Xtreme Machining, in Grassflat, PA, was founded in April, 2005, as a high-precision machine shop producing custom-fabricated components for glass-molding facilities, forging, electronics, thin film coating, pharmaceutical and other industries. The initial success and rapid growth of the business is largely attributable to the expertise of the company’s founder, master machinist Bob Zelenky. Raised and educated in Pennsylvania, Zelenky acquired more than 23 years of experience in machine shop operations and management before starting this own firm. From the start, Xtreme Machining was unique in combining traditional skill and cutting-edge technology to produce machined parts of any type, precisely to spec and to the customer’s timetable.

Zelenky was also an avid shooting enthusiast. Fascinated by guns since childhood, he was a hunter and long-range target shooter, competing successfully in 1,000-yard benchrest and .50-caliber matches. It was perhaps inevitable that he would turn his machining skill and capability to the production of guns and shooting accessories.

His first commercial product was a 50 Cal action, produced in May, 2005. This was followed by other rifle actions, an all-aluminum stock, rest system, and .50-caliber lathe-turned copper alloy bullets. Although his actions and rifles were well respected by the .50-caliber 1,000-yard benchrest community, Xtreme Machnining was largely unkown to the greater firearms community.

This changed in 2007, when Zelenky introduced the .338 Xtreme Tactical. More than just another long-range rifle, the .338 Xtreme Tactical was a complete weapons system. The rifle itself utilized a special oversize turnbolt action, novel barrel-making technology and a highly effective muzzle brake that allowed a minimal gun weight of only 16 pounds. The heart of the system, however, was the novel .338 Xtreme cartridge. Based on a new case having a .640” head diameter and a capacity of 161 grains of powder, the .338 Xtreme also featured a unique bore-riding lathe-turned 266-gr., .338”-diameter copper alloy bullet offering both extreme accuracy and a high ballistic coefficient (B.C.). Careful bullet, cartridge and gun design allowed the attainment of 3,350 f.p.s. and better downrange ballistics than just about any currently-available cartridge, enabling hits on targets at ranges in excess of 2,300 yards.

The .338 Xtreme Tactical created a buzz in the long-range and tactical shooting communities, with numerous articles on the system appearing in various gun magazines (see Articles page). This, in turn, increased interest in, and demand for, other Xtreme Machining products. Moreover, numerous gun companies (including Novak, Guncrafter, Nightforce—mention others) came to rely upon the company’s manufacturing capabilities to produce their products.

Today, Xtreme Machining has a wide product line including various types of turnbolt actions and rifles, semi-automatic AR-15- and AK47-style guns, barrels, scope bases, bullets, rests, and, of course, the flagship .338 Xtreme Tactical. And a host of new products are planned, including pistols, accessories, and purpose-built tactical precision rifles. Look for future announcements of these products on this site.