13 Gun Companies that never made it

Happy Friday the 13th!

This post is about some of those companies that gave it the ol' college try but just couldn't find success.

Starting a company is never easy, starting a gun company in America after 1968 is damn near impossible. These people should be revered for they dared to do something not many are successful at.

The statistics are not good, 22% of new business fail in their first year, an additional 50% fail within their first five years. While I do not have stats specific to the gun businesses that fail, I would wager it is much higher than those numbers.

Keep in mind this is by no means a comprehensive list, just a list of ones I have written about.

So here they are in no particular order:

Alchemy Arms 2000-2006

Alchemy Arms started in Auburn Washington as a company making aftermarket parts for Glock pistols in 1988. In 1990 work began on a new hybrid pistol that would use the trigger, grip and frame safety of a 1911 pistol in a gun the size shape and design of a Glock.

It took 10 years for the gun to come to reality, in 2000 patents were filed for and January of that year it was introduced at the SHOT show.

Cost overruns, production delays, cancelled orders all combined to doom the company. In 2006 they closed up shop. I have written more about this company, click here for the rest of the story.

Steel City Arms/Desert Industries 1983-1996

Steel City Arms Company was founded in Pittsburg Pennsylvania in 1983 to make small, affordable pistols that were banned by the 1968 Gun Control Act.

The pistols were loosely based on the Walther TPH pistol.

At some point the company was reorganized as Desert Industries and relocated to Las Vegas Nevada.

After less than 200 pistols being built, the company closed up shop in 1996. You can read my full article here.

Standard Arms 1907-1914

Standard Arms was formed during a time of great changes in the firearms industry.

Gas operated firearms were fairly new, as was the smokeless powder that allowed their development. There was also a small arms race afoot in the European powers and in America. The U.S. had adopted 10 or more rifles in the 20 years prior.

Standard Arms rifles were tested by the U.S. Military and others and failed to gain acceptance. The company went under the same year the Great War started in Europe. Read the whole story here.

J. Kimball Arms 1954-1958

John Kimball sought to produce a Colt Woodsman that fired surplus .30 Carbine ammo. What he created was a mess of convoluted engineering mishaps that never really worked.

Plans also included a .22 Hornet, .38 Special and .357 Magnum versions. After a series of mishaps and production location changes only 238 Kimballs were ever produced between 1956-1958, read the whole story here.

Dornaus & Dixon 1981-1986

Many may not have heard of the company Dornaus & Dixon, but they have no doubt heard the name Bren Ten.

Officially founded in 1981 D&D Enterprises was founded with the sole purpose of making the best combat handgun ever.

Despite a lot of attention over the 10mm cartridge, a lot of help from famous gun writer Jeff Cooper and a hail mary attempt to save the gun by the owner of Voit Sporting Goods, the company failed in 1986. I have the full story elsewhere on my blog, click here to read it.

Kingston Armory 2013-2017

Kingston Armory was organized in 2013 in Liberty, New York to build M1 and M1A copies chambered in .22 LR.

The actions were based on the Ruger 10/22 platform, but with receivers cast from steel. The wood and other parts were full size and designed to match the heft of the original rifles.

In 2015 the new rifles made their debut at the SHOT show. Problems with QA and slow sales resulted in the company folding in 2017. Read the whole story here.

Norton Armament/American Arms & Ammunition 1973-1987

Founded in Mt. Clemens Michigan the early 70's by a man as mysterious as Austin Powers, Norton Armaments was a company hoping to make quality small pistols, possibly for the CIA. Their signature gun was the TP-70, based on the Budischowsky pistol.

After a name change or two (American Arms and Ammunition), reorganizations, relocations to Florida and then Utah, the company went out of business in 1987. Read the entire story here. 

Security Industries of America 1973-1978

In 1973 a small company was formed in Little Ferry New Jersey to build an affordable copy of the Smith & Wesson J frame.

The revolvers were chambered in .38 Special, but they did add a .357 version in 1975. The poor quality and low sales (only 5000 or so were built) caused the company to close their doors in 1978. Read the rest of the story here.

Whitney Arms 1954-1958

The Whitney Arms Company took its name from the gun making and Cotton Gin inventing family of Connecticut. Founded in 1954 in Hamden Connecticut to build Robert Hilberg's futuristic looking .22 pistol.

Originally called the "Wolverine", named after the University of Michigan mascot, the name was changed to "Lighting". A historically horrible distribution agreement and production issues killed the company after only a few years. Less than 14,000 of these pistols were built, making them quite collectable.

Professional Ordnance 1996-2003

This is another company that started due to a gun law, this time the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban". In 1996 an entrepreneur in Ontario California started a company to make a lightweight AR-15 pistol that would skirt the '94 AWB law. They created a very light pistol and rifle, using proprietary parts, many made from carbon fiber reinforced polymer.

Sometime during their run, the company relocated to Lake Havasu City Arizona. In 2003, with the AWB sunset on the horizon, the company went bankrupt, mostly due to their parts being brittle and prone to breakage. 

Their idea of a polymer AR was not completely lost as Bushmaster bought the rights to the Carbon 15 and continued production, with some improvements. For more on this gun and company, click here.

Auto Mag Corp 1969-1974-1982-?

The idea was to create an auto pistol that fired a .44 Magnum cartridge. While the company failed and attempts to revive it failed, it might just live on as another attempt is going strong as of this writing.

Started from the back of a Pasadena gun shop in the late '60s, Automag Corp created a new cartridge and a legendary pistol.

This gun was one of the first all stainless guns, and the first all stainless semi-auto. In 1974 the company went under, shortly after the 1st of many attempts to save the gun began. In 1982 the last of the original 44 Auto Mags was produced. Read more here.

A.J. Ordnance 1977-1978

In 1971 Frank S. Thomas decided to design a compact .45 ACP pistol, after several years they had a prototype ready. They had a local company produce their prototypes.

They named their gun "Thomas"

Production began in Covina, California in 1977, by the end of 1978 they were out of business. With only 600-700 of the Thomas produced, they are pretty rare. Read the rest of the story here.

Phillips and Rodgers 1992-1997

In the attempt to make the ultimate survival gun, Phillips and Rodgers created a great looking revolver that worked. A patented extractor/retention system held the cartridges by their rim or groove. It would fire more than a dozen different cartridges in .35 caliber (9mm, .357/.38 etc). The gun failed when it came to sales and the company closed their doors.

Read the rest of the story here.