TargetTalk

Hello all,
I am studying engineering graphics and design in college with the hope of designing competition shooting equipment (basically anything but iris's and crucial components). Has anyone here experimented with making aluminum stocks or butt plate assemblies or other such pieces? Also, how would this all work into the issf rules? would there be any problems as long as the parts follow the rules?
Thanks!

There is no problem with having any equipment made by you as long as it meets the rules. The challenge is to make something better in some way, or less expensive than what others offer (most consider that better in an important way, as long as it performs as well). I think there is a real place for made in the USA equipment. Good luck!

I make small stuff - apertures, competition triggers, shooting lenses, and my observation and caution to you is that there is no money in it. It is such a niche market that even if you have a better product, you might only sell 100 per year, and it will likely never pay out. I estimate there are only 10,000 to 15,000 active target shooters in the US, and many of them stay in the sport with equipment that has a 10 year life, so if you could get 10% of the market per year, that is only 1% of the shooters per year, or 100 to 150 people.

If you can make cool golf equipment, now you have a big seller. I don't know how many play golf, but 1% of the US population is not unrealistic, so you are talking 3 million clients, not 10,000.

The rules are not so much of a problem, dimensions, weight etc are written in black and white - and are not looking to change much, if at all in the current proposals. The big problem you will have though is selling anything. If you make your own stock, shoot it very well and go around the comps then you may drive some interest, equally if you can 'encourage' someone well known to shoot it...

As mentioned the shooting market isn't big, the elite target shooting market is much, much smaller again... So dont bank on becoming a millionaire anytime soon ;)

Rob.

Not necessarily sure if i want to sell it as a job because i know there really isn't much money in it :) I mainly want to make it for my own purposes and if i do get the opportunity to sell anything, i will.

I for one would love to see more ISSF compliant gear with a made in USA label. Unfortunately for the aformentioned reasons it is a tough market.. For advice you could tryJeff Madison of M.Werks llc. He makes a beautiful tuner stock in Michigan. Each is painstakingly hand machined from a billet of solid aluminum. And my impression after buying one is that based upon the price he charged and the amount of man hours that went into engineering, tooling and manufacture, that the endeavor was very much a labor of love and mayby not so good for the wallet.
One insight that I drew from my conversations with him is that if you could make a product that you could legally export to the EU and UK your market would exponentially expand.
Another thought is to envision a product that has cross disciplinary appeal ie. NRA and or tactical market crossover to help defray initial production cost. The tactial market in the US is huge. It would also help profitabilty to have a modular type product. Think about how much money is spent on customizing 10-22's and AR-15's.
Ready and free access to machining facilities is mandatoiry to any endeavor or this becomes an exorbitantly expensive undertaking. All this being said, from such dreams and ambitions as yours can come greatness. Good luck!