Alaska Focus on 907 Ammo

907 Ammo is the latest subject of the Alaska Focus blog, and it’s a story about putting down roots, building community, and making ammunition delivery as simple as ordering groceries.

In this month’s “Alaska Focus” blog, I had the pleasure of getting to know Meredith Lewis of 907 Ammo. Her father was in the military and she grew up with four sisters in the Washington, DC area. Looking for activities to do with his girls, their dad enrolled them in shooting sports. Four of the five went on to get college scholarships as competitive shooters, and Meredith’s love of shooting, hunting and the outdoors was fully cemented.

While shooting in college, Meredith met James Lewis, and they began dating. James was a competitive shooter for The United States Military Academy at West Point. They maintained a long-distance relationship throughout college, and got married when they graduated. They thought they were going to be stationed first in Germany, but as it turned out, the Army decided to send them to Alaska on short notice change and this proved to be a fortuitous turn of events.

Finding Home in Alaska

Over the next years, they moved locations many times. Seeking to find a place to put down roots, when they had the chance to move back to Alaska, they took it. James served in the Alaska National Guard, and both James and Meredith enjoyed careers in IT positions. Their experience in analyzing systems, logistics and process improvement, in addition to a life spent in shooting sports, led them to wonder why there wasn’t a business in Alaska that was able to deliver ammunition directly to a customer’s doorstep. The business model existed in the Lower 48, so they surmised it could be created in Alaska. This was the impetus for 907 Ammo.

Building Community, Not Just a Business

Going into their third year in business, Meredith is running the company, experiencing steady growth, making new connections and is finding deep satisfaction in being part of the Alaska community and helping out other businesses. She shared several examples with me and I began to understand that making these connections are as important to her as growing the bottom line.

This is a story of an intelligent, hard-working couple, who has put down roots in Alaska, built a beautiful family and are looking to enjoy a life spent in the outdoors and to build relationships with like-minded business owners. From my perspective, they are doing it right.

From the Range to the Warehouse

Fish Alaska magazine: Tell us about yourself and how you started your business.

907 Ammo: We both competed in shooting sports from young ages, eventually both shooting in college. Meredith shot for Ole Miss and James for The United States Military Academy at West Point, and we met while competing against one another. Professionally, Meredith spent 14 years in the IT industry and James served nine years between the Army in active duty and Alaska National Guard, followed by ten years in the IT industry.

We collectively have an extensive background in information technology, hunting, competition shooting, military, and years of experience consulting large companies on business-process improvements. We saw a gap here in Alaska in the sporting goods industry as we watched the major shifts in e-commerce during the COVID years.

Combining our business experience and interests in the shooting community, we were confident we could deliver this model to Alaskans; streamlining the delivery of ammo to doorsteps while offering the wide section most are only familiar with in the Lower 48.

While there are challenges in starting up a business like this, we knew it was possible. We started slowly with one pallet of ammunition which quickly turned to four and more as we improved our supply chain. Motivated to get the business off the ground and regain our garage space, we officially launched the business, moved to an Anchorage warehouse location, and have grown from only a handful of products to currently over 1,000 in our selection, growing with every client request.

Doorstep Delivery Across the State

Fish Alaska magazine: What products and services do you offer?

907 Ammo: We are the first ammunition retailer in Alaska focusing on online ordering and doorstep delivery. Our website shows a live and accurate inventory of our Anchorage warehouse at all times, and we ship orders daily across the state. For customers on the road system this means very fast delivery (typically 1- to 2 days, although many enjoy receiving their shipment within 24 hours of order) and we work with many different Alaska-based carriers to deliver off the road system as well. We carry several ammunition brands exclusively, including Bone Frog Ammunition, Super Vel, Black Hills Ammunition, and we are a primary retail partner of Alaska’s 49th Cartridge Company.

Fish Alaska magazine: Who are your customers?

907 Ammo: Alaskans who love supporting small businesses, and any Alaskans with an ammunition need: sportsmen, competition shooters, law enforcement, backcountry hikers, hunters, security companies, and regular Alaskans who want to be able to protect themselves and their homes. We have something for everybody, and right now we are exclusively serving the Alaskan market.

Safety First, Community Always

Fish Alaska magazine: What are your company’s core values?  

907 Ammo: Safety and responsibility are two core values. We believe strongly in supporting youth shooting sports like the ones we grew up in, and youth education that promotes the safe and responsible use of firearms. We have partnered with many shooting schools and ranges to provide ammunition for classes and events at steep discounts to further encourage proper firearm safety even from a young age. Service and community are also strong values for us. We are a locally owned and veteran-owned company, and we believe in giving back to the community, providing high quality, reliable, and trustworthy products and services. We are your neighbor and we strive to treat each of our customers that way while tailoring our product selection to the specific needs of our state at competitive prices.

Growing with Alaska

Fish Alaska magazine: Where do you see the company in five years?

907 Ammo: As we all know, there is an overall trend towards online sales of all kinds, doorstep deliveries, convenience and fast service in general. We expect our model to catch on even more widely within the state as we are filling what has historically been a gap in the industry for Alaskans. We hope to be every Alaskan’s first choice for ammunition, and along with that, we hope to expand and streamline our bush-sales capabilities even further.

We’re already partnering with numerous other local businesses including ranges, shooting schools, nonprofit organizations, other manufacturers of complementary products and other service providers, local influencers, and more – it is Alaskans supporting Alaskans—and we’re looking forward to those partnerships flourishing.

We’re constantly growing our selection of products, and we regularly take into consideration customer input and requests as we grow our inventory; in five year’s time our selection will be even more comprehensive and tailored to Alaskans’ needs. Most importantly to us, is that through the support of this community we will be able to increase our support to shooting sports and education across the state as we continue to bring new products and launch new services.

Marcus Weiner

About the Author Marcus Weiner

Marcus Weiner is the founder and Publisher of Fish Alaska and Hunt Alaska magazines. Marcus has decades of experience fishing and hunting all over Alaska. In addition to managing the editorial departments for both publications, Marcus is a regular feature writer for the magazines and content provider for the websites. Check out Marcus’s YouTube Series “The Jig Life” on the Fish Alaska YouTube Channel.

For Marcus Weiner’s full bio, read more.