By Joe Berk
Good buddy Hack asked about the difference between the Springfield Arsenal in Massachusetts and the Springfield Armory I sometimes write about here on ExNotes. The one in Massachusetts was a US government arms plant; the Springfield Armory is a commercial manufacturing and sales organization. I always called the original Springfield an arsenal because that’s the terminology that typically refers to government weapons manufacturing plants. Hack referred to the government plant as Springfield Armory, and he was right to use the term “armory” instead of “arsenal.”
I wanted to get my head screwed on straight with respect to this issue, so I turned to Google to get the specifics. Here’s the question I asked:
Is the Springfield Armory gun company different than the Springfield Arsenal government plant?
Here’s what Google returned:
Yes, they are two completely different entities, though the commercial company purposefully uses the famous historical name for branding.
| U.S. Armory at Springfield (Historical Federal Plant) | Springfield Armory, Inc. (Modern Commercial Company) | |
| Type | Federal government weapons factory & arsenal | Privately owned commercial firearm manufacturer |
| Active Years | 1777–1968 | 1974–Present |
| Location | Springfield, Massachusetts | Geneseo, Illinois |
| Famous Products | M1903 Springfield, M1 Garand, M14 rifle | M1A, Saint, Hellcat, XD series |
| Status Today | National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service | Active commercial gun maker |
How They Are Connected
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- The Original Arsenal: Founded during the Revolutionary War and formally designated by George Washington in 1794, the federal Springfield Armory designed and mass-produced iconic small arms for the U.S. military for nearly two centuries. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara closed the facility in 1968 to cut costs.
- The Commercial Company: In 1974, Elmer C. Ballance registered the trademarked name “Springfield Armory” for his private gun-making company, which was later bought by the Reese family in Geneseo, Illinois. The modern company has no corporate continuity, federal ownership, or geographic link to the original Massachusetts facility, though it frequently manufactures civilian reproductions of military firearms like the M14 (sold as the M1A).
So there you have it. Hack, thanks for asking the question.
As it turns out (and I had never thought about this before), I own guns from both places. I have three from the commercial Springfield Armory (in Illinois) and two from the Springfield Arsenal (in Massachusetts). The Springfield Armory guns are two 1911s (in .45 ACP and 9mm; both are stellar), and the beautiful M1A you see at the top of this blog. I enjoy all three, but Springfield Armory quality, in my opinion, has been spotty. My 1911s have been flawless right out of the box; one of my buddies was not (and he had to return it to Springfield Armory twice before they got it right). I had issues with my M1A and returned it to the factory to get it right (but when Springfield returned it, it shot magnificently well and turned in very tight 100-yard groups). My Springfield Arsenal firearms are a 1903A1 World War I rifle and an M1922 training rifle. Both are well over a century old, both were originally issue guns, and both are in almost as new condition.