COLUMBIA FALLS – Near the entrance of PROOF Research’s 27,000-square-foot firearms manufacturing facility, a showroom’s wall of rifles has a few noticeable empty spots. Those empty spots are symptoms of success – PROOF is selling rifles too fast to stockpile for its showroom. Every time a rifle is ready to be hung on the wall for display, an interested buyer calls.
Since moving into its newly constructed facility earlier this year on U.S. Highway 2 near Glacier Park International Airport, PROOF Research has pumped out a steady stream of fully built high-end rifles in addition to thousands of barrels. The barrels are PROOF’s bread and butter, with full rifles serving a secondary but fruitful role.
Lindsey Bengston and Jeff Badelt, who both work in PROOF’s sales department, say their company’s barrels are revolutionary. Constructed with high-tech carbon fiber wrapping, the barrels are lighter, more accurate and last longer than their steel counterparts, according to Bengston and Badelt.
“It really changes the way people think about rifle barrels,” Badelt, the company’s national sales director, said.
After bringing together an assortment of notable figures in Montana’s firearms industry to form PROOF Research, company officials launched a promotional campaign last year describing the firm as a “science-driven, precision rifle manufacturer that is reinventing the future of firearms.” Situated in its new home outside of Columbia Falls, the company is showing signs that it can live up to that ambitious mission statement.
The firm has 30 employees, a number that Badelt expects to double “in the not-too-distant future.” PROOF has either secured or is in the process of securing contracts with a number of major clients in both the private sector and military. Sales are robust. And all of this has been done with virtually no advertising – Badelt said the company ran one ad in a hunting magazine. Word of mouth has proven to be more than enough.
Part of this word-of-mouth success can be attributed to the roster of firearm notables involved with the company. Founder and president KK Jense made a name for himself in the industry when he ran Jense Precision, a firearms firm out of Missoula. PROOF also purchased Columbia Falls’ Lone Wolf Riflestocks, a well-known stock manufacturer. Patrick Rainey is the firm’s CEO.
But, as the company’s name suggests, success ultimately comes down to proof – the company has to prove itself with what it does now, not what its executives and employees did in the past. And company officials believe PROOF is achieving its mission, as evidenced in the contracts and customers.
Keeping with the theme of “proof,” the firm meticulously tests its products with cutting-edge technology and methods to make sure all of the barrels and rifles live up to its high standards before being sold. The company is both a firearms research center and a manufacturing facility.
“It’s all about proof,” Bengston said.
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The new PROOF Research building is seen on U.S. Highway 2. – Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon |
The company manufactures tactical and hunting rifles, as well as AR10 and AR15 models. The rifles aren’t cheap, running from around $5,700 to more than $7,000. If you throw in a high-quality scope, you’re looking at a few thousand more.
“It’s easy to spend $10,000,” Badelt said.
But there is clearly a market for rifles in that price range and PROOF has wasted no time tapping into the market. Yet the barrels remain the backbone of the company, and Badelt hopes to one day – perhaps not too far in the future – see every major rifle company carrying a line of carbon-fiber barreled rifles.
Badelt makes an analogy with golf clubs. The golf industry is increasingly turning to graphite club shafts rather than steel shafts. Badelt would like to see a similar transition in his industry, with an expanded role for carbon-fiber barrels in the firearms marketplace.
For more information, visit www.proofresearch.com.