Gear
Springfield Launches Echelon Pro Comp 9mm Pistols in Three Sizes at $899
Springfield's Echelon Pro Comp puts the custom-gun checklist in a factory box. Springfield says its lasers sculpt a grip texture reminiscent of custom stippling, then it adds an integrally compensated slide, a steel flared magwell, a stainless guide rod and a tritium front sight for $899. Springfield is betting a buyer would rather pay once at the counter than build the same pistol one upgrade at a time.
Business
Smith & Wesson Routes Web Shoppers to Guns.com Dealers Through Buy Now
Smith & Wesson's website is now a front door to someone else's gun counter. Through Guns.com's "Buy Now" tool, a shopper browsing the Smith & Wesson catalog lands on an in-stock Guns.com listing, and the sale goes to one of the more than 2,000 local dealers in Guns.com's network. The maker keeps the shopper, and the dealer with the gun on the shelf gets the sale.
Gear
Canik Adds a Limited World War II Fighter Finish to the MC9LS
Canik is selling a finish as the reason to buy. The METE MC9LS Flying Ace wears a factory Cerakote and laser-ablated World War II aviation design, comes in limited quantities and lists at $549.99. For a dealer, a limited-run carry gun at that price is an easy counter pitch to a buyer who already owns a plain one.
Business
Online Suppressor Sellers Steer Buyers to Local Gun Shop Counters
Silencer Central spent 20 years selling buyers an easier path through ATF paperwork, and ATF has now stopped enforcing the NFA application and tax-stamp steps for suppressors. The company says it has spent weeks building a process that ships orders to a participating local dealer, where the buyer completes the paperwork and background check. Gun shops are about to find out what a suppressor transfer is worth. Silencer Central's pickup process depends on participating local dealers, and Guns.com leans on a network of more than 2,000 storefronts, but neither page states a transfer fee or margin. Shops that price that counter work well could pick up steady traffic from online suppressor sales, and shops that don't will be doing the paperwork on someone else's sale.
THE SIGNAL STACK
Business
Angling Direct Lifts Half-Year Sales 5% in a Consolidating UK Tackle Market
Angling Direct's fastest-growing supplier is Angling Direct. Own-brand gross profit grew about 22% in the half while third-party brand gross profit grew about 4%, the UK chain says, on new ranges, everyday pricing and better sourcing. Every brand selling into the UK's largest omni-channel tackle retailer is now fighting for shelf space against Advanta and Discover, and the retailer owns both the shelf and the house brands.
Business
EFTTA Threatens to Pull Its Summit From ANGELWELT Over China B2B Push
EFTTA is treating a trade-show marketing program as a trade-policy fight. The association says it supports fair international trade and still objects to its Summit, built for industry, policymakers and scientists, being presented as part of an effort to bring one country's manufacturers into the European market. For any show selling international matchmaking, a trade body's name on the program now comes with conditions.
Business
Primary Arms Optics Puts Dealer Veteran Jeff Scheider in Charge of Sales
Primary Arms Optics just handed its dealer book to the man who built much of it. Jeff Scheider, national sales manager from 2020, left briefly in 2025, came back in 2026 and is now vice president of sales. President Matt Fleming says the job is to strengthen dealer partnerships, so retailers who already know Scheider now have him at the top of the sales org.
Business
USTR Keeps China Tariffs on Fish Hooks, Line and Lures in Place
The U.S. Trade Representative said in an Oct. 7 Federal Register notice that its two 2018 Section 301 actions against China did not end at their four-year marks and "will remain in effect," after 68 domestic producers and 18 trade associations asked to continue the July action and 57 producers and 19 associations asked to continue the August one, Hookset reports. Hookset ties the notice to tackle through List 4A, which the American Sportfishing Association itemized as fish hooks, reels valued over $8.45, reel parts, line, leaders, and artificial baits and flies; List 4B, which would have reached rods, cheaper reels and landing nets, was suspended in December 2019. The notice changes no rate and starts a second statutory review, with a separate comment notice promised on no stated date. As of Oct. 12, Hookset says, ASA had not commented.