NRA Announces Its 2025 Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award Winner

by
posted on January 2, 2025
** 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. **
American Rifleman Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award F

The NRA Publications Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award specifically honors outstanding personal achievement. The Pioneer Award spotlights the exemplary achievement and cumulative body of work of an individual, or members of a family, team or partnership, responsible for the development and introduction of shooting equipment that has made a profound, positive and enduring impact on the way Americans shoot and hunt. The 2025 recipient is Robert L. "Bob" Scott, chairman of the board for Smith & Wesson, Inc.

“If it were not for Bob Scott, there may not be a Smith & Wesson,” NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin said. “Certainly not the thriving, healthy company of today. Thank you, Bob, for keeping this American tradition alive.”

Since its founding in 1852, Smith & Wesson has been an iconic American brand, and its guns helped tame the American West, defended this nation in times of war and have been cherished by generations of shooters, collectors and hunters. But the Smith & Wesson we know today, perhaps the entire firearm industry, would not be the same today were it not for Robert L. “Bob” Scott. It was the leadership and business acumen of Scottthe current chairman of the board for Smith & Wesson Brandsto see this company through its roughest patch.

A British company, Tomkins PLC, acquired the assets of Smith & Wesson in 1987. Ten years later, then CEO Ed Shultz caved into pressure from the Clinton administration and signed an agreement on sales and marketing practices—a gun-grabbers wish list. Among other onerous provisions, the “deal” prohibited anyone under the age of 18 from even entering into a gun shop that carried Smith & Wesson guns.

The anti-gun restrictions Smith’s management had agreed to were not even close to acceptable to its customers—nor to Scott. Its British ownership had negotiated away rights reserved to the people. A massive organic boycott—by consumers, dealers and distributorsensued. The stock price fell to $0.19 a share. Sales plummeted, and hundreds of workers were laid off from the company.

Scott had been an executive with Berkeley & Co. and Tasco Sales before becoming an S&W vice president from 1989 to 1999, and he was also president of Walther USA, a joint venture between S&W and Walther. In 1999, he became an S&W board member. He worked with Safe-T-Hammer to eventually purchase Smith & Wesson in 2001 for $15 million, far below the $112.5 million Tompkins had paid for it about a decade before.

With new ownership, eventually consumers put the blame where it belonged—bad management, not the worker assembling N-Frames. They forgave Smith as a brand, and that’s where Bob Scott, as a member of the board of directors and, eventually, as chairman, worked with in-house executives to bring Smith not only back from ruin but to its rightful, prominent place in the firearms business and American manufacturing.

Under his watch, many new and innovative firearmsor even Smith’s rendition of existing modelshave continued to aid the company’s rise. In 2023, S&W opened a new 240-acre facility in Maryville, Tenn., investing $125 million in the new assembly, logistics and an injection-molding facility. The massive state-of-the-art facility positions Smith well into the future.

Outside of S&W, Scott has served as one of the top leaders in the entire firearm industry, and he continues to do so. Since 1999, he has been a board member for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), as well as its treasurer and vice president. He is currently NSSF’s chairman, but he has also been a director of the Sporting Arms and Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI), in addition to holding board positions with Primos Hunting and OPT Holdings.

Latest

Making Keltec Pr57 1
Making Keltec Pr57 1

Making The KelTec PR57 In Wyoming

To make its PR57 handgun, KelTec invested in an entirely new manufacturing facility located in Rock Springs, Wyo. "American Rifleman Television" headed out for an inside look at the company's efficient production process.

Taurus 66 Combat: A New "Fighting Revolver"

First introduced in the 1970s, the Taurus 66 Combat is a medium-frame revolver that has seen several evolutions in its lifetime, and the latest update creates what the company considers "the final word in fighting revolvers."

Review: Taurus GX2

From cars to cellphones, as a product gets more sophisticated, it usually also gets more expensive. And, as modern handguns get more modular and optic-ready, their prices tend to go up.

Rifleman Q&A: A Garand Puzzlement

"We are a father-and-son NRA member tandem in search of an answer regarding the branding of an M1 Garand rifle. We own an M1 rifle that has markings indicating it was a “lend lease to England,” and it also has a .308 barrel/sleeve."

$160K Raised For HAVA At SIG Sauer Event

SIG Sauer hosted its 9th Annual Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) Charity Golf event early last month and raised more than $160,000 to support disabled veterans.

Scout The Trail To A General Purpose Rifle

The search for a universal longarm—one suitable for both hunting and defensive scenarios—is a trek that involves a bit of doubling back.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.