Pioneer Gun Works was founded in 2004 as a company dedicated to bringing the finest custom firearms parts to the cowboy action shooter. Joe Alves (Will Shootem), the founder of the company, spent 42 years in the manufacturing business as a machinist, mechanical engineer, and machine tool programmer.
Gunsmithing Interest
An interest in guns and gunsmithing spawned the desire to apply a lifetime of accumulated knowledge of manufacturing and designing, to the development of the finest custom and high performance rifle parts available to the cowboy action shooter today.
In the summer of 2003, at the urging of my good friend Big Lou, I designed the original Pioneer Gun Works short stroke kit (now known as the standard kit). In January of 2004, I established Pioneer Gun Works and started offering this kit for sale to cowboy action shooters everywhere. At the time, it was the shortest kit you could buy, and it soon became the choice of champions. Badlands Bud and Colt McAllister used PGW short stroke kits to place first and second at End of Trail in 2005. These champions knew that to perform at their best, they needed the highest quality, most reliable equipment available. They both chose Pioneer Gun Works short stroke kits for their rifles.
In January 2006, we started offering Competition Ready rifles to cowboy action shooters. These rifles are the best that money can buy, and come right out of the box with all of the parts and custom tuning you need to compete in Cowboy Action Shooting. Since then, we have sold well over 1000 of these fine rifles.
At End of Trail 2006, we displayed the prototype of the Super Short Stroke kit and started taking orders. Since then, we have sold nearly 5,000 Super Short Stroke kits. In January 2008, we announced the expansion of our parts business, with the addition of many competition parts for the model 73 & 66 rifles. More parts will be added in the near future, so check back often. What will be next for Pioneer Gun Works?
