado, born and raised here. And him and his brothers have all hunted the mountains. And there’s different types of hunting. There’s stand hunting where you’re just sitting, spotting, and you need to be bundled up and then there’s more active hunting. And that’s what we geared towards was the active running that you’re not going to perspire the minute you put it on. And you’re able to get the bino harness, the pack, be able to access the pockets, be able to run all day long and over the different temperatures that your body will run depending on the activity you’re doing. So that’s what it all boils down to, fit-for-purpose type clothing. Got it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well got it once again we are playing some interviews we did at the recent 2026 Mile High and Fish Expo. Aaron Bland joins us from Ursa outdoor gear. Alright, so again, it’s hard to explain on radio a little bit, but kind of kind of walk us through your lineup as what you were mentioning. I mean, I love the hoodie with the face mask. You know that’s real good. So start there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so we’ve got the Americanus and then Ursi, which is the bear. And if you go down into the family in the genus, Americanus is a light-skinned bear. And then we have our heavier weight clothing that is Arctis, which is a heavy-skinned bear. So that gets you a little bit of temperature variation and an explanation on the naming convention. But the Americanus hoodie, we’ve got people that wear it in… into the season. Obviously everything’s able to be layered up so you can get some more temperature variation there, but it does have an integrated gator in it and then it’s got the hood and it’s got the kangaroo pouch pocket pouch on the front. I run it all summer. I do some kayak fishing and fly fishing also. So it’s got the UV protection. It’s vented out under the arms so you have lighter fabric so you can release some of that heat off your body. But it does have the camouflage pattern. I run it through archery season also. so that’s that’s the long sleeve hoodie right then we’ve got the quarter zip which i’m wearing now but your friends on radio can’t see that it’s got the quarter zip it’s got the call pocket on the shoulder that you can access up high shoulder level and then it’s got a chest pocket good breathable lightweight material durable on snags i’ve worn this for four seasons We see a little bit of wear from the chest harness. Then we’ve got the pants vented on the side, and it’s fit to waist. If you wear a 32, you’d go with 32. It has zip out on the side. It’s got your two front pockets, your two thigh pockets, your two back pockets, all zippable, so you’re not losing any of your gear on that. And what Caleb really spent a lot of time on was the Stealth jacket. And it is in the Arctos line, so it’s got Primaloft active insulation, which wicks and insulates. And then we worked with the sewing company and the design company on the pattern and we’ve got insulation mapped out on the front chest it runs right over to the over the back of the shoulder but then stops so running your pack you’ve got uh you’ve got fabric back there but it’s not insulation so you’re able to vent that out and then we’ve got the ladder pocket system you’ve got a set of pockets down low then mid pocket which are zippable so again you don’t lose your gear you can secure that and then we’ve got the breast pockets for optics or calls, and it’s got a retention loop so you can put the neck cord and tie it in so you don’t lose it. But it’s quickly accessible if you have a rifle in one hand or a bow in one hand, you can still get to it because it’s right at mouth level, eye level, right at the shoulder level. It’s also got a hood on it. We took some time and cut back the profile on that so you don’t lose any of your peripheral vision. And again, on the insulation, it goes over the mohawk of the scalp, but you have fabric and protection on your ears from sun, wind, the elements, but it’s lighter weight so you don’t lose your hearing because it’s all full of insulation and padding.
SPEAKER 04 :
And see, it’s such a difference when things are designed by Hunter, so to speak, because you know what? We’ve all been there, I think. man, I wish I had a pocket here, you know, or why didn’t they make that pocket a little bit bigger or whatever the case may be. And, like, you know, with the calls, a lot of times you’re just sticking them in. You know, maybe you’ve got to move real quick. So, boy, you take that mouth call out and you stick it. And then all of a sudden it dropped out of, you know, your pouch pocket or something. So that’s really good.
SPEAKER 03 :
And when you bring that up, one thing that you might have seen different when you were looking at the year over there, Not only are they laddered where you have three pockets in a row going up your chest, starting at your waist, but they also open to the outside. So a lot of Western hunters, they’re running a bino harness and or bino with pistol. And all those pockets, if you think, mostly they open vertically up and down. These all access from the outside, so you’re not having to take half your bino harness off. to get into and access that pocket so we try to put some thought and innovations and again by looking at things we use but it’s like why couldn’t we do this or add that and that’s how we got to the finished product at where we’re at at this point all right what’s your website It’s www.ursigear.com. All right.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s pretty easy. So, ursigear.com. And I’m telling you, they’ve got a great lineup, some really cool products. Check them out. And I’m trying to think here. Could we figure out some kind of promo code?
SPEAKER 03 :
Over the next few weeks, if they go to the website and hit us up, I’ll extend show pricing. OK, we do. We’re we’re owner. The owners do the fulfilling at this point in time as we’re a newer company, so we would get that direct communication. Cool and be able to help them out there.
SPEAKER 04 :
We appreciate it, man. It’s cool to man. I can’t imagine the hours and. blood, sweat and tears, so to speak, that went into all the brainchild of thinking about it. And then when you get to see it, it’s probably pretty fulfilling for you guys. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we appreciate you reaching out, giving us time to be with you and your audience. You bet. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
So, I mean, I know he’s a serious downer. So I’m telling you, folks, this is some great gear. I know there’s a lot of companies out there, but I highly recommend before you buy. go to ursigear.com and check them out. So, Aaron, we appreciate it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, sir.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, and once again, if you came in halfway during that interview, that was at the recent Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo, March 20th through the 22nd, and we are already looking forward to next year. But just a great time there. I want to thank all the folks that came by our booth, said hello, met a lot of new friends, and a lot of folks said they listened, so we really appreciate it. So thanks for being with us today for Sportsman of Colorado. Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful Easter weekend, and we’ll talk to you next week.
SPEAKER 10 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
