I visited Solely Outdoors a few months ago after their soft opening and was already impressed with some of the high-end goods on display. They have since continued to stock the store and this weekend is the celebration of their Grand Opening.
As you may know Solely Outdoors occupies the same space as the old LeBarons, however there is no connection between the two stores. Solely Outdoors has different owners, a different layout, and most importantly a different selection and focus. Specifically, the inventory is higher end than offered by the previous occupants and now includes black guns and handguns for the restricted crowd. A very welcome addition indeed!
Some pics of the new space
Nice mix of hunting, tactical, and competition gear
And the gun counter
This custom STI immediately caught my eye, as indeed it did for many others and it spent a lot of time outside of the case.
I think I brought the right knife for this gun
For those who like a more conventional STI….a DVC Limited
And Trubor
Again, lots of high end guns like Desert Tech and Accuracy International
And the Schmidt & Bender scopes to go with it
More optics from Eotech…I like the removable battery compartment
And Meprolight
Which would be more suitable on something like this Kriss Vector in arctic camo
Or the new mag-fed Mossberg
Speaking of shotguns, nice to see my friends from S&J Hardware and Auscan, shown here hanging out with our gracious host
I really liked this click-in side-saddle from Ardus Industries on their flagship shotgun
Also nice to see the selection of shotguns from Bell Outdoors
such as this double barreled Boito coach gun from Brazil
And the single shot version
My favourite of the Hatsan line was the Escort, available with fixed, telescopic, top folding, and side folding stocks.
The controls on this mag fed semi-auto shotgun are in a similar layout to an AR15’s mag and bolt releases
It also has an externally threaded brake that can be swapped out for a door breaching version…these will be internally threaded on future guns
Left handed pump action
And semi-auto with the same select-slug feature as on Benelli
In addition to real steel, SO sells airsoft,
my favourite of which was the grenade launcher
With the M249 a close second
Other standouts included this HK with gas system…
…this Infinity 2011
And a Salient Arms shotgun
Modelled here by badboybeeson with one his real shotguns for comparison
Solely Outdoors has a good selection of knives too, including custom karambits by James Coogler, such as these two
The folder in retracted grip
And extended grip
The fixed blade in retracted grip
And extended grip
They sell Fox karambits too and one of the staffers had the very exclusive DART, a Doug Marcaida design (sadly not for sale)
The Microtech DOA was a lot thinner than I was expecting (considering the thickness of the Strider knives upon which the design is based)
So funny that I just got my Hickok45 shirt, indeed it was my first time wearing it, only to find that Solely Outdoors now sells them too!
Along with JJFU
So all in all something for everyone. IMHO Solely Outdoors is off to a great start and I wish the team continued success.
RL