From the United States Marine Corps to Cobalt Kinetics
If the AR15 is America’s Rifle, then Craig Fisher is the go-to armorer in Southern Utah.
“I could build you an AR with my eyes closed,” says Fish, as he prefers to be called.
He has a lot of experience with the platform: The M16A2, A4 and M4 during his 20 years in the Marine Corps. When he joined in 1989—right out of high school—the rifles had been working hard to overcome their bad reputation.
“If you talk to vintage Vietnam veterans, they had a negative appreciation of the M16,” Fish says. “They were generally told they didn’t have to clean them,” which, as all shooters know, isn’t the best advice.
“But it was not the gun so much as the ammo,” Fish continues. “Contractors went cheap on the gunpowder. The moisture would turn it into paste if the rounds got anywhere near wet.”
Now, Fish would bet his life on the ARs he builds as an armorer at Cobalt Kinetics. He also remembers his updated Marine Corps training.
“If you clean and maintain your gun, reliability is not an issue,” he says. “In case I need it in an emergency, it will run.”
Fish even developed a fondness for AK47s, but it took a while.
“When I was in the Marine Corps, I thought they were loose, rattly pieces of sh—,” he says. “Then I started playing with the more-expensive ones.”
Now, he owns four, including two from Meridian Defense.
“I like ‘em a lot,” Fish adds. “They run good, shoot well and they’re fun.”
Though no one would confuse Mikhail Kalashnikov’s invention with a precision rifle, firearms are like golf clubs: You need a bunch of them to make different shots. Fish has assisted in long-range shooting classes, and his wry sense of humor is perfect as he describes the addiction.
“As soon as you hear that steel at 1,000 yards, it’s like, ‘Take my money. What kind of gun do I need?’
“It’s amazing…no, it’s not amazing. It’s terrible.”
Before he joined Cobalt in 2023, Fish sold and worked on guns at Sportsman’s Warehouse and Modern Warriors. But he’s especially passionate about the past, and the sacrifices of his brethren in the Corps and elsewhere to defend freedom.
One day, that tradition clashed with a customer’s request. The misguided soul had the Arisaka rifle that his grandfather brought back from Iwo Jima—complete with the year and his initials carved into the stock—and asked Fish to refurbish it.
“‘What is wrong with you?’” Fish remembers asking. He’s agitated all over again, reliving the encounter. “‘You can’t ruin that. Get that out of here before I take it from you.’”
Then his voice softens. “That’s a centerpiece for the family to look at for generations, and stories to be told. That’s a piece of military history.”
By Kevin Foster Cox
