G&A Online Editors - August 16, 2012

Entrepreneur's Switch-Barrel Sniper Rifle Appears in 'The Bourne Legacy'

Isn't it every gun fanatic's dream to build a custom rifle ultimately made famous when it appears in a blockbuster action film?

That's the dream being lived out by one California firearms entrepreneur. According to Upstart Business Journal, the takedown sniper rifle used in The Bourne Legacy, the Nemesis Arms Vanquish, was in fact designed by a former sheriff's deputy turned entrepreneur.

Dan Ives, a former deputy for the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department in California, designed the switch-barrel bolt-action used by the character Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner.

"We had a dream of designing the ultimate lightweight and tactically definitive weapon," Ives told The (San Bernardino) Sun. "We came up with the Vanquish. ... It has a mono-chasis that appears stark but is actually so stable, robust and precisely machined it moves the rifleman into the 21st century. This weapon is the finest bolt-action rifle I've ever fired, and I'm not just saying that because I designed and built it."

With a five-round detachable magazine, the Vanquish can be mixed and matched between calibers, including .300 WSM, .338 Federal, .308 Winchester, .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor and .243 Winchester. The rifle can also be broken down in under a minute and stored in a specialized backpack, making it a perfect hunting tool, Ives said.

For the most part, Ives said, the rifle is built from scratch in his small shop in Calimesa, Calif., though some parts need to be ordered from a third party.

"We take this block of steel and put it into a water-jet machine that uses the force pressure of water to cut out the frame of the upper receiver," Ives told The Sun. "There are parts we have to order but, for the most part, all of the design and build is done here."

In addition, Ives said, foreign military forces are in testing phases for bulk purchase of the rifle.

In the meantime, Ives and his crew are proud of the attention the rifle has received, plugging its appearance in The Bourne Legacy on the Nemesis Arms website, where the Vanquish prices around $4,450.

Check out this video the Nemesis Arms Vanquish out in the field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7GIDQ9V-uw

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