founded in 1985
Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services (DPMS)
- 1985 founded in Osseo, Minnesota
manufactured M203, M14 and M16 parts
U.S. military contracts - 1990s moved to Becker, Minnesota
- 2004 moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota
- 2004–2007 doubled its revenue & size
- 2007 named one of The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s
“50 fastest-growing privately held companies” - December 14, 2007 purchased by Freedom Group
- 2014 production moved to Remington’s facility in Huntsville, Alabama
DPMS Panther Arms
Huntsville, Alabama
About DPMS Panther Arms
DPMS stands for Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services. Randy Luth founded it in 1985 in Osseo, Minnesota, as a precision machine shop making M203, M14 and M16 parts for U.S. military contracts. In the late 1990s the company moved to Becker, Minnesota. There it sold 1911 and AR-15 parts and accessories and then began building complete AR-15 style rifles under the Panther Arms name. It moved to St. Cloud in 2004, and in those years it became one of the best known AR makers, especially for .308-class rifles.
The Panther LR-308 won Shooting Illustrated’s Golden Bullseye “Rifle of the Year” award in 2005, and the LR-308AP4 won American Rifleman’s Golden Bullseye “Rifle of the Year” in 2006. Those awards helped make the large-frame AR a common choice for hunting and target shooting. Freedom Group, Remington’s parent, bought DPMS on December 14, 2007. In 2014 production moved to Remington’s plant in Huntsville, Alabama, and the St. Cloud plant closed. During Remington’s 2020 bankruptcy, JJE Capital Holdings bought the DPMS brand on September 29, 2020.
Key Facts
- 1985: Founded by Randy Luth in Osseo, Minnesota
- 2004: Moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota
- 2005: Panther LR-308 named Shooting Illustrated Golden Bullseye Rifle of the Year
- December 14, 2007: Acquired by Freedom Group
- 2014: Production moved to Huntsville, Alabama
- September 29, 2020: Brand bought by JJE Capital Holdings in the Remington bankruptcy
Sources
Profiles on Minuteman University.com are editorial content compiled from public sources. Inclusion does not imply endorsement of, sponsorship by, or affiliation with this site or the Gun Websites Firearms Network. Corrections and removal requests are welcome through Contact Us.