Hi, I'm Rick Kalich

I’m the guy that is trying to pull these back from the ravages of time.  As you know, the liners have done a great job of self-destructing over the years.

These new design inserts were the result of a visit I had at the Fort Worth Gun Show in 2018.  A dealer and I were discussing a 5” Model 27 in the case at his table.  I was really interested!!  Except the box/liner combination.  It was redone by someone in the past in red velvet with nothing left of the plastic in there.  Dealer said “I wish there was someone that knows plastics, that would be willing to look at this.  I could have sold that gun by now, and for more money”

I stood there, looking at it and realized in my head that I have been that guy, in plastics molding from 1985 to 2015.  I was the guy in a number of companies that designed molds, repaired molds, created secondary operations equipment, work streamlining (KAIZEN), and anything else needed to make a saleable product.  I worked mostly in the Blow Molding area, but am experienced in Injection, Roto and Vacuum forming.   How hard could this be?

Well, let me tell you—pretty hard.  Plastics are an art.  Just because you might ‘master’ one area, does not make you one in another.  Fully knowing this inconvenient fact,  I started this in ’18 by purchasing equipment and some of the plastics I thought would be good candidates.   I made a number of molds from casting compound, aluminum, even wood.   I also started purchasing a bunch of wood cases with somewhat intact liners for experimentation.  My first attempt at a viable product was SUCCESSFUL—which is the worst thing that could happen. 

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Problem was, I couldn’t repeat this result.  I showed off the first runs in 2019 at a Tulsa Show.  Awful compared to my product of today.  But the product was well received.  I continued to work on the process until COVID hit.  My reloading supply business on eBay and Gunbroker got busy and I just put this aside.  Until the beginning of 2023.  I met a custom Molder of these types of things at a gun show.  After a couple of beers, we had a partnership.  The result is what you see here on my website.