On March 1, 2025, Chris Killoy will end his career with Ruger. For more than 20 years, Killoy has been instrumental in shaping Ruger’s metamorphosis from a company known for solidly built, but otherwise “stodgy” firearms into one of the industry’s major innovators. Taking time from an otherwise “hectic” schedule at SHOT Show 2025, Killoy took time to talk with our publisher, Jim Shepherd, about his career and impending retirement.

Chris Killoy
Yeah, a lot of them. I joined the industry in the summer of ‘89. I was at Smith & Wesson, had a great run there. Now here we are, 35 years later, I think thereabouts, and right? 36 if I do my math, right. And the the thing with SHOT Show, it's, it's always been more than just a trade show. It's a gathering spot, the place meet friends you haven't seen a long time, associates, customers. In particular, we try to keep the focus on the customers.  But it's also a little bit of mixed emotions, because, again, like you said, my last one as CEO.

Chris Killoy
I could. I could. I'm still on the NSSF board, at least for a while, so you know, I'll do that for a while. And, and I think, as most of the folks that read the wires know, the SHOT Show is a primary funding source for NSSF. Dues are a big part, but SHOT Show, frankly, it’s important, when people look at SHOT Show to remember that it’s primarily what funds NSSF- and all the good work that they do- is really the SHOT fees that people pay to exhibit at SHOT as well as attending and advertising at the Show; all those things go into funding the NSSF. So it’s more than just a trade show. 

Chris Killoy 
I have, because I think it's important, especially at a company like Ruger. We've got 1800-plus folks, and I was thinking about that today. That's one of the things I always talk to our sales people about: those folks in the factory are counting on them to make one more call on Friday afternoon, to sell one more gun. That’s because, you know, they can’t decide on their own they’ve got overtime next week. They can’t change their profit sharing, except by doing good work. They can have Kaizen events and take costs out of making the products, but the sales and marketing side have to drive that business so that those folks back in the factory can improve their livelihood, pay for 401Ks, pay for medical coverage, get raises every year. If we can do all those things, it's a big responsibility. 

That's the thing, when you think about in my case, coming from the sales and marketing side, you forget what the big the responsibility to take over as president or CEO of a company is not only to your customers and your shareholders, but your employees, because they're counting on you every day. 

Chris Killoy 
Yeah, that's good way to put it, you know. And speaking of that, that's some of the things that I like to think we've done well at Ruger. Like having a first shift nurse at each of the major factories. It’s so helpful you know, with our workforce, not just to take care of a workplace accident, but, you know, if somebody's on blood pressure medicine or got a diabetes issue that somebody's watching them and looking out for them, putting wellness programs in place, you know, stop smoking and weight loss programs and things like that. 

Those are the things that are behind the scenes. They don't relate to a new gun or new caliber, but I take a lot of pride in looking back on and saying  I think we try to help our folks, you know, and that was same thing, especially during the COVID years. 

Chris Killoy
Good question. Mike was one of the best bosses I ever had in my career, and very smart. Even though we were at odds for every Army/Navy football game because he went to the Naval Academy and I was West Point. So we had a little friction there, but it was friendly friction. And you know, when Mike came to Ruger in 2006, I had left. I was gone from Ruger about 18 months, and Admiral Jim Service, who was our chairman at the time, asked me if I would come down, maybe meet Mike Fifer, who had just been hired as CEO, for lunch. We had lunch, hit it off. I was fortunate enough to come back to Ruger in 2006. I like to think I helped Mike with a lot of things with him being new to the industry, but he helped me with a lot of things too, as far as the operational expertise and things he brought to the party. I was fortunate when I was named president - I had three years in that role with Mike as CEO. We had a long overlap and a lot of time to hand off the baton which was very helpful for me. 

Chris Killoy 
It's tough because you know, one of the things I do every morning, as I've shared with you over the years, is I read the Wires, because I want to stay plugged into everything that's going on in the industry. My wife asked me the other day, “do you think you're gonna read that every morning?” I said, yes, probably for a while, anyway. I kind of want to stay plugged in to see who's doing what, new products coming and going. The other thing, you know, that kind of my morning ritual, is also looking at what we call the “CEO Emails” that I get from customers. And it may be a customer service problem they shouldn't have had, or it may be a new gun that you know, if we'd only make it, you know, he and his brother in law would both buy it. But it’s great information and great connectivity with our customers. That’s what I’m going to miss. I will also miss being part of the factory. I’ll still be there because I’ll still be on the Ruger board, and we have quarterly board meetings at the factories, we rotate those around. So I’ll still see the folks, but it’s different when you’re a board member rather than part of team. So I’ll have the benefit of having that transition, staying on the board. That will be good for me, and hopefully be good for the company.

Chris Killoy 
You know, back then, I'm dating myself, Ronald Reagan was our graduation speaker in 1981. That’s one of the greatest speeches of all time. If you have the chance, listen to his graduation speech at West Point in 1981. He talked about other graduates at civilian schools worried about their job coming out of school. He said “you don’t have to worry about that.” So..I knew where I was going. I became an armor officer, a tank platoon leader. And right away the Army, you know one of the things about the Army is they always give you jobs you don’t know how to do -and as soon as you get pretty good at that job, it’s on to another job. So you’re always learning something new. But with the Army, you also, right away, are supervising people. You supervise brand new privates, but you’re also supervising highly-experienced, non-commissioned officers. That’s an awesome responsibility -and challenge. If you’ve got somebody who’s been in, especially in an armored unit, you’ve got all your tank commanders. Now you’re also a tank commander, in addition to being a platoon leader. All the other tank commanders have 12, 15, 18-years experience doing what you’re doing now. First, day one, you’re trying to be a competent tank commander. So you’ve got to learn quickly on the technical side and embrace the knowledge your NCOs have. They help teach you while you’re leading the unit. So the Army was great for me, that gave me a lot of people skills that I think that I retained coming into the firearms industry. In fact, that’s how I got into the industry. I was commanding an infantry company in the Army Reserve back when they still had Combat Arms units in the reserves. My battalion commander at the time, George Coleclaw, was head of personnel at Smith & Wesson. He came up to me one drill weekend while I was working at GE aerospace as a program engineer. He said “tell me again what you do over at GE” I told him and he said, I think you’d do very well as our director of Marketing at Smith & Wesson. Why don’t you come down and interview for the job? I said well sir, I don’t know a lot about marketing and, frankly, I’d never fired a revolver up until that time. And he said, “Oh, you'll do fine.” So I came down, interviewed, got the job, and the rest is history. A lot on the job training. 

Chris Killoy
It’s a leadership skill to listen and learn. You have to be humble enough as a leader to know you don't know. The technical experts are right there in front of you, and so you have to embrace that. The ability to learn from them, and keep learning every day no matter what you do, whether it's in the military, at Ruger, or any company, to learn every day. And the same thing, we've got tremendous technical knowledge with our engineering base, operations leaders in the shop floor, you know? We do daily Kaizen events for people on the shop floor, putting forth new ideas to improve, the safety, the efficiency, the cost; everything associated with production. I always say the best ideas come from the folks on the floor, not from the top. If you're waiting for good ideas to come from the top, you're waiting for good ideas. But the best ones, are from the folks on the shop floor that are making the product, as well as our engineers. They have the passion, and it humbles you when you walk through one of our factories. If you’re not humbled -and inspired- at the same time by how hard these folks are working, then something’s wrong with you. Because, I always feel a sense of responsibility, of gratitude, to be able to work with them. Hopefully, I did right by them during my tenure. They’re the group that have to get it done. You want to do good for our customers and our shareholders, for sure, but our associates are the group that has to get it done. 

Chris Killoy
We have to. One of the challenges because Ruger is, you know, in terms of unit productions, unit production on an annual basis, typically number one or number two. To keep that up and sustain it, you've got to have a steady stream of new products, I mean, and that's not easy. There’s the creative side, the engineering side, and then execution. It’s expensive, but we’ve got to keep feeding that new product engine. We’ve got a great team of operations and engineering leaders. You know, we just recently had the American Gen 2 rifle. Big hit there. The RXM pistol  collaboration with Magpul. Big hit there. But we’ve got to sustain them.

Chris Killoy 
Look at the 10/22. We just did the carbon fiber barrel that we just came out with. The 1022 is like - again dating myself- like the ultimate small block Chevy.  You can make it into anything you want, you know. Some of your younger readers may not, may not understand that reference, but you can make it anything you want, you know. That's what people have done, like with a 1911. That 10/22 is important for us in terms of volume. The LCP line, and again, some of our core competencies in long guns with sustaining the American rifle series with Gen 2. 

And there are a lot of other things on the books in the workshop. 

Chris Killoy 
I still have my first Marlin I got, you know, way back when. One of the JM Marlins from Connecticut. And you know, the Marlin opportunity was something that we chased back when they were first on the market. before Cerberus and Remington bought them. We came up short in the bidding, but we had another, another kick at the can, you know, after the Remington bankruptcy. Fortunately, we were able to put that together. That was, that was also a weird experience, because that auction took place during COVID. So we were all on a giant Zoom call. Bidding was taking place live between, you know, individual competitors, lawyers, everybody. It was an odd experience, but we came out on top with Marlin. But it’s been a labor of love. The folks at Ruger have done a phenomenal job bringing that back to life, particularly at our plants in Maine and North Carolina. It wasn’t like we bought a company that you could put to work on day one after you found out where the restrooms and water cooler were, then go to work. We got over 100 tractor trailer loads of stuff: finished goods, raw materials, two dimensional drawing, some three dimensional code. But there was a lot of work and that team did a phenomenal job- and is still doing a phenomenal job. 

Chris Killoy 
A lot of stuff. But there were some gems in there. Some great woods. Other things, too, but a big challenge in putting the wheels back on that product line. 

Chris Killoy 
Thank you. We like to think so. We were fortunate. We had a big engineering commitment to do that. People, I think underestimated it from the outside. We said, we'll just make it, you know, make 1894 make 1895 and 336 and we were off to the races. That was easier said than done. So some of those machines were…mature. As a result, we put in a lot of brand new equipment. It's really been a wonderful thing to see a gun with the history and significance of the Marlin lever guns being made on truly modern equipment. 

Chris Killoy 
I don't think so. I mean, I came up to the sales and marketing ranks, but, you know, I have my background in engineering from West Point. I always loved how things were made, whether it was a kid tearing apart, you know, three and a half horsepower lawnmower engine or a mini bike engine and finding out how to put it back together, and wonder what those extra parts left over were for. But you know, it's the mechanical side of it is fascinating. And we've got such a great team committed to lean manufacturing principles. That's the elephant. Our main manufacturing folks. It's phenomenal what they've done at that room.

Chris Killoy
Well, I'd like to think they they think of me as someone who helped not only build but sustain Ruger’s future going forward.

We're in a very cyclical industry. We need a resilient company to be successful. Some years, like 2021, a record year for the company, 2.2 million guns. Other years, things slow down dramatically.

How do you stay profitable?

How do you keep the folks employed?

How do you keep the new product engine alive? I'd like to think the resilience of the organization is a key I hopefully have helped build.

The other thing is, hopefully, they remember me for is trying to take care of the people. Whether it's getting through getting through COVID years when our goal was to make the Ruger factory the safest place that any of our associates went to in the course of their day. We like to think we did that, kept our folks safe - and kept the company profitable. A lot of folks made a lot of good, good profit sharing dollars that year that worked for Ruger.

So for trying to take care of our people, take care of customers with innovative product and as well as great customer service. So hopefully that's what they think about when they remember me.

And again, it's always bigger. It's not about me, it's about the company; about Ruger. It's about our associates. It's rarely about one person. But one person can screw it up - a lot.

But you have to try to sustain it, grow it and mentor your folks. So that when I leave, we have a culture of growing, a culture of new product development that sustains going forward.