Companies

Have you heard the rumors for the past few years? Since at least 2021, there has been Internet chatter that the National Firearms Museum is selling off firearms from its collections. Now, the National Firearms Museum has issued a statement that says this isn’t the case.

Thompson/Center Arms is moving! After former T/C owner Gregg Ritz bought the company back from Smith & Wesson, he announced his plans to move the company’s production back to New Hampshire—and ahead of that, he’s taking us on a tour through the company’s history as it’s packed up at the S&W HQ.

A saga that has dragged on for several months now will see yet another delay, as the planned vote on the sale of Vista Outdoors’ ammunition business has been delayed.

On Monday, July 22, lawyers for the city of Chicago filed paperwork to end their high-profile lawsuit against Glock. Does this mean a big legal win for the Austrian gunmaker, and for American shooters? No. Instead of giving up in their aggressive legal battle, Chicago’s leaders are doubling down, and expanding their lawsuit.

It turns out that the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) really really really wants to buy Vista Outdoors’ ammunition business. They want it so bad that they’ve actually upped their bid again, ahead of a crucial shareholder vote that will see whether or not a huge chunk of American domestic ammo manufacturing ends up with foreign ownership.

Colt CZ Group’s expansion continues at pace with the announcement that their factory in Hungary will increase its production capacity to help serve the export market. The factory was initially established, following an agreement with the Hungarian government, in 2018 to produce CZ Bren 2 rifles for the Hungarian armed forces but Colt CZ Group now plans to export Hungarian made firearms as part of external procurements and sales.

2024 marks the 135th anniversary of the founding of the FN factory in Herstal, Belgium. No Herstal Group, FN’s parent company, will be changing its name to FN Browning Group. This encapsulates the company’s two major brands - both of which have a lot of history behind them.

If you head southeast toward Arlington from the heart of Fort Worth, Texas, you will soon come to a small industrial park just off of Highway 287. Nestled in with several other businesses including a manufacturing company and machine shop, a laser etching/engraving operation, and a metal and Cerakote finishing service, you will find a premium firearms manufacturer: Lone Star Armory. Founded in 2006, LSA’s Texas-proud DNA is comprised of critical lessons learned from warfighting and law enforcement, a heritage of competition shooting and auto racing, and an obsessive passion for the pursuit of absolute excellence in every aspect of the mission, right down to the minutiae of every individual component or process.

The board at Vista Outdoors is unanimously behind a restructuring plan that will see the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) buying its ammo-related business, with the rest of the company restructuring after the sale.

JamesReeves  brings you an exclusive interview with Ron Cohen, the CEO of SIG Sauer, at SIG's headquarters during the SIG NEXT event. This no-holds-barred conversation covers everything from the best guns SIG has ever made to Ron's personal favorites. We delve into the future of the P365 series, including exciting developments like the SIG P365 Fuse.

The MidwayUSA Foundation continues to pump money back into the shooting world, with the announcement of $2.3 million in grants for range improvement in the U.S.

In the early 80s, Iraq Military Industry was quite impressive for a Middle Eastern country. With the help of Yugoslavia, the country produced several different AK-pattern rifles, light machine guns, and various sniper rifles.

In today’s episode of TFB’s Behind the Gun Podcast, we’ve brought on Matt and Annalise from FirearmLand to talk about buying, selling, and trading guns. FirearmLand specializes in finding, researching, and then auctioning off a wide variety of firearms from modern options to some rare antiques and even NFA items. Today Matt and Annalise join the podcast to discuss how their business is run in tandem with their other business CashForArms and how this business has given them some rare opportunities to look at and shoot guns they’d otherwise never get to touch. Today Matt and Annalise will also talk about their growing YouTube channel, which is intended to give their viewers a closer look at some rare and unique firearms that we don’t often get to see. Please give Matt and Annalise from FirearmLand a warm welcome to the TFB Podcast!

In the first part of the interview, I spoke with Jim Fuller about his experience with Chinese AKs. In this chapter, he will talk about the early 2000s, when US companies just started to build the first American-made AKs.

Selling guns can be quite a difficult task if you don’t have the right audience and sometimes your guns are either so expensive or so weird that finding a buyer in your local area might be next to impossible. The next logical solution might be to go to an online auction or classifieds site – while those are great options, they also come with their own downsides that I’m sure most of you are familiar with. Cash for Arms aims to eliminate all of that by providing its customers with a transparent selling process, competitive compensation, and a knowledgeable team to properly asses gun values.

The MidwayUSA Foundation is investing in the future of shooting, in a big way. The non-profit group has announced it has put $5.4 million into youth shooting sports programs in the U.S., including a massive chunk of cash in its latest grant cycle.

Good morning TFBTV fans. This post serves as a friendly reminder that you have a small window of time remaining to enter the TFB and 5.11 ENFORCE TAC and IWA Sweepstakes. Prizes included in the potential $2,500 haul include backpacks, bags, and pants. Lots and lots of pants that are luckily available in a wide variety of sizes, not just the James Reeves euro-trash skinny. Details, instructions, and rules can be found at the link below.

This video contains rare, exclusive footage inside the Beretta Italy factory, showing how the Beretta 92 pistol is made. In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves is in Gardone Val Trompia, Italy, to visit the oldest gun company in the world, Beretta. James brings you behind-the-scenes access to explore the processes behind the making of Beretta’s world-renowned firearms and a close-up look at the latest technological advancements Beretta is employing in gun manufacturing.

Virginia-based Optimus Arms is growing—they’ve recently announced the acquisition of Hexmag and Sentry Solutions from Sentry Products. In turn, that means Optimus Arms is now going to form a new company from these pieces called Hexmag USA LLC.

Want to win $2,500 of James’ clothes from 5.11? Easy. Enter to win the 5.11 SHOT Show 2024 Sweepstakes here:

We all know Zastava Arms as a firearms manufacturer, Serbia’s premier maker of Kalashnikov-pattern rifles and more. In addition to their dozens of famed AK models, Zastava also produces quite a few other weapons, from handguns to bolt-action rifles and even a couple of anti-aircraft artillery pieces for their many national military customers. They have been in the weapons manufacturing business for more than 170 years, with their foundry’s first cannon barrels having been cast in Serbia’s fourth-largest city of Kragujevac (Крагујевац) all the way back in 1853. Now for SHOT Show this year, they’re partnering with Miona Badžević Anđelković, a Serbian entrepreneur, competitive shooter, fashionista, media personality, extreme sportswoman, humanitarian, and more. Zastava’s SHOT Show presentation will feature some of Miona’s exquisite fashion handiwork from her “LET HER” brand, in the form of dresses made of leather and brass shell casings. Check out the recent social media announcement about their collaboration with Miona to bring these incredible creations to Las Vegas later this month, copied below.

There’s change blowing in the wind for Savage Arms. After more than 25 years in leadership roles at Savage Arms, Al Kasper is leaving the company’s CEO role. Chris Bezzina, another longtime insider, will take over the job effective December 31, 2023.

The Czech entrepreneur Michal Strnad’s company Czechoslovak Group (CSG), now holds the majority stake in Armi Perazzi, a renowned Italian manufacturer specializing in shotguns for trap shooting and hunting. Established in 1957 by Daniele Perazzi and currently led by his descendants, Mauro and Roberta Perazzi, the company’s guns have contributed to winning 62 Olympic medals across 11 Olympics.

Gaston Glock, inventor of the GLOCK Safe-Action Pistol, has passed away at the age of 94. One of a select few individuals who have dramatically changed the firearms industry, Mr. Glock pioneered the use of polymers for pistol frames, re-defined the term ‘reliability’, and methodically advanced the use of defensive handguns around the world.

The Colt CZ Group has announced a deal to acquire Czech ammunition manufacturer Sellier & Bellot. This marks Colt CZ Group’s latest acquisition and their continued expansion in the small arms sector. The deal is worth more than $350 million and sees Colt CZ Group acquire the ammunition manufacturer in full while Sellier & Bellot’s parent company CBC Europe will take a 27% stake in Colt CZ Group. CBC bought Sellier & Bellot in 2009.

Earlier this year NIOA acquired Barrett Firearms and now they are looking to expand their reach in the US by taking up a tenancy at the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal which is home to the Army’s Joint Centre of Excellence for ammunition and weapons.

At the very end of August, I had the extreme pleasure of going on a tour at the Silencer Cental headquarters where all of the quiet magic happens. Silencer Central formerly Dakota Silencers has been delivering silence for over 15 years (closing in on 20!). They are arguably the largest silencer company out there and have some of the most thoughtful customer services regarding easy and painless silencer purchases. What I witnessed at their headquarters on my Silencer Central tour reflected that and more. Let’s dive right in!

Remington is leaving home, for good. In a note to employees today, RemArms bigwigs say they will end firearms production in their Ilion, New York plant in the coming months.

Last week was a holiday so we skipped a week of Friday Night Lights. Need your fix of night vision and thermal content? Well, today is a big one. I went to the ECNS 4 (East Coast Night Shoot 4) in Ohio. It was bigger and longer than before. Two days and nights of firearms and night vision related goodies with more vendors and attendees than ever before. So let’s see what the hubbub was all about.

The Hungarian government and Beretta Holding have entered into an agreement to establish ammunition manufacturing in Hungary. The Hungarian armed forces are looking to locally produce both 7.62x51mm and 12.7mm (.50 BMG) ammunition for their armored vehicle fleet. The letter of intent will lead to the establishment of new production lines which will provide secure local production of widely used NATO machine gun ammunition.