How three British guys in a shed revolutionized sniper rifles

The British firm Accuracy International is one of the most recognized manufacturers of high-end sniper rifles and its weapons are used the world over by military and police forces.

The company started in the late 1970s through the passion of Dave Walls and David Craig. These two fellas were toolmakers and competition shooters. They started what I’d call a hobby operation to repair firearms and build parts and components to improve accuracy, but, eventually, began making highly accurate target rifles – and all this from Wall’s shed.

Their hobby grew into a small business, and they partnered with Malcolm Cooper, an Olympic Gold Medal shooter, and created Accuracy International. Their goal wasn’t to build military sniper rifles; they just wanted to get the most mechanical precision possible from a rifle.

A clever idea and a cleverer system

In the 1980s, the British military wanted to replace its L42A1 sniper rifles. Although they were accurized and heavily modified, they used Enfield actions, a design dating back to the world wars. So, the British Ministry of Defence put out a call for a new precision marksman rifle.

The fellas at Accuracy International came up with a clever idea: They’d call their rifle the “Precision Marksman” and submit it to the Ministry of Defence.

They didn’t think their entry would be adopted, and knew they couldn’t fulfill the contract. However, they hoped that the British military would put their rifle through hell and back, reject it for the contract, and then send them a report of the test. The company could then use the data to improve the rifle and keep trucking.

To Accuracy International, this wasn’t a chance for a contract, but a chance for free data provided by the British military.

At the time, traditional rifles would be bedded into a wood or fiberglass stock. Accuracy International did things a little differently with its submission, and bolted the rifle components directly onto a rigid aluminum chassis.

On each side of the chassis were two green plastic outer shells. Beneath those shells, was the Accuracy International Chassis System, or AICS.

Creating a factory out of nothing and becoming legendary

Accuracy International’s production facility in Portsmouth, England. This isn’t what the British military inspectors saw in 1985. (Accuracy International)

Accuracy International’s rifle easily won the contract beating out established companies in the British military orbit, like Parker-Hale, along the way, and belying the expectations of its founders.

The Accuracy International Precision Marksman would be adopted as the L96A1, and the company won a contract to produce 1,200 of the rifles.

Part of that contract required a military delegation to visit and formally inspect Accuracy International’s manufacturing facility to ensure it could handle wartime production. The delegation would need to tour the factory and assembly lines, and see the workforce. But Accuracy International was still just three guys in a shed.

The three founders ended up renting an industrial workshop, and legend has it, they only had access to the facility for a day, but I find that tough to believe. If so, well, they were scrambling.

They moved their equipment into the workshop and brought every prototype rifle and tool they had and filled the empty space as best they could to create the semblance of a fully staffed factory.

Here, there are two versions to the story. According to the first version, they told the British inspectors that they had let the staff off for the inspection. The other version says that they got friends, wives, and family to come in, dress in working man’s overalls, and look busy. Either way, they passed the inspection.

After the inspection, they took the inspector out to lunch at a pub. It’s there that the officer said something along the lines of, “The inspection was a formality. We wanted to come down and make sure you weren’t just three guys in a shed.”

At that point, I can’t help but imagine a spit take from one of the founders, or a hefty gulp from a pint of Guinness.

Related: SREM-1 – The British experimental sniper rifle

Accuracy International’s worldwide impact

Accuracy International’s PSG90 sniper rifle, also known Arctic Warfare, which was based off of the Precision Marksman and won a contract with the Swedish military. (Accuracy International)

The three men would go on to deliver all 1,200 rifles on time, use the funding from the military to develop their company, and produce rifles that won worldwide acclaim.

Accuracy International rifles would go on to be used by more than 70 different military and police forces worldwide.

Tellingly, Craig Harrison used an Accuracy International rifle in 2009 to make a 2,707-yard shot on Taliban machine gunners. At the time, this was the longest reported sniper shot ever taken.

The AICS, itself, would go on to influence precision sniper rifles around the world. It would be adopted to work with guns from Savage, Remington, and more. It is used on SOCOM’s MK13 rifle and on the Marine Corps Mk 13 Mod 7 rifle. The chassis system was incredibly innovative and has become the standard for military and police sniper rifles since.

The L96A1 entered pop culture, being a mainstay of video games like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty.

Not too bad for three guys in a shed.

Feature Image: Accurate International’s L96A1 sniper rifle in use by the British military. (Accurate International)

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