Owner Ty Edgar showing off the the lever action shotgun, Cimarron 1887.
“ We try to cover everything,” Ty said.“ Trap shooting, long range, assault-defense, hunting. And that could be upland game, varmint, big game. We just try to have a little bit of everything here.”
Their excellent relationship with their vendors gives them an edge in the firearms market, often putting them at the top of the list for highly-sought, highly-allocated guns that might not be found anywhere else West River.“ A lot of these guys have a hard time keeping up with production. As soon as they build it, it’ s gone, it’ s pre-sold,” Ty said.“ They’ ll get one gun, and then we get first right on it, because we have such a good relationship with them and do so much business together. We get the stuff that nobody else can get, which makes it even more fun because we’ re the place to go.”
Gunsmithing is one of the services that sets them apart as a company.“ We do it in-house. We do repairs on pistols, rifles, shotguns, stuff like that, anything from a broken firing pin to cleaning to rebuild.” Guns are brought to them worse for wear, sometimes found in storage with years of neglect and age, and they tear into them and give them a second lease on life, sometimes uncovering fun stories or history in the process.
Ty recounted a time that they were stripping down a rifle for a customer and saw that the firing pin had been filed off. When they told the owner what they’ d found, he started laughing. This was the gun he’ d had since he was a kid, and when his dad had discovered him trying all sorts of different ammunition in it, he had threatened to remove the firing pin if he kept it up. Apparently, he had made good on that threat somewhere along the line, and it was only now being discovered.
“ That’ s kind of a unique thing,” Ty said.“ You have gunsmiths who will clean a gun and stuff like that. We actually tear it down, and completely take it apart.”
“ Our niche in the business is the customer service that we provide,” Jim said.“ We didn ' t want to be a typical gun store where you walked in and everything was behind glass, and you had to stand there or wait in line for somebody to come up and open a case for you so you could look at a gun. So, we tried to stay away from the general concept of what a normal gun store was, and treat everybody well and provide that customer service.”
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Part of our concept of our store is to touch and feel, to pick up the different types of firearms and the different brands of firearms, and see what feels the best for you,” Jim said, and they like to recommend that their customers get the feel of different firearms at shooting range days.
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“ I want to make sure we provide a service,” Ty said.“ When I ' m here to sell a gun, I like to interview people. They come in, they ' re looking for a gun. Okay, well, are you going to be hunting during the day? Are you going to be hunting at night? Are you going to be setting up in the woods or in a valley? Just kind of get the answers,” he explained. They make sure to provide their customers with the right tool for the job, and if they don’ t have something that will work, they steer their customer in the right direction, and it is this individualized customer care that really sets them apart.
A sportsman ' s trophy, and Rifles Q Boom Box on the left and Q Fix on the right, two of the vast selection of guns for sale at Sawmill Arms.
14 Down Country Roads September / October 2026