Bob Zelenky, founder of the Xtreme Machining firearm and ammunition manufacturer, wanted to see how far a rifle he designed could shoot.
He came up with a rifle system that can accurately hit a human-sized target two kilometers away. Zelenky’s company has been making the .338-caliber Xtreme Tactical rifle since 2007, and it’s by far the flagship product of the Grassflat-based company.
“There’s no rifles out there of this shape and size that can attain the distance that we’re able to attain,” Zelenky says.
The company has sold a few Xtreme Tacticals to civilians, and it is obviously useful to avid hunters. It all depends on what the hunter needs and what they are looking to hunt as some will opt for an AR-15 and will need a scope for AR-15’s to see their shot, whereas this rifle hits even further. But Zelenky’s focus now is on marketing the $6,200 system, which includes a rifle and cartridge, to military and law-enforcement customers. The U.S. military is currently testing it, he says, and security officials at airports and transportation authorities are interested too. Zelenky expects to sell to the military within about eight months.
“Anytime you shoot further than your enemy, then you’ll be safe, because they can’t touch you,” the veteran machinist and tool-and-die maker says.
He points out other advantages of the Xtreme Tactical. It’s no larger than a standard hunting rifle and lighter than most other rifles on the market. And it has less recoil than many other guns, which means a person shooting it isn’t knocked backward after pulling the trigger. Last last year, the company received a financing package totaling $275,000 through the Commonwealth Financing Authority and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, allowing it to expand to a 12,000 square foot location in Drifting.
Source: Bob Zelenky, Xtreme Machining
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
