Detonics Recently in the St. Louis Post Dispatch
June 2, 2009 by Detonics Staff
We had a great article ran on us a few weeks ago in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Take a look:
A small Illinois gunmaker is hoping to capitalize on its name, new technology and a strong demand for compact handguns to engineer a rebirth of sorts.
Nearly 18 months after being bought and moved to the area by a pair of area men, Detonics is set to make another push into an industry dominated by names such as Glock, Ruger, Smith & Wesson and Kimber.
And although that’s no easy task, the small firm, with five employees, does have a few things going for it, not the least of which is the fact that guns are in short supply these days.
“They have a real opportunity if they can get their guns on the market on time,” said Denis Dennis Jr., owner of Denny Dennis Sporting Goods in Fenton.
Indeed, many of the top gunmakers are hard-pressed to meet the surging demand that accompanied the start of President Barack Obama’s administration.
According to data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the FBI has been running nearly 250,000 additional checks each month since late last year. As a result, three- and four-month delays on popular models are not uncommon.
For Detonics, this could be a chance to break from a past marked by a series of starts and stops.
Since late 2007, the company has been based in Millstadt after being
purchased by Double Nickle LLC, owned by combat expert Bruce Siddle and sports internist Dr. Steven Stahle. They moved the defunct Detonics USA and its remaining inventory here from Pendergrass, Ga.
Throughout three-plus decades, the Detonics name has been associated with innovative higher-end guns. It actually started as little more than a sideline for Seattle-based Detonics, an explosives maker.