Reprinted with permission from Fluoramics
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The Story of Gun-Coat™ — Trial & Error, and a Funny Gun Simulator Experience
Frank Reick has been an inventor his whole life. He loves to tell the stories about how he ended up inventing some of Fluoramics’ most popular products — Tufoil Engine Treatment and Formula-8 — because people approached him with a problem to which they needed a solution.
Gun-Coat is no different.
Charlie Nestor, former Chief Training Officer at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, reached out to Frank in the mid-1980s asking if he could make a gun lubricant because the one they were using at FLETC wasn’t getting the job done.
Charlie said he was a longtime user of Tufoil Engine Treatment and figured the PTFE chemistry could be used to make a gun lubricant.
Frank obliged and spent a few months developing a sample. He sent it down to Charlie, who said it was good, but needed some improvement. Frank went back to the lab and a year later flew down to FLETC to present Charlie with a new sample.
Charlie called Frank again and requested Frank add more rust inhibitor in it because FLETC trainees sweat a lot on the gun range. After spending a little more time in the lab, Frank sent a version of Gun-Coat with more rust inhibitor down to Charlie.
He called Frank back and told him “it’s great, don’t make any changes,” and invited Frank down to the training center again, where he tried a new simulator they used in their training program (to sum it up, Frank flunked, but enjoyed the experience).
Fluoramics started selling Gun-Coat to FLETC and the rest of the world. It’s still on the market today and is used in multiple industries and by many consumers.
Frank and Charlie were able to reconnect a couple months ago and catch up on life, exchange stories, and extend invitations to visit after several decades without communicating. Charlie retired about three years ago, around the same time Frank stepped down as president of Fluoramics in order to devote his time to the laboratory.
You can listen to Frank tell the story (and talk about his experience with the simulator) in the audio below.
*NOTE: some mild language is used