Knouff: The Case Of The Pampered Gun Airway Hights Manufacturer Is Nationally Known As Supplier Of Aluminum Gun Cases

When 17-year-old Kim Rhode bagged America’s only Olympic gold medal in trap shooting last summer, she carried home the award around her neck. But her gun fit snugly into an aluminum carrying case made in Airway Heights.

Patronized by sharp-shooters across the country, the Spokane owners of Knouff & Knouff Inc. handle more cases than Perry Mason.

Bob Knouff and his son, Brad, own one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of fancy, durable firearms cases. Yet it’s a virtually invisible local company that’s capitalized on a surge in firearms sales in recent years.

The Knouffs supply the U.S. Shooting Team, the USA Biathlon Team and hundreds of hunters with the metal boxes that carry high-priced guns safely through airport baggage handlers and along untamed safari trails.

“We have the firearms industry covered,” said Bob Knouff, who brought his company from Columbus, Ohio, in 1985.

Knouff & Knouff also sells its foam-lined, riveted shipping cases for computers, medical equipment and just about anything that people don’t want to break or get damaged on the road. Gun Tests, an independent product testing magazine, found that raw eggs placed inside a Knouff & Knouff case wouldn’t break until a 50-pound bucket was dropped on the case from a height of 10 feet.

Located in an unmarked building a block off U.S. Highway 2, Knouff & Knouff sells no merchandise to walk-in customers. It markets its products through 8,500 distributors and catalogs. Less than 1 percent of the company’s $1 million to $2 million in annual sales comes from Spokane, Bob Knouff said.

Knouff & Knouff markets its products under the trade names Impact Case Co. or KK Air International. The company also builds cases under the name brands of catalog companies L.L. Bean and Cabela’s.

A typical Knouff & Knouff rifle case sells for $200 to $300. But it may carry a gun that’s worth $30,000, Knouff said.

“For every 200 hunters, there might be one that’s a customer,” he said. “It’s just a box, but it’s a better box.”

Among Knouff & Knouff’s other specialty products are indestructible fee collection boxes for the National Parks Service and self-contained fish cleaning stations for public fishing holes.

The company also sells dock cleats for tying up boats and industrial pontoons.

The collection boxes, one of the company’s first products, are constructed with double-thick stainless steel to survive vandalism and attempted thefts. One man used a torch to rob a collection box, Brad Knouff said, but when he finally got to the money, it had burned up.

Expanding last summer into a new 10,000-square-foot building, the Knouffs expect to add another five people to their staff as they develop new products and markets.

They hope to arrange a deal to export firearms case components and have them assembled overseas.

“We don’t produce anything that can’t carry its own weight,” Bob Knouff said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo