Big Horn Armory Expands Facilities

As with most industries, the firearm industry has seen an impact on suppliers and vendors due to COVID-19 restrictions and limitations. In addition, there has been an increase in product demand as American citizens turn out to support their 2A rights with a record-setting number of background checks the past two years. The delays from suppliers and vendors, as well as the increase in demand, have resulted in extended lead times for Big Horn Armory (BHA) firearms. However, Big Horn Armory, makers of big-bore firearms, is implementing several changes that will work to improve product lead times. These changes include hiring more employees, obtaining a new and larger building, increasing manufacturing capacity, and doubling BHA’s sourcing suppliers.

“We hope to increase our manufacturing capabilities two to three times over the next year,” says Greg Buchel, owner of Big Horn Armory.

“Much of this will involve new personnel in our assembly and quality control departments. We have a core workforce of excellent people right now, and we intend to use these people to train and orient our new personnel to create more of the fine products that we currently produce for our customers.”

BHA will be doubling its workforce in the next few months in the manufacturing department. A new building will increase the manufacturing space by 500 percent. In addition to providing more manufacturing space, the new building will also offer better facilities for constructing BHA’s firearms and for maintaining inventory. New machinery will include CNC mills and lathes and barrel-making equipment, all of which will help lessen the dependence upon outside vendors.

“Our firearms are not purchases made on a whim, but thoughtful investments in heirloom-quality rifles aimed at giving our customer the biggest bang for their buck,” Buchel says. “We know our customers want these rifles, and we want to give them to them. We’re working our hardest to get our firearms out the door and into our customers’ hands. We appreciate our customers’ patience as they bear with us as we continue to fulfill our orders and implement these changes.”

Big Horn Armory was founded in 2008 with the expressed intent of designing a Browning-type lever-action gun chambered in the 500 Smith & Wesson Magnum. The Big Horn Armory Model 89, made in America, closely follows the work of John Browning, with refinements courtesy of modern metallurgy and machining capabilities. The first rifles began shipping in September 2012, and since then BHA has added to its big-bore lineup with a Model 90 Carbine in .460 S&W, the Model 90A in .454 Casull, the Model 90B in .45 Colt, the Model 89A in .500 Linebaugh, and the Model 89B in .475 Linebaugh. In 2017, Big Horn Armory took a departure from its lever-action series and developed the AR500 Auto Max, the most powerful short-range, semi-auto based on an AR .308 platform. (bighornarmory.com)