A bored in quarantine question

[gbclarkson]

Smith & Wesson is "Smith & Wesson" or sometimes "Smith"; "Heckler and Koch" is sometimes "HK"; Sig Sauer is sometimes "Sig"; why is Sturm, Ruger and Co. always just "Ruger"? I have never heard or read anyone talking about their Sturm and Ruger. Was Sturm a jerk?

 

[Geezerbiker]

Ruger bought out Sturm's share in the very early days of the company. I always thought it odd that they didn't drop his name from the company...

Tony

 

[Mal H]

Was Sturm a jerk?

Absolutely not.

Alexander Sturm, who co-founded and financed the company from the beginning, died of hepatitis only a year or so after the company started out. Bill Ruger wanted to honor him by always leaving his name on the company door, so to speak. It is still the official name of the company today.

In fact, to additionally honor Sturm after his death, Ruger changed the company logo from the red eagle (which Sturm had suggested should be their logo) to a black eagle.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Smith & Wesson firearms say "Smith & Wesson" on the rollmarks.

Heckler & Kock firearms typically say "HK" on the rollmarks.

Sig Sauer keeps changing their name. Not long ago it was SIGArms, then it magically reverted to Sig Sauer.

I don't think I've ever seen a Ruger firearm that said "Sturm, Ruger and Company" on the rollmarks. In the fine print where the BATFE requires the manufacturer's name and location, yes. The billboard on the slide or barrel? No. Go to the SHOT Show? Does the big banner over the booth say "Sturm, Ruger and Company"? Nope -- it says "Ruger."

So that's how the company promotes itself.

 

[Jim Watson]

Most of those are named after their founders but SIG is just showing the current face of an industrial conglomerate.

 

[44 AMP]

Its always called an eagle but I've always thought it looked more like a dragon, or perhaps a phoenix. The change from red to black was in mourning for the passing of Sturm, and his name was kept as part of the official company name.

SIG is a bit unique, Schweiterische Industrie Gesellshaft, which translates to Swiss Industrial Company or roughly "Swiss Industry inc"

For many, many years Swiss law prohibited SIG firearms from being sold outside Switzerland. SIG entered into a partnership with J.P. Sauer & Sohn, an old established German gun maker, to make SIG designs in Germany, and market them to the world, under the name SIG-Sauer.

One of my favorite pistols is my Browning BDA 45 (circa 1980) which is the original SIG P220 design. The gun is marked Browning on one side of the slide and SIG-Sauer System made in W. Germany on the other.

I'm not sure, but I think the only gun Ruger was making before Sturm passed was their .22 semi auto pistol and red eagle .22s are sought after collectors items.

 

[Jim Watson]

Right. They made a run of Red Eagle Commemorative .22 Standard once.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson. Best inventions were the bored through cylinder and the lever action repeater (Volcanic Firearms).

 

[44 AMP]

Smith and Wesson invented neither the bored through cylinder nor the Volcanic repeater. S&W made them, but weren't the inventors.

Rollin White patented the bored through cylinder while actually working for Colt. Colt wasn't interested in the idea and let him go. He went to S&W who (reportedly) hired him on the spot and compensated him "handsomely" for the use of his patent.

The Volcanic was invented by B. Tyler Henry, and while S&W made them, they weren't a commercial success. The lever idea worked fine, but the ammo less so, and it was expensive and S&W dropped it after a fairly short production run. Henry went on and later met a shirtmaker named Winchester, which resulted in both of them getting a much larger spot in firearms history.

 

[gbclarkson]

Thanks for the info everyone. Interesting. As I was reading about the history of O.F. Mossberg on Wikipedia, I found out that the current president, Alan I Mossberg, has the middle name Iver to pay homage to Iver Johnson.