Of course, some well known names like the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, which produced the Bren and legendary Lee Enfield .303 rifle flowered and wilted.
The RSAF dates back to 1816. Government owned, it was built in Enfield in the UK to take advantage of the water power from the local River Lee to drive its machines, not to mention easy water transportation to the Woolwich Arsenal via the Thames and a close proximity to the gunpowder factory in adjacent Waltham Abbey. Its fortune waxed and waned as wars came and went although the site employed 2400 people in its peak.
After the Second World War, activity at Enfield started to wane again. The RSAF was eventually sold to a private company in 1984 and it was closed in 1988 by BAE, the last owner.
One of their final weapons was the SA80 (or L85) rifle. Now the site has been developed for housing with only a nod to its earlier purpose, mirrored in the name of the streets. Ironically, the gunpowder factory site which is vast, still exists as a museum and an Airsoft group use some of the land.
The Belgian company FN Herstal were founded in 1889 and the name was derived from the original name, Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre and the fact that the factory was at Herstal.
In addition to rifles, they also built cars for about 30 years at the start of the 20th century and only stopped manufacturing motorcycles in 1965.
Apparently, they still have the original documents for the sale of muskets to the the authorities in Venice in that year.
Remington's father was a farming blacksmith in New York state who branched out into gun barrel production in 1816 and never looked back.
Samuel Colt's father was a textiles factory owner. It was said that Samuel got the idea for his revolver whilst observing a ships wheel being turned on his passage to Calcutta. He dabbled with many new technology ideas during his life including the galvanic cell, electric detonators and underwater telegraph cables.
The famous Browning Armaments company sold fishing rods as well as firearms when they started in business.
The origins of SIG Sauer lie with the manufacture of Swiss railway rolling stock (dating back to 1853).
Even the new arrivals on the firearms scene didn't always start in the gun business. Gaston Glock, the Austrian engineer who pioneered the pistol of the same name, didn't get involved with guns until he was 52 years old. He made his fortune in plastic curtain rods.
Perhaps gun makers are made not born.
