Springfield Armory Made in the USA?

[rodinal220]

The "real" Government Armory closed its doors in 1968.Here is a link to a brief history of the Armory from the National Park Service.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/spar/history.html

 

[Kruzr]

The company Springfield Armory, Inc. bought the rights to the name Springfield Armory. Other than that, there is no connection.

According to Deb in Springfield's Custom Shop, all SA 1911's except the TRP's and the Custom Shop Guns are completely made by Imbel in Brazil. Most are assembled there also. The TRP's are assembled using cherry picked parts in Geneseo. The Custom Shop guns are made on Imbel frames and slides.

It used to be if you saw a NM serial number, it meant it was assembled here in the US. I'm not sure that is still the case.

 

[Detritus]

Almost all SA 1911's are fully assembled in Brazil. Only the most high-end custom shop models are assembled in the US.

It used to be if you saw a NM serial number, it meant it was assembled here in the US. I'm not sure that is still the case.

well the two "WW2 GI" models with NM serial #s in a local shop have "made in USA" on em, and they're about $100 more than the ones with no-NM prefix and "made in brazil" that i see elsewhere...

so i suspect that "NM" still means it's a US assembled and finished gun. and in a GI i'm assuming it means "US assembled from a surplus of spare parts".

as to where the rest of the line is made, i don't really mind one way or another, they're good guns.

 

[Kruzr]

well the two "WW2 GI" models with NM serial #s in a local shop have "made in USA" on em, and they're about $100 more than the ones with no-NM prefix and "made in brazil" that i see elsewhere...

so i suspect that "NM" still means it's a US assembled and finished gun. and in a GI i'm assuming it means "US assembled from a surplus of spare parts".

I bet you would find they have one piece barrels also rather than the standard Springfield 2 piece.

As I understand it, some of the mil-specs and the first WW2 models were made here and were stamped with the "NM." That's why you don't see the made in Brazil marking on the dust cover. You will find some with the "N" serial number and the Brazil marking also.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

No answers from Geneseo?

Funny thing is, their HQ in Geneseo is right on US 6 and very un-noteworthy.
It kinda looks (unless things changed) like the waiting room of a dentists office inside of an old Ponderossa resturant.

They are really good folks and have worked on my gear (original M-1 and 'NM1911a1' purchased in 1992) several times on the spot when I have showed up at there doorstep without an appointment. It wasn't cheap, but I especially liked the peace of mind of having pros rebarrel and gas system my Garand on the spot. So I can't speak ill of there service AT ALL. Nice folks that know their sh*t. Of course, I dealt with an armorer---not a sales rep!

However...They are really nebulous about where their gear comes from.

 

[rodinal220]

The NM prefix has been used by SA for some time.I have a SA gunsmith fit(over sized rails) frame I purchased directly from SA with the NM prefix.This frame was purchased in the early 90s.I suspect SA was/is trying to state that this is a "National Match" part.However,I have another complete factory SA 1911 that also has the NM prefix.This also was a early 90s production Springer.The rails are not over sized but the horizontal and vertical fit is pretty good,but not hard fitted.

 

[Neo-Luddite]

I had gun dealers tell me (with a straight face) that 'NM' signified 'nineties model' for SA guns as they made a minor change to the design of the 1911a1 tigger mechanism. Whatever. It's been a solid pistol and withstood much abuse.

 

[Rescue]

Adriana Lima not withstanding, Brazil has a large amount of slave labor. Yes, that's correct, humans in bondage doing work for other humans for nothing.

Those humans in bondage you imagined are ridiculous.

There are, however, rural workers living in substandard conditions, in a situation known as "coronelismo". Brazil is a country of continental size, and police and state activity is concentrated in the large cities (like São Paulo, third largest city in the world). The state is lacking in some of the more backwater regions, like the Amazon. In these areas, landlords provide the only jobs available, for ludicrous salaries. In some of these farms, the only way an employee has of buying basic goods (food, spice, soap, medicines, tobacco, ammo) is from the landlord himself. The problem is that the salaries are often not enough to buy the basic stuff a man needs to survive and provide to his family. The worker ends up in a perpetual debt. He virtually works for free. Some of these landlords enforce the "payment of the debts" with pistoleros.

The workers do not leave the farms, because there is no other opportunity available. You end up with workers under "slavery conditions", a term used in Brazil. No bondage though.

I doubt very much if there are slaves involved in the production of pistol frames, but in the agriculture arena, it is a force that is still in vogue.

I´ve visited Imbel´s plant in Itajubá. Their employees are engineers from the military institute of engineering, one of the top engineering schools of Latin America. Actually, last time I checked, the salary of a production line employee worker was bigger than mine, and I am lower middle class (which puts me on the top 20% of the population, when it comes to monetary income).

Some companies operating in areas that typically benefit from abusive labor practices such as the sugar, coal and soy industries, have signed agreements to ban any form of involvement with farmers listed in the “lista suja” (laundry list – those with records of using slave labour).

The police occasionally raids farms that have been accused of keeping workers under slavery conditions. Inspectors protected by heavily armed policemen storm those properties without notice. If confirmed, the farm is closed, their debts are declared unconstitutional, and their wages are calculated and paid by the farmers, who will be then taken to court.

It is a shameful problem.

Some Brazilian beef and produce are cultivated and harvested by slave labor. It's hard to say how much, and it's hard to say what other industries may also use it.

Mainly coal and soy. These are the ones I´ve seen police actions against.

I am about to hit the supermarket, I wrote this in a hurry, so sorry about any bad English.

PS: I am partial to Joana Prado.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Armalite has introduced a pistol this year that is made in Turkey and it is based on the CZ-85 only much, much better fit and finish.
Really well made pistol worth looking into but expensive for being produced in a third world country.

I certainly wouldn't call Turkey a "third world country". It's a democratic, secular republic with a pretty solid economic base and high literacy.

It's not exactly Haiti or Liberia. Maybe Argentina would be a fair comparison?

-MV

 

[chicanorojo]

I certainly wouldn't call Turkey a "third world country". It's a democratic, secular republic with a pretty solid economic base and high literacy.

It's not exactly Haiti or Liberia. Maybe Argentina would be a fair comparison?

-MV

FWIW, a country that qualifies for joining the EU.