STURGIS - Ward Dobler said he has a dream job. He is able to combine his engineering expertise with his lifelong interest in guns and hunting.

Dobler is director of technical services and head of engineering for Dakota Arms, a Sturgis company that makes high-end rifles and shotguns.

"I have the best of both worlds," Dobler said.

"I have an office, and I have a work bench. I get to put guns together, and I get to shoot guns at the range and test them."

Dakota Arms is part of the growing gun industry in Sturgis, mostly headquartered in the Sturgis Industrial Park off the Whitewood service road on the northwest edge of town.

Norma Allen and her late husband, Don Allen, brought Dakota Arms to Sturgis 23 years ago from Minnesota. Since then, seven other arms-related companies have moved to Sturgis. Together they employ more than 200 people, Allen said.

Allen, now executive coordinator of the Sturgis Economic Development Corp., said the firearms industry cluster in town is an example for the state.

And Sturgis is drawing attention from other gun companies, including at the annual Shot Show in Las Vegas last month.

"People came looking for us this time at the shot show," Allen said. "It was really exciting."

Variety of companies

Besides Dakota Arms, gun-related companies in Sturgis are CorBon Bullet Co.; B Searcy, which makes a double rifle; Superior Ammunition; Bruce Bowen Co., which makes high-end trap shotguns; Jamison International, which makes brass cartridges; Horizon Machine, which makes firearms components; and McFarlane Gun & Rifle Makers, which restores vintage European rifles and shotguns.

Allen said the economic development group unveiled its new name, Sturgis Economic Development Corp., at the Shot Show. The group's board decided to update its name to diversify and target new opportunities in the technology, retail and motorcycle industries.

"To provide jobs in a community is the mission of Sturgis economic development," she said.

Dobler got his job at Dakota Arms almost by accident. Originally from Ashley, N.D., where he grew up hunting, he attended South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Before graduating in 1992, he took a tour of Dakota Arms.

He told the Allens he was graduating soon. "They said they wanted to hire an engineer," he said. "It kind of just fell into my lap."

Dobler is part of the team that helps design the guns. And he also helps make the guns by hand.

Dakota Arms makes rifles that can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Average price for a Dakota Arms rifle last year was $5,700, Dobler said.

The company makes 50 to 55 rifles and 40 to 45 actions per month for customers all over the world.

About 95 percent of the guns it makes are custom built to customers' specifications, he said.

Dobler said the company has a talented group of employees. "But you don't have to be a gunsmith to work here," he said.

The Sturgis Economic Development Corp. will continue to target the gun industry, which has brought jobs and broadened the tax base, said Dale Hansen, co-chairman.

But the group also is working to attract other types of enterprises, including retail businesses and those that can support the deep underground laboratory at Homestake Mine in Lead, Allen said. Allen, who has served with the economic development group for about 20 years, is optimistic about business growth in Sturgis.

"All this has happened since then," she said about the growth in the arms industry.