When I was younger I was a huge fan of Lincoln Logs. If you are reading this and you don’t know what Lincoln Logs are, they were Legos before Legos existed. The cool part is you were always able to build something with some basic components. The only limitation was your imagination, well until you ran out of logs or shingles! For me, building something better, cooler, functional was the highlight of my day. As I fast forward 40 years later, this is exactly what I am doing with Creekside Custom. Building products for Shooters by Shooters.
Ruger has been around for since before I was a kid. At the time, it was the entry level into how I started shooting. I remember when I opened my very first gun, I was 8 years old and that Santa did a great job that year leaving me a 10/22. A couple years later the first handgun I shot was a Ruger MKII. Needless to say, as I made a decision to base some of my enhancements to the Ruger Platform, I sought out to unleash the potential of the MKIV platform. In full transparency, there were ideas I had for parts in which I provided other companies ideas for. Some were made or changed, and others were not. I do not fault these companies, the market I enjoy and choose to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights is a very small market. So, I made the decision to do it myself.
Recently, I co-released two of the last products I plan to make for the MKIV; the 19.22 trigger shoe and the ICE Bolt Racker. Let’s start off with the Bolt Racker. There are other rackers on the market that are cost effective and they do a great job preventing your fingers from being pinched when racking the bolt. I did not find a version for competitive shooters to use In Case of an Emergency if you had to rack the bolt quickly similar to an Open Gun. The design was created to twist on, be effective, and ergonomically friendly. Mission accomplished. Yeah and it looks really cool as well!
Early in my shooting career I spent a lot of time shooting 1911s and I absolutely love the trigger length, the pull weight, adjustable pre-travel, glass rod break, reasonable over travel, and short reset. Oh, and the straight/flat face is something I strongly prefer in my triggers. As with other parts, I decided to make my own. As prototyping came along, the trigger felt just like my first 1911 and this is why it is named the 19.22. The mechanical advantage of setting the trigger shoe back helped in a couple of areas, mainly it decreased the average trigger pull around 1/2 pound in testing. The other magic for me is the reset is positive and short. My second – third – fourth – fifth shots at the 2024 RCSA World Rimfire were better and faster than I have ever shot with a rimfire iron pistol. A small detail, it happens to be aesthetic as well, is the small hook at the bottom of the trigger that scoops the trigger finger to the right spot every time.
The 19.22 trigger far exceeded expectations with selling nearly half of the first run in the first two days and selling the remaining triggers in the next five days. What was unexpected was the amount of posts, emails, messages, and calls of support from people in the industry. Outside of the sales, this is when I knew that people wanted the same thing I did. Thank you to everyone for your support. I was talking with a manufacturer the other day who congratulated me. I asked why. He said there is a small group of people who are willing to put the time, money, and effort in bringing their ideas to a reality. Never thought of it that way. After going through the process with creating a developing several products, I know why people don’t do it!
What is next? Great question. Working on something cool next. Need to let sales happen to replenish the bank account to fund the next project! If you have ideas – please reach out. I can’t say yes to every project, but at a minimum I can offer the insight I have gained through this process.
See you out on the range soon!
Steve
Steve Foster - Competitive Shooter 