Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
AMMO history
AMMO company history timeline
By 1992, the company declared bankruptcy.
Discount stores, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, accounted for 30 to 50 percent of commercial sales by 1992.
Foreign producers had captured less than 20 percent of the United States ammo market by 1992, and import growth seemed to have stabilized.
In 1994, President Clinton signed the Brady Bill, which called for a waiting period for handgun purchases and required local police authorities to conduct an investigation before issuing a permit to purchase a handgun.
Spurred by 1994 Republican majorities in the United States House and Senate, pro-gun grass roots organizations began active campaigns to promote gun safety and shooting activities.
In 1996, the ammunition industry was about 70 percent as large as the entire firearms industry that it complements.
Centerfire pistol cartridges, including those cartridges such as the .44 Magnum that could be interchanged between pistols and rifles, increased market share by 26 percent by 1997, second in sales only to shotgun shells, which accounted for about 22 percent of total industry shipments.
Other major sectors of the industry in 1997 included components (wads, shot cases, bullets, and bullet jackets), with 19 percent of shipments, and primers, with 3 percent of shipments.
In 1997 there were 6,863 workers employed in the small arms ammunition industry, down from just over 10,000 some 15 years earlier.
In 1998 sellers and consumers finally needed new supplies, continuing the upswing.
In early 1998, the American Shooting Sports Council filed suit in Boston to protest restrictions that it claimed were a "back-door approach to gun prohibition," according to Richard Feldman, ASSC's executive director.
In 1998, Shooting Industry pronounced, "The industry must find an outlet to replace sales lost in the mass market."
Buel, Stephen. "eBay Will End Online Auctions of Guns, Ammunition." Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News , 22 February 1999.
Retailers reported increases in 1999 sales of up to 112 percent, reflecting a "stampede" of first-time gun buyers.
Wagenhals held those positions through 2000.
Pro-gun activists also declared victory when, in early 2000, President Clinton announced a national gun enforcement initiative, seeking a record $280 million to step up enforcement of current gun laws.
Rennen, Carol. "Radio, Guns, Ammo Hot Sellers in Wake of Terrorist Attacks." The Business Journal (Phoenix) , 14 September 2001, 46.
"Female Purchases of Guns on the Rise." Marketing to Women: Addressing Women and Women's Sensibilities , November 2001, 8.
Prada, Paulo. "Making Bullets Airplane-Friendly is Tricky Job." The Wall Street Journal , 27 December 2001, B4.
Mraz, Stephen J. "Targeting the Perfect Bullet: Is Small and Fast Better than Large and Slow?" Machine Design , 24 October 2002, 48-49.
In 2002, the company spun off its military, defense, and law enforcement wing entirely as Colt Defense.
Blount reported 2002 revenues of $479.5 million.
Wagenhals successfully navigated Action Performance onto the NYSE and in 2005 he sold the company for more than $245 million.
In 2006, Tate won the United States Army Scholar Athlete Award while earning his B.S. in Exercise Science and played collegiate football at Montana State University-Northern.
Along with his wife, Judy, they established the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma in conjunction with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in 2008 with a mission to fund research, education, and advocacy to help improve the care and treatment of children with traumatic injuries.
Buffalo Bill Cody carried a modified version of this weapon, in the form of a New Model Army .44 with an ivory handle – which sold for $239,000 at auction in June 2012.
AMMO was founded in 2016 by Wagenhals with a single vision -- to change, innovate, and invigorate the complacent munitions industry for the next generation of shooters.
Lockett has been an attorney with Horwitz + Armstrong, a Professional law corporation since 2016, and operated her own legal practice prior to joining the firm.
Russell William “Rusty” Wallace, Jr. has been a director of our company since June 2017.
Childress, his career, and contributions to the sport of NASCAR were celebrated throughout the stock car racing community as he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2017.
Urvan has been the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BitRail, a compliant payments infrastructure, since February of 2018.
Harry S. Markley has been a director of our company since March 2018.
Rob Wiley was appointed Chief Financial Officer on January 14, 2019.
Anthony Tate joined AMMO Inc. in March 2020 with more than a decade of experience in the shooting sports industry.
Steve F. Urvan has been a director and employee of our company since April 2021.
GUNBROKER.COM In 2021, AMMO acquired GunBroker.com for $240 million.
The Company’s new 160,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin is scheduled to open in the summer of 2022 and will significantly expand capacity to over one billion rounds annually.
AMMO has experienced explosive growth and is expected to continue in 2022 and beyond.
Rate how well AMMO lives up to its initial vision.
AMMO jobs
Do you work at AMMO?
Is AMMO's vision a big part of strategic planning?
AMMO competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GroupeConnect – a Publicis Groupe Solution | - | $4.3M | 375 | - |
| Razor | 2000 | $100.0M | 100 | 2 |
| Top of the World | 1986 | $54.1M | 100 | - |
| Heaven Hill Brands | 1935 | $290.0M | 505 | 35 |
| Industrial Fabrics Association International | 1912 | $10.0M | 92 | - |
| The Honest Company | 2011 | $378.3M | 187 | 29 |
| Aqua Products | 1993 | $3.3M | 6 | - |
| The Dynamic Group | 1977 | - | 176 | 6 |
| IBT Industrial Solutions | 1949 | $21.4M | 375 | 14 |
| Two's | 1969 | $75.0M | 200 | 11 |
AMMO history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of AMMO, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about AMMO. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at AMMO. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by AMMO. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of AMMO and its employees or that of Zippia.
AMMO may also be known as or be related to AMMO, AMMO, INC., AMMO, Inc. (California) and Ammo.