These are some notes from my written history of Surgeon Rifles.
Pritchett's Machining was opened on 01-01-01 as a job shop.
The Surgeon name came from a nickname for Roman (former Army Ranger) had put on himself. He was the best I had ever seen on a manual mill.
Roman Leader (the Surgeon) started when we opened the doors Jan 1st 2001 and Retired mid October 2001.
After it was decided to make a action Wade brought many ideas for features on the action. In early 2003 we were 50% partners in a company called Surgeon Rifles.
Perry Colby started working in the shop in August of 2003. He is an extremely talented machinist and designer. While he did not have experience with firearms his work as both was an integral part of the development of Surgeon products.
XP 001 was the first action made. We threw it together with a used take off barrel from Terry Cross and a used McMillan A4 from Ken Stuteville. Wade wanted to test the first actions for a year to make sure everything was excellent. It was all I could do to pay the bills and needed something to do in the shop. He said he understood but if I was going to do this he wanted to back away. Our partnership separated over this. It was a decision we both regret to this day. We are still the best of friends.
We were constantly running ideas by Terry Cross. I can hear him like yesterday say. Man that would be cool. It would be even neater if a guy could add this or that into it also. The offer was made to Terry for part of the company if he would come join us. His roots were where he was at so he declined the offer.
August 19th 2011 Kathy and I sold 80% to Strategic Armory Corp.
After a few interviews Wade Stuteville was hired to be over Surgeon. Wade was the best manager to ever walk into the door in Oklahoma.
Steven Barrier started working at Surgeon in August of 2008 5 years after the start of the company as a salesman. Steven had a magnetic personality. He also had a tendency to say things that were untrue to cause conflict and to make him look better. The guys in the shop had nicknamed Steven “The Cancer”. He would later claim to be the designer and brains behind Surgeon. Truth is he was rarely around during the design. It took him over 2 years to buy a rifle, had he been involved I would have given him one. He had been shooting a Remington 700 built by Terry Cross.
In 2018 Wade and I were called on a conference call with a customer and some military leaders from Pakistan. Steven was claiming to have designed and owned the rights to the Surgeon action. He was telling them he could build and deliver them something like 30 Surgeon rifles per month. This was 2 years after he left Surgeon.
My opinion is Nexusfire owes Wade and Terry an apology. And Steven Barrier owes hundreds if not thousands of people apologies for the lies and pain he has caused. I would also bet that where Steven is working the stress level of the owner and employees are a lot greater than when he walked in there door.
As for Surgeon I think there brightest days are in the near future. They now have the equipment and backing to make great increases in the precision rifle arena. There is talk of exciting new items being produced when they get the pipeline flowing on the existing products. I am sorry the products are not available for immediate purchase. We should have made more for the shelf during the transition period. It’s hard to take production from one state to the other. Lots of training for the new employees. Lots of unseen hurdles to overcome. It’s very easy to look backwards and see what you should have done and what you should have seen. There are now a lot more good actions to choose from than when we started. As for me I will always be biased and firmly believe the Surgeon is the best for obvious reasons. Thankfully, I am still employed by Surgeon. Terry is right, competition breeds improvements. Wasn’t long ago we didn’t have rangefinders, the only fruitcake shooting a .260 was Terry Cross. McMillan A3 or 4 was tops. No one ran suppressors on their match guns. 2nd focal plane Leupold with mil dot crosshairs from Premier Reticles with MOA knobs was hard to beat. Mildot Master and a calculator was a necessity.
So the big question is what do we need to come up with to take the game to the next level. It still amazes me to look down range at a little target and think about hitting it. Seems like it wasn’t long ago we built a range to 385 yards and thought. This is as far as we will ever need. Some of the best times of my life we’re meeting and shooting with you guys. Now my best times are spent with my grandson and granddaughter. But I have to watch my grandson. He has been known to sucker punch me in the mouth when I am not on my toes. But I guess that’s what I deserve for picking on him.
Thanks,
Preston
