Gunsite X Aimpoint

When Gunsite unveiled its 50th anniversary guns at the SHOT Show press conference, the companies partnering with them were a testament to Gunsite’s standing in the industry.

One of those companies was Aimpoint. Gunsite and Aimpoint are by no means strangers. Some of the 50th Anniversary Gunsite firearms will be equipped with Aimpoint products, including the Aimpoint Duty RDS on the Aero Precision fighting carbine and a COA pistol model yet to be finalized.

During the planning and development of the 50th anniversary guns, Gunsite CEO Ken Campbell and Aimpoint VP of Marketing Andrea Cerwinske discussed giving the optics company a presence in a Gunsite class.

Gunsite has long partnered with companies looking to spotlight their products with students, often through sponsored classes like the famed Gunsite 250 Defensive Pistol.

As Zac Cooper, Aimpoint’s Director of Marketing Communications, explained to me last week, the conversation went something like: “Lots of people are just getting into defensive shooting, and we (Gunsite) try to recommend the best equipment. Why don’t you guys show them what that is?”

And one thing led to another. March 9 through 13, Gunsite’s 250 class featured a partnership with Aimpoint, where all students had the opportunity to shoot an ACRO P-2 red dot reflex sight.

In addition to shooting the class with an ACRO P-2 optic, students were also given the opportunity to purchase it at a substantial discount.

How popular was this offer?

First off, when students learned this particular 250 class would be sponsored by Aimpoint, some brought their guns specifically to be milled by Gunsite’s on-site gunsmithing service to accept the ACRO P-2.

And by day four of the class, Cooper confirmed, “We brought one (ACRO P-2) per person for the class, and last time I checked, all have been accounted for.”

He explained that initially some students weren’t interested in the offer. “We had a lot of people coming in who originally said, ‘Nah, I’m good.’ And now they’re like, ‘No, we’re gonna want one.’ I have people trying to get two and three of them.”

What I was most interested in was the why behind sponsoring a class.

Aimpoint isn’t a me-too optics company. They’re a foundational company known for bringing innovation and durability to firearms optics.

When it comes to closed-emitter red dots, the ACRO was first—and where Aimpoint led, nearly every other optics company, and consumers, followed.

So why did Aimpoint need face-to-face consumer interaction with a relative handful of Gunsite students?

"We’re always looking for feedback from our consumers at every level—from the military and tier-one units to the first-time buyer. We want to make sure people understand why Aimpoint, and that was one of the reasons I came out here,” said Cooper.

Cooper added that the Gunsite class provided Aimpoint a real-time opportunity not only to see consumers go through the product introduction process, but also to watch their purchasing decisions and identify pain points.

With an MSRP of $617, the ACRO P-2 isn’t an impulse purchase—especially for gun owners new to pistol-mounted red dot sights, even at a discounted price.

During a break in the class, I spoke with Sunnie Heng, a first-time Gunsite student from San Francisco, whose partner, Lee, gave her the 250 class as a Christmas present.

“My partner has been coming for over a decade. I wanted to get here the last two years he’s been in classes, but they’ve been full. It’s my first time at Gunsite, and I was pretty excited to come.”

When I asked about shooting the ACRO P-2 on her Walther PDP, she lit up.

“Oh, I love it. I want to have a second one…if there’s any left.”

She also said they are already planning a return to Gunsite for additional classes.

This kind of immediate consumer response is exactly what marketers want to see—but rarely do, given their distance from both the point of purchase and the point of use.

Sponsoring a class at Gunsite eliminates that gap, giving marketers like Cooper an on-range focus group of new users.

“I think it’s really important to step back and understand what consumers want, and why it matters. It’s easy to get lost in trends, but at the end of the day, people are buying firearms for specific reasons—and they want help choosing the right gear.”

While this was Aimpoint’s first time sponsoring a class, it won’t be their last. You can expect to see the company involved in another 250, as well as other classes. “We want to work with Gunsite and maybe grow this program to more classes, like the 350 or their carbine class.”

“Oh, it’s definitely been successful,” Cooper said of the 250 collaboration. “I’m really excited to see new shooters get involved with ACRO and be excited about it.”

No wonder he’s already looking to expand Aimpoint’s work with Gunsite. That’s good news for students, giving them one more reason to make the trip to what many—probably most—consider America’s premier firearms training facility.

– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network