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Accuracy International<br />
the British MOD contract, which became<br />
the L115A3, we said, “We are going to win<br />
this and we are not going to let anyone<br />
take this contract.” We’re not going to let<br />
some overseas company come into the UK<br />
with this. It would look really bad for us.<br />
Remington took the same position with<br />
the PSR contract in the United States. If<br />
Remington had lost that job, it would have<br />
been bad for them, with all of their facilities<br />
and home grown political support they<br />
get. We’ve got 10 people, including myself,<br />
and 4,000 square feet in the U.S. When<br />
you compare that to Remington’s facilities,<br />
we’re small fry. We didn’t expect to win it<br />
but what I expected to get out of it was a<br />
new product, and that’s what we’ve got.<br />
Even before the results came out, we went<br />
into production with that and sold over a<br />
hundred of them on a special limited edition<br />
run of the PSR contract rifle kit. It<br />
gave us an opportunity to get the rifle into<br />
full production and today we have a complete<br />
range of AX rifles directly as a result<br />
of the PSR solicitation. There are many<br />
features in all of our rifles, including the<br />
AX50, which came about because of the<br />
PSR contract so it helped us change our<br />
product range.<br />
<strong>SADJ</strong>: With the PSR contract, some of the<br />
companies were incorporating powered<br />
rails. What does AI think of that?<br />
Dave: This is the trouble with modern<br />
weapons; everyone wants to look like Rambo.<br />
It makes them feel good when they are<br />
carrying this stuff but it doesn’t help the<br />
shooter and it doesn’t make the rifle shoot<br />
any better. Designs are being changed really<br />
considerably by individuals that think<br />
for instance a powered rail would be a legitimate<br />
thing to have but when you come<br />
down to it from a shooting point of view,<br />
in some cases it’s not practical at all. For<br />
example, I’ve been designing a new bipod<br />
and I’ve been told that customers would<br />
like the bipod to lock solid, but I would<br />
say it’s better to have a certain amount of<br />
movement. This would be more favorable<br />
on lose ground when you fire a shot, one<br />
side of the bipod sinks in the ground. If<br />
you have it locked you would have to reach<br />
forward and unlock the bipod and lock it<br />
again, but with a certain amount of tension.<br />
But not locked you can just twisted<br />
the gun back to position, unfortunately<br />
people are saying it has to be locked.<br />
<strong>SADJ</strong>: How has the marketing approach<br />
changed in the company?<br />
Tom: Back in the late 90s and early 2000s,<br />
the marketing approach was completely<br />
different than today; they would not have<br />
been sitting here, talking to gun writers.<br />
There was involvement with movies and<br />
TV dramas but not anywhere near the<br />
level we are doing today. It was the same<br />
with articles, magazines and advertising.<br />
The approach was that we make the best:<br />
people know that and they’ll just come<br />
to us. They didn’t promote themselves as<br />
the best sniper rifle in the world. Around<br />
the world, with military government contracts,<br />
there are contractual requirements,<br />
which include penalty clauses, and bonds,<br />
which the prior management would not<br />
enter into. Upfront payments were a part<br />
of doing business back then. The main<br />
competitor products were customized<br />
hunting rifles. Now, fast forward to today.<br />
If you didn’t put bond money up front,<br />
if you didn’t sign up for penalty clauses,<br />
and if you tried to get upfront money, you<br />
would not get any contracts. Those days<br />
have gone! If you look at the competition,<br />
there are a number of companies using the<br />
same concept of an aluminum platform<br />
and several of them have flat bottomed receivers.<br />
Most of the competitive rifles are<br />
designed for tactical use and none of them<br />
are customized hunting rifles. There is a lot<br />
more competition around today. Our approach<br />
is to be the leader, stay ahead of the<br />
competition and we make the best sniper<br />
rifle in the world. We are not going to be<br />
catching up; others will catch up with us. If<br />
we were still making only the AW and AE<br />
today we would be going downhill rapidly.<br />
We invested in facilities, people and products<br />
and that is why we are at the point we<br />
are today, where we have no qualms at all<br />
in saying we make the best sniper rifle in<br />
the world because we believe that.<br />
<strong>SADJ</strong>: How has legal legislation changed<br />
the picture of civilian shooting in the UK<br />
since you began the company, in both the<br />
political and social aspects?<br />
Dave: Politically it’s almost impossible for<br />
a company to get into firearms manufacturing<br />
today, in the UK, because of all the<br />
government red tape. Socially the sport is<br />
going away. One of my friends from my<br />
competition days recently stepped down<br />
from coaching the national team and when<br />
I asked him why, he said, “There’s no new<br />
people coming into shooting, all the old<br />
guys like us are dying out.” and he’s absolutely<br />
correct. When I was young and<br />
in my teens, I would go down to my rifle<br />
club and those old guys on the range would<br />
teach me the finer points of rifle shooting.<br />
Now that generation is dead and there are<br />
no rifle clubs that kids these days can go<br />
to because they’ve all been shut down after<br />
the government has made it almost impossible<br />
to continue operation due to the<br />
restrictions.<br />
<strong>SADJ</strong>: What does the future hold for Accuracy<br />
International?<br />
Dave: Old age. (Laughter ensues...)<br />
Tom: Well due to the fact that we literally<br />
just changed our product line to the AX<br />
and AT, then the immediate future is making<br />
sure we can get the product as good<br />
as it can be. So for the near term future,<br />
which you can say is the next 5 years, that<br />
is our focus and right now we’re not planning<br />
on anything beyond that. We spent so<br />
much getting to this point and we’ve done<br />
enough to keep us growing for the short<br />
term. That’s where our focus is.<br />
<strong>SADJ</strong>: Thank you for taking the<br />
time to speak with us today – a truly<br />
amazing story.<br />
ACRONYMS:<br />
AW- Began out of the Swedish trials and<br />
stands for Arctic Warfare, 3 lug action.<br />
Later made in .338 Lapua.<br />
AE- Entry-level rifle for law enforcement<br />
agencies in 2001 as well as being an economically<br />
priced rifle.<br />
AS- AS50, semi auto .50 caliber rifle.<br />
AT- Improved AW. 6 lug action and quick<br />
release barrel with an AW action.<br />
AX- PSR contract rifle. AX multi caliber,<br />
.308 NATO, .300 Win. Mag., .338 Lapua.<br />
AX 308 separate.<br />
AICS- Accuracy International Chassis<br />
System, AT AICS, AX AICS, AW AICS.<br />
Aimed at the civilian market and upgrading<br />
existing law enforcement rifles either<br />
for the Remington 700 action or the Accuracy<br />
International actions.<br />
L96- Original company production rifle<br />
designated L96 in British Army and nick<br />
named “The Green Meanie.” Later replaced<br />
by the .338 Lapua L115A3.<br />
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