Smith & Wesson, the 160-year-old American gun making icon wasn't the driving force behind the advent of the factory-backed shooting team. Nor was Samuel Colt's Manufacturing Company. It wasn't Springfield Armory, Sig Sauer, Sturm Ruger or Remington Arms, America's oldest gun maker. And it wasn't even the world's oldest gun maker, the 500-plus-year-old House of Beretta. Oddly enough, it was the upstart holster maker Safariland that showed the biggest names in firearms how to put factory-backed shooters to work marketing, selling and even developing new products. And it all started with a concept developed by Bill Rogers and a guy named Scott Carnahan, who started his career with Safariland back in 1976 with a job out on the shop floor burnishing holsters.

Scott Carnahan has been managing Safariland's shooting team since its start in 1985. Photo: P. Erhardt

Today, Carnahan isn't burnishing many holsters and is instead a VP with Safariland and one of the most respected execs in the industry. Back around the end of 1984 Safariland founder Neale Perkins turned to Carnahan to head up the company's R&D department. The only problem with that plan - and it was just a teeny tiny one - was that Carnahan wasn't a shooter. However, Perkins had a ready solution in the growing relationship with Bill Rogers whose company Safariland acquired that same year. And so he sent his new R&D guru off to learn how to shoot with one the nation's best and most sought-after instructors at the famed Rogers Shooting School. While Carnahan wasn't a competitive shooter he was, and is, a highly competitive person, a sort of type-A personality of type-As. He put into shooting the dedication that he had put into motocross, where he had been a professional rider until a severe wrist injury took him out of the sport. He also spent time as a tournament waterskier. And he can play a mean round of golf. If it's scored, timed or judged, Carnahan is pretty much going to excel at it, which is what happened with his shooting.

It's sporting clays Team Safariland style. Having fun on the range, Rob Leatham challenges Carnahan to break a clay target with his pistol. Photo: P. Erhardt

Together with Rogers, the two came up with a plan for a Safariland shooting team and in 1985 Carnahan and Rogers, along with Bill Wilson, Christie Rogers and J. Michael Plaxco made up the very first group of Team Safariland shooters. Much of Carnahan's experience in the racing world of motocross formed his views on what Team Safariland should be, and he embraced the mantra of what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday. And for a company focused on selling duty holsters for the law enforcement market the timing of Team Safariland could not have been better. Throughout the 80s law enforcement agencies made the transition from revolvers to semi-auto pistols, and Safariland had top level semi-auto experts "on staff" to help guide and train agencies. Because of the team's experience with pistols, they could walk into any law enforcement agency in the country and say to them with complete confidence, "we know exactly what you're looking for." Today, with over 70% of the law enforcement market in Safariland holsters, it's pretty clear that a shooting team was a smart move. Team Safariland would again play a critical role during another major law enforcement sea change when in the 90s the number of women in law enforcement exploded. From day one women were a key part of the team, and have remained so to this day. That gave Safariland a huge advantage in both R&D and training as the women on Team Safariland could walk into any law enforcement agency in the country and again say, "we know exactly what you're looking for."

Down in R&D, Leatham explains the design of his prototype holster rig. Photo: P. Erhardt

In terms of the R&D process, the shooting team is a key component and the company relies on its top shooters for new product ideas and testing. During my recent visit to Safariland headquarters, Rob Leatham, a long time Team Safariland member, had free rein in the R&D department and was working on a new holster rig design specifically for competition. The expertise of guys like Leatham and fellow Safariland teammate Michael Voigt is not limited to the competition market. While both are top competition shooters, they also train some of our most elite military units, thus providing valuable input for Safariland's R&D and sales efforts. These guys - and gals - also test new holsters through a very structured process designed to provide the kind of valid data engineers and designers need. Carnahan explained that Safariland hands over its new holster designs to the team members most active in the R&D process so they can troubleshoot the design and confirm that the features of a given design work as intended. While a lot of companies are using their sponsored shooters for new product evaluation, they'd probably be hard pressed to demonstrate the same level of R&D integration exhibited at Safariland.

Bob Vogel of Team Panteao is also on Team Safariland, and bringing home those Sunday wins. Photo: P. Erhardt

Looking beyond their impact on product development, Team Safariland has had a huge impact on the use and promotion of shooting teams by other companies. Because of his racing background, Carnahan knew the importance of a team uniform and Team Safariland was the first to have team shooting shirts which are now all but everywhere on the competition range. Other companies took notice of what Safariland was doing and soon Dennis Reese at Springfield Armory called and wanted to sponsor the team. He, Neale Perkins and Carnahan sat down and designed the uniform, picking which company's logo would appear on each part of the pants and shirts the shooters would wear.

Maggie Reese sports one of Safariland's most recognizable, and perfectly branded, competition holsters. Photo: P. Erhardt

What we today take for granted, that logos should be on the right where shooters are mostly photographed from, was not exactly obvious back then...except for Carnahan who quickly grabbed the right pant leg for Safariland knowing he'd get heavy brand exposure in any gun magazine photos or ads. After Springfield, Smith & Wesson called Carnahan and asked for his guidance on setting up a team. Next came Colt looking for Carnahan's advice. All three gun makers picked up various members of the Safariland squad, but those shooters remained with Team Safariland, giving Carnahan a much broader marketing and advertising reach that he would not have been able to achieve without the cross-team promotion. This multi-sponsor team model is now prevalent among non-gun companies like Rudy Project and RangeLog, but it had its start over 20 years ago with Team Safariland. Besides the original team of Carnahan, Bill Rogers, Christie Rogers, Plaxco and Wilson, the members Team Safariland - both past and present - read like a who's who of the shooting sports. With current members noted in bold they are: Jerry Barnhart, Leatham, Brian Enos, Doug Koenig, Todd Jarrett, John Pride, Voigt, Mickey Fowler, Tom Campbell, Matt McLearn, Wayne Bowker, Rick Byfield, Peter Dayton, Paul Liebenberg, Marc Senate, Eric Stafford, Kippi Leatham, Doug Boykin, Arnt Myhre, Michael Lehner, Kandi Blick, Maggie Reese, Julie Golob, Tasha Hanish, Jessie Duff, Randi Rogers, Bobby McGee, Tierani Hendrix and Bob Vogel.

Kenda Lenseigne wins shooting titles too, but from horseback, at a full gallop....Top that. Photo: P. Erhardt

And then of course there's Kenda Lenseigne, technically considered Team Bianchi, who does what the others do but at 35-40 miles per hour on the back of a 1,000 pound galloping horse in the sport of Cowboy Mounted Shooting - you know, the easy stuff. In addition to sponsoring its own team, Safariland has been a tremendous supporter of the shooting sports and sponsored hundreds of matches over the years, as well as supporting other shooters (and teams) with equipment. They have been incredibly generous, and if that were all they did they'd be held in high regard by both shooters and shooting organizations. But it is their pivotal role in the rise of factory-sponsored teams that shooters should recognize as Safariland's greatest contribution to and influence on the shooting sports. Had it not been for Scott Carnahan and Bill Rogers dreaming up a Team Safariland for others to emulate, well, somebody probably would have done it eventually, but there's really no telling when or whether or not that effort would have had the rest of the industry following suit as Safariland's did. If you were, are, or want to be on a sponsored shooting team, then you probably owe a debt of gratitude to Team Safariland for making that a possibility. - Paul Erhardt, Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network Got shooting sports news? Send us an email at info@shootingwire.com.