We are a small team of talented professionals with a wide range of skills and experience. We love what we do, and we do it with passion.
Janel Benish
Owner
Janel has had a love of firearms since she was a little girl. As an adult, she started off in the medical industry, letting her passion simmer. In time, she left the medical industry and found an outlet for her hobby by running a gun shop. As a woman in a male-dominated field, Janel finds that her involvement in a gun shop can be surprising for a lot of people. She hopes that her presence in the shop allows for an environment more accepting of all types of shooters.
Janel’s passion is pistols. She is building a collection of concealed carry holsters and loves to talk to customers, especially women, new to the concealed carry lifestyle, about carry options.
Tim Benish
Owner
Tim has a deep history in the tool and die industry and has amassed significant machining skills. He uses this knowledge and experience often when gunsmithing to manufacture many that are no longer being produced.
Tim has a passion for large bore firearms, personally owning a Barrett M107A1 as well as multiple Kel-Tec KSG shotguns. He also enjoys competition shooting and finds that often his left-handed shooting is an asset at competitions designed to put right-handed shooters ill at ease. Tim uses his ever increasing shooting experience to teach as an NRA instructor and USPSA Range Safety Officer.
During competition, Tim will be seen using a CZ Shadow II as his preffered pistol. The reasoning for his choice is due to CZ’s low bore axis and the Shadow II’s steel frame making the firearm very soft shooting.
Tyler Benish
Tyler is the second son of Tim and Janel. While he may be the youngest on the team, he has more shooting experience than many of those with twice the time in the industry. When they were younger, Tyler and his brother Jacob spent a large amount of time at the range increasing their shooting skills and learning every tenant of safety.
As time passed, Tyler surpassed all of his peers and began to search out more advanced shooting techniques and training. He started attending USPSA and 3 gun competitions in the area to test his skills and learn from the shooters there.
This dive into competition led to Tyler’s desire to be the best around in every way he can. He spends his time off at the gym, the range, or researching new innovations in the industry to build his skills and arsenal. Due to all of his extensive research into the subjects, Tyler is extremely knowledgeable of the AR platform and night vision.
During pistol competition you will almost always see him sporting his signature Staccato P Vulcan Custom upgraded for high end competition use or his STI DVC Steel. The reasoning for his choice is for the superior recoil impulse and smooth action that can only be found on a high-end custom 2011.
Jacob Benish
Jacob is the oldest son of Tim and Janel. He, like his brother, has been shooting for essentially his entire life, starting with his beloved Walther P22.
Jacob has been putting his time in at the shop working on growing the media presence and keeping the technology in good working order. This of course is when he isn’t working as a salesman or studying gunsmithing. He is passionate about suppressors and weapon lights, so be sure to talk to him about them!
In competition, Jacob can almost assuredly be seen using his Staccato XC with Trijicon SRO. The reasoning for his choice is how smooth and nice it shoots. For concealed carry, he strayed from Staccato and instead uses a Shadow System MR920L Elite with a Trijicon RMR and Surefire X300U.
Caroline Reid
Caroline started working full time in 2020, when the gun industry exploded. She is the significant other of Jacob, and a bit of a jack of all trades at the shop. Having graduated in 2021 with a double major in Art History and English, Caroline does graphic design for the shop as well.
Caroline is a newer shooter, but is quickly becoming one of our top shooters. She has a Browning Buckmark for some plinking, but her competition gun, and her favorite firearm, is the CZ 75 Czechmate Parrot.
Nolan Hammer
Nolan is the “third son” of Janel and Tim, and definitely the favorite.
He has been with the shop for almost as long as Jake and Tyler, pitching in whenever he was needed. He is great with new shooters at the range and classroom. He has a wide expanse of knowledge, conducting just as much industry research as Tyler. He is an expert in surplus military rifles, with a specialization in Kalashnikovs, and is more than happy to have a conversation on the topic.
Though he only works shop days occasionally, he does a significant amount of behind the scenes work for the shop. Beyond helping during large events, he is helping with classes, being one of the shop’s certified RSOs as well as one of the range medics.
In competition, Nolan uses a Sig Sauer P320 X5 Legion with a Trijicon SRO. He often competes alongside Tyler and Jacob, making sure VGS always takes home the win.
