Today among the gun industry’s most highly sought-after commendations, the Golden Bullseye Awards were created 23 years ago as a way for the American Rifleman editors to publicly acknowledge those recent firearm and shooting product introductions that offered our readers exceptional innovation, performance and value. It is always a difficult process for our staff to determine which new guns, optics, ammunition and accessories are most worthy of accolade, and this year was no different—as each year there are numerous contenders worthy of recognition—but we eventually achieved consensus with the below slate of quality offerings.
“The Golden Bullseye Awards are our way of honoring those companies that introduced products of remarkable utility, innovation and simple excellence to shooters and hunters during the past year,“ said Mike Sanford, deputy executive director of NRA Media. “We congratulate the winners, and we are confident that shooters and hunters will receive this year‘s winning products with enthusiasm.”
In addition to annual Golden Bullseye Awards, which acknowledge the best new products across seven categories, a Pioneer Award is also presented each year to honor the exemplary achievement and cumulative body of work of an individual, or members of a family, team or partnership, who made a lasting, beneficial impact on the firearm community.
2025 Pioneer Award: Robert L. “Bob” Scott, Chairman Of The Board, Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson has been an iconic American brand since its founding in 1852, but bad management decisions in the late 1990s, primarily due to foreign ownership, would have likely toppled the great company if not for the leadership and business acumen of Robert L. “Bob” Scott. Now the chairman of the board for Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., Scott not only righted S&W’s ship during the roughest patch in company history, but he has also since steered the gunmaker back to a place of prominence within the firearm industry.
In 1987, S&W was purchased by a British company that would later cave to political pressure from the Clinton administration to endorse several gun-control initiatives—leading to a massive organic boycott that caused sales and stock prices to plummet and hundreds of employees to be laid off. Scott, who had been an S&W vice president, worked with Safe-T-Hammer to purchase the company in 2001 for $15 million. Since that time, Scott has overseen Smith & Wesson’s resurrection, spearheading efforts to introduce new and innovative firearms while also restoring the company’s pro-freedom principles and rebuilding the trust of the gun community.
“If it were not for Bob Scott, there may not be a Smith & Wesson,” said Doug Hamlin, NRA’s executive vice president and CEO. “Certainly not the thriving, healthy company of today. Thank you, Bob, for keeping this American tradition alive.”
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