How a Shot Show Rant Led to a Whole New Gun (ft. Faxon)

Faxon Firearms didn't set out to build guns. Bob Faxon explains that the company came out of a manufacturing family that had been machining since he and his brother were teenagers, and it pivoted toward firearms only after work dried up about twelve years ago. Bob's first trip to SHOT Show humbled him out of the AR15 plan. Months later, watching a Discovery Channel top-ten battle rifles countdown with his two boys, he got upset when the AK beat the AR, sat down at the kitchen table, and drew up the ARAC in twenty minutes. That upper, which combines elements of the AK and AR onto any AR15 lower, became the way Faxon broke into the industry, and learning to make its barrels turned into a dominant part of the business. The conversation runs deep on how Faxon actually makes things. Bob and Dustin Wallace walk through why button rifling works for them once paired with an in-house stress relieving process, why the whole barrel matters and not just the rifling, and how rapid prototyping lets them run a new suppressor iteration every two to three days. They detail the new suppressor lineup announced at SHOT Show, including the three-sided Basilisk design built to add cross sectional volume without rising into the sight line, plus the engineering tradeoff of reducing back pressure without raising noise. They also cover how aftermarket pistol barrels get chosen, from dealer and customer surveys to partnerships like the 338 ARC work with Hornady and the Gray Guns SIG barrels. The back half turns to the Soapbox. Dustin lays out the marketing catch-22 firearms companies live in: no Google Ads, posts pulled for no clear reason, and whole accounts taken down, which pushes them toward organic reach and partners like Forge Relations. Bob argues firearms manufacturers are treated as second-class businesses despite the freedoms that gun makers helped defend. Kaylee presses the point that platforms want a publisher's power without a publisher's responsibility. Bob closes on what he calls the fellowship of firearms: most rounds are fired in fellowship with family and friends, first-time shooters almost always walk away smiling, and the strongest case for the Second Amendment is letting people experience it for themselves. The episode wraps with the Pump ARAC story, the SHOT Show suppressors, and where to find Faxon at GOALS in Knoxville. Linksevents.goa.org/goalsammosquared.comderya.usQuestions this episode answers How did Faxon Firearms get its start, and what role did the ARAC play? Faxon came out of a machining family that pivoted to firearms about twelve years ago when other work dried up. Bob Faxon designed the ARAC, an upper that blends AK and AR elements onto any AR15 lower, and that product is what broke the company into the industry. Why did Faxon choose button rifling, and what makes their barrels accurate? Faxon uses button rifling paired with an in-house stress relieving process that makes the method work consistently for them. Bob stresses that the whole barrel matters, not just the rifling, summed up as it taking everything to make a barrel right and only one thing to make it wrong. What goes into Faxon's new suppressor lineup and the Basilisk design? Faxon announced a new suppressor lineup at SHOT Show, using rapid prototyping to iterate every two to three days. The three-sided Basilisk is built to add cross sectional volume without rising into the sight line, while balancing the tradeoff of reducing back pressure without raising noise. How does Faxon decide which aftermarket pistol barrels to make? Faxon picks aftermarket pistol barrels using dealer and customer surveys, plus partnerships such as the 338 ARC work with Hornady and the Gray Guns SIG barrels. What marketing problems do firearms companies face that other consumer brands don't? Dustin Wallace describes a catch-22: firearms companies can't run Google Ads, have posts pulled with no clear reason, and have whole accounts taken down. That pushes them toward organic reach and partners like Forge Relations. Why does Bob Faxon say gun makers are treated as second-class companies? Bob argues firearms manufacturers are treated as second-class businesses despite the freedoms that gun makers helped defend. The hosts add that platforms want a publisher's power without a publisher's responsibility. What is the 'fellowship of firearms,' and why does Bob think it matters more than the political argument? Bob's fellowship of firearms is the idea that most rounds are fired alongside family and friends and that first-time shooters almost always walk away smiling. He believes the strongest case for the Second Amendment is letting people experience it for themselves rather than arguing politics. How did the Pump ARAC come out of the fear that ARs would be banned? The Pump ARAC is an innovation Faxon developed in response to the fear that semi-automatic ARs could be banned, extending the original ARAC concept. The episode covers this story alongside the SHOT Show suppressors. Chapters 00:16 — Meet Bob Faxon and Dustin Wallace 00:18 — Rapid fire questions 03:27 — The John Faxon 'leg flu' story 06:09 — How Faxon started and the ARAC origin 10:06 — Pencil barrels and stress relieving 11:29 — Why Faxon went to button rifling 15:20 — What's next: the new suppressor lineup 20:05 — Designing the Basilisk and balancing back pressure 25:36 — How aftermarket pistol barrels get chosen 30:48 — Soapbox: the firearms marketing catch-22 34:39 — Treated as a second-class company 38:35 — Blame the person, not the firearm 44:18 — The Pump ARAC and innovating under fear 54:02 — The fellowship of firearms 1:00:51 — Where to find Faxon and GOALS Knoxville About the guest Bob Faxon is the founder of Faxon Firearms, a Cincinnati-based firearms and components manufacturer. He comes from a manufacturing family and has been machining since he was a teenager working for his older brother. In the episode he describes the company's background in defense and weapon systems work, with parts he says have been made for applications on Mars, the ocean floor, and defense missiles. As of last August, Bob is back running the firearms side of the business, with a stated goal of building a great company that leans hard on innovation. He designed the ARAC upper receiver, the product that brought Faxon into the firearms industry. He appeared alongside Dustin Wallace of Faxon Firearms. Key quotes "So I got mad, sat at the kitchen table and 20 minutes later I drew up the A rack." — Bob Faxon "it takes everything to make it right. It only takes one thing to make it wrong." — Bob Faxon "Firearms have not changed. They weren't bad then, they aren't bad now." — Bob Faxon "the first step in gun ownership is taking personal responsibility for that firearm." — Kaylee "when you stop innovating, when you stop growing, you start dying." — Dustin Wallace "The more people we can get involved in our sport and our activity and to use the firearms in the constructive manner that they're meant to be, they'll get an emotional wave." — Bob Faxon