Category Archives: Firearm Industry

SeOPA

Posted on by

Southeastern Outdoor Press Association

SEOPA is the nation’s premier regional outdoor communicator’s organization

  • May, 1964 Founded at Fontana Village, N.C by Tennessean Evan Means
  • 1965 Treasury contained $35.26 for publication of a newsletter
  • 1973 Tom Rollins executive director
  • 1974 SEOPA boasted 95 active and 39 corporate members
  • 1976 Meetings were decreased from twice annually to once because of an increase in gasoline prices
  • 1977 SEOPA was chartered
  • 1984 SEOPA logo was redesigned to include Arkansas
  • 1985 Sharon Coe (Rushton), SEOPA’s first woman president
  • 1987 initiated the SEOPA Education Fellowship Endowment with scholarships to deserving Southern students in outdoor-related fields
  • 1988 Tom Rollins retired as executive director.
    400 members with assets of almost $20,000 and acquired a reputation as the largest, most active and progressive regional outdoor press association.
  • 1988 Carle Dunn executive director.
  • 1988 SEOPA office was moved to Zwolle, La
  • 1992 Outdoor Tables and Tales cookbook was published
  • 1992 Gail Wright succeeded Carle Dunn as executive director
  • 1992 SEOPA office was moved to Gilbert, S.C.
  • 1995 West Virginia, Missouri and Texas were added to the SEOPA area
  • membership climbed from 375 to 579
  • 1996 Gail Wright resigned and was granted honorary lifetime membership status in the organization by the board of directors
  • 1996 Stephanie E. Wise was selected to serve as executive director, and the office was moved to Sumter, S.C.
  • 1999 Lisa McDowell (Snuggs)  executive director
  • 1999 office was moved to Unionville, Tenn
  • 2001  first Southeast Outdoor Showcase debuted in Gulf Shores, Ala
  • 2002 new website was unveiled to include links to members’ sites and a color version of the newsletter
  • 2002 SEOPA moved to North Carolina
  • 2004 established the Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America Inc. (OJEFA)
    a 501(c) (3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to further education, research and network opportunities in the field of outdoor journalism for students, active outdoor journalists and outdoor journalist organizations.
  • 2005 the annual conference was canceled because of weather (Hurricane Katrina)

 

SEOPA
P.O. Box 115
Badin, NC 28009

http://www.seopa.org

NSSF

Posted on by

1961

National Shooting Sports Foundation

  • Founded in 1961
  • Sue King organized the first major “Women’s Only” Shooting Event
    1988 Ladies Charity Classic
    – American Shooting Center, Houston, TX
    – 300 women participate
  • Sue organized Ladies Charity Classic series of around the country
  • 1992 NSSF launched Womens Shooting Sports Foundation WSSF

NSSF = National Shooting Sports Foundation , national trade association for the firearms industry, based in Newtown, Connecticut. Formed in 1961, more than 8,000 members https://www.nssf.org/


“To create a better public understanding of and a more active participation in the shooting sports”
Harmon Williams (of Browning) motioned to establish the NSSF at the Second National Conference on the Shooting Sports


The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms
industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting
sports. 

NSSF has a membership of more than 8,000 manufacturers, distributors,

firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers

Warren Page

– 1960 Created the First National Conference on the Shooting Sports
– 1972 Director of National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)

 

 

 

Century International Arms

Posted on by

founded in 1961
Vermont, Florida

  • William Sucher took a Lee–Enfield rifle in trade against a typewriter he had repaired
    – he posted a newspaper to sell it and received more queries about the rifle than he had for typewriters
    – then looked for sources of surplus rifles he could sell for a profit
  • 1961 founded in St. Albans, Vermont
  • 1970s largest importer of firearms in the United States and Canada
  • 1995 moved to Boca Raton, Florida
  • 2004 moved to Delray Beach, Florida
  • 2012  US importer and distributor for Red Army Standard Ammunition

Century Arms
430 South Congress Avenue, Suite 1A
Delray Beach, FL, 33445

1-800-991-4867

centuryarms.com

Dixie Gun Works

Posted on by

founded in 1954
Union City, Tennessee

largest supplier of blackpowder shooting equipment, parts and antique guns in the world

 

  • 1931 Turner E. Kirkland began collecting guns
    – paid seventy five cents for a “dug up” 1849 Colt Pocket pistol
  • 1938 By the time Turner entered college he owned about one hundred guns
  • World War II two years in the Pacific
  • 1948 small ad in Muzzle Blasts magazine
  • Friday, April 10, 1954 arrived home from one of my jewelry selling trips to find that nearly all the guns and parts I had advertised had been sold
    – realized I just might be able to make a living at what had been a hobby
  • Dixie Gun Works started
  • 1954 Dixie Gun Works Catalog
    – 700 plus page publication
    – illustrates more than 10,000 items
  • 1955 Dixie Kentucky Rifle first production made muzzleloading rifle
  • 1955  purchased a 4000 square foot building
  • 1960 built a 12,000 square foot building
  • 1968 moved to its current location 30,000 square foot
  • 1974 added on 46,000 square feet
  • 1978 Dixie Gun Works Blackpowder Annual
    – 75,000 sent out
  • Dixie Gun Works Old Car Museum
    – 1850’s period log cabin gun shop
  • July 26, 1997 Turner Kirkland died (77)

Dixie Gun Works
1412 W Reelfoot Ave
Union City, Tennessee 38261

731 885 0440

dixiegunworks.com

NASGW

Posted on by

National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW)

since 1954

BRINGING SHOOTING SPORTS BUYERS AND SELLERS TOGETHER

The NASGW is the organizer and sponsor of the industry’s former Hunting Show, now known as the NASGW Annual Meeting/Expo Event. This annual event provides an unmatched educational, marketing and communications opportunity for the hunting and shooting sports wholesaler, manufacturer and sales professional.

  • 1953 organized as the Sporting Goods Jobbers Association
  • 1954 1st incorporated
  • 1962 name was officially changed

The NASGW serves as a liaison with other sporting goods associations, including

  • the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA)
  • The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)
  • The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation(CSF)
  • The National Rifle Association (NRA)
  • The National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses
  • The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW).

National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers
One Parkview Plaza, Suite 800
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 USA
(630) 596-9006

http://www.nasgw.org

Lipsey’s

Posted on by

formed in 1953

  • 1953 original name of the company was S & S Wholesale Sporting Good
  • 1977 purchased by Richard Lipsey
  • 1980’s Lipsey’s began concentrating full-time on its firearms distribution
  • 1993 Lipsey’s moved from downtown Baton Rouge to New Orleans
  • 2002 Laurie Lipsey Aronson took over as President
  • 2006 expanded its facilities

Camfour

Posted on by

established in 1952

  • Started in old Indian Motorcycle building in Springfield, MA
  • 1984 introduced online ordering software
  • 1998 Al Ferst sold Camfour to local investors
  • 2008 started an annual trade show

Camfour
65 Westfield Industrial Park Rd
Westfield MA 01085

413-564-2300

camfour.com

Numrich Gun Parts

Posted on by

since 1950
Kingston, New York

The World’s Largest Supplier of Gun Parts

 

  • George Numrich
  • 1950 started as Numrich Arms, a small gun shop in Westchester County, NY
  • 1960s upstairs room was called The Museum Room until the collection was donated to the West Point Museum
  • 1962 Warehouse #1 built
  • 1965 Warehouse #2 =  the original retail store
  • 1977 – 1978 manufactured barrels for the Hopkins & Allen black powder line
    –  machines originally came from Savage
  • April 1989 another new building
  • – seven warehouses
    – 1,000,000 cubic feet
    – and a manufacturing plant

Numrich Gun Parts Corporation
226 Williams Ln.
Kingston, NY 12401

866.686.7424

gunpartscorp.com

Brownells

Posted on by

200,000 square-foot
first catalog in 1947

  • 1951 closed gunsmithing shop to providing supplies to gunsmiths
  • 1964 Bob’s son Frank rejoined the company
  • 1973, Brownells moved into its first purpose-built facility
  • 1980s entry into the gun parts market.
  • 1983 Bob Chairman of the Board position, and Frank President of Brownells
  • 1991 Bob passed
  • 1997 Pete joined the company
  • 2000 Pete Vice President
  • 2008 Pete named President
  • 2010 major warehouse expansion
  • 2013 large warehouse and office facility expansion in Grinnell, Iowa

Brownells Inc.
3006 Brownells Parkway
Grinnell, Iowa 50112

1-800-741-0015

brownells.com