The company designing the kits you use to clean your guns now has guns in its inventory. Otis Technology—a family business based in Lyon Falls, New York—recently acquired DRD Tactical.
“DRD built a name for itself with its unique offering of firearms,” says Heather Pleskach, Otis Technology director of marketing. “The rifles have patented technology with quick breakdown of the barrel. In addition, the stock folds, but the rifle can be fired while the stock is folded.”
“DRD Tactical completely aligns with our American-made, innovative culture and quality standards,” says CEO Larry Williams. “We’re excited for the future and growing DRD Tactical’s line of quick-take-down rifles.”
The gun is now part of the Otis product line, which started with a gun-cleaning kit in 1985, which was a mud-inspired innovation. The company’s founder, Doreen Garrett, who was 16 at the time, fell on a deer hunt, dumping her grandpa’s Winchester in the mud. She left the field with a clogged barrel and an unpunched tag. The fall cost her the hunt but inspired an idea.
“Her thought process was, I need to have something to carry in the field to clean-and-clear so this doesn’t happen again,” Pleskach says. “She called it the Whole Kit & Caboodle. It was everything you needed to clean-and-clear without disassembling the firearm. She put everything in a little shoe polish tin so she could carry it in the field.”
The tin rattled, so Garrett modified the case with soft, quiet material, then started Otis with her three siblings and parents. Her family knew the family behind DRD Tactical from attending SHOT Show. When the opportunity to add the DRD family to her family developed, Otis was ready.
“When we invest in machinery, we’re not doing things that just work for right now. We’re planning for the capabilities of expanded growth,” Pleskach says. “Our facility is poised for growth, and adding DRD Tactical is a good fit for growing our portfolio of products beyond our cleaning line.”
With the acquisition of Shooter’s Choice in 2018 and DRD Tactical in 2019, Otis now has 125 employees. Otis bought those two companies for the quality products that already had brand recognition. That’s why they’re still listed by individual name but share space at the show in the Otis booth.
Expect two new rifles this year, plus a new cleaning kit for long-term storage between hunting seasons or mission deployments. It’s called the Rust Stopper Long Term Storage Kit. Also look for the celebrated round, soft-case cleaning kit for in the field, which remains a mainstay of the company after all these years.
“A kit like this doesn’t cross your mind as something you need to worry about until it happens to you,” Pleskach says. “It’s insurance. If you have it, you won’t need it, but that one time something goes wrong, you’ve got what you need.”
