Ljutic

Ljutic Industries was founded in 1959 in Reno, Nevada by Al Ljutic and his wife Nadine, using a $500,000 settlement from Winchester Repeating Arms Company following Winchester's use of a Ljutic design. Al Ljutic was a renaissance man - a California native of Croatian heritage who was a rifle maker, competition rifle shooter, and heavyweight boxing champion. He was a member of the ill-fated 1940 US Olympic Team as a rifle competitor, but World War II cancelled the Games. In 1955, a friend invited Al trap shooting; realizing he didn't own a trap gun, he designed and built one by day's end - the template for the legendary Space Gun. In 1964, a fire relocated the company to Yakima, Washington. Their friendship with Green Bay Packer Dan Orlich helped establish Ljutic's reputation - Orlich shot over one million rounds through Ljutic #1, changing the firing pin once. From the 1960s to early 1980s, the Mono Gun was America's best-selling luxury trap gun. Though production peaked at 340 shotguns per year in the early 1980s before losing ground to Perazzi and Krieghoff, Ljutic remains legendary for American trap shooting excellence.