My name is Zaine Beaton and this is the final installment of the History of Beaton Firearms. In the last blog I mentioned our two great expansions.  In this blog I’m going to cover the final chapter – what the company is today.

In 2009 Beaton Firearms was experiencing its second major increase in popularity.  The issue was meeting the levels of service expected of us – we had no procedures in place, no additional staff and no company vision.  While we were experiencing growth we also had a lot of chaos – the busier we got the more the chaos sped up.  We had to make some changes.

We decided on what Beaton Firearms was going to be and what it was not going to be.  This became the Pillars of Service;

Pillars

Our Pillars are distinct services we offer the shooting public – each are unique services that require their own investment and attention.  We started with 4 Pillars, which quickly became 5 and has now become 6.

Retail

The backbone of the business.

Repair

What made us knowledgeable, unique and versatile.  Also an important part of our brand.

Storage

While always a service we offered through our retail front, we separated it in 2009 and gave it more attention.  We built new facilities for Storage to be the best in Western Australia and currently have the capacity to store more than 400 guns safely.

Custom Design

While utilizing many of the same skills and investments as Repair, Custom Design is a separate service.  We developed specific abilities as gunsmiths that meant that we can produce supremely accurate firearms, while at the same time creating beautiful pieces of art using innovative designs and new technology.  The most exciting part of the business to me.

Laser Engraving

Complementing both repair and custom design, Laser Engraving is its own service with its own investments.  For a company that wants to compete on a world scale, this is an essential service.

Training

For 10 years we delivered training courses with Precision Shooting Australia.  It’s now its own Pillar, as our parent company acquired Precision Shooting Australia in 2017.  Training now gives us the ability to expand the company and not only provide the materials but the knowledge of shooting.

By defining our Pillars it gave everyone clarity – our directors knew who we were, our staff knew where we were going and our clients knew what we provided.   With clarity we were able to make business decisions to eliminate the chaos and provide better services.

Today we employ 7 people in the store – two full time gunsmiths and an apprentice, two full time retail sales members, an office manager and myself.  We have also periodically employed people in marketing.  I’m immensely proud of how much we have grown and continue to grow as a business.  A rewarding part of managing a store like this one has been reflecting on the changes to the priorities of the business – from profit to happiness and family.

We are only in February, but 2018 is already laid out for us.  Precision Shooting Australia should be formally advertising it’s shooting courses within a few weeks; our Custom Design side of the business is busy preparing for the Shot Show in October and the guys in Retail are flat out absorbing all the information from the Shot Show in the USA.  Beaton Firearms also has a farm that is going to be set up as a shooting get-away.  The development of each of these pillars is going to help us with our vision of competing within the firearm industry on a world scale.

Our customers are the ones responsible for this Australian success story. We thank you for your loyalty and for reading this blog explaining our story.  We’ll see you all at our half century celebrations in 2028.

Special Thankyou

Jonlys Beaton, Bill Beaton’s wife and my mother, deserves a special mention.  She has been an integral part of the business since it’s inception.  While today she has little to do with the running of the business, for decades she worked hard in the office, made sure our accounts were up-to-date and kept Bill and I in line.  When times were tough early on, she worked elsewhere to make ends meet. She still holds a significant financial interest in the business and holds the primary dealer license.  Jonlys has perhaps invested more into the business than anyone over the last 40 years and deserves the lions share of the accolades from its success.

• Zaine Beaton