Of all the weird guns at SHOT Show, none left me more puzzled than Mossberg's new range of Blackwater branded shotguns.
It puzzles me because the Blackwater name has long since ceased to exist. In 2009, amidst multiple legal battles, the company renamed themselves as Xe Services. The name Blackwater is now an archaism harking back to the golden age of security contractors.
The name must still move guns off shelves or Mossberg would not be using it. I am not one of Backwater's detractors, but still I cannot figure out why Mossberg would want to associate themselves with such a publicly tainted brand name - so tainted that it has been long since abandoned by Blackwater itself.
Blackwater Mossberg 500 Cruiser Mossberg has not released pricing for the Blackwater shotguns.
Makes sense to me. Blackwater had a reputation for being unethical: war for profit and all that. But they also had a reputation for being good at it. All those brutal videos on the net aren’t of Blackwater getting asses kicked.
Some people would rather be the winner than the good guy.
Obviously, they got the name and logo at a bargain basement price, and it still has an image that “Xe services” doesn’t. Remember that in fiction only villains are interesting. Heroes are designed to be “regular” and stereotypical so that the audience can relate to that character, and imagine themselves in that role. They’re good at things that normal people aren’t, like witty dialog and taking a punch, and bad at things that everybody’s bad at, like expressing themselves and understanding women.
PSC’s are guys we all imagine as being good at everything related to the drama of war, which is one of our favorite genres of entertainment.
The people who hated Blackwater are also the people who hate guns. They do not imagine themselves in the role of the hero in action/adventure movies, and don’t like movies that are excessively violent. They are the people who like political thrillers where the hero is some suave lawyer or journalist who never makes a fist, and would never use a gun unless they hit someone on the head with it and then threw it in a lake. These kind movies tend to revolve around government conspiracies and evil corporations that you have no choice but to run away from. In the end, they use the media or the law to defeat the evil doers by sheer force of their moral superiority. These people will not buy guns, so Mossberg is wisely declining from marketing to them.
The rest of us, we still like Blackwater/Xe, PSCs, and warriors generally.
Just to clarify my position: I am not one of Backwater’s detractors.
Lets face it, Blackwater is AWESOME! These guys are ex-special forces mercenaries. Their job is to go into places where the US armed forced won’t dare, and lay down the law. And what do they do it for? Loyalty to a country whose media hates them? Principle and selfless sacrifice? Hell no! They do it for the paycheck and nothing else! These guys are the anti-heroes, the renegades. Twisted steel and sex-appeal. They are the Mad Maxs, Han Solos and Riddicks of the world.
If you want a shotgun that says: “Hey everyone, I’m a mad mercenary in a world gone mad, who lives one paycheck to the next, looking out for no one but myself,” then this is the shot-gun for you!
But seriously, it is largely marketed to “tacticool” crowd, and most of these people are going to install rails all over their shotgun to mount lights, lasers and reflex sights anyway, so why not just market a shotgun with the rails already installed, then give it better sights, and brand it with a logo of a PMC group that most of these people already worship? Makes perfect sense, Blackwater is likely happy to part with the logo.
I like the 590 layout with the rail and rear peep. That rear sight is a lot more compact than the one on their other tactical models. However, I’m wary about the public opinion issue. I certainly wouldn’t want an over zealous prosecutor to show that to a jury. I don’t really have an opinion on the Blackwater hype because I never really examined the issue, and it seems like a bit of a moot point now.
Also, how is that 500 cruiser breaching model is different from their other 500 cruiser breaching model? http://www.mossberg.com/images/products/SA/54125.jpg
Matt Groom: “The people who hated Blackwater are also the people who hate guns. They do not imagine themselves in the role of the hero in action/adventure movies, and don’t like movies that are excessively violent. They are the people who like political thrillers where the hero is some suave lawyer or journalist who never makes a fist, and would never use a gun unless they hit someone on the head with it and then threw it in a lake. These kind movies tend to revolve around government conspiracies and evil corporations that you have no choice but to run away from. In the end, they use the media or the law to defeat the evil doers by sheer force of their moral superiority. These people will not buy guns, so Mossberg is wisely declining from marketing to them.”
Actually, most of the action movies and shooter video games in recent times seem to feature the heroes taking on evil PMCs.
Heck, even Jack Bauer went up against one, and he’s as far from a suave, non-violent lawyer type as you can get.
Didn’t even H&K publicly distance themselves from Blackwater after a report on them ran on German TV?
And I agree with Gerald, this thing is largely geared towards the mall ninja crowd.
That said, although I disapprove of governments hiring extra-judicial mercenary armies, I have to cringe every time I see another “Blackriver” or “Ravenwood” being revealed to be behind some sort of global conspiracy on the screen. The 80s had commies and drug cartels, the 90s had drug cartels and street gangs, and the 00's had islamic fundamentalists and PMCs. It’s 2011, time to come up with a new villain of the decade… and no, recycling the Russians (see: Vanquish, CoD: Modern Warfare 2) doesn’t count.
* M590A1 SPX with : Speedfeed stock, XS XS Ghost ring sightst (front & backs) with Rail; CAA/FAB hanguard
* 930SPX with Choate pitol grip, XS Rail & Sight (front & back) with rail
Now Blackwater is just brand without relation with Xe PMC
Were any of you directly knowledgeable of what Blackwater did or how they ran their business? I strongly support our Constitution (including the 2nd Amendment). However, you can’t argue for the support of the legal right the 2nd Amendment gives us and also support criminal behavior, if any was conducted. In addition, sometimes what is legal (what you can do) isn’t what you should do. Just my 2¢…
I saw that a while back and thought that it was a goof – Internet rumor or such.
I’m pretty sure the Blackwater name and image are still a moneymaker for those guys.
http://proshop.blackwaterusa.com/Default.aspx
Meh.
Theres nothing there that hasnt already been done.
I am also a little mystified as to why Mossberg would want to be associated with a brand that, for many, stands for corruption. Not to mention the many charges that its contractors have killed civilians.
lol, I’ll be the exception to the rule and be the guy who likes guns and can’t stand “private security contractors”. Also happen to be a light-infantryman from 2-22 INF and 3-15 INF with four combat deployments who’d like to state that the only place Blackwater ever went that either of my battalions didn’t would be the Green Zone. Dangerous place that, with all those Iraqi civilians around.
As someone who likes to get drunk and let off a few shots at innocent people whenever they drive too close to me, this seems like a match made in heaven.
Mossberg probably kept the name because a) they paid for it and b) the company seems to be marketing directly to the Mall Ninja crowd with it’s latest products.
I’m afraid I can’t join in the chorus of ‘Blackwater roxor my soxor!’. There’s a reason the company changed it’s name.
If there are morons who want to buy a shotgun because it has the logo of a now defunct “uber badass” company on it, I think it will mean good business for Mossberg. Money and morons don’t tend to be together for long anyway.
I think I still get a Blackwater brand newsletter every week. As I remember they didn’t completely get rid of the name.
I read on another blog, might have been soldier systems that the guy that started blackwater maintained the rights to the blackwater bear paw logo and the name “blackwater”. So he can license it out to whoever he pleases and it has nothing to do with XE or US Training Center. I think it will sell just fine. Blackwater has a bad name to a very small segment of the gun loving/tactical public, as far as I can tell.
Gerald,
I will give you a little history about Blackwater.
The vast majority of Backwater are former military. Most are Special Operators. Out of that most of them are former/retire SEAL with combat experience.
Backwater started out as a very small outfit by a former Navy SEAL in the 90's. The first time I meet them was at a price warehouse store (forgot which one, costco, BJ, or Samclub) when they were still a small outfit. They was wearing Blackwater T-shirt and was stocking up supplies to bring back to their training facilities.
Blackwater main bread and butter is training. They train people for PSD (Personal Security Detail) otherwise known by the general public as body or security guards.
When the second Gulf War started the USA needed people to help guard facilities and protect workers off base. They didn’t have the troop to do this kind of stuff so they hire Blackwater and other PSD companies. They are not mercenaries but highly trained security guards. Blackwater people had their fair share of fighting in Iraq not because they were looking for a fight but because the fight came to them.
They became very big very fast because of their very very close ties with the US military. And because of this there were on the number one hit list.
They are still very highly regarded/respected by military, police force, etc.. We don’t call Blackwater Xe. We call Blackwater Blackwater.
Backwater is located just south of East VA border in NC. It is about 30-45 minute drive (depending on how heavy the traffic is) to the largest Naval base in the world. The Hampton Road area has the largest military complex in the USA (IIRC) and maybe the world. I was very proud that at the height of the Cold War the Soviet listed our area in the top five to get nuke first. Good times.
Over half of the Navy SEALS live here. I was in college at ODU with a pretty lady, her husband was a SEAL member. We always joked why he did all the house works and take care of the kids. My cousin has an active Navy SEAL friend that come over to his home from time to time. Several of the gun club member was or currently roommate with an active or former SEAL member. There are other Special Operators living in the area but SEAL members are the largest here.
I have never worked for Blackwater. However one of my cousins work for them part time as a role player.
Actually, despite being officially renamed to Xe, up until I think a few months ago you could go to their training website, U.S. Training Center, then go to the “Proshop”, and still be able to buy all of their Blackwater branded merchandise, even DVD publications. I guess they couldn’t stand their Blackwater teddy bears being sold for hundreds of dollars between their former detractors who revel in the downfall of the brand name. Now, of course, everything has been rebranded with the Xe.
Maybe they had these shotguns left over on a contract from a while ago?
If you have a garden variety 12 gauge levelled at a bad guy, he might think to himself, “It may be that I am about to be shot.”
But if he sees that Blackwater logo, he might think to himself, “I’m DEFINITELY about to be shot!”
The 2nd picture is from the mossberg 590A1, not the 930 as stated
I served, stationed in Hampton Roads area, some moons ago. Seals & other special forces types are no different than anyone else, except for training. Meaning, some were good guys, and some were colossal a>>holes.
Blackwater was run by the latter.
Some – not all – of the guys they had over in Iraq were overpaid & undertrained. I don’t mean in how to handle a gun or intimidate – they all were PhDs in that. Yet in moral courage there were quite a few who came up way short. Some killed civvies in Iraq, just for sport, on a regular basis. Documented fact, backed up by accounts from people who were there. And the company, no matter what name they carry now, covered for them.
I got no time for any person or organization pulling that kind of crap, for profit, and then hiding behind the flag & patriotism & the ‘stress of combat’ to excuse and justify it. That should make every REAL American sick (cause we all are paying their salaries), but especially the ones who have served and done so honorably.
Taking the better road is tough. You carry a heavier load in the short term, and don’t see immediate, gratifying results. But in the end, it’s what you’ve got to do if the whole world isn’t going to turn into a cluster f>ck beyond all comprehension.
Blackwater/Xe/whatever never understood that. Mossberg apparently doesn’t mind that they don’t. And the Mall Ninjas will dream that they’ll be real men when society falls anyway, so they’ll buy whatever the former two are selling.
My two cents.
Max, thanks!