Freedom Files Episode 3

[Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] All right, everybody. Welcome to the Freedom Files episode 3. Freedom Files. Cheers, guys. All right, so we're drinking some Cali Blonde today. Thank you to um Last call. Last call. Thank you for the Cali Blonde. Okay. Um, our uh, you know Jimmy, you know me, Fred. Our guest today is Jeff Combmes of Combmes Equipment and Rental. And uh, can't wait to get into some of that stuff, man. I'm proud of this guy. I've known this guy for a while. He's he's gone far along. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. I'm so happy you're here. I want to do a quick rundown before we get started. Um, Taylor and Company. Okay. I was supposed to show the new very very much anticipated 1873 rifle in cal chambered in 9mm and um I got one in. I've been waiting since January of 2023, dude. And last month I got one in. I talked to Taylor and Suns. I'm a direct dealer. I also get their product from Lipies. Lipsies does great with Taylor. Um and I put that sucker on Gun Broker and sold in like five minutes. So I'm hoping to get another one. I can't display it and show you, but what I can show you is their awesome new revolver, the Drifter. Oo, this bad boy. All right. Octagon barrel, 1873 design. It's got a little bit of an extended grip. This is in 9 millimeter. Yes, it is. Comes two cylinders. You get one for 357 and 38 special, and you get one for 9 mm. So, shout out to Taylor. Thank you. Color case harden, too. It is colorcase hardened. This is one beautiful gun right here. Tailoring company. They really put a lot of pride in their guns. These are Italian imports that they put their own spin on and they're incredible. And uh they they usually do their uh custom um action work as well. It's like smooth as butter. These are awesome guns. So nice. Let me say Taylor, apologize uh you know for not showing the 1873 uh rifle like I said I was going to, but hurry up and produce more and get me another one. I will. There we go. Nice. Okay. Um, let's get into uh Oh, wait. Yeah, let's get into um Jeff, man. Tell me, bud. Tell me about Combmes. Tell me about owner and operator Combs One Equipment Co. in in Oakdale. We specialize in equipment rentals, um, sales and service. Uh, yeah, we're going into our about our eighth year. I've known Fred for a long time. He's been a business owner in Oakdale. I've boughten several guns. Love this guy. Um, so I'm just happy to be here, man. Whatever you guys uh need to know. Tell me about the uh new location, man. I'm so proud of you for that building, dude. But before you get into that building, let me just tell you a little bit about that building, bro. Like, I've been driving by that building. First off, what's the address? It's uh 1187 East7 East F Street. What a cool location. I found myself at that location multiple times through Fred's Firearms, actually. Oh. um looking into it a little bit rich for my blood, you know what I mean? I was so happy with where I settled out. But then when I saw that your location was going in there, I was like, "Oh man, Jeff's getting that. I'm so proud of you." We lucked out, man. We lucked out on that. Definitely. Um and you know, you know the history of the of the location, right? I know a little bit. Tell tell me about it. Okay. So, it used to be an old bait and tackle shop, Totems Bait and Tackle. That's what it was known for. or it was the last stop on your way out of Oakdale to get bait, tackle, beer, something to drink. And uh so that's what it was for several years. It has changed hands. Uh it's been a few different businesses since they had closed. Um but yeah, we had the opportunity to purchase the building and you know, it needed a lot of work as you know, but uh you know, it was it felt like it was a good opportunity for us to kind of take that next step. We have been in business for eight year eight years but um didn't really have a brickandmortar location. So we were more of a mobile based unit. You would call reserve something and we would come to you. So now it's kind of you know posing uh some new challenges having a brick and mortar as you know it it it with that comes a lot of responsibility and and overhead and stuff like that. But uh location location location man. So, we're in a great location and I think in the long run it's going to pay off. Yeah. I'm so proud and happy that you guys got that. That's such an awesome establishment here in town, man. And, you know, like, dude, don't you just feel warm and fuzzy on a little piece of the rock in Oakdale? You know what I mean? I do. Well, and I it it does, you know, and like seeing, you know, uh other friends of ours that are business owners and have brick and mortars, you know, like ultimately that that was has been our goal. And it took us eight years to get there. And now you got you got that front parking area which is so awesome for Oakdale, man. I mean, that's just incredible. And then you've got that back lot, right? Like that corner kind of back. Yeah. The uh lot size is about a half acre altogether. That's huge, man. That's awesome. So, um little bit of limitation as far as access, I mean, I have a little sliver on the side that we can get down. But, I mean, for what we're doing, I think it it's going to work out just great for us. So, driving by and I'm telling you, I have to I need to get in there and I need to see your shop. need to come by. I do I need to come by and check it out, man. Um and I noticed just driving by that you're kind of like adopting new things like those big beautiful slabs that you've got out out like tell me about that. So having that location is kind of opening the door for you know uh different revenue streams as far as you know um we do consignment sales and then we were approached by a local vendor which uh Millswood live edge stuff and he you know asked us if he could put a display up. How cool. So, uh, we we granted that and I think it was good because I mean if you've driven by the building, you see we we kind of adopted that look kind of the same style you're going here with the live edge and some of the redwood as far as it's needed, man. It's it's it's like even more so. I don't think it ever was out of fashion, but I think now especially like co dude that brought it back. The rustic look is here. Yes, it is. It is. And then also, I mean, everybody knows Feresses next door. It's like everybody's favorite lunch spot, right? Mine included. Oh, yeah. And uh so yeah, that Leo Prami, I'm telling you. But uh yeah, so we kind of wanted to do something that was going to complement their business next door because they used a lot of the barnwood on their building. So when we were doing, I'd say the renovation, we were like, well, what can we do here to you know, not totally copy, but something that was going to complement next floor. Absolutely. Uh so we kind of went with that redwood look in the front and then with the paint scheme, I think we pulled off some pretty good curb appeal. I mean, that was the that was the whole I love the look of it, man. I I I really do, man. I'm so proud of you guys for getting that. So, I know that this is just a question just for a talking point because I already know the answer to it, but I'm going to ask anyway. But you Forest has got to compliment and get you some business coming in there, right? Cuz I mean, during lunchtime, they are booming. They they do have a they do experience a lunch rush and I mean them only being I think open from 11 to 3, but in that 11 to 3 hour, that parking lot is full. Yeah. The whole time. So, yes, absolutely. that does uh benefit us uh with foot traffic, you know, people waiting for tables or they're having lunch, they see what we have going on at our business and they want to come by and see what's going on, you know. So, uh that's been great. Um also another thing, too, um I don't know if we got into it much, but we do offer small engine repair at the at our shop as well. And that's needed too, man. Um we just had a location close last three years. small engine repair. Kind of a rundown place, man, off on up street. Now, I don't think that building's even there anymore. But I know um especially in California where it's everything's going to electric, electric, electric, and it's harder and harder to get these small engines. Uh small engine repair is going to be huge, man, because how many chainsaws, how many different uh weed eaters, how many anything, you know, is out there. Exactly. No, and there there is a market for it, and I feel that there is a need for that here in Oakdale. Um Yeah. and and we were kind of looking around and there isn't really, you know, anybody doing it in Oakdale as like as a shop. You know, the shops that were here have closed down. Is this something that's relatively newer that you started offering or have you started uh how long have you been doing the small engine repair? The small engine just us having the location has opened up the door for small engine repair. So, I we've always done like tractor service and and things of that nature on like our equipment and some of our customers stuff, but being able to have the brick and mortar kind of opened up that opportunity to offer the the small engine repair and we felt that, you know, it was needed in Oakdale. That's awesome, man. You know, what would you say out of Cuz I know that you do the the rental and you have different equipment that you rent, you do transport, everything else. You do pickup, you do delivery. I wear a lot of different hats. other hats, right? Tell me what is the hat that brings you the most amount of business? Like if you if you had to concentrate on one hat for the most amount, uh what would that one be? Um I would say the one hat for us, uh as far as generative income, the rental has always been good for us. Um the excavation equipment always stays busy, um for us. So, all this other stuff that we're incorporating as far as the small engine repair and the consignment sales, that was another aspect I wanted to get into by having that brick and mortar as it's opened up the door for us to do consignments. Nice. Um, it's great. You know, we've got a lot of traffic that drives by the location. So, we're able to bring in equipment for for consignment. And not only that, I mean, you know, motorcycles, off-road stuff. Uh, we're into all that kind of stuff, you know. I mean, we're call it the work hard, play hard store, you know, so we've got a little bit of everything, work and play, so pick your poison, I guess, right? I love that, man. I love that you're able to expand. And I know this is my fourth location in Oakdale. It's the first one that I've actually had a mortgage on rather than a lease. Okay. You know, Right. Right. Um, and having that you get that ability to say, "Okay, I don't have to worry when the lease ends of it raising or somebody else's family member might be coming in or something like that, you know." So, it gives you that kind of opportunity to say, "Hey, you know what? I'm investing in my own asset here, you know, um, and guess what? I'm here to stay in the long haul." And you get those opportunities to do that. You know, you you're you're able to, um, like you said, branch out and do more things. I think that's awesome that you're Yeah. And and that's what that storefront or brickandmortar location does for a business, you know. I mean, as far as it kind of, you know, like you said, takes it next level, so to speak, you know. Um, but with that comes its fair share of of stresses and and things of I mean, you've been in business for quite some time. I mean, some of what are your biggest issues? is like I mean as far as like dealing with the public I'm sure you've had some incidences where you know how do you handle like say a disgruntled yeah that happens every now and then man we I mean we we do so I think I feed off people's energy and I kind of give back to that person the energy that I'm getting right so okay let's say if you've got and and then policy policy policy right if you are able to really get a set in stone policy hey this is how we operate right here's our agreement ment. Okay. Um I'm sure when you're renting these pieces of equipment out, you've got quite a policy form that they have to sign. It's about four pages. It's about a four page uh yeah four page rental agreement. So what you're trying to do is you're trying to minimize the argument, right? So if there's any kind of argument that could be there at all in business, you know, like, hey, you know, it was like that when I got it, or you know, I did this or what whatever the case may be that might make your life harder, you're trying to by that policy minimize that. Yes. So, that's what I've learned over the years. Um, especially having something with compliancy factors like guns, you know, I mean, a lot of that stuff, uh, the state, as much as I complain about them, and don't anybody think that I'm giving the state credit because, uh, state of California, their whole DOJ and their firearms division bureau probably needs to go bye-bye with what they're doing to the public. But a lot of the state compliancy stuff that we do will actually take care of some of of minimizing that argument, right? I mean, look, I hate the fact that people have to have all these things, but they do. Um, and that state compliancy law, you know, kind of sets forth the the guidelines. And then as far as like, you know, the disgruntled customers, you know, you can get along with them and you can complain and be disgruntled along with them of the overage of rules and regulations for the state of compliance. So, I can relate with them a little bit. Now, if there's somebody that's just being plain rude, you know, that rule, the customer is always right. Yeah. until they're wrong because they can be wrong. You know, that's that's true. Everybody needs to have um like I said, I try and feed off people's energy and I try and deescalate any kind of situations and I don't really get a lot of people, man. Most people that come in here, they're they're happy like me. I was going to say, yeah, a lot of your clientele is probably easygoing. They are. I mean, I've had a handful over the years, you know, that I may have had to raise my voice. I've even had a couple times where I've had to kind of call OPD and say, "Hey, man, you guys might want to check out the cameras because this, you know, happened in here just in case." But other than that, man, I mean, it's just everybody that's in here wants to be in here just like I want them to be in here, you know. Well, that's that's great. You know, that's good. That's good. I the So, you know, we've had the location for about a year now. So, you know, um and then dealing with the small engine aspect of it has, you know, like you said, you're you're dealing with the public now. You've got to as soon as you open the door and the open signs on, you don't know who's going to walk in the door, what you're going to be working on, and there's a million different scenarios. So, you know, um, and a million things that could go wrong with a piece of equipment or roll with punches and and you do and each customer and don't get me wrong, all of we are thankful and happy for all the business and and the support we have in the community since we've opened. Um, but you do have that one in a hundred Sure. that will, you know, whatever you do, you just you're not going to make them happy. No pleasing, right? And I try to approach that with some empathy and not try to match their energy or or try to escalate things. You know, obviously something's going on in their life that, you know, we don't know about that the reason they're acting that way. So, I try to, you know, take that in, but you know, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's hard. It can be hard to bite your tongue at times, but, you know, um being a business owner, you got to have it handle it with a sense of professionalism, right? You I I like the golden rule, you know, love thy neighbor. do everything you can to be as nice as you can, but you're absolutely right. Sometimes it be difficult. That's where I think that policy falls into like especially small engine repair. If I'm going to compare it to like Fred's where we do uh you know, repair on uh firearms, we do some restoration, right? We take a long time, you know? I mean, it's it's me and Jimmy doing stuff in here. Um Grant gets involved with some of the stuff, too. He's real good at the 1022s. He's real good at the old school 50s stuff, but he's only in here a few times a month, you know, uh and he's working on it. Uh, so other than that, it's like we're handling we're putting on all these hats and we're trying to do it and it's getting to the project and completing the project without interruption, which is usually before the store opens or after the store closes. I've been finding that out. Yeah, exactly. Been finding that out. To get anything done in the shop, it's usually after hours or before we open. So, my my two hours in here, I usually get here about 6:30. Okay. You know, I'll eat my breakfast like 7:00, man. I'll put on my earbuds and listen to my uh my stories about the ancient whatever I'm listening to Egypt or whatever and it's like my zen man. I'm just getting stuff done. I'm getting my zone and that's when the stuff gets done and then 9:00 rolls around the phone starts ringing. People start coming in. It's like okay game over. I got to put this stuff down and you're you're you're moving from one project to the next project to the next project. End of the day, you know, 600 7:00 rolls around and you got all these projects just kind of laying out there and you got to put them away, you know. So we we have like a policy form when we take these guns in. First off, there's a compliance regulation, you know, that you have to have a a properly permitted uh firearm that comes into your establishment. But we also have our own flare on there and we'll tell them, hey, we hope that we get it done in two weeks, man, but we're going to put four or five weeks on there just in case. Give you that buffer. Give you that buffer. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So that that's that's one way we've kind of handled it. We um I I would say early on I I will say this, we've got much less complaints these days than we did when we started. Okay. So, it's a learning lesson all the way through, you know. Yeah. Right. Right. Well, and I and you know, I've got other friends that own businesses and we always kind of talk and about, you know, different scenarios and stuff like that. And, you know, he said, you know, over time, you know, you are going to have these customers, but you know, you end up weeding them out. Yeah. At some point, you know what I mean? and and uh finding that, you know, happy medium, I guess, or or how you deal with, you know, different customers because with what we're doing, like you said, it's we're about 2 weeks out on stuff. If we have to order parts and, you know, California, there you go. And that's the long part of it, man. It's not so much installing the part. It's like, man, like, so we we do a lot of Midway, Brown L's, we do numer gun parts, that kind of stuff. These older guns, you know, granddad's collection comes in, it's like, I just want to shoot it. Well, it's real hard. Sometimes it's an eBay find. And when it comes to that, well, now it's time for us to try and look on eBay. So, I'll call that customer up. I'll say, "Look, I've looked through everything I can. I can't find a part. You're going to have to go through and look like through the eBay to find this thing or whatever. Do you want us to continue doing that?" Because if we do, there's probably going to be about 20 minutes to 40 minutes a day of us trying to hunt for it. That might happen in the first 10, but it might take, you know, three or four days to go by. Or do you want me to give you that part? Give you the option. Nine times out of 10 they're going to say like now you do it I don't want they don't want to deal with it problem I don't want to deal with and we get that too like you said we're working on different things but yeah the scenario is the same you know what I mean where you know you got to order a part this is what it's going to be and like you said nine times out of 10 that customer is like nah go ahead you order it I don't want to deal with it ordering the part the delivery is like way worse than it used to be I never used to I'll do like a next day air stuff like that but the last maybe year. I don't bother anymore. I have paid for it still and it still gets here two weeks later. And they don't want to refund you either. No, no, no. That when when you get it from those manufacturers, that's it, man. It's it's yours, so you own it. Hey, um speaking of repair, I know you do small engine. Are you doing a lot of Do you do repairs like on the Bobcats and the other? We we we do tractor repairs. I do have a diesel mechanic that that works on uh our dies, you know, they not only does he service our tractors and work on it, he works on our customers stuff as well. So, we have been working on some Bobcats, some Kabotas, uh equipment of that nature as well. So, yeah, um from mowers to motorcycles to to Bobcats, you know, I mean, we've been we've been working on it. I hate to turn work down, but there are some stuff like some of the newer stuff that comes in that's uh a lot of it's digital and electronic and stuff like that. So, we don't have like the laptops or anything to like plug in and diag, but we've been finding a lot of the stuff we've been working on is some of the older stuff. So, um which has been good and we're happy to work on it. It's good stuff. So, um yeah. Yeah, it's we're super happy. And you know, the opportunity to to have a brick and mortar has been huge. It is. It really is, man. You know, um I had two buddies. Well, I had a lot of them back in the day, but I'll never forget, you know, um if you guys know Sean Conway, he's a realtor here in town. He's been here forever. He's a great guy. And uh he's been a buddy of mine. He's he's a hunter, too. You know, he goes out and gets his birds and all that stuff. You know, he's an enthusiast. And uh we always communicate with each other. He's he's a great guy, you know. Like, shout out to Sean, man. He's awesome. Um Sean, so yeah. And uh he goes he says, "Fred, you gota you got to buy yourself a building. You just got to." And I and you know I'm hearing it from my buddy who's a real estate agent, right? And I'm like, "Sean, you're just trying to get me to buy something, right? You're doing everything else." Well, we we also have another friend uh that does signs, Mike Gibson. He does signature sign. And um he's been very successful with his commercial owning ship. And he says, "Fred, I know you're leasing and everything else, but you're you keep expressing to me some of these frustrations of leasing and everything. You're going to have frustrations at first when you own, but get out there and buy one." And then when I met Daniel, man, um you know, give a give a freaking shout out to Daniel because he's a blessing, you know, and and uh I was able to buy this building off of him. Um I'll tell you, it's been we bought it in 2019, so it's been five years, like I said. Yeah. Five years. Five years already flew by like that, man. And you've done a great job. You've done a great job with the place, too. I mean, you come in here, the decor. I mean, I I like everything that you've done with the rustic uh, you know, galvanized with the with the bar. I mean, Chris Lewis came in here and him and Mike Toy Mike Toy that used to own Big Boys and uh, yeah, he he came in here and helped out. Jim Tom is no longer with us, but Jim came in here and really helped out. It was us guys just coming in here when I had that little time place. Man, I would close that shop at 5:00. I'd run right over here from like 5 to 8:30, three and a half hours with those boys. Yeah. And we'd be sawing it up and putting all this stuff up and Yeah. And then and then you meet a lot of good people, you know. You meet uh you meet people like, "Oh, you know, I got this guy that does this so very man. I love him to death." It needed a roof bat. I mean, the place was pretty much Daniel's like storage, you know, for stuff, you know, and didn't have nothing in here. Um so it needed a lot. And uh yeah, we were able to get really good contractors out here at a great rate. And and I mean the traffic that you get that drives by here, I mean I How many cars? How many? 30,000 cars a day. Yeah. We get I mean, you can't beat that kind of Yeah. You can't miss these these signs out here. So, no. And Yeah. The signage out front. That's what I love about your uh your location, too, man. And not only the fact that you have that, but you have that parking, bro. Yeah. That's the big blessing. And and you know, and even, you know, we do have the parking up front and I am kind of limited. I don't want I can't bring all my equipment there. So, I mean, I do have a property that, you know, we keep some of the overflow stuff there because if I parked all my equipment out front, I nobody would be able to get in there to park. Yeah. You know, so um so yeah, I would like to have more parking or more place, I guess, to display our equipment, but you know, I we'll take what we can get. Yeah, man. Absolutely. And that I I got to be honest, bro. I think that's like the primo location in Oakdale, too, man. Because even when they start building more stuff, which is hard to do here, you know, you only have the east and the west and yes, maybe a little bit like uh going down towards gear or whatever. Um it's not going to have that feel that yours has with that room, you know, like that. That building was built when the town was a smaller town. That was the edge of town, I think, at one point, was it not? I mean, I think it was, man, the the dealerships weren't there. I mean, there might have been maybe a couple businesses, but I don't think Savemart was down there. I think totem that was like the last stop for, you know, beer and bait, you know. I I think they sold guns out of there, too. I mean, this back in the day you can buy a pistol and a six-pack, you know. I mean, but uh yeah, it's a great location. Bringing us some bruise. Thank you, Grant. Thank you, sir. Awesome. That's some that's a good friend right now that that realizes that you're uh and then I don't know if this is true or not, but somebody was telling me that I guess oid is building a new building out off of uh what road is that? I'm embarrassed to say that I was on city council and I don't know the definitive answer to that, but I I'm I'm 70% yes that I I believe they're building a new location and so somebody was telling me that I guess when that does pull out that they might end up pushing because there's a stoplight right there that that street might end up going through to G Street. So if that happens technically that would make me a corner lot. And we're kind of keeping our fingers crossed that if that does happen that would be great. But um not going to not going to hold our breath. We're just going to work with what we have. That's what it's all about is the long haul. It's about the long run. That's it. That's what it's about. And you know, we're giving it a go. Um and I I with the way rentals are going and the the response that we're getting on the small engine stuff. I I don't think we're going to be going anywhere anytime soon. So I I would like to, you know, plant our roots in the ground and and stick it out there and and be able to provide Oakdale with a good service, you know. Cheers to success, my man. Thank you guys. Thank you. Appreciate y'all. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man. I love having you on, brother. All right, so let's get into Let me put these readers on real quick. Um I want to talk about the Real ID real quick. Um I just took a trip to um Oklahoma, Russellville, Arkansas. just got back earlier this week. Had a great time. Um Jess, if you're watching this, did whip your ass in pool. Just saying. Anyway, um so while we're getting on the plane, uh TSA or whatever is shouting to everybody, you got to have your IDs. If you do not have your real IDs by May 7th, you will not be able to board this plane. Ladies and gentlemen, get your real IDs. All right, I want to talk a little bit about real IDs because this pertains to firearms and buying firearms. Currently, you do not need your real ID. However, I am very worried that the state of California DOJ is going to pull some May 7th thing and say, "Well, you don't have your real ID, you can't buy your gun." So, if you don't I'm just kind of worried about it, man. I'm worried about everything that they do because no more passport straight up real ID. Yeah. Like right now, if you don't have your real ID and if everybody that's watching this says, you know, what is your real ID? Well, it's if you look at your California driver's license and up in the upper right hand corner it says federal limits apply. You do not have a real ID. So, let me just talk about the history real quick. The Real ID Act passed in 2005 was a response to recommendations from the 911 Commission to improve the security of stateisssued identification. It established minimum security standards for driver's license and identification cards and prohibited federal agencies from accepting non-compliant IDs for certain purposes like commercial air travel and access to federal facilities. The act aimed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of identification documents, particularly the wake of September 11th attacks. All right, so in 2005 is when this thing came out. In 2018, the California Department of Motor Vehicles began issuing Real IDs. They were our state was late. All right, everybody else started issuing them. California was kind of late at the game. I suspect because California, you know, the biggest most heavily funded state saying, "Don't tell us what to do. We can do whatever we want." I mean, we're in a state right now that doesn't require IDs to vote. Okay. Right. So, I don't know. Anyway, um 2020 it came out, all 50 states were required, but guess what? We had we had CO. All right, so CO like stalled it. Now we're in 2025, and the feds put their foot down and they said, "We don't care what California says. We don't care what anybody says. By May 7th, the Real IDs, the act is enforceable, and the deadline for commercial air travel is reached. What I'm worried about is the DOJ of California saying, "Hey, uh, your birth certificate or your passport's not going to work." I don't know. I'm speculating, so I don't know how accurate that is. I tried to look it up, but I've been surprised, unpleasantly surprised by the DOJ before. So, get your Real ID. Go out there and get the thing. Uh, California stalled and stalled and stalled and said, "No, you can't make us have the real ID. It's not everybody's fault. It's convenient to just get it online." It does kind of suck to have to go down to the DMV and bring your birth certificates and all your stuff. Went through it. Been through it. Yeah. And luckily I went through it in 2019 because if I didn't I think that's when I got mine. I wouldn't be able to get my um uh state um FFL. Oh yeah. My California FFL. Okay. Yeah. So luckily I got that pre-COVID because during CO it was like it was impossible. The DMVs were shut down. Yeah. Shut down. So that's all I have to say about that is everybody get your real ID. Um, let me see what else we got. Jimmy, you want to show off? Uh, talk about this. Let's show Let's show some stuff off over here. Which one? What do you got over here? Let's see that fancy one. Yeah, show the fancy one. Let's see the fancy one. Trying to show the price if you can't tell. We're supposed to show the price on the YouTube or whatever. But yeah. Okay. That's beautiful. This is the one that we talked about last episode. I think I showed just the slide maybe. I don't know what I showed. Yeah, I think you just showed the slide, I think. Okay, so yeah, I didn't see it. We've got uh got phones ringing is what we got. This thing is so badass that it makes phones ring. They're already They're knocking. Yeah, they're blowing up the phone. They're already calling. Yes. Right. Uh yeah, Jimmy uh cranked this thing out. This thing is [ __ ] phenomenal, man. Um very nice. I mean, just looking at the deep engravement on this and the detail, the attention to detail is incredible. it. Um, Jim, talk about the cerak coat on this thing that you put in there and how you made this exterior portion pop and the coating that you put on to ensure its longevity. Stunning. After we did the deep engraving, uh, cerak coated it with the armorer black. Uh, that way it it get into the the outline or the background of that engraving. Then we baked it. Uh, then I uh, hand sanded it. uh the sides or the flats of it and then the corners. After we did that, then I sprayed Cerakote makes a clear I can't remember the uh number of it, but they make a a clear coat. They have a matte and then a glossy one. I used the glossy one and good choice. Sprayed it. The the one I use, they have two different ones. The one that looks better is the air cure. Uh they also have a oven cure. That one's the air cure. And what about um the sights, man? Tell me about the sights. The sights I had to kind of custom fit the sights cuz they were part of a kind of a different batch. I liked how that rear sight met up. So, they're they're actually custom fitted sights basically. And then how about our uh crowned barrel? You talked last time. I just noticed that as you turn that. I see that. That looks that's that's unique. We uh flush flush cut the barrel and uh gave it a deep crown. I was going to darken it, but I thought leaving it the uh polished metal color would look better with how the outside is and the stainless slide stop. It would kind of go in fit to each other. And how about our spring and trigger kit? That is the ghost uh 4 and a2 pound ranger kit. Yeah. Heck yeah. Fully fully spring kit. Um, we also have the extended stainless steel uh slide release that really complements extended uh mag release. Yeah, extended mag release on this bad boy. Yeah, I'm just I'm just happy. It's just awesome. So, it's here if you guys want to come to the shop and check it out. We also have it listed up on Gun Broker. Um, check it out and there's definitely going to be more to come. We're excited about the laser engravement. Good job, Jim. Good job, Jim. You did awesome on that. How much time do you have in to do something like that? How much time you have in that? Uh well the engraving takes a while. Uh but the the more handh hand work uh I'd say probably took six to seven hours okay of polishing man. Yeah. Wow. So altogether what do you think man? How many hours? Like all together? Maybe about 16 hours. Okay. That's pretty good man. Yeah. Not bad. Well, I mean, it's just handsome, dude. It really is, man. Wouldn't even want to shoot it almost, you know. Oh, yeah. But absolutely would want to shoot it. Yeah. And there's nothing else out there like it, you know. That's what I love about it. Yeah. It's a one of a kind. Um Jimmy's also got a new video. Uh I want you to if you can go to his YouTube and check out um Freeman Customs for the new video that he's made. is the longest video I've ever made and it's basically start to finish on customizing a Kimber 1911 and uh saving Kimber from itself. Yes, saving itself. Built back better. Build back. Okay. Um okay, let's get into what Jimmy wants to get into really bad. Uh I don't want to end this thing because I'm having a good time, man. So, we we'll get into this real quick and we'll go over this uh for this episode, but AB 1127, that's Assembly Bill, California 11 uh27. Uh we're going to start this off. Uh let me just read it to you real fast. So, California basically has a history with 1127. One of them was with Jerry Brown about like baby changing stations. And so, if you guys are going to Google search AB127, there's two distinct versions. one related to baby changing stations and another related to illegal firearm manufacturing. Obviously, we're talking about the newer one that is related to newer uh to illegal firearm manufacturing. So, uh this was initially induced. It was uh aimed to increase uh access to diaper changing stations and public facilities uh requiring at least one station accessible to both men and women in new construction or significant renovations or whatever. The bill was uh authored uh by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia. I don't even know if they're still an Assembly men. Okay, forget about that bill. If you go to Google and you're finding that one about baby stations, no, type in uh AB1 1127 firearms. Later version of AB1 1127 introduced by Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel. Jesse Gabriel is still very active in the California Assembly. focuses on preventing the spread of illegal do-ityourself machine gun machine guns uh by prohibiting the sale of firearms easily converted into automatic weapons. I'm going to say that again. It sounds like a good bill. Hey man, we're going to prevent the the spread of illegal do-it-yourself machine guns. No, they're not. No. Let's go on to the second part of that by prohibiting the sale of firearms easily converted into automatic weapons. So, in other words, they've got this bill that's come out and they've said, "Hey, you know what we should do?" Even though this Glock right here is not a machine gun, it could probably take parts to become a machine gun. I was going to say, it's minority report. It's a minority, dude. It's minority report. It's a pre- crime. So, let's ban those firearms that could possibly take those parts to become a machine gun. So, that's what uh AB127 is. Um the the the purpose that the assembly has put is to prevent the sale of firearms easily convertible uh into machine guns through the use of Glock. Those converters are already federally illegal. Would be illegal. They're illegal completely. And if you took one of those converters and you did install it, well, you've got a whole bunch of illegal. It's illegal then, right? It is. You can't do that. But they're wanting to ban the Glock just because it has the opportunity to become Wouldn't that fall into the line of any semi-automatic weapon could Well, they're doing it more with the Glock because of how the the trigger and the trigger bar and the Yeah. But you know what though, Jeeoff, I think you're right though, bro. I think that this is like how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right? So, that's exactly what this is aimed at. This has passed, right? It it did currently pass. Yeah, it passed. And you guys should go to that Copper Jacket uh I don't know his YouTube, but I watch him all the time. Copper Jacket TV. Copper Jacket TV. He's very educated. He shows uh films of the courouses and courtrooms and everything else and he's real good. Well, he's freaking out right now because they just uh Nevada just passed a bill. This guy, he's like California moves to Nevada to get away from all the stuff and Nevada's doing it now, too. But, right. My goodness. Oh, man. You got to have a laugh every now and then. You got to. So, um I think that like where you were going with this as far as like, hey man, that means they could just like ban everything. I think that's what they're trying to do. When I say they, I mean the assembly. Well, I mean, that falls under a long, right? The you know, I mean, I've seen the even a Ruger 1022 can be converted to an automatic. Well, the the judge that we were talking about on the last episode that did that uh he put out that video about easily being able to put different slides on, stuff like that. Uh God, I can't remember his name. I don't know, but he did a great job. Yeah. uh he talked about that how California was going over a slippery slope and it just went over on this where they could ban the whole gun and what did they do a few weeks later? Ban the whole gun, right? So that that's something that we need to be uh very wary about. I um I always tell people, you know, we talk about this, we complain about it all the time. We say like, what are we going to do about it? Well, the only thing I know to do is write your politicians that have authored these or that have any type of um control in this, you know. Um so I have put together uh Assembly Member Jesse Gabrielle's contact info if you want to look there right there. Maybe um shoot him a line, shoot his staff a line, you know, um give him a call if you can. I don't think he's probably going to pick up the phone. But if there's enough people that get involved that say, "Look, you're you're picking on people that are already following the rules and regulations. Your criminals have been committing crimes against your Yeah. You're you're you're just getting way too over the top and aggressive with the freedoms that make America what they are, and that's America. I didn't vote for Commie. So, I put in here some questions that would be good to ask them. Um, are there more injuries and/or deaths in California caused by Glock or illegal or illegal drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, or heroin? Guess what? I know the answer to that. But I'm just saying, you know, if they're truly concerned about the public safety, they should probably start um maximizing on consequence for the dope dealers and the traffickers and that kind of thing. What are we going to say? Exactly. They have

been light on. Yes, they have. Um, are there more injuries and or deaths in California caused by Glock or illegal driving while intoxicated? Uh, or traffic collisions in general just on your road because you're not attacking cars and like, "Oh, they can put a 500 horsepower engine in that car. We should ban it." Like, you're not doing that kind of thing, you know?

Are there more deaths in California caused from diabetes than Glock? And the answer is firearms. Period. Yes. Period. Yes, it is. It's overwhelming. They're not going lot more deaths and injuries caused by these other things. I'm not saying that it's good to have any deaths or injuries, but I just feel like you are you have a political following and they're willing to go along with you with something that they think that they can achieve, right? So the ones that the hard problems that are the real real threat, they think, well, we can't achieve that, so let's not attack that, you know.

Um, well, right now, if you've seen that, I mean, with those five five ones that they're trying to push through that that like we talked about the uh, you know, the the one in 30 and all of a sudden that got overturned and now they're trying to push the three and 30 trying to push that through saying, "Oh, well, they're going to try to fight this, but it's going to take them a couple years to get through, so we'll put that in place." The Glock ban, what was the other one that just went through? Um, there was two that just. Yeah, there was. Well, there was two that just passed. Uh, oh my god.

And I mean, Glock is a is a popular selling gun. And I'm sure you saw Glock. Glock is my most popular selling gun. If you look at like name brand, um, every now and then you have some months or maybe even a quarter, you know, where it's like, "Wow, we really killed it with the Zig," or "We did this." And it's usually like, you know, uh, a new one comes out that, you know, "Hey, Californians, we're pretty spoiled, man. We get bored everything else, you know." So they they put something out there on the list and it's like, "Oh man, guess what? The Springfield Hellcat is legal." Well, guess what? Springfield Hellcat that month, you know, superseded Glock sales. It would have even done better if we could off the list, right? Or well, it's still on the list now, but it's like the the almighty Glock just prevails. It just keeps going and going and going. I mean, it's way ahead of its time. It's just an incredible design. It's it is easily modified. It works and it is a little bit less expensive. Yeah. Affordability, the reliability, everything else. You know, most firearms that are producing a polymer frame uh uh pistol, guess where they're getting those ideas from? It's that Glock was the first fire, you know, right?

I think you told I mean, I I purchased a Smith and Wesson, I think a 40 from you or SD. Was it the SDV? That's the Smith and Wesson. Yeah, the SDV. The self-defense victory edition is what the lower pretty much. That's they kind of copied Glock. They did. Uh, they they first came out in the late 80s or the early 90s. Um, I'm trying to think, man, I'm having a brain thing right now where I can't think of the actual name of it. But Glock, they were litigated against. Smith and Wesson had a litigation and they had to stop. Um, I know I can't think of the name of the first. I think it was you that was I think it was we were talking because that you were paying that Smith and Wesson had to pay Glock a royalty or something like that or something or was a cease and desist. I think it was something occurred to where they had to stop that model and then and then later on they were able to get back into the model and now you look at like we were just talking about, um, not the KAK, but the other one, Shadow, the Shadow Systems. Yes. And that's a Glock, dude. Like it's a straight-up Glock design, you know? And the Smith and Wesson SDVE is still going and that is a Glock. Like when you take it apart and you look inside, Yeah, man, they they either bought or copied or did something with those patents. That's like just a little bit subtle difference to pass through the Springfield too. Like the Springfield XD, it's got a lot of new characteristics like your beaver tail safety, your grip safety. Um, has the thumb safety, the ambidextrous magazine release and stuff like that, but it's a Glock, dude. Like straight up, it is designed for Glock. And and these guys in the industry, you know, they have to they have to say, "Okay, what is Glock doing? What can we do to kind of match them and keep up with them?"

Well, as much as I love the 5906 of Smith and Wesson that was supposed to be in the hands of all military and law enforcement, Yeah, dude, Glock won. Yeah. Glock won. You know, it's exp it's too expensive to produce that metallic gun. Uh, you know, and and Smith and Wesson had to change course, you know. Interesting.

Well, they have five like on deck. They pass two. They're trying to push. And if if you paid attention to the past, like before they would pass one, but it was like, "Hey, what's this over here?" And they nibble, they take a little bit over there. So it's like, if we take a little bit at a time, they're not going to [ __ ] too much. It's like putting, like I said before, a live frog in a pot and turn it on slowly and slowly start before it. That's exactly how they achieve this. All of a sudden it's like, "Oh my god, we need to hurry. We're there throwing no hiding, just No, it it's like a panic ban. They're trying to get as much as they can. That has to have something to do with the new administration and, you know, a lot of the directives that they're giving about reciprocity for CCWs and putting out directives on trying to find Second Amendment infringement locations and fix them and all that, you know. So, that it has to have something to do with it.

Well, I think because it was it news on a few podcasts, even admitted that the uh the Democrat party is going to lose California this next one. And I think that's why they were they're freaking out. They're like, "Let's push all of this this state." Well, you remember the end of the Biden administration where they started passing these things right and left, right and left, right and left, right, and left. Even after he lost the vote, but before his term was over. Yeah. Same thing. Goodness. Cuz it's going to take time to reverse it. They can't just go flip a switch reversed. It's going to take time to go through this process.

All right, guys. We've been going for a little bit over a half an hour. All right. So, that's a heavy subject. No, it is, man. Let's I wanted one thing I wanted to bring up and I know you you you floated this a while back that you were wanting to open up an indoor gun range. Yeah. Yeah. Is that in the five-year plan possibly? So, I actually had that I had that question for you on five years, not on indoor grand range, but what's your five-year plan? So, I do want to go over that before we stop, but um Oh, so I think that would be cool for outdoor. I think it would be great for a little bit. But I have to be honest, man. It's It was a lot. No, it was a lot. So, that that was that was something I got into, which if I got into it now, I would be much more successful because I know more now. Um, however, we got a great relationship with OPD and the range that they have, man. We really do. Um, everything has increased as far as HVAC and insuranceances go. Um, cost of building, everything else, man, has gotten a lot greater. I think it would take more time in order to generate that revenue lost uh from, you know, building that down in a range. And then you have to think about location, too, like where's it going to be, right? You know, so right now, man, five-year plan. um if if some kind of opportunity popped up out of nowhere, cuz I'm an opportunist, man. Like, I like to jump on stuff, but I'm really smart about things and I would want to make sure the success um it's not in the five-year plan. Okay. You know, it was a lot the last time. No.

Well, I we we spoke on it a little bit briefly and like you said, it got pretty intense as far as it was a lot. Yeah. A lot of red tape to cut through. Oh, god. It is It is quite a lot, man. And it is everything's possible. Like anything's possible. There's nothing that's not possible. It's all about, you know, hey, location, um, costs, uh, how can we get that done, you know, and and and would it generate enough revenue? Enough revenue to make it worth itself because I think there's going to be, um, you know, when I was doing this last time, you know, we were quoted like 160K. Um, it ended up, you know, being a little over three, you know, each time they go, "Oh, I need more than this. Hey, I need more of this. More space." Kept going and going. I'm a little bit more wiser. And I would say, "Look, I probably wouldn't even try it unless there was about a half mill or something like that." Yeah, I get it. Okay, understandable. That was something I wanted to bring up today because, you know, I was a little bummed cuz I know you were you were going through it and I was psyched. Yeah, I mean, I I was psyched for it. It was definitely something I would have, you know, showed up at. I probably would have been a regular.

Well, you know, too, like, so we there's a lot of new stuff that I've been doing. Like, I've been digitizing a lot of stuff in business and it's kind of the wave of the future. It's where it goes, you know. So, when you get into these um customer acquisition um sets where you've got 2,000 customer base or something, it'd be pretty easy for me to get, you know, the 1500 members that I originally wanted, you know. Um, so that right there would be a plus that would be taken care of. But then there's all the other stuff that we talked about, you know, like how do you do that? So yeah, man. I mean I mean hey, you know what? Things happen when you have the idea and then you start thinking about it. It's also California, too, with the uh red tape. I was going to say regulations. That's in everything. I mean, look at these guys that are putting up these car dealerships, man, and these paint. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's just everybody's bailing because of all the regulations here. Yeah, there's a lot of it. There's a lot of it. It's hard to do. And I mean, as far as indoor gun ranges, there's only a couple of them around now, isn't there? I mean, you've got one in Ripon. You got the Barnard Arms, been there for a million years. They've been there forever. They're pretty did a good job. They've got a five-lane range that's in Riverbank. Oh, Riverbank has one. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Right next to Pizza Plus. Kiwis. Oh, okay. You've got um um Call to Arms now. Yes. It was California Shooting Sports and now it's called Arms. And I haven't been there recently either, but I've heard that they're actually expanding it. Yeah, so far it's the same except right now they have uh they don't sell the stuff. They have a lot of different firearms that you can rent to shoot. Okay. So, you've got three, you know, uh that I know of. And there might be something. Is there one on Eusebio still or did that go away? I thought someone else arms. That's someone else. I think it was used to be called Gun Country and it was like Ronnie Gun Country. Ronny's Arms, but I thought someone else bought it. My uncle used to take me there to shoot when I was little. The Ronnie one. That was a crazy one. After after after Ronny, I think it was like nay ever arrange a there. It will never be arranged there because of circumstances that occurred there. I think I remember a little bit about that.

Tell me like, so you brought up the five-year plan. That was actually one of my questions for you. Like Combmes Rental, man. What's five-year plan? What What would you like to see yourself five-year plan? I would like to uh possibly open up another location. Somewhere there. Maybe multiple locations. I mean, that's that would be the goal, you know. Um, we're this is kind of like the model, you know, right here. And and we're gonna kind of iron out any of the wrinkles and and kind of get this solid. And if we can duplicate that somewhere else, um, I'm I'm down to go for it. And we have the opportunity and a location, um, I would like to go for that. So, that would be my ultimate goal is to have multiple locations. Very cool. So, and you know, like I said, it it being California, it's a little hard to do, you know, but I think it's doable, you know, so it's just all about location, location. So, finding another place that is it needs a a rental yard or small engine repair, I think it's a good recipe uh for success. I I I do have customers up the hill. I do have a lot of people that call me up the hill and um booming bro. I have looked up there and they're populate. I mean, yeah, it is a very big growing community and Sonora is really spread out. Yeah, too. You know, like Oakdale, we're kind of, you know, we have our city, but Sonora is it's huge and there's a lot of stuff going on up there. So uh I I would like to maybe move a little up into the foothills. One thing I am hesitant about that is it's a little harder on my equipment. Sure. Because of the terrain. It's a lot rockier up there and and people are tend to be a little bit harder on your equipment. But, uh, I'm open to it if something were to present itself and, uh, we're in a good position to do it. Yeah, I would like to. I love it, man. Definitely, man. That's awesome. Definitely.

So, all right. Well, guys, is uh, anything else we want to talk about? No, we can for this episode. No, we can save stuff for the next episode. All right, man. I had a good time, dude. Chapter three coming to an end. All right. Yeah. Cheers to you all. [Music] All right. Bye, everybody. All right. Cool, man. [Music] [Music]