Lehigh Defense will join other Wilson Combat-owned companies Chip McCormick Custom, Circle WC Ranch, Khumba Bush Camp, Scattergun Technologies, Wilson Custom Ammunition, and Wilson Combat to expand the group’s presence in the firearms and hunting marketplace.
Lehigh Design, originally founded by Dave Fricke, later expanded to Lehigh Defense with the addition of Pete Vogel and Mike Cyrus and has been designing and manufacturing solid brass and copper bullets since 2004.
In 2009, Lehigh started working with Black Hills Ammunition in developing military projectile designs. Years of collaboration later, the Fluid Transfer Monolithic design culminated with the release of the Black Hills Honey Badger line. Another patented design is the Maximum Expansion 300 Blackout subsonic bullet used by the U.S. and many NATO special operations groups worldwide.
Lehigh Defense currently operates two manufacturing plants, one in Pennsylvania and one in South Dakota. Once a new purpose-built facility in northeast Texas is completed in Q3 2022, some operations will begin the move to Texas. There are immediate plans to increase production and some products are already in production in Arkansas at the Wilson Combat facility to increase production capacity. Wilson said Lehigh will have a substantial increase in manufacturing capacity and a state-of-the-art testing facility once the Texas plant is operational.
Dave Fricke will retain minority ownership and continue to work with Lehigh for several years into the future.
