Category Archives: Resources

Sturm, Ruger & Co

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founded in 1949
Connecticut, Arizona, North Carolina

Ruger is currently America’s largest firearm manufacturer

 second largest handgun manufacturer after Smith & Wesson

second largest rifle manufacturer after Remington

 

  • 1949 founded by Alexander McCormick Sturm and William B. Ruger in Southport, Connecticut
  • Rugers first pistol, serial Number 8, was “hand delivered” to Warren Page
  • Oct. 6, 1949 first shipment of pistols
  • 1,138 pistols produced and shipped by end of 1949
  • November 1951 Alexander Sturm (28) died unexpectedly
    – Bill switched the company eagle logo from red to black from then on
  • 1953 first single action revolver
  • 1960s rifles were added
  • 1969 publicly traded
  • 1980s Opened the Prescott, Arizona factory to manufacture semi-auto pistols
  • 2000 Bill Ruger retired
  • Bill Ruger passed
  • 2006 Bill Ruger, Jr. retired
  • 2008  LCP semi-automatic pistol
  • 2013 Factory in Mayodan, North Carolina
    – 24-year old vacant yarn plant
    – built in 1989 and has over 194,000 sq. feet
  • 2018 Bill Ruger, Jr., passed
  • 700 variations of more than 40 product lines
  • the only American firearms company that is not as a part of a parent company

Arms Makers for Responsible Citizens

Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc
411 Sunapee Street
Newport, NH 03773

Telephone: 336-949-5200

Massad Ayoob

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July 20, 1948 

  • 3rd Generation Armed Citizen
  • 1971 – Began Police Work
  • 1972 – Began Instruction
  • 1980 – In the Gravest Extreme published
  • 1981 – Founded Lethal Force Institute 
  • 1982 – 2009 – Lethal Force Institute
  • 1982 – Hit the white part published
  • 1983 – The Truth About Self Protection published
  • 1984 – Stressfire published
  • 1986 – Gun-Proof Your Children / Massad Ayoob’s Handgun Primer published
  • 1986 – Fundamentals of Modern Police Impact Weapons published
  • 1987 – The semiautomatic pistol in police service and self-defense published
  • 1992 – Stressfire II published
  • 1998 Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year Award
  • 2004 – Ayoob Files published
  • 2004 – The gun digest book of Sig-Sauer published
  • 2007 – The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery published
  • 2008 – The gun digest book of concealed carry published
  • 2008 The Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network
  • 2009 – Massad Ayoob Group
  • 2010 – Greatest handguns of the world published
  • 2011 – COMBAT SHOOTING with Massad Ayoob published
  • 2014 – Deadly Force – Understanding Your Right to Self Defense published

Massad Ayoob‘s school
https://MassadAyoobGroup.com

Massad Ayoob on Guns – Backwoods Home Magazine


https://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/MassadAyoob/

Massad Ayoob, Author at Gun Digest

https://gundigest.com/author/massad-ayoob

Louis Awerbuck

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January 27, 1948 – June 24, 2014 (66)

  • Born in South Africa
  • 1st Special Services Battalion – South African Defence Force
  • Disciple of Col. Jeff Cooper
  • Chief Rangemaster under at Gunsite
    – Louis came to Gunsite to take a class, and Jeff Cooper was very impressed with him. Cooper eventually sponsored him for citizenship and hired him. Louis was the COO (ops officer) at Gunsite
  • Adjunct instructor for the U.S. Marine Corps
  • Adjunct instructor for Department of Energy
  • One of 12 “Shooting Masters who hold a Doctorate in Firearms“
  • May 2010 “The Final Weapon.” – Black Belt magazine 
  • Column in SWAT magazine “Training and Tactics”  on page 98
  • 1987 started Yavapai Firearms Academy Ltd. in Prescott Valley, AZ
  • 1999 wrote “Tactical Reality”
  • 2013 wrote “Plowshares into Swords.”
  • 2018 – “More Tactical Reality”
  • 2018 – Hit or Myth: An Analysis of Target Systems for Practical Training in Defensive Shooting

Bruce Nelson

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1948 – 1995

  • born on Jan 3. 1948 in Duluth Minnesota
  • became an NRA member when he was seven years old
  • 1954 worked for John Bianchi in Monrovia Ca
  • shot in the Southwest Pistol League
  • 1969, he became the fourth member of the Fillmore (California) Police Department
  • California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement
  • 1975 created the CDOJ Advanced Training Officer Survival Program
  • 1976 one of the 40 founding members of the International Practical Shooting Confederation
    – holster committee w/ Michael Harries
  • 1976 second place in the I.P.S.C. Columbia Conference Match
  • 1977 I.P.S.C. Southwest United States Champion
  • 1984 wife Sandra Froman, “Sandy”
    – NRA president 2005 – 2007
  • 1985 Bruce Nelson Combat Leather stated in Tucson, AZ
  • February 15th 1995 Bruce passed

http://brucenelson.com/

Paxton Quigley

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Coming from a liberal, mid-western, anti-gun background, Paxton Quigley made an about-face when her best friend was raped. She vowed not to let it happen to her. She bought a gun and became an expert on self-defense. Her first book Armed & Female was a best seller. She became a spokesperson for Smith & Wesson and a firearms instructor.

  • graduate of Northwestern University in Communications
  • Masters Degree in Anthropology from the University of Chicago
  • 1968 presidential-campaign staff of Senator Robert Kennedy
  • Helped create the National Committee for Handgun Control
  • wrote a political science text- book
  • wrote a cartoon book on pregnancy for non-English speakers
  • director of community relations for Playboy Enterprises
  • a close friend was raped at home 10 minutes before police answered her emergency call for help
  • 1989 author “Armed & Female.”
  • as a firearms instructor, has taught 7,000 women how to shoot a handgun for self-defense
  • April 27, 1995 author “Not an Easy Target: Paxton Quigley’s Self-Protection for Women“
  • August 30, 2005 author “Stayin’ Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World”
  • September 15, 2010 author “Armed &  Female: Taking Control“
  • spokesperson for Smith & Wesson
  • was Yoko Ono’s  bodyguard
  • has appeared on more than 300 TV and radio shows
  • hosts a radio show called “Cannabis Healing With Paxton Quigley,”

She trained at

  • Executive Security International
  • Lethal Force Institute
  • Gunsite Academy



Nosler

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began in 1948
in Bend, Oregon

“Quality First”

 

  • April 4, 1913 John Amos Nosler was born
  • 1946 unsuccessful moose hunt inspired Nosler to develop a new bullet design
  • Nosler Partition bullets used a specially designed jacket enclosing two separate lead alloy cores
  • 1948 Nosler began to sell the partition bullets commercially, forming Nosler Partition Bullet Co in in Ashland, Oregon
  • 1958 moved to 6,000 sq. ft. building in Bend, Oregon
  • 1963 Norma became Nosler’s first commercial loader.
  • 1969 Nosler Partition Bullet Co. became Nosler Bullets, Inc.
  • 1974 Federal Cartridge Company commercially loaded Nosler bullets for the first time
  • 1976 Reloading Guide #1 was released
  • 1981 Reloading Guide #2 was released
  • 1982 moved to Bend, Oregon
  • 1988 John Nosler sold the production facilities to his son
  • 1989 Reloading Guide #3 was released
  • 1990 Nosler Bullets, Inc. became Nosler, Inc
  • 2002 Reloading Guide #5 was released.
  • October 10, 2010 John Nosler died (97)
  • 2011 Nosler gains ISO 9001: 2008 certification
  • 2012 Bob Nosler elected to NRA Board of Directors
  • 2013 Nosler® Defense Ammunition was introduced
  • 2014 M48 Patriot and Heritage rifles introduced
  • 2020 Nosler Rifles production moves to Redmond, Oregon

Nosler
107 SW Columbia St
Bend, Oregon

1-800-285-3701

nosler.com

Hodgdon

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1947
Shawnee, Kansas

  • Bruce drafted into service during World War II
    – Navy aerial gunnery instructor
    – used skeet to teach his students about the lead required to hit targets
    –  loaded shotshells each night so he could teach class the next day
  • 1947 started by Bruce and Amy Hodgdon
  •  first surplus powder offering after World War II
    – government sold him surplus 4895 gunpowder
  • Nov 1947 first ad selling surplus powder in American Rifleman magazine
  • 1947 – brought surplus powder to market
    – as Hodgdon H4895
  • acquired the IMR®
  • acquired Goex®
  • licenses the Winchester® Smokeless
  • supplier of gunpowder and blackpowder
    – handloading and muzzleloading enthusiasts

6430 Vista Drive
Shawnee, KS 66218

(913) 362-9455

Hodgdon.com

Stephen P Halbrook

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 Sept 12, 1947

  • author and lawyer
  • 1969 B.S. Business Florida State University
  • 1972 PhD in philosophy
  • 1978 attorney specializing in civil litigation and criminal defense
  • published several books and dozens of articles on:
    – the history of the right to bear arms
    – the historical background of the Second Amendment
    – modern gun control, Nazi gun control policies during World War II
    – Switzerland’s policy of armed neutrality during World War II
  • 1981 in the George Mason University Law Review
    – the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to arms
    – the 14th Amendment intended to make that 2nd Amendment enforceable against the states
  • 1984 That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right
  • 1984 Defectless Firearms Litigation
  • 1986 What the Framers Intended: A Linguistic Analysis of the Right to “Bear Arms“
  • 1989 A Right to Bear Arms: State and Federal Bills of Rights and Constitutional Guarantees
  • 1991 The Right of the People or the Power of the State: Bearing Arms, Arming Militias, and the Second Amendment
  • 1994 NRA and Law Enforcement Opposition to the Brady Act: From Congress to the District Courts
  • 1998 Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms, 1866-1876 
  • 2006 St. George Tucker’s Second Amendment: Deconstructing “The True Palladium of Liberty”
  • 2008 The Founder’s Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms
  • 2008 Arms in the Hands of Jews Are a Danger to Public Safety: Nazism, Firearm Registration, and the Night of the Broken Glass
  • 2014 David & Goliath Award from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership

Alan Gottlieb

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May 2, 1947

 

 

Brownells

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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