Frank DeSomma, founder of Patriot Ordnance Factory passes away

Goddamit. Frank was one of the good ones. This is personal to me, as Frank was not only the living rebuttal to Obama's, “You didn't build this,” but he was a friend and neighbor. When I had just taken over the reins at RECOIL and everyone was wondering if a Brit could make a bigger balls-up than a Californian, a certain firearms manufacturer strung me along with the promise of an exclusive. When they failed to deliver at the last minute, and way past deadline, Frank stepped up and offered us hands-on with one of POF's newest products, with the question of, “Hey, you want a fucking machine gun?” Well yes, yes I do.

POF's inception was classic, garage born, bootstrapping American enterprise. Since then, both brands followed a parallel path, with POF expanding into bigger premises and adding products, as well as a slew of good manufacturing jobs. You know, the ones politicians claim they like.

Always the epitome of non-PC, tell-it-like-it-is, and fuck your your feelings, there was a standing joke among those of us who frequented POF headquarters, that if you were going to meeting with Frank, then you'd better pack a lunch. After a half hour or so of putting the world to rights, you could then get down to business, but forget about anything productive until things were sorted out.

Coming from an aerospace background, he introduced a level of quality control to small manufacturers that was missing in the firearms world, while at the same time introducing one of the first commercially successful piston conversions to the AR platform. Since then, his vision of putting 7.62 NATO punch into an AR15 sized package bore fruit, and the POF Revolution set new standards with regards to power to weight ratios.

Above all, Frank believed in the country we call home. And we need more, not fewer guys like him. You'll be sorely missed.

Iain

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