This is an article in advance that will appear in the 2007 Shot Show Daily.
Ever been in a time machine? Douglas F. Donnelly, president of U.S. Fire Arms Mfg. Co., works in one. The company he founded in 1993 manufactures replicas of classic firearms, articles that connect the user to a time gone by where the Cowboy Code dispensed simple frontier justice and the good guys all wore white. Though Donnelly’s path to success was circuitous, it wasn’t by accident. He’s always been passionate about firearms.
“I competed on the U.S. Shooting Team from 1987 to 1991, during my college years at the University of Denver,” Donnelly says. “In fact, I was last American to compete against the Soviet Union in World Cup competition in the sands of Cairo, Egypt. I graduated with a degree in Finance and Marketing in 1990 and after a year shooting full time I ‘retired 9th in the world from competitive shooting, moved back to Los Angles and started work at The Hartford in underwriting commercial insurance.”
He hated the work and almost from the start dreamed of somehow creating a career in the shooting industry. In his competitive days he had used Beretta and Perazzi shotguns and had, in fact, toured the factories when he was a member of the U.S. Shooting team.
“I was very impressed with the factories,” he says. “Using their guns was like driving a racecar. But even a racecar driver has an interest in the old classic cars and would like to drive one.”
He always had a passion for history as well as an interest in how things are made. And though he knew he wanted to get into gun manufacturing, he didn’t know how or where.
He began to delve deeply into the history of firearms, especially the guns of the American West. As he learned more about these classic firearms, his instincts told him Cowboy Action was going to be a winner. In fact, he became an early member of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS Life Member #2810) and decided he would dedicate his efforts to the Myth of the Cowboy.
“The cowboy is the strongest multi-cultural force in the world,” he says. “From Asia to Europe, the cowboy and his famous six gun continue to give testament to those traditional values of responsibility and sacrifice, an overwhelming confidence and faith that one man alone can triumph.”
He put out feelers to see if there would be a viable market for this type of historical product. Encouraged by the response, he decided to move forward.
So, now he knew what he wanted to build. But where?
“I felt that if I was going to manufacture a 19th century product, I had to find a 19th century home, so I looked at Hartford, Springfield and New Haven,” he said. Donnelly kept searching for inexpensive space and finally found it in the old Colt factory in Hartford, built by Sam Colt in 1854.
In 1993 United States Firearms Manufacturing Co. set up shop “under the Blue Dome,” Sam Colt’s old original factory. Now, he had to determine what his first firearm would be. Donnelly decided to manufacture a product he knew was not being done well, the Colt 45. “At one time I had ordered five guns from Colt’s Mfg.,” he said. “I waited two years to get them, and was not happy with the quality of what I received.”
He was a disenchanted customer that would build a company that would exceed the original company’s product. And so, in 1993, USFA began to build the famous Single Action Colt-designed revolver – under the original Colt Dome.
The rest, they say, is history. USFA has enjoyed steady growth since then, riding the wave of growth of Cowboy Action by producing classic revolvers such as the aforementioned Colt 45, the Gunslinger (featuring a built-in patina that makes it look like the 150-year-old original) and the famous Henry Nettleton Cavalry revolver, among others. The company also produces classic reproductions of Lightning Magazine pump rifles. Most of its products are classified as “Premium Grade,” including an ultra high-grade line from its Custom Shop. These models feature elegant engraving, fine hand checkering and other top-of-the-line options for the discriminating customer.
In 1997 USFA started to bring processes in house, to establish greater control over quality and eliminate the need for subcontractors. Today, the company makes all parts in house, with the exception of springs and hard rubber handgrips.
Donnelly has made a huge investment in modern CNC milling and lathe machines. But he hasn’t forgotten the lessons learned from those tours of Italian factories. “No machine can replace the skilled hands needed for finish work,” he says. “Our skilled hands finish off the guns exactly the way they do it in Europe, just like what I saw at Beretta and Perazzi, and exactly as the workmen of old did in Sam’s original 19th century armory.”
As part of Donnelly’s fascination with gun history, he has assembled an impressive collection of American gun company engineering archives.
“The purpose of the archive is education,” he says. “Although we are very smart, we sometimes need to refer back to the old way of doing things. Sometimes the old process is really the only way to do something. It’s also interesting to see construction and how they were engineered, built, and the tolerances they used back then. I feel the art of making things today is forgotten and that U.S. Fire Arms has rediscovered many lost processes along the way.”
He considers his archive a snapshot of gun production from 1898 to 1968. In reality, it’s a form of living history. Consider the old Colt ledger books from 1854 to 1872, which include all of the guns and serial numbers from the presentation guns of the Civil War period, with notes penned thought to be by Sam Colt. “These were special notes made in the ledger, including costs and any special engraving and other accoutrements,” Donnelly says. “The most valuable part of it shows all the contractors that he was doing business with at the time, what they were paid and where guns were shipped and in what quantities.”
It is no doubt an invaluable resource for a company committed to building classic guns that played a prominent role in the history of the United States. But just as important, these ledgers speak to the modern manufacturer about time-honored designs and processes and a way of life that seems more appealing with every passing day.
Be sure to check out USFA’s newest products including the officially licensed John Wayne Single Actions - Celebrating his 100th birthday - sure to sell quickly to many interested dealers and collectors. Booth #4473. (860-296-7441; usfirearms.com)
-Slayton White.
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