BERRYVILLE -- When Guns & Ammo needed a gun maker to design the magazine's new signature pistol, they went to Nighthawk Custom.
The firearms maker that calls this little Northwest Arkansas town home is building only 100 of the collectible 1911 pistols that will sell for just shy of $3,500. The first pistol was auctioned off and the proceeds, along with 5 percent of the sale price of the other 99 handguns, will be donated to the group Honored American Veterans Afield.
Mark Stone, CEO and owner of Nighthawk Custom, said Guns & Ammo collaborated with gun-makers on special issue firearms in the past and recently decided to resurrect the concept. He said having his 10-year-old company selected to build the new signature pistol is humbling.
Established in 1958, Guns & Ammo is owned by InterMedia Outdoors, the largest media company focused on America's 80 million outdoor sports enthusiasts, according to the company website.
The signature pistols are aimed at a niche clientele -- even among collectors. The pistols are hitting the market as broader firearms sales are stabilizing after a buying frenzy that began in 2013.
Gun sales at the nation's firearms manufacturers took off after several mass shootings led to calls for more regulations. Sales then slumped when demand slackened and sellers found themselves with too much inventory.
In March, publicly traded firearms company Smith & Wesson reported its firearms division saw revenue for its third quarter of $124.5 million, down nearly 15 percent from the year earlier. Handgun sales were down 6.8 percent compared to the year earlier and long guns were down nearly 40 percent.
James Debney, CEO and president of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., said at the time the third quarter results reflected a slowing of the firearms market after the 2013 surge. In April, Smith & Wesson significantly increased its guidance for the fourth quarter, predicting sales between $175 million and $179 million for the quarter and full fiscal year revenue of between $546 million and $550 million.
According to the Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Report 2014 by the National Shooting Sports Foundation -- the trade association for the firearms industry -- there were 134,429 people directly employed in the industry in the U.S. with total wages of $5.9 billion. In Arkansas, there were 2,650 directly employed by the industry with total wages of $145.3 million, according to the report.
Nighthawk's signature pistols are designed to meet the no-nonsense requirements of the late Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper -- a Marine veteran, shooting innovator, college professor and editor at Guns & Ammo. Cooper passed away in 2006 at the age of 86.
Cooper opened the American Pistol Institute in Arizona near Prescott in 1976. The 2,000-acre, year-round facility now is called Gunsite Academy. It trains thousands each year, including civilians, law enforcement and special forces personnel. It offers courses in basic firearms use, close quarters combat and long range rifle shooting.
Guns & Ammo and Gunsite employees collaborated to build what they thought would be Cooper's ideal 1911 but with some features modern users have come to expect, Stone said.
Phil Schreier, senior curator of the National Rifle Association's National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Va., said despite its being more than 100 years old, the 1911 pistol is considered by many to be the perfect handgun and Cooper was an advocate of its virtues.
Richard Mann, a writer for Guns & Ammo, studied Cooper and interviewed experts to come up with the guns features, including a smaller frame for easier concealed carry. Cooper often said the most important factor in a gunfight is having a gun.
The pistol also lacks cocking serrations on the front of the slide, since Cooper felt it was unwise for shooters to get their hands anywhere near the muzzle of the weapon. A low profile, nearly invisible, lanyard loop, a feature Cooper considered desirable but not often seen on modern pistols, also is part of the new pistol.
An idea to use the distinctive orange lettering often seen on Guns & Ammo's cover to highlight the engraving on the pistol's slide was scrapped, Stone said, adding it looked heinous. Instead, the magazine's orange is represented on the pistol's fiber-optic front sight.
Mann said in an email that Nighthawk embraced the spirit of the project, as well as the philosophy of the Gunsite Academy and were the perfect choice to build the signature pistol.
"Seemed like the perfect fit," he wrote.
Each of the pistols is made by hand in Berryville and the first batch went out to dealers last week, Stone said. All of the company's 20 gunsmiths were allowed to build at least one of the pistols but eventually five were selected to do the bulk of the builds.
Nighthawk, which employs about 50 people, espouses a philosophy the company calls "one gun, one gunsmith". A single gunsmith is responsible for assembling the weapon and when satisfied with the results, the gunsmith signs the pistol with a individualized stamp.
Gunsite's Campbell said the end result is a pistol that would meet Cooper's standards for practicality and toughness.
"It's a beautiful gun," he said. "It has everything you need -- and nothing superfluous."
SundayMonday Business on 06/07/2015