About Us

Buddy’s Armory was founded in 2021 by me, Jesse Shwen, aka Buddy.  In 2015, I began chambering my own barrels because I was frustrated with other gunsmiths' wait times. I also wanted to be in control of the quality of the machine work being done. Some people have asked me, ‘why the name Buddy’s Amory’? My response is usually…well, because it’s badass! The truth is, at my first job as a machinist, my supervisor was the kind of guy that gave everyone a nickname. For some reason, he chose “Buddy” for me. There was also another one, but we won’t go there! I knew one of them would stick, so I embraced “Buddy”. The interesting part to me was that my grandpa went by “Bud” his whole life. I always thought it was a little strange that my supervisor came up with Buddy for me, not knowing about my grandpa. I guess it was just a coincidence. So, Buddy’s Armory it is.

Having worked in various machine shops since 2009 as a setup machinist and programmer, and being an avid PRS shooter, the transition to gunsmithing was natural. Over the past few years, a lot of people began asking if I could spin up a barrel for them. I had been wanting to purchase a CNC lathe for some time, and I finally convinced myself that if I started a company, I could justify the new machine purchase. Fast forward about a year, the new lathe is in place, and for once, people can wait on me.