Jim’s passion for guns came from his father, Jerry, who was a gunsmith when Jim was growing up. After high school, Jim attended Trinidad State Junior College in Colorado. He completed his degree in Gunsmithing in 1984. Afterward, he served a year apprenticeship in Kalispell, MT under three well known gun makers. In ’86, he went on his own to do contract work for Champlin Firearms in Enid, OK. While he was building his clientele, he met an English gunsmith, Jack Rowe, who fostered his desire to learn about shotguns. At which time he began competing in sporting clay competitions. A few years later, he moved to Kansas and started to focus more on shotgun stocks and now specializes in competition and hunting stocks. He has built a clientele of shooters from around the world. Now he travels and sets up shop at a few select locations a year building pattern stocks for his clientele. Currently, he is located outside Wichita, Kansas.

Dan served for many years in the US Army as a shooting instructor for the US Army Marksmanship Unit. Carlisle competed at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, with a bronze medal in trap in 1984, and shooting both trap and skeet at the 1988 Seoul Games. He was a seven-time gold medalist at the Pan American Games, winning the individual trap title in 1975, 1983, and 1987. Dan won the 1982 World Championships in skeet shooting, but won more titles in trap. He was a six-time US Champion in trap, and in 1985-86, won both US titles in trap and skeet. In civilian life, he continued as a shooting instructor at the Gold Medal Shooting Academy. Dan was inducted into the US Army Marksmanship Unit Hall of Fame in 2008. He was the USA coach for trap shooting at the 2008 Olympics.