"I think it's a pride thing in what we do. A certain amount. Pride in quality and workmanship," said Weeks, sitting at his desk in the machine shop, the floor littered with spiral metal shavings. "I think most of us around here were raised around or on a ranch or a farm, or that kind of stuff. So we don't take anything for granted."

Freedom Arms makes single-action revolvers, meaning the hammer must be cocked before each shot. They're chambered for cartridges ranging from tiny rimfire rounds, used mainly for target shooting, up to the company's own recent creation, the .500 Wyoming Express — a huge cartridge designed for killing big game.

Although Freedom Arms declined to release production figures, a report by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the company made just 509 revolvers in 2006. Industry giant Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest producer of revolvers that year, made more than 185,000.

Most Freedom Arms customers specify exactly what options such as caliber, barrel-length and grip material they want. Then they wait a few months for the company to build their individual gun. The company lists just a few dozen guns available for immediate purchase on its Web site.

The Freedom Arms employees who produce these extraordinary revolvers are fiercely proud of their work.

On a recent day, John Carey, a 14-year Freedom Arms employee, sat at a scarred workbench stoning the internal parts of a revolver. Expertly screwing the pieces together again, he repeatedly pulled the trigger with a special gauge to meet a customer's specifications.

When Carey's done, it will take three pounds of pressure on the trigger to fire the gun — less than the company's usual four- to 4 1/4-pound trigger-pull.

"They let us take our time and make sure it's right, rather than rush through it," Carey said. "That's the best thing about this place."

Nancy Berry will mark 10 years at Freedom Arms this summer. She was at her bench fitting wooden grips to a pistol frame. The company's standards demand the grips be fitted so tightly that a 0.002-inch feeler gauge — less than the thickness of a human hair — can't be forced between the grips and metal grip frame. "That's what I'm trying to do, is to make it as best as I can for a customer to shoot a gun, and feel comfortable shooting it," Berry said. "And so that's my satisfaction."

Freedom Arms President Bob Baker himself has killed a grizzly bear and other game with his company's revolvers. He said his workers are keenly aware that some customers rely on the company's revolvers to kill dangerous game at close range — a sport in which any gun failure could have fatal consequences for the hunter.

"They're very, very dedicated to making sure the product is right," Baker said of his workers. Baker's father, Wayne, grew up in Wyoming's Star Valley and founded the company in 1978.