Cimarron founder and President, Mike Harvey, opens the Cimarron Ballistics Lab for a behind-the-scenes sneak peek.
Fredericksburg, Texas (June 2025) – Cimarron Firearms, the premier name in authentic Old West firearm replicas, continues its mission of preserving America’s heritage calibers, as well as firearms. Many calibers have been lost to history due to a lack of customer demand and mass production. As new calibers were designed to meet the needs of the modern firearms owner, calibers that once scouted the west, hunted big game, protected stagecoaches and payroll loads, and the growing number of settlements that covered the once wild west, were lost to the history books. Enter the Cimarron Ballistics Lab, located in Fredericksburg, Texas.
Since the founding of Cimarron Firearms in the 1980s, Cimarron founder and president, Mike Harvey, has found himself not only producing the most authentic Old West firearms replicas, but also as a historical and preservation specialist of early American West lore. Keeping it real means careful design reproduction of firearms based on originals, all from Mike’s historic collection. Watching Mike’s videos, viewers and customers not only get a great story, but a behind-the-scenes look at how Cimarron pays detailed attention to the making of Cimarron’s heirloom-quality firearms.
Cimarron’s Ballistic Lab is a testament to the company’s ongoing pursuit of excellence. It is in this lab that Cimarron employees research and test new products, and where Cimarron is currently working on new products for the modern hunter. Here, Cimarron also tests historic ammunition loads lost to modern shooters’ needs. As ammunition companies stopped producing such rare but historic calibers, the manufacture of the ammunition has been left in the hands of reloaders and cowboy action reenactors. The Cimarron Ballistics Lab is where new–old loads are developed for production.
Case in point: the most popular rifle in the 19th century was the Winchester 1876 rifle, “The Gun that Won the West.” Also known as the “Centennial’ Rifle, it is still one of the most sought-after rifle replicas for collectors, hunters, reenactors, and cowboy action shooters. Only Cimarron carries the .45-60 Win and .50-95 Win for the Centennial Rifle. Working to develop the round with Steinel Ammunition, a high-performance ammunition manufacturer, Cimarron made these popular cartridges available once more.
“Although the public is aware that our firearms products are manufactured overseas,” Bryce Wayt, VP of Operations and Media, explained, “little is known of our extensive testing of new products and ammunition here in Texas. It is important that Cimarron guns look like the historical reference, but only in our Ballistics Lab can we test them to our American customers’ standards.”
For more information on Cimarron Firearms and accessories, visit www.cimarron-firearms.com.
Keep up with the history and happenings at Cimarron on YouTube.
About Cimarron Firearms:
Cimarron is the leader in quality and authenticity of replica firearms. For the past 40 years, Cimarron has worked continuously to perfect the authentic detail, fit, finish, and function of our line of frontier firearms. There is no other firearm that is near equal in value, strength, reliability, and authentic detail as is the line from Cimarron Firearms Co.
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