1970 – 1973
- co-founded by Gordon Ingram and Mitchell WerBell
- within a year both had been from the company
- 1973 stopped producing firearms
- 1975 filed for bankruptcy
Military Armament Corporation
1600 Candler Building
Atlanta, GA
Category Archives: Firearm Manufacturer
Raven Arms
1970 – 1991
Irvine, California
- 1970 established by George Jennings
- 1978 his son Bruce Jennings founded Jennings Firearms in Irvine, California
- 1982 his daughter & Jim Davis established Davis Industries in Chino, California
- 1989 his nephew Steven Jennings established Sundance Industries in Valencia, California
- one of the “Ring of Fire” Manufacturers
- November 1991, a fire destroyed the Raven Arms factory
- 1991 sold designs to Phoenix Arms
Raven Arms
RG Industries
1950s Röhm Gesellschaft founded
1970 RG Industries founded
Miami, Florida
- Rohm Gmbh in West Germany
– cheaply made and finished
– loosely based on the S&W - 1970 RG Industries founded
– 80 workers - 2012 sold an estimated $3.1 million worth of handguns
– 15,000 – 20,000 each month
– RG14 retailed for $47.50 - Imported Rohm = Saturday Night Specials
USA made RG Industries = just an inexpensive revolver (not Saturday Night Specials) - March 30, 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. with RG14
– Police Officer Thomas Delahanty was shot by John Hinckley, Jr
– Delahanty sued Röhm = suit was rejected - 2010 sold to Umarex
RG Industries
2485 Northwest 20th St
Miami, Florida
Auto Mag
1970 – 1971
Pasadena, California
- 1966 designed the Auto Mag pistol
– designed by Harry Sanford & Max Gera
– short-recoil operated pistol
– rotary bolt with locking lugs
– similar to the M16/AR-15 rifle - 1970 Harry Sanford opened Auto Mag Corporation in Pasadena, California
- 1971 .44 Auto Mag caliber
– formed by trimming the .308 Winchester or .30-06 case down to 1.30 inches - 1972 .357 AMP (.44 AMP, but is necked down)
- August 8, 1971 first pistol was shipped
– less than 3,000 pistols made - May 3, 1972 declared bankruptcy
- 1973 – 1983 company opened & closed multiple times
- 1996 Harry Sanford died
- August 2015 Walter Sanford the company & trademark to AutoMag Ltd. Corp
– in South Carolina
Dan Wesson
incorporated in 1968
Norwich, New York
- 1852 Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
- 1873 Daniel B. Wesson. Mr. Wesson purchased Mr. Smith’s interest in S&W
- April 22, 1916 Daniel B. Wesson II (born) in Springfield, Massachusetts
- 1938 – 1963 Daniel B. Wesson II worked at Smith & Wesson
- 1965 Smith & Wesson purchased by Bangor-Punta
- 1968 Dan Wesson Arms founded in Monson, Massachusetts
- 1996 moved to Norwich, New York
- 2005 bought by CZ-USA
Female CEO Alice Poluchová
Dan Wesson
65 Borden Ave.
Norwich, NY 13815
(800) 955-4486
danwessonfirearms.com
Thompson Center Arms
since 1967
New Hampshire, Massachusetts
- Warren Center developed an unusual break-action, single-shot pistol
– in his basement workshop in Rochester, New Hampshire - 1965 Warren Center joined the K.W. Thompson Tool Company
- 1967 Warren Center’s Contender pistol introduced
- 1968 name was changed to Thompson/Center Arms Company
- 1970 introduced Warren Center’s Hawken-styled black powder muzzle-loader rifle
- 1983 Encore was released
– uses a different trigger mechanism
– larger and stronger frame
– over 86 cartridges - 1992 United States v. Thompson/Center Arms Co
– Court ruled in the the rifle conversion kit did not constitute a short-barreled rifle under the National Firearms Act of 1934 - 1996 major factory fire at the Thompson/Center factory
– destroyed all tooling and parts for Scout & Patriot pistols & the Seneca rifle
– they were all discontinued - January 4, 2007, Thompson/Center was purchased by Smith & Wesson
- December 8, 2010 manufacturing was moved to Springfield, Massachusetts
Thompson Center Arms
2100 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
(866) 730-1614
tcarms.com
SIONICS
Studies In the Operational Negation of Insurgents and Counter-Subversion
founded in 1966
- 1966 founded by Mitchell WerBell
- producing firearm suppressors for the M16 and M14
- January 1968 first patents
- 1969 Gordon B. Ingram hired as chief engineer
Sionics
1655 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
- 1970 They created a manufacturing corporation called Military Armament Corporation, and merged it with Quantum and SIONICS
Charter Arms
since 1964
- 1964 founded by Douglas McClennahan
– he had previously worked for Colt, High Standard, and Sturm Ruger - 1967 David Ecker became a 50/50 partner
- The Undercover – smallest, lightest steel framed revolver with the fewest moving parts
Charter Arms
18 Brewster Lane, Shelton
Connecticut 06484
(866)-769-4867
charterfirearms.com
Century International Arms
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
ArmaLite
incorporated on October 1, 1954
California, Illinois, Arizona
- October 1, 1954 a subdivision of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation
– located in Hollywood, California
– AR-5 was adopted and designated the MA-1 Survival Rifle - 1954 Eugene Stoner became Chief Engineer
– Stoner’s patents become much of ArmaLite’s catalog - 1955 AR-10
- January 1959 trademarked AR-10 & AR-15 to Colt
- 1959 AR-7 .22 caliber survival rifle
- 1959 moved from Hollywood to Costa Mesa, California
- 1961 Stoner left to work as a consultant for Colt
- 1963 began development on the AR-18
- 1967 production of the AR-18 began
– Howa Machinery Company of Nagoya, Japan
– Howa produced 3,927 AR-180s
– between October 1970 and February 1974 - 1968 set up pilot production in Costa Mesa
– produced 1,171 AR-18s
– produced 4,018 AR-180s
– between July 1969 and June 1972 - 1973 Japanese government halted all exports of AR-18 and AR-180 rifles
- 1974 Sterling Armament Company of Dagenham, England, was licensed to produce AR180
– produced 12,362 AR-180s
– between the 1975 and 1983
– 10,946 were exported to the United States - 1983 Armalite was sold to Elisco Tool Manufacturing Company, of the Philippines
– Inventory, tooling, and machinery were sent from the U.S. plant to the Philippines
– unable to carry out the AR-18 production
– Ferdinand Marcos was overturned and went into exile - 1987 US offices closed
- 1995 sold to Mark Westrom
- 1995 Eagle was reincorporated as ArmaLite
– Eagle Arms reduced to a division of ArmaLite
– headquartered in Geneseo, Illinois - 2013 Westrom sold to Strategic Armory Corps (founded in 2011)
– AWC Silencers, Surgeon Rifles, Nexus Ammo, and McMillan Firearms - 2018 relocated to Phoenix Arizona
Armalite
6567 Santa Monica Boulevard
Hollywood, California
Strategic Armory Corps
Armalite
525 E Pinnacle Peak Rd Ste 100
Phoenix, AZ 85024
623-780-1050