United States Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, Inc. (U.S. Fire Arms Mfg. Co., USFA) was a privately held firearms-manufacturing firm based in Hartford, Connecticut. This company is not to be confused with and has no affiliation with the U.S. Arms Company in Macon, GA. Until 2011, United States Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, Inc. was known for producing single action revolvers, which were clones of the

Colt Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...

revolver. The factory was located "Under the Blue Dome", in the East Armory building of the former

Colt Armory The Colt Armory is a historic factory complex for the manufacture of firearms, created by Samuel Colt. It is located in Hartford, Connecticut along the Connecticut River, and as of 2008 is part of the Coltsville Historic District, named a Nation ...

complex, where

Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the suc ...

produced many of their classic firearms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2011, the company ceased production of replica colt revolvers, and publicly rebranded itself as ZiPFactory.com, based on its titular

USFA ZiP .22 The USFA Zip .22 (stylized as ZiP) is a semi-automatic pistol chambered in .22 Long Rifle, commercially introduced by the U.S. Fire Arms Manufacturing Company (USFA) in 2013. Although given some praise for its innovative concept, affordability ...

firearm. The company formally dissolved in January 2017, and the company was the last firearms maker in the Colt's Armory Complex. The site is now seeking

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

status.

History

The company used to maintain an "Old Armory Custom Shop" which produced custom firearms to order. These firearms featured expensive traditional materials and techniques such as

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an i ...

hand engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

, gold inlay,

damascening Damascening is the art of inlaying different metals into one another—typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background—to produce intricate patterns similar to niello. The English term comes from a perceived resemblance to ...

case hardening Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of Hardening (metallurgy), hardening the surface of a metal object while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of hardness, harder metal at the surface. Fo ...

, polishing, and fine metal

plating Plating is a surface covering in which a metal is deposited on a conductive surface. Plating has been done for hundreds of years; it is also critical for modern technology. Plating is used to decorate objects, for corrosion inhibition, to improv ...

, or other finish. USFA was the only firearm company still manufacturing in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, when it closed in 2011. Due to space limitations, the company built an additional production location outside of the Blue Dome in order to accommodate their CNC machinery. USFA had an active role in firearms politics in the United States, and issued a statement on the ''

District of Columbia v. Heller ''District of Columbia v. Heller'', 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service i ...

'' court decision on the interpretation of the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

. In 2011, USFA abandoned their production of Colt revolver replicas and went to the exclusive manufacturing of their ZiP .22 pistol. The ZiP .22 proved to be an unreliable firearm and lacked consumer interest. As a result, USFA is now out of business.

Products

USFA was best known for producing firearms based on the Colt

Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...

revolver, Colt

M1911 The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for t ...

semi-automatic pistol, and rifles such as the Colt Lightning Carbine.Taffin, John. ''Auto Retro: USFA, the Leader in "Cowboy" Guns, Steps into the 20th Century,'' Guns Magazine, May, 2007, p. 58-61
/ref>

Exhibitions

Through January 1, 2009, USFA guns were displayed in the exhibit ''Guns West!'' at the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

's own

National Firearms Museum The NRA National Firearms Museum is a museum located at the NRA Headquarters Building in Fairfax County, Virginia. Approximated 2,500 guns are displayed in 15,000 square feet. The NRA National Firearms Museum is operated by the Museums Division ...

. A USFA Single Action Army revolver was given by United States Vice President

Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...

to the

Buffalo Bill Historical Center The Buffalo Bill Center of the West, formerly known as the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, is a complex of five museums and a research library featuring art and artifacts of the American West located in Cody, Wyoming. The five museums include the ...

Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in Northwest Wyoming and the seat of government of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Colonel William Frederick " Buffalo Bill" Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,066 at ...

. USFA's 2007 ''

SHOT Show The SHOT Show , which is an acronym for "Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show", is an American annual trade show for the shooting sports, hunting, outdoor recreations and firearm manufacturing industries. The show is owned and sponsored by ...

'' exhibit in Orlando, Florida recalled an exhibit displayed at the 1876

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, PA

Centennial Exhibition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of th ...

in the same month

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his clas ...

perished at Little Bighorn.Eifling, Sam. ''Exhibitors in an "Arms Race,'' ESPNOutdoors.com. 12 January 2007, retrieved 10 July 2008
/ref>

Use in film

Hollywood firearms expert

Thell Reed Thell Reed is an American exhibition shooter, stuntman, armorer, and movie consultant. Shooting career As a teenager, Reed competed in Jeff Cooper's Big Bear "Leatherslaps" shooting competitions at Big Bear Lake, California. The Leatherslaps beca ...

selected USFA to provide revolvers for several films for which he served as key armorer: *'' 3:10 to Yuma'' (2007) *''

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'' is a 2007 American epic revisionist Western film written and directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt as Jesse James. Adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same tit ...

'' (2007) *''

Shanghai Noon ''Shanghai Noon'' is a 2000 martial arts western action comedy film starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. The first in the ''Shanghai'' film series and marking the directorial debut of Tom Dey, ''Shanghai Noon'' was written by Alfre ...

'' (2000)

References

{{reflist, 30em Firearm manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Hartford, Connecticut Military in Connecticut Former defence companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in Connecticut

History

Products

Exhibitions

Use in film

See also

References