Kilimanjaro – The best of Serengeti Rifles made better.

HAWAII ATTORNEY AND HUNTING ENTHUSIAST, ERIK D. EIKE, HAS SET HIS SIGHTS ON CREATING KILIMANJARO RIFLES AS THE FINEST FULL CUSTOM RIFLE MANUFACTURER IN THE COUNTRY

(September 25, 2009)

Kilimanjaro Rifles–headed by Hawaii attorney and businessman Erik D. Eike—has debuted its new flag-ship line of premium full-custom hunting rifles, and announced its acquisition of the assets of premier custom rifle maker Serengeti Rifles, Inc.   Kilimanjaro will continue the production of improved versions of the Serengeti and Jaguar rifles in addition to its own Kilimanjaro bolt-action hunting rifle, the Kilimanjaro Lever-Action  rifle, and new creations of historical rifle designs on a full custom basis.  Kilimanjaro has also accepted appointment as exclusive world-wide agent for Siyabonga Safaris, one of South Africa’s premier big-game hunting destinations, which it believes properly compliments the quality of its rifles and affords its clients the very best African hunting experience.

Kilimanjaro Rifles traces its roots back to the Montana master gunsmith/stock-maker of more than 50 years experience, Merlin “Mel” Smart. It is Mel that originally developed and patented Kilimanjaro’s proprietary Stealth Lamination technology.  Back in Mel’s time, it was called the ACRA-Bond Laminate.  Stealth Lamination is unique to Kilimanjaro and provides greater strength and stability to fine walnut rifle stocks while preserving the full beauty, figure and feel of its best grade Turkish Walnut—the rarest and best wood for rifle stocks—which Kilimanjaro obtains directly from the source. 

For several years, Serengeti founder Rod Rogers had been a customer and friend of Mel Smart. Rod had a long career in high technology equipment with Digital Equipment Corporation, but had realized his dream of relocating to Montana and pursuing his interest in rifle design and development. Mel’s health unfortunately began to decline, and Rod was asked to keep the business running. Mel passed away on Sunday, April 13th, 2003.

During the preceding years, Rod had helped design and develop the Montana 1999 rifle action as one of the founders of the Montana Rifle Company. The M1999 action incorporated and blended the best attributes of the famous Mauser 1898, Winchester pre-1964, and Sako rifle actions. It did so using investment casting rather than more costly machining in order to achieve a superior action at an affordable cost.

Despite the success of the M1999 action, Rod disengaged from Montana Rifle Company to assist Mel’s widow in keeping ACRA-Bond Laminates in motion. In 2004, he formed Serengeti Rifles, Inc. and purchased ACRA-Bond Laminates. Rod partnered with Larry Tahler, an exceptional marksman and leader of U.S. Army sniper teams in Viet Nam under Colonel David Hackworth.  Together, Rod and Larry embarked on the development and building of the company destined to become one of the premier custom rifle makers in the country through dedication to several core principles: outstanding craftsmanship, technical research and development, complete customization to achieve each customer’s perfect rifle, 100% customer satisfaction, and un­paralleled customer service.

Over the next five years, Serengeti introduced an array of products and services. In addition to the proprietary ACRA-Bond lamination process now known as Stealth Lamination, Serengeti introduced the Serengeti Action, a refinement and improvement on the M1999 action that Rod had helped design and develop which eliminated the imprecision limitation of the investment casting process to yield an action of extraordinary tight, smooth, piston-like operation. The Serengeti action, which Kilimanjaro continues, provides full controlled-round feed, full-length claw extractor, three-position bolt- mounted safety, and an exceptional trigger making it one of the finest big-game/dangerous-game actions available. Serengeti also introduced numerous new stock geometry designs and rifle packages tailored to all types of hunting and bench-rest shooting, and individual shooter preferences.

In 2007, Serengeti launched an effort to build a national dealer network. This was an unfortunate mistake as it significantly increased overhead, and lowered revenue from necessary dealer discounts.  Serengeti’s outstanding craftsmanship, and full customization offering, was just not right for such an impersonal multi-tier distribution system. Just as Serengeti began to recover from this, the bottom fell out of the economy in 2008. Serengeti’s financial constraints began prolonging the delivery of its customers’ orders, and eventually, Serengeti was simply unable to fund the continued production of its customer orders.

Kilimanjaro founder Erik D. Eike was a long-time (and frequent) customer of Serengeti. He treasured the fine rifles that were handcrafted for him - both for their exceptional performance in the field, and the simple joy of admiring their beauty and elegance in between hunts. A member of the NRA, Safari Club International and the Dallas Safari Club, Erik is an avid big game hunter who has hunted extensively in Africa, Alaska, the western United States, Australia and New Zealand. As his gunsmiths well know, he is relentless in his demand for perfection, beauty and excellence in his rifles.

In 2008, recognizing the problems that Serengeti faced, Erik began a research and development project for a new flagship line of full custom rifles. Employing Serengeti’s Master Gunsmith directly, Erik undertook the production of approximately twenty experimental prototype rifles to evaluate different actions, production techniques, finish procedures and more rigorous quality assurance standards. During this time, the proprietary “Kilimanjaro Standards” production manual was created, and the Kilimanjaro Rifle was born.

In August 2009, Erik announced the launch of the new company, Kilimanjaro Rifles. Under his leadership, Kilimanjaro purchased the Serengeti name, model lines, patents and certain other assets so that Kilimanjaro could continue the fine tradition of Serengeti and Jaguar Rifles in addition to the new flag-ship Kilimanjaro Rifle. Kilimanjaro also introduced its Kilimanjaro Lever-Action Rifle and a line of new creations of historical rifles. At significant cost, Kilimanjaro undertook the completion and delivery of Serengeti’s outstanding orders. As Erik puts it, what Serengeti achieved was, “Simply too fine to allow to perish.”

Serengeti’s founders continue to serve as technical consultants to Kilimanjaro. While Kilimanjaro is administratively based in Erik’s long-time home of Honolulu, all production is performed in Kalispell, Montana under the supervision of both Erik and Kilimanjaro’s Master Gunsmith. 

Kilimanjaro introduced a number of improvements to make the Serengeti and Jaguar Rifles even better, including more stringent accuracy standards, improved blueprinting of actions, multiple testing and quality assurance examinations at various stages of production, full-barrel conditioning and load development for each rifle, a new and better “museum grade” wood finish protocol, Turkish Walnut stocks and deluxe hand checkering as standard, and other measures developed in the Kilimanjaro Standards R&D program. The Kilimanjaro Rifle, however, takes full custom hunting rifles to the highest level. 

Kilimanjaro’s philosophy is “All Custom - All the Time.” It intends each and every rifle to be unique and custom-tailored to its owner’s specifications and desires.  Kilimanjaro developed its signature phrase “When One Shot Matters” to reflect this demand for excellence on several levels:  the demand for consistent precision accuracy, the hunter’s ethical mandate to take game mercifully and quickly with one shot, and the critical need for dangerous game hunters to achieve a well-placed first shot as a matter of survival.

Kilimanjaro will have more than 20 of its rifles on display at the SCI International Convention in Reno, Nevada from January 20 to 23, 2009 in booth 1920, and at the Dallas Safari Club “First Light” show in Dallas, Texas from January 7 to10, 2009 in booths 1836/1837.

KILIMANJARO RIFLES – “The Pinnacle of Custom Crafted Rifles Is Now In Your Sights”

For More Information about Kilimanjaro Rifles contact:

Erik D. Eike
President, Kilimanjaro Rifles
707 Richards Street - Suite 201
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Toll Free: (877) 351-4440
Cell: (808) 292-4534
Fax: (808) 537-5955
Email: eike@kilimanjarorifles.com
Web: www.kilimanjarorifles.com