Ljutic Industries (formerly known as the Ljutic Gun Company) is an American manufacturer of

shotguns A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

in the United States, based in

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. It was founded by

Al Ljutic Al Ljutic was a professional heavy-weight boxer, competitive rifle shooter, and gun maker known for founding Ljutic Industries. and the creation of the Ljutic Space Gun. Early years Al Ljutic was a Californian of Croatian descent. A professiona ...

and his wife Nadine in

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in 1959.

History

With his father, Al Ljutic ran the Ljutic Gun Company in the vicinity of Fresno. In 1955, AA Reil, a friend and Remington field rep, invited Al to go

trap shooting Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays. They are disting ...

the day after. Al realized after that he didn't own a trap gun. Instead of buying one Al designed and built one by the end of the day. This became the template for the

Ljutic Space Gun The Ljutic Space Gun is a 12 gauge single-shot shotgun intended for trap shooting. Originally designed in 1955, the firearm has since been discontinued. History With his father, Al Ljutic ran the Ljutic Gun Company (Now Ljutic Industries) in th ...

. Ljutic Industries was founded in 1959 using a $500,000 settlement from

Winchester Repeating Arms Company The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was a prominent American manufacturer of repeating firearms and ammunition. The firm was established in 1866 by Oliver Winchester and was located in New Haven, Connecticut. The firm went into receivership ...

following Winchester's use of an Ljutic design. In 1960, the company changed its name from the "Ljutic Gun Company" to the current "Ljutic Industries." In 1964, a fire in the Ljutic home/plant resulted in the company's relocation to Yakima. This led to a friendship with former

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

end Dan Orlich who started trap shooting with Ljutic shotguns. This naturally resulted in increased interest in Ljutic shotguns. With 12-employees, Ljutic Industries production peaked at 340 shotguns a year in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, it quickly lost out to rivals such as

Perazzi Perazzi is a manufacturer of precision shotguns from Brescia, Italy. The company sells hunting and sporting models of shotguns noted for their removable trigger groups, high quality, and high prices (US$7,500–$440,000). Its founder is Daniele Pe ...

Krieghoff H. Krieghoff GmbH is a German manufacturer of high-end hunting and sporting firearms, based in Ulm, Germany. In North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hem ...

, and Kolar Arms, shipping only 50 shot guns in 2007. By 2006, the company owed $1 million in taxes to the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

, had discontent customers, and was close to shutting down. This led to its purchase from the IRS in September of that year by Jere Irwin of Irwin Research and Development for $250,000 and a small sum to the Ljutic family for company

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

Ljutic Firearms

*Adjustable Mono gun *Mono gun *Pro 3 *

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Yakima, Washington Privately held companies based in Washington (state) Manufacturing companies based in Washington (state) 1959 establishments in Nevada American companies established in 1959 Manufacturing companies established in 1959 Firearm manufacturers of the United States