Besides their innovative technology, a strong orientation to the customer is one of the strengths of aluminium extrusion press operators. These companies offer high quality, they actively seek direct contact with customers, and their advice is backed by a high level of expertise – even for individual and unusual applications. Like SAPA Deutschland, for example, which together with a customer develops high performance aluminium extrusion press profiles for air rifles for sport shooting.

Shooting clubs exist in many cities. “Shooting with an air rifle or air pistol is a very popular sport,“ says Thomas Bretschneider, director of sport development at Carl Walther GmbH. Every marksman is different, because everyone’s height, length of the arms, and strength of grip is different. So it isn’t easy to find a rifle that perfectly suits your own shooting style and needs. “We took on the challenge and developed a rifle that can be adapted to the size and shooting needs of the respective shooter," says Bretschneider.

The company SAPA Deutschland worked as partner during the two-year development and construction phase of the sport rifle Walther LG400. SAPA is responsible for the brushed aluminium sights, and also manufactures four stock components, important for making adjustments on the sports rifle. “The tooling and the milling were a real challenge,” says Jürgen Schulz, Key Account Manager for SAPA components in northern Germany. “Rifle parts are complex and must fit perfectly. A completely different set of demands compared to typical extrusion press profiles applies here.”

“We chose SAPA,” adds Thomas, “because the company possesses the necessary expertise for all steps of the process – composition of the alloy, profiling, CNC machining, anodizing, and printing.”