About Wade Stuteville

Wade Stuteville is a very accomplished, veteran shooter in precision rifle competitions and one of the most respected gunsmiths in the industry. He has competed with precision rifles for 15+ years (since the very beginning of the sport), has been a top-ranked shooter in the nation several years, and earned the title of PRS Overall Champion during the 2012 season. He clearly knows what it takes to compete at the highest levels.

Wade was a founding partner, designer, and later the General Manager at Surgeon Rifles for a few years before it was moved from Oklahoma to Arizona. Surgeon was machining a ton of the premiere actions at the time and building hundreds of high-end, custom rifles each year.

Wade is now the owner and rifle builder at Stuteville Precision, a custom rifle shop that builds more rifles and chambers more barrels for the top-ranked PRS and NRL shooters than any other gunsmith (see the data). There are also big-name customers like Accuracy International that trust Wade to chamber many of their barrels.

Wade Stuteville is also a partner in Impact Precision Shooting, a company that makes a few products, including the most popular action among top-ranked shooters in precision rifle competitions (see the data). Wade took years of practical experience shooting precision rifles in the field at the highest levels of competition and years of experience building and troubleshooting high-end actions at Surgeon, and he leveraged all that knowledge and experience to help design the Impact Precision action. (Read more about the action here.)

One of the compelling things about the Impact Precision action is they’re all virtually identical to each other. So much so that you can buy chambered, pre-fit barrels right off the shelf and install them yourself. The headspace, indexing, and other dimensions on the Impact actions are held to such strict tolerances that barrels and bolts can be interchanged between any of their actions. No need to ever send your action in to a gunsmith, but the barrels still headspace on the shoulder of the barrel just like it would if you did send in your action (i.e. not like some guys do with barrel nuts). Impact Precision’s website sells “Impact by Stuteville” chambered barrels that are ready to ship, which are barrels chambered and threaded by Wade. This simplified, no-wait-time approach has been a huge hit among serious shooters who burn through a couple of barrels every year. (Learn more about pre-fit barrels)

But, what really sets Wade apart to me and many others in the industry is not only his knowledge or accomplishments, but he is one of the true “good guys” in this sport. He was one of my first friends in the industry, and I can say Wade is one of the most humble, authentic, and honest people I have ever met. I don’t say that lightly! Over the years, we’ve had many long conversations on all kinds of topics, and Wade is always willing to share his time and experience. He doesn’t hold back information or have some hidden agenda. I’m not the only one who feels that way about Wade, here are a couple quotes from others in the industry:

“Wade is one of the most intelligent people I know, and he has no ego about what he knows. He is just a great, caring, and giving person.” – Scott Seigmund, VP of Accuracy International of North America

Finally, here is a great description of Wade written by a guy who knows him well:

“Wade is a very accomplished tactical rifle shooter … Anyone who knows Wade or has run into him at any match, knows that he is a walking encyclopedia of anything guns. He not only knows all of the technicalities and mechanics of things that make rifles tick, he also knows real world information that comes from having put tens of thousands of rounds down range, in practice and competitions all around the US. Affectionately called E.F. Hutton by his friends, he is always able to give the answer to most any question, and can explain it like ‘a 5 year old could understand.’” – Dustin Morris, 2014 PRS Champion