Security and Accessibility

For many rifle owners, gun security has long been limited to options offering relatively low levels of protection or accessibility, such as locking cables or sheet metal lockers. According to Nathan Wasankari, Co-Founder and President of Raptor Products, Inc., many typical mobile law enforcement gun mounts have been considered equally ineffective, often being used instead to hold soda bottles. “There is a definite dissatisfaction with the ability of most mounts to adequately hold modern rifles with tactical optics,” he explained.

From observations like these, Wasankari invented a system that allows users to instantly snap almost any rifle securely into a mounting platform and pull it out just as quickly. The “open air” solution provides continuous visibility in nearly any room or vehicle, and can be locked tight with the press of a button to safely secure weapons against unauthorized use.

The heart of the system— adaptable to nearly any rifle—is the palm-sized Raptor Picatinny Mount, designed to secure on to the Picatinny rail accessory found on nearly all modern rifles. It opens readily to “grip” the weapon when it is pushed firmly into it, and releases it with a “click” when pushed firmly forward. According to Wasankari, the Raptor Picatinny Mount is made from an RTP Company Nylon Long Glass Fiber Compound that delivers a long list of vital properties that he and his customers demanded, such as ruggedness, yield strength, dimensional stability, wearability, durability, impact resistance, fatigue strength, UV resistance, salt resistance, and wide ranging temperature resistance.

“The key to moving forward with the design was getting the material exactly right, and our tool manufacturer recommended RTP Company,” said Wasankari. “They not only had high quality products and the ability and willingness to adjust their compounds to meet our needs, but their products are also made in America, which is very important to our customers— especially the military markets we wanted to ultimately get into.”

Wasankari notes that when the product is presented at trade shows or other venues, the response from first time viewers is most often extremely positive. “This is such a different way of solving this problem that when someone sees it for the first time at a trade show, they usually respond with 2-3 seconds of stunned silence, then a comment such as, ‘Wow, that is the coolest gun product I’ve seen so far. What we’ve been doing for storage and access has not worked for a while—I’m glad somebody’s finally done something different and gotten it right!’” said Wasankari.

Although Wasankari notes that the product is still in its early “awareness building” stages, the Picatinny Mount is already being used domestically by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, military contractors and police authorities, as well as by individual users throughout the country. Future markets in Wasankari’s sights include international law enforcement and military agencies.

However, Wasankari notes that, regardless of this early success, on occasion, a potential user will express doubt that simple plastic could ever hold their rifle securely in place and protect it adequately. That’s when he breaks out the “big guns.”

“I explain that this is not just the plastic you stir your noodles with— it’s an engineered plastic designed to perform in snow and ice at -40 °F and sweltering deserts at 150 °F; on land, sea, air and underwater; that it resists sand, sea air, and relentless sun; that it can even ride on off-road vehicles, ATVs, jet-skis, Humvees and snow mobiles—basically protecting any gun, anywhere, in any circumstance,” he explained. “The design and the RTP Company material enabled us to exceed the requirements for almost any application, and by the time I show how the locking mount can resist 1,000 – 1,200 pounds of force, they’re already sold.”