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| THREE GENERATIONS OF MCMILLAN QUALITY AND SERVICE Living miles from the nearest neighbor Gale McMillan entertained himself by hunting rabbits and other small game. Since he grew up during the depression and money was scarce, it was expected that for every shell shot there was a rabbit in the pot. By the age of ten, Gale became a good enough shot to win some small change in shooting matches. This was the start of Gale’s competitive shooting. In later years, Gale selected benchrest as the form of competition he liked best and started competing in 1958. In 1958 Gale enlisted in the Air Force. Since he didn’t make much money, he could not afford to have his gun worked on, so he did his own gunsmithing. Gale spent a lot of time in the winner’s circle, and other shooters began to ask him to work on their rifles. In 1968, Gale retired from the Air Force and settled in Phoenix. He worked for Motorola as a mold tech, which gave him the opportunity to learn about plastics and mold making. With the knowledge Gale learned from Motorola, he started making fiberglass stocks in 1973. In the mid 1970’s the U.S. Marine Corp asked Gale for help with their M40 sniper rifle because they were having a great deal of trouble keeping them serviceable. Gale made suggestions, furnished fiberglass stocks and trained their armors with the methods that he used to build his rifles. The success the Marine Corp had with the M40 sniper rifle brought the attention of several other agencies such as the F.B.I. and the elite anti-terrorist units to Gale for help with their rifles. In the end, Gale built rifles for all branches of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. In 1975, Kelly McMillan joined his father and mother, Gale and Gloria McMillan, in what was then called The Gale McMillan Co. At that time it was just the three of them. Kelly actually started by fabricating the stocks, Gale spent most of his time building rifles, and Gloria helped make stocks and handled all of the shipping and accounting. Kelly was responsible for innovations such as nonsymetrical molds, which allowed for more intricate stocks; programming high production computerized machines, which allowed for OEM account manufacturing; Fibergrain and Quiet stock finishes, which made it easier to sell stocks to the hard-to-convert wood stock enthusiasts; and the incorporation of adjustable cheek pieces and 3-way adjustable butt plates, which made fiberglass stocks more attractive to competitive high power shooters, as well as law enforcement and military marksmen. As a result of all these innovations developed by McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, Inc., they have become recognized industry wide as the leaders in synthetic stock technology. Kelly now spends a majority of his time as a “public relations” officer in addition to bookkeeper. Moving from the shop floor to the front office has not kept Kelly from being involved in all parts of the day to day manufacturing process. In 1991, Michael McMillan, Kelly’s oldest son began working for the company. Starting from the bottom Michael has done every phase in the manufacturing and finishing of the fiberglass stocks. Michael’s education, with a Bachelor of Science degree from ASU, has proven to be very valuable as he was the staff liaison between McMillan Fiberglass Stocks and the advertising firm in 1995. In 1996 Michael became the director of advertising and designed the ads for McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, Inc. Today Michael’s primary job is to oversee production and to coordinate between sales and manufacturing. Dina Lime, Kelly’s oldest daughter, has assumed the position of advertising director. With a degree in Communications from Grand Canyon University, Dina has already developed several award winning ads. | |||||
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