So I took the opportunity to ditch the in-laws while visiting Florida over spring break and drove up to Tactical Machining.   I dropped in on a Monday morning as the phone was ringing with customers calling and Nathan was doing his best to get all of the weekend orders set up for processing and shipping.   Despite this, Nathan was cool enough to take me on a quick tour of the facility:

Pulling up to TM is kind of weird. It sits back in a small industrial district that is filled with parachute and skydiving companies.   A small sign on a door in the middle of a long, multi-unit steel building bears the TM logo. When you step inside, you will Likely find Nathan sitting behind a computer and not much else. At first I thought, "where the hell is everything." There is no machinery, no products, nothing. Now, Nathan warned me that they do not have a storefront, but I did not even hear any work going on in the office behind the room that he was in. Like I said, it was weird.

Then Nathan took me one unit/garage door over. Through that large doorway you will see hundreds of shiny new lowers on carts, all neatly laid out and awaiting packaging. One more unit over the machining begins. Horizontal and vertical cutting CNCs are everywhere. A bin containing hundreds of pounds of aluminium shavings is the first to greet you. Nathan explained that the bin fills up weekly or sooner and is constantly being sent out for recycling. At each machine stood a worker - no lower or other component was being crafted without a human being having eyes on the process. This is probably what stood out most to me - in between machines there were several work areas where an individual was set up and carefully inspecting, deburring, etc. every single lower or upper that was being machined. Based on the quality of the product I've received from TM in the past, I wouldn't expect less, but it was nice to see that each lower passed through probably a half dozen or more hands during the whole process. I didn't seen anyone casually or quickly moving the lowers around - I saw time and attention to detail.

Moving back to the tour...Nathan also stopped by the workstation that had two 1911 frames being worked on (stripped and 80% 1911 frames are a new product of theirs). I'm not a 1911 guy, but Nathan told me that they had just finished spending a week on one of the two frames sitting at the workstation making sure that the slide fitment was spot on. I couldn't tell you if the two frames I saw were well made or not, but again I can say that there was an individual sitting at that workstation taking his time working on both frames.  

In total, it looked as if there were six or seven units in the building, and all but the middle (office) unit were dedicated to birthing some pretty nice receivers. All of the equipment was brand new (and according to Nathan, already 100% paid for) with the exception of the machine that squares the mag well after machining (because a CNC cannot achieve square corners with round rotating bits). This particular piece of equipment dates back to WWII I guess, and the ultra hard tooling that shapes the mag well costs well over $10K. If you work in a machine shop this all probably sounds pretty ordinary to you, but I walked away impressed with the time and the effort that seemed apparent throughout their production process.

my guess is that Nathan would be happy to show anyone around who wanted to stop by. Just don't do as I did and drop in during their busiest hour of the week. Also, be prepared for the effect that stacks nd stacks of lowers can have on your mind and your wallet!

BTW, as a preemptive measure...I am TM customer and have no other relationship with the company whatsoever.

As I said, I showed up on a Monday morning and Nathan was really pressed for time. He invited me to stop by by email, but I should have called first to tell him I was on my way before stopping by on a Monday unannounced. When Nathan offered to give me a quick tour, I quickly followed him and didn't run back to the car to grab my phone. I had hoped to get back later in the week for an after-hours (long) tour, but it just didn't work out. Maybe the next guy can snap a few photos.

Maybe now I have a reason to go back to Florida (also, maybe I can find a way to get a tour of KAC)!

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I've done a few of their lowers, my favorite forged 80%'s.

80% Easter sale $59 ends 4-20.