The Sun Never Sets In Cimarron Country
Image: Cimarron Firearms
Standing in any aisle at the 2024 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, a sea of tactical-style pistols, rifles and shotguns stretch as far as the eye can see. For retailers looking to boost sales and drive repeat business, innovation comes in one color: black.
But look, what’s that? Something shiny down the way. No one is buying shiny guns but it’s worth a look — so you drag your tired self over to a booth that resonates with something familiar from your youth.
It’s Cimarron Firearms, makers of authentic replica Old West Firearms. You step into the booth and are warmly greeted. You wrap your hand around a smooth two-piece walnut grip and flip open the cylinder of the Preacher. The single-action revolver was designed with a .45 Colt conversion cylinder installed and a .44-caliber percussion cylinder included for fast reloading. The Cimarron Preacher pays tribute to the highest-grossing Western movie of the 1980s, “Pale Rider,” starring Clint Eastwood as the mysterious, lone avenger, the Preacher.
Smiling, you think how this beautiful gun would look in your display case, but how do you convince your customers to purchase an American Old West replica? More importantly, how do you sell it to the emerging younger generation of gun buyers? Is the Western ideal dead?
Not so, says Bryce Wayt, VP of operations and media for Cimarron Firearms.
“The concept of the Western ideal, the lone gunslinger saving the day, never dies. It’s very much ingrained in American culture but evolves with every generation,” he contends. “It’s why our Hollywood series of revolvers like The Man with No Name, the Wild Bunch Combo, the Tuco, the John Wayne Rooster Shooter and the ‘Pale Rider’s’ Preacher revolver, are our consistent bestsellers. People resonate with the cool, take-no-hostages attitude of Clint Eastwood, even today, years after he made and starred in ‘Pale Rider.’ Hold one of our historic replica guns, guns with a story, and you can feel the history and passion coursing through it, right into your hand.”
Display- & Heirloom-Worthy
It’s that same passion for the Old American West and the guns carried by settlers, soldiers, Texas Rangers, bank and train robbers, the Pony Express and Conestoga waggoneers, the overland coach drivers — and even a few saloon keepers — that got Mike Harvey started collecting, trading and selling the real-deal guns.
Harvey’s passion wasn’t just limited to the financial side either, as he started up Old West shooting events the entire family could participate in. In 1979, he opened up a retail store in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas, to support his growing collection and customer base. Realizing there was enough demand to support modern-made replicas, Harvey partnered with Italian gunmakers such as Uberti and Pietta to produce authentically crafted Old West firearms, down to the stamping fonts no longer used today.
What consistently sets Cimarron Firearm replicas apart from the competition is the attention to detail. “No Gun Before Its Time” is one of the company’s mottoes. Guns are designed from originals in Harvey’s extensive historic collection and must pass fit, form and function before they are offered to the public.
Cimarron’s guns are display case- and heirloom-worthy, and built to perform on the range, in competition and out hunting.
The lever-action rifle, the bedrock of settlers and lawmen of the Old West, is still an exciting rifle for hunting antelope and other mid-sized game.
An Easy Sell
For retailers chatting up customers on the other side of the counter, many attributes of the Cimarron Firearm line are an easy sell. For new shooters, the ease and simplicity of a revolver make entry into the shooting community more comfortable.
If customers question the use of a revolver for home defense, Cimarron’s array of revolvers includes many bear-stopping calibers. Competition shooters will find the Arizona Ranger SA revolver perfectly suited for a staged shootout with its fast-acting competition-style finely tuned U.S. action, competition hammer and trigger/bolt spring that is lighter and smoother with a crisp, no-creep trigger pull.
Engage the historian in your customers with the U.S. Cavalry 1873 Henry Nettleton revolver inspired by the very rare and highly sought-after first-generation Colt pistol inspected by the then-Ordnance Dept. Principal Sub-Inspector in Charge, Henry Nettleton. Or for the semi-auto fan, there’s no history richer than Fayette County Texas, High Sheriff Jim Flournoy and his “professional” relationship with a little bordello in LaGrange, affectionately known as the Chicken Ranch.
Supporting Customer Preferences
For rifle aficionados, Cimarron carries a variety of lever-action, black powder, carbine, sporting and long-range rifles. The 1894 26″ barrel, .30-30 Cimarron Exclusive is a top-selling rifle based on the most famous lever-action hunting rifle designed and patented by John Browning and introduced in two iconic cartridge chamberings — the .32-40 and the .38-55. Referred to as the ultimate lever-action design by firearms historians, Cimarron’s 1894 rifle is just one of many examples of its never-ending desire to share the spectacular roots of American history and firearms culture.
While manufacturers of traditional hunting calibers ended production, forcing reloaders to expand their range, Cimarron Firearms quietly partnered with Steinel Ammunition to produce .45-60 Win. and .50-95 Win. ammunition, supporting customers and the many true-to-original replicas designed and produced by Cimarron. Cimarron ammunition is currently tested in its high-tech ammunition testing facility and the company continues to research and develop new “classic” calibers.
When that repeat customer comes in and fondles a few semi-autos from the popular gun manufacturers, and then with a sigh, says he has too many or ones just like this — it’s time to pull out a shiny or blued Cimarron Firearms revolver and ask if they’ve seen the new Nicolas Cage Western “The Old Way,” because some passions and some guns never go out of style.
