Were the cast members employees of the gun shop before the show or are they local actors for the show? Just curious.

IIRC, Ken use to be on thehighroad.org & thefirungline.com under the screen name of wildwestguns/alaska until the show started

Ken was there.  I bought my first 1911 from him in 1999 or 2000

Yep Ken was there at least as early as 96 ..the rest I have no clue..does anyone still use them for anything?

I used to work there, JD has been there a long time, Jim and his wife Christy own the place, Ken is less obnoxious on TV than he is in real life which is hard to believe and Mitch came on about the same time as JD which was about 2001-02. The rest are new additions, they lost most of their really talented smiths who opened up their own businesses.

Steve Untiet - Opened alaska custom firearms
Aaron Madole - Opened his own custom shop in the valley, unfortunately I heard he was killed in an accident great smith and even better guy
Aaron Bloomquist - Gunsmiths still out of Tok and runs full curl guiding service
Tim Thompson - Left to work with his dad the legendary bill thompson in Missouri
Heiner - No clue what ever happened to him
I hate myself for forgetting his name but their main machinist went missing and was never found (found his truck and dog at delong lake in winter and he never turned up)

WWG used to have some of the most talented smiths I've ever seen and turned out an incredible product from Mountain Lite Rifles, Co-Pilots and Custom 1911's. The new crowd and smiths I don't seem too impressed with and the show is painful to watch, except Niels, Always really liked that guy.

Yes all the work I saw from them before(including the brake they built for my rum ) was very good quality...I have no idea who up here would be worth having do any work..I figured I would send my stuff south to one of the better regarded smiths...

If youre looking for a good three port break, steve over at Alaska Custom Firearms off old seward x dimond by the pink elephant car wash does great work. Ive had him build me everything from mountain lite rifles to custom 1911's and the work is top notch.

Thanks..I actually need to have my RUM rebarreled... its got over 3000 rounds thru it and went from a 1/4" moa to over 1.5"moa...just time to do it..but am impressed considering what most say about how fast they eat barrels.....

The shop is a shell of what it use to be , Ken is the reason I will never buy anything from them , part time rent a cop at the sullivan with a superiority complex . Oh and they screwed up my kimber so bad its unreal

YEP
I'll not by anything else from them. Whatever you want is not the point. Ken wants to sell you what he wants you to have.
Its nice to be a salesman, but this obnoxious person. NOPE !

I know people had issues with Ken, but he is a good guy to deal with... Once you understand how he is wired.

BTW, I haven't seen him in awhile, is he still working there?

All I care about is phred, she is so gorgeous!

I was picking up ammo at their shop in Las Vegas.  Nice shop.

He has always treated me right.  He helped with a ton of work on that first 1911 of mine.

I have not been in there since last year, I bought a Railgun from him.  He gave me a good deal, too.

Ken no longer works there.

WHOA! Anyone know what happened there?