Tag Archives: New Hampshire

Heckler & Koch

Posted on by

HK USA started 2004
Virginia, New Hampshire, Georgia

  • 1948, three former Mauser engineers, Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch, and Alex Seidel, salvaged machine tools and started in the vacant Mauser factory
  • December 28, 1949 changed name to Heckler & Koch GmbH
  • 1956 G3 battle rifle
  • 1969 as the MP5
  • 1974 – diversified
    – Defense and Law Enforcement
    – Hunting and Sports
  • 2004 – HK416
  • 2005 – Heckler & Koch Defense Inc
    – U.S. affiliate of Heckler & Koch
    – Sterling, Virginia
  • 2007 – new facility in Ashburn, Virginia
  • 2008 – HK begins to build pistols in the USA
    – HK45 first HK officially ‘Made in the USA’
  • 2008 Newington, New Hampshire factory opened
    – 70,000 square foot
    – to build HK MR556 and HK MR762
  • locations in
    –  Ashburn, Virginia
    – Newington, New Hampshire
    – Columbus, Georgia
  • 2017 Closed Newington and moved to Georgia
    – 50,000 square-foot

SIG Sauer

Posted on by

 founded in 1985
Virginia, New Hampshire

Old World Sig

  •  founded in 1853 in
    – Friedrich Peyer im Hof (1817–1900)
    – Heinrich Moser (1805-1874)
    – Johann Conrad Neher (1818-1877)
  • 1860 awarded contract to produce 30,000 Prelaz-Burnand rifles
  • 1860 company name was changed to Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft
    (SIG, German for “Swiss Industrial Company”)
  • 1947 SIG P210 pistol was developed
    – single-action semi-automatic
  • 1949 adopted by the Swiss military as “Pistole 49”
  • 1970s SIG purchased J. P. Sauer and Sohn
    – renamed  SIG Sauer
  • 1977 – 1980 Browning BDA, amodified SIG Sauer P220 design was produced for the Browning Arms
    –  the first SIG Sauer P220 type sold in the US
  • Swiss law limits the ability of Swiss companies to export firearms
    – have to use a foreign partner

SIG in the USA

  • January 1985 established SIGARMS, in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia
    – to import the P220 and P230 models into the US
  • 1987 moved to a larger facility in Herndon, Virginia
    – P225, P226 and P228
  • 1990 moved to Exeter, New Hampshire
  • 1992 production began on the P229
  • 1996 SIG Sauer Academy in Epping, New Hampshire
  • 2000 became known as Swiss Arms
    – still using the SIG Sauer brand
  • 2007, SIGARMS changed its name to SIG Sauer Inc
  • Sig 556
  • 2014 new corporate headquarter and production facility in Newington, New Hampshire
    – 206,000-square-foot
  • 2015 expanded to include suppressors, optics, ammo and airguns
  • January 2017 awarded US Army contract for the P320
  • July 12, 2018 Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) used the SIG SAUER P320
  • 2019 Swiss Arms was renamed SIG SAUER AG
  •  one-third of law enforcement in the United States use SIG firearms
  • June 4, 2020 closing factory Eckernförde, Germany

SIG SAUER, Inc.
72 Pease Boulevard
Newington, NH 03801

603-610-3000

sigsauer.com

Thompson Center Arms

Posted on by

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