Hells Canyon Armory

The weekend of October 3-4 saw me attending the KRG Windbreaker PRS Match in Washington. Nick and Bob did a fantastic job as match directors, and the setting was one of the best there is in the PRS game.

The match was over in good time on Sunday, the food was fantastic, the awards ceremony was no surprise. Clay Blakketter was first, Austin Orgain was second and Darrick Davidson rounded off the top three. There were many more awards for more placings, and a good time was had by all.

So, does a guy just rip off down the Interstate Highway once it’s all over, and go home to North Dakota? Or does he scoot south to Lewiston, Idaho to visit with a new supplier of barrels to Bullet Central? Ain’t been to Lewiston in a coon’s age, so Lewiston it is. Two hours after the awards ceremony I was checking into a hotel south of the Clearwater River.

Monday morning I crossed back over the river, drove a couple more blocks, hung a left and stopped on the street in front of Hells Canyon Armory, home of some premium barrels. Businesses like this don’t do tours, and should lock the door in anticipation of nosy buggers like me showing up to peruse their home place. Nonetheless, Mike was flexible/tolerant enough to take a new customer through his place.

What was noteworthy? Some of the latest technology in barrel making, and some of the most important ingredients in successful business operations.

There was a wall reserved for the tool making equipment that is used exclusively to make parts to modify the lathes and other machines, so they could do the desired job they had been purchased for. How many times have I heard that a machine was purchased, refitted entirely, so it could finally do the precision work necessary to produce products that require such infinitesimal tolerances that they’re almost immeasurable? Not often. Hells Canyon is one of the few.

The idea that someone is not satisfied with the tool manufacturer’s tolerance capability because their product will not satisfy a discerning clientele? That says something about the man making the decisions. There was one machine that needed to be exponentially tightened up to create a product Mike would be satisfied with, and the machine’s manufacturer could not understand why. Mike’s clients will appreciate his efforts on their behalf.

What does Hells Canyon Armory produce? Cut rifle barrels. Carbon fiber barrels - with their own blanks. Steel barrels. Barrels wrapped in carbon fiber and actual silver. Barrels wrapped in carbon fiber and flakes of actual gold . . . Any idea how hard it is to hand back a barrel that’s been hand wrapped in gold flakes and carbon fiber, when someone places it in your hands? Man, that’s pretty!