the contemporary commercial manufacturer and importer of firearms . for the former us government arsenal see springfield armory . springfield armory inc. type private industry defense founded 1974 headquarters geneseo illinois usa products firearms slogan the first name in american firearms website springfield armory.com springfield armory inc. is a firearms manufacturer and importer based in geneseo illinois founded in 1974 . it is one of the largest firearm companies in the world . citation needed the company is a four time recipient of the national rifle association nra american rifleman s golden bullseye award . 1 contents 1 formation 2 products 3 political involvement 4 references 5 external links formation edit after springfield armory the united states first armory established under authority of general george washington as a major arsenal early in the revolutionary war was closed by the federal government in 1968 2 elmer c. ballance began using the name springfield armory through his company lh manufacturing dedicated to the first civilian production of the m14 rifle calling it the m1a . ballance began in san antonio texas and soon after moved to devine texas where the company gained momentum and popularity . in 1974 ballance sold the company to the reese family who had a well established production shop in illinois and experience base . the company then expanded its market into pistols notably the m1911 . after further success the company began to branch into other types of firearms . the company now run by dennis reese and tom reese manufactures and imports dozens of different firearms in many styles and models . a motto used by the company the first name in american firearms alternatively the oldest name in american firearms is a homage to the first u.s. national armory and namesake the original springfield armory . 3 there is no other connection between the company and defunct federal armory . products edit the company s main products are m1911 pistols and the m1a rifle series . it has been importing the croatian hs2000 pistol as the xd x treme duty series since 2002 . previously the company offered clones of the m1 garand beretta bm59 fn fal hk 91 and m6 scout . they have also imported tanfoglio and astra semi automatic pistols under the springfield name . springfield armory also has a well known custom shop where full custom m1911a1s and semi custom xd pistols are built and modified . the custom shop s most famous product is the professional model formerly known as the bureau model an m1911 variant . the professional model was one of only two guns to pass the controversial trials set forth by the federal bureau of investigation for a new pistol for its hostage rescue team and swat teams . the head gunsmith is david williams . the first two directors of the custom shop were les baer and jack weigand . 4 rob leatham has been the captain of team springfield the practical shooting team since its inception in 1985 . 5 6 7 8 springfield armory p9 springfield armory m6 scout springfield armory emp springfield armory m1 garand springfield armory socom 16 springfield armory xd and xd m political involvement edit springfield armory inc. has played a major role in vocally opposing former gov. rod blagojevich s proposed assault weapons ban that threatened to ban firearm manufacturing in illinois . on july 13 2007 at the 100th anniversary of the national matches held at camp perry in northern ohio co ceo dennis reese announced that the company would provide 1 million towards the nra s competitive shooting & national championships endowment and challenged other firearms manufacturers to donate to the endowment . 9 references edit wikimedia commons has media related to springfield armory inc. . nra gun of the year awards 2006 springfield armory history & culture . springfield armory national history site . u.s. department of the interior national park service . retrieved october 6 2015 . about springfield armory . springfield armory . retrieved october 6 2015 . jack weigands profile . weigand combat handguns inc. retrieved october 6 2015 . former custom shop director springfield armory ; professional member of team springfield armory tgo s titles . official web site of rob leatham professional action shooter . leatham enterprises llc . retrieved october 6 2015 . captain team springfield since its inception in 1985 mchale tom may 18 2015 . 12 competitors to watch at the 2015 nra bianchi cup . shooting sports news . outdoorhub . carbon media group llc . retrieved october 6 2015 . rob leatham last won the bianchi cup back in 1985 . he could very well take the title again this year . mchale tom april 25 2012 . springfield armory s rob leatham discusses wayne gretzky jackie gleason and getting whooped by his sister . shooting sports news . ammoland . retrieved october 6 2015 via my gun culture . we had the opportunity to catch up with springfield armory team captain rob leatham at the recent nra annual meeting . fitness news desk november 2 2012 . springfield armory s rob leatham achieves eighth ipsc world championship title press release . geneseo illinois wisdom digital media broadway world bww fitness . pr newswire . retrieved october 6 2015 via springfield armory . springfield armory would like to congratulate its team captain rob leatham on winning his 8th world champion title at the international practical shooting confederation ipsc world shoot xvii held at the universal shooting academy in frostproof fla. springfield armory to provide 1 000 000 to support nra s competitive shooting & national championships . the national rifle association . archived from the original on july 1 2009 . retrieved october 6 2015 . external links edit springfield armory official web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title springfield armory inc. & oldid 710448448 categories firearms importation companies of the united statesfirearm manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in henry county illinoishidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2013commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages norsk bokm lsloven ina edit links this page was last modified on 17 march 2016 at 01 04 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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