Watch the video above for more information on the new SIG Sauer ammo plant located in Arkansas.
SIG Sauer only recently entered the ammunition business, but it did so via a non-traditional route for a firearms manufacturer. Rather than license its brand to an extant ammo maker, SIG decided to roll its own. Starting with a temporary facility in Kentucky in 2013, the company began work on its V-Crown line of handgun ammunition, introduced to the market in mid-2014. Since then, its products have expanded to include FMJ loads and a host of popular rifle calibers.
In March 2017, SIG opened its purpose-built ammunition factory in Jacksonville, AR. The new plant provides the company with plenty of room to expand its ammunition line and greater capacity to produce its current products. We had a chance to visit this plant and see some of SIG’s smart innovations in the realm of efficient production, quality control and testing.
"Part of the excitement of opening the facility in Arkansas is that we had a clean slate," said President of the SIG Sauer Ammunition Division Dan Powers. "We were able to figure out the best way to process flow in our building, meaning that loading, quality-control, packaging and shipping could be laid-out in the most-efficient manner possible—an advantage over a pre-existing ammunition factory."
In addition to loading ammunition, the Jacksonville plant is also where SIG develops new loads and tests them on multiple indoor ranges. The company claims to produce more ballistic gelatin than any other entity in the country, and judging by the commercial-grade mixer and refrigerators we saw at the factory, this claim is entirely believable. SIG also manufactures a good portion of its own rifle brass in the Arkansas facility.