About Fred Craig's Atomitronx
Fred tells us he began Atomitronx around twenty years ago as the R&D side of Craig Ltd. He had spent the previous fifteen years as a custom pistol smith and at the end of the 90's had found himself wanting to move into a new era....one where he would have the freedom to build his own designs.
The Merc series pistols started there, more than two decades ago...and It has always been in Fred Craig's nature to drive toward perfection. It's one thing to have ideas about what makes one handgun better than the next, and another to Know the difference.
You see, Fred Craig forged his passion for handgun design through competition shooting. He began in the 1980's in his teenage years shooting various combat desciplines like IPSC, NRA Action Pistol, Steel Challenge, and Bowling Pin matches... and later became a World Champion in IPSC, as well as a Four time Bianchi Cup National Champion.
Early on he found his way into the gunsmithing side of the sport and had started what became a very successful business named Craig Ltd., and all during a time he was pursuing an engineering degree.
Through the 90's Fred's work graced the cover of "American Handgunner" a couple of times and made it's way into other publications as feature articles. But in early 2004 Fred rocked the custom gun world with his all new "Merc" Gas pistol as it was featured on the cover of "American Handgunner" once again. This revolutionary new pistol grabbed the attention of the gun world and even gained the attention of Smith and Wesson at the time. Years later Fred worked with S&W on a development project focused on the Merc gas pistol.
In 2005 after a two year hiatus working in Iraq on a protection detail, Fred got back to his roots and took a job working in the Philippines for Armscor. That began an 18 year long relationship with the Tuason family doing product development and revamping their 1911 line. That is when the Rock Island brand was built. Over that period of time, Fred developed many exciting products. The TCM cartridge was one of Fred's successful advents. He also designed a rifle, a 22 magnum pistol, and the RIA 5.0 pistol during those years. But through all of Fred's adventures he never lost sight of his one true inspiration... to design the greatest combat pistol ever conceived.
This passion has carried on through several prototypes over the years...in an unending quest for perfection.
Today, Fred has his own small factory in Kansas where he is gearing up to make his greatest creation... the Merc M7-R.
He is also offering some unique 1911 based products to round out his production schedule.
Check in with us here at Atomitronx.com to find out more about this revolutionary design and all that Fred Craig has to offer.
You can reach Fred by email at: fredcraig@atomitronx.com
Thanks for watching!