Dead Foot Arms LLC

The history behind Dead Foot Arms, LLC

The founder of Dead Foot Arms LLC, Ted Schumacher, knew that one tool could make his service rifle much more user friendly when operating in a military vehicle: a Folding Stock that still allowed his weapon to fire. It was 2009, Ted was on a deployment to Iraq, and developing a folding stock wasn’t going happen while inside the combat zone. When he returned home in 2010, he began testing dual spring cycle options that could serve as potential alternatives to the Eugene Stoner M-16 design, while still work within the M16/M4 platform. In 2011, Ted met Russ Simonis, Kirby Frank, Jeremy Lyon, Jason Walker, Steven Erickson at his new unit the 332d ROC in Berlin, WI. After explaining his idea to his new brothers in Arms, the framework behind Dead Foot Arms LLC began to take shape.

Testing on multiple variations of the dual spring system accelerated in 2012, and Ted filed his first two patents later that year. The system was called the Modified Cycle System (or MCS for short). With thousands of rounds through the MCS by late 2013, Ted formed the LLC, and named the company Dead Foot Arms, LLC.

Dead Foot Arms is named after Ted’s grandfather, a WWII Navy Veteran who battled diabetes later in his life and ended up having one of his legs turning completely black before bothering to tell someone that he was dealing with what he called “a little pain”. After amputation of the dead leg, Ted’s grandfather sported a wooden stump that he was very proud of. His lessons in hard work and service to nation always stuck with Ted as important values, and thus it was an easy decision for Ted to name the company in his honor.

Throughout 2014 and 2015, Ted, Kirby, and Russ worked aggressively with an Air Force friend of theirs, Greg Enerson, to develop a folding stock adaptor that would work effectively on the right side of the rifle. The concept behind the right side folding system was that at least 80% of people are right handed, and the stock can be deployed faster when not trapped between the shooters body and the chassis of the rifle, as seen with comparable designs. After trying over 20 different prototypes, the first production version of the Dead Foot Arms MCS with folding stock adaptor was ready for debut at Shot Show 2016. The product was available for purchase beginning early in 2016.