The History of Sturm, Ruger & Company

William Batterman Ruger was employed as a civil servant designing machine guns with Springfield Armory during the late 1930's and worked for Auto Ordnance during the early 1940's designing a light machine gun with the hopes of winning a government contract. By the time the Allied victory came about in1945, Bill left Auto Ordnance and decided to start his own company. In 1946 he started his own company and called it The Ruger Corpration. This business produced small parts for the industry as well as a hardware tool line. This first business venture failed but Bill was not one to quit after a little turmoil. It was 1949 when he befriended Yale Graduate, Alexander McCormick Sturm and they started Sturm, Ruger & Comany in Southport, CT. Their first product was a handsome 22 caliber pistol that had the profile of a German Luger. The funds invested in getting the company going ran dry late in 1949 but by that time they had 100 of their new pistols produced and ready for shipment, fulfilling existing orders. The pistol was a success and the company enjoyed the good life until the fall of 1951, when Alex was hospitalized with hepatitis and passed away shortly thereafter. Bill purchased Alex's shares of the company and continued producing the popular pistol. By 1953, a single action rimfire revolver was added to the companies production line and a larger centerfire version was added in 1955. Every couple of years afterward, another model was introduced to the handgun line. Rifles were added in 1960 and shotguns in 1977. The Newport, NH plant opened in 1963 and the Prescott, AZ plant in 1987. Today, the company continues to grow while offering quality American manufactured firearms at affordable prices.

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