Monthly Archives: January 1979

Magnum Research

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founded in 1979
Minnesota, Pennsylvania

  • 1979 Magnum Research’s founders, Jim Skildum and John Risdall in Pillager, MN
  • January 1983 filed a US patent for a gas-actuated pistol
  • 1985 – 1995 pistols were manufactured by Israel Military Industries (IMI)
  • 1995 – 1998  manufactured by Saco Defense in Saco, Maine
  • 1998 – 2009 manufactured by Israel again
    – 2005 IMI was privatized and renamed Israel Weapon Industries (IWI)
  • 2009 manufactured in Pillager, Minnesota
  • June 2010 purchased by Kahr Arms
  • 2015 moved to Pennsylvania
    –  620-acre
    – 40,000 square foot

Magnum Research
12602 33rd Avenue SW
Pillager, MN 56473

 

Kimber Manufacturing

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founded in 1979

  • 1950s Jack Warne started Sporting Arms (Sportco) in Adelaide, South Australia
  • 1968 Omark Industries purchased Sporting Arms
  • 1968 Jack Warne moved to Oregon
  • 1979 founded as “Kimber of Oregon” by Jack Warne in Clackamas, Oregon
    – accurate .22 long rifle caliber rifles
  • second manufacturing plant in Colton, Oregon
  • 1989, Kimber of Oregon sold to WTD Industries, Inc (Bruce Engel)
    – later went bankrupt
    – Kimber of Oregon’s tooling ended up in a Portland junkyard
  • 1990 Dan Cooper (fomer Kimber employee) founded Cooper Firearms of Montana
  • February 1991 Jack Warne founded the Warne Manufacturing Company
    – manufactured new rifle scope mounting system
  • Mid 1990s  Greg Warne & Les Edelman purchased the original tooling and partnered to found Kimber of America
    – Edelman forced Greg Warne out
  • 1996? – Kimber mves to Yonkers, New York
  • 2002 LAPD SWAT chose a Custom TLE II as standard issue
  • 2019 moved from Yonkers, NY to Troy, Alabama