Fear & Loading: SIG Sauer—Building it Their Way

by
posted on February 1, 2017
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
sig_lede.jpg

SIG Sauer is now producing optics, suppressors and ammunition to the same tight standards and tolerances that made its firearms legendary, but it’s taken a different expansion path than the one traveled by most companies today. When I interviewed company spokesman Bud Fini early last year, he explained the firm’s approach, and one recent story highlights an advantage even he probably didn’t expect.

Only time will tell which method is best—as the old saying goes—but Fini was emphatic when I asked about SIG Sauer building optics and ammunition branches from scratch, instead of buying established small- or medium-sized firms already in the business. “It’s just not the way we do it,” he said. “We build it and design it from the ground up. We don’t want someone else’s business, we want SIG business.”

The company brought in the expertise to get it done, too. For optics, “We hired a fellow by the name of Andy York, who worked for years in the industry,” Fini said.

On the ammunition side, “We brought Dan Powers on board in 2012 to begin managing the design phase of the bullet that would become the V-Crown,” he explained. Powers holds the patent on a frangible bullet, and ran an ammo business in Florida producing it and cartridges for a decade. His expertise was available only because RUAG had purchased his company.

The first full year of SIG’s ammo production was 2015, but it was operating out of a leased factory in Eubank, Ky. The decision to move equipment and invest in property was made a few weeks before I interviewed Fini, and he admitted the company was negotiating to build in Jacksonville, Ark.

Early reports estimated the new facility would bring 50 jobs to the area when the 70,000-square-foot plant opened. A central location in the nation has obvious shipping-cost advantages, but it turns out the cost of energy in New Hampshire—where SIG Sauer is headquartered and reportedly would have preferred to open the plant—is 12 cents a kilowatt hour. It’s half the price in Arkansas, amounting to a savings of roughly $1 million a year, according to a radio interview with SIG Sauer Facilities Director Jeff Chierepko.

It’s an unusual approach in an industry where corporate takeovers seem almost routine. There’s more, though. “Everybody else has exported jobs,” Fini said, “We [SIG Sauer] have 1,100 plus in New Hampshire. When Ron (Cohen, company president and CEO) started, we had 75. It’s a true story of American ingenuity. We can out-machine any country in the world.”

Latest

.308 Win.
.308 Win.

Handloads: A Quiet .308 Win. For Large-Format Pistols

Of the many commercial .308 Winchester loads, few, if any, are designed for barrels shorter than 16". The one that follows helps address this gap while remaining simple to suppress and light on the wrists.

Court Approves Watchtower Firearms DIP Financing

Watchtower Firearms was granted final approval for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in late June.

Review: Ruger LC Carbine In 10 mm Auto

Following the success of its .45 ACP-chambered LC Carbine, Ruger realized that this platform would go a long way toward making the 10 mm Auto more controllable and fun to shoot, and a new 10 mm version was released in 2024.

The Armed Citizen® July 14, 2025

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Favorite Firearms: A Little Stevens From Chicago

"Over the next five or six years, and before I went off to college, I fired hundreds and hundreds of rounds of .22 BB Caps, CB Caps, Shorts and Longs through this rifle."

Preview: Strike Industries T-Bone Charging Handle

The T-Bone from Strike Industries is an ideal fit for suppressed applications, as it can be configured by the user to redirect gas blowback entirely to either side ...

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.