About Us
Traditional Bench Work. Measured by Hand.
Popoff Gunmakers is a private workshop led by Alexander Popoff, a gunsmith and gunmaker with more than twenty years of hands-on experience in traditional rifle work, restoration, repair, and custom gunmaking.
Every project is approached individually — with attention to mechanical integrity, fit, finish, and the long-term life of the rifle. This is not factory work. It is careful bench work: measured, deliberate, and built on experience.
Alexander Popoff
Alexander Popoff is a gunsmith and gunmaker specializing in traditional rifle work, restoration, repair, stock work, metal fitting, sight work, and custom projects.
His path into the craft did not begin with a shortcut. It began at the bench — through years of practical work, careful observation, and learning directly from experienced craftsmen. Over time, that hands-on foundation became the center of his professional life: understanding how a rifle is built, how it wears, how it fails, and how it can be brought back into proper condition with patience, judgment, and skill.
Before establishing Popoff Gunmakers, Alexander spent years working in professional gunmaking and gunsmithing environments in both Europe and Canada. His Canadian experience includes work with respected gunmaker Ralf Martini, where he continued to deepen his understanding of traditional rifle work, custom gunmaking, restoration, and the careful standards required in fine sporting arms.
This background gave him a broad foundation in practical bench work — from working rifles used in the field to refined sporting arms requiring patience, judgment, and precise hand skills.
Alexander’s work covers a wide range of traditional gunsmithing skills, including stock repair and restoration, metal fitting, mechanical repair, action work, trigger tuning, sight work, soldering, machining, fit and finish, and the careful making or correction of custom parts.
His approach is not based on speed or volume. It is based on understanding the individual rifle in front of him and choosing the right method for that particular piece.
Our Story
Popoff Gunmakers grew from a lifelong commitment to traditional bench work.
For Alexander Popoff, gunsmithing has always been more than mechanical repair. It is the meeting point of metal, wood, geometry, judgment, and patience. A rifle is never just a collection of parts. It has a purpose, a history, and a standard it must return to.
Over more than twenty years at the bench, Alexander has worked through the full cycle of rifle work — from repair and restoration to custom fitting, stock work, machining, metalwork, sight correction, and final finish.
That experience shaped the foundation of Popoff Gunmakers: a private workshop where each project is handled carefully, directly, and with respect for the craft.
The work is intentionally small-scale. There is no production line and no rushed process. Each rifle is evaluated as its own project, with attention to what it needs, what should be preserved, and what must be corrected for the work to be right.
The standard is quiet, but firm: measure carefully, work honestly, and leave the rifle better than it was found.
The Work
Popoff Gunmakers focuses on careful, traditional work for fine rifles and sporting arms.
Projects may include restoration, repair, stock work, metal and action work, sight correction, fitting, refinishing, and custom components. Some rifles come to the bench as working field pieces. Others arrive as heirlooms, unfinished projects, or fine sporting arms that require careful restoration and judgment.
Every project begins with understanding the rifle: its condition, its history, its intended use, and the limits of what should be changed.
Good gunsmithing is not only about what can be done. It is also about knowing what should not be done. Unnecessary intervention can take away character, history, and value. Rushed work can create problems that are difficult or impossible to correct.
The Workshop Standard
Traditional bench work depends on patience.
There are no shortcuts in fitting metal to wood, correcting sight geometry, restoring a stock, tuning mechanical parts, or making careful adjustments to an existing rifle. Every cut, measurement, and correction has consequences.
At Popoff Gunmakers, the work is done with a clear standard: slow down where the work requires it, measure before removing material, and treat every rifle as an individual project.
This standard applies whether the work is small or complex. A sight correction, a stock repair, a trigger adjustment, or a full restoration all require the same discipline at the bench.
Good work should not look forced. When done properly, it feels natural to the rifle.
Philosophy
A rifle carries more than its mechanical function.
It may carry field history, family memory, personal investment, or the expectations of a future custom build. For that reason, every project deserves careful judgment before the work begins.
Alexander believes that true craftsmanship is not only the ability to shape, repair, or correct. It is the discipline to stop before the mistake is made. That means respecting original lines, preserving integrity where possible, and choosing solutions that serve the rifle rather than the ego of the maker.
The best work is often quiet. It does not shout for attention. It simply feels right in the hands, functions as it should, and stands up over time.
"A rifle remembers every hand that worked on it. Our responsibility is to leave it better than we found it."
— ALEXANDER POPOFF