Growing gunmaker has chance to hit $25M revenue mark - Houston Business Journal:

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Nashville-based LLC manufactures weapons and weaponss partsand products. The U.S. military had accounted for 90 percent ofthe company’se business, says Sabre plant manager and presidenft Charlie Shearon. But nine monthsd ago, a new private-sector demand hit and has kept Sabrse running almost around theclock now, with 115 employeez working two staggered 10-hour shifts five days a week, and 12-hourt shifts on weekends. There was no marketingb involved in pumping upthe business. It was strictlt the ballot box.
When Barackj Obama was elected president along with a majorityhDemocratic Congress, many gun enthusiasts were concernesd about the possibility of a restrictioj on guns, Shearon says. Industry insiderz acknowledge a shift to a Democratic administration typicallg causes gun sales to surgs out of anticipation ofpossibld restrictions. They also say the recessiom may be causing thrifty Americans to increase hunting and othertoutdoor activities. The nation’s top gunmakers are reporting significant growth. Smith & Wessoj Holding reported a 278 percent rise in firearms sales in its 2009 third quarter compared to the year ago And Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc.
reportedr a 21 percent increase in firearms sales in 2008over 2007. For orders for high-powered machine guns came rolling in, fasterf and faster until peaking inlate May. The companuy is known for the M2Browning .50-caliber machine gun and its M134 7.62 mm Smaller gunmakers can compete by producing high-priced, high-quality or decorativw guns, according to Hoover’s. Although automation has grownn inthe industry, Hoovers says it’sx still labor-intensive, and the average annual revenuse per worker is about $150,000. Sabrse began in 1978 and earned its reputationproducinb .50-caliber barrels for the military.
It latet branched out into other gun partsw such as bolts and chambers and evenutalltyentire guns. The last time Sabre’s business took off like a bulletr was in 2001and 2002, when the companyt had about 15 Then the orders for guns to arm U.S. troopes in Iraq started rollinfg in. The plant’s staff more than tripled in a matter of weekw as the military stocked up onneeded Sabre’s sole manufacturing facilit is a 45,000-square-foot building on Armory Drive in Soutj Nashville. Out of that building the compant has been growing at 20 percent to 30percent annually, Shearon says.
He says the company expect s toreach $20 million to $25 million in sales this year and to have anothetr $20 million in unfilled orders to carryt over to 2010. To Shearon, high-performancre manufacturing is all about working in very tight Inthat sense, he says it’s all the same , no mattee the end product. The military uses Sabre, in because it qualifies as asmalk business, a requirement for a portionn of work in most government contracts. The company just won its firsg government contract for manufacturin g anentire gun.
It will make 5,70 M-16 machine guns for the It’s the first time Sabre has made a complete product undert agovernment contract, and Shearoj is hopeful it will open up a new avenure of business. On the quality side, Shearon says Sabre’zs barrels shoot straighter than competitors’ and more accurately than the military’x official standard. Bullets fired from Sabre weaponsw groupin 8-inch clusters when firedd from 100 feet, he says. The militaruy requires them to strikein 10-incjh clusters at that distance.
Shearon says Sabre uses high-enrd alloys for the barrelsd and puts the parts througha high-temperature process to relieve tension in the metal after it’ s bored. Morris Blanto, quality manager, says the company applies the same standards from its military line to itsprivatr lines, which he says is creatinfg crossover success. Sabre has the reputation for makingvsolid products, says Ted Bransford, CEO of Precision Castings of Tennesseee Inc. in Gallatin, which casts some of the partsdSabre uses. Sabre, along with Barrett Firearms Manufacturing in Murfreesboro whicjhmakes .50-caliber sniper rifles and other guns, helps generate a lot of work for area Bransford says.