Sturm, Ruger & Co.: History, Ownership and Factories

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., usually shortened to Ruger, is a U.S. firearms company founded in 1949 in Southport, Connecticut by William B. Ruger and Alexander M. Sturm. Its first product was the .22 caliber semiautomatic Standard Pistol, and Ruger’s own history says that design line continues today in the Mark IV pistols. The company is now a publicly traded New York Stock Exchange company under ticker RGR, with Ruger, Marlin and Glenfield brand coverage and U.S. manufacturing facilities listed in its SEC filings.

Founding and early identity

Ruger’s official history says William B. Ruger and Alexander Sturm founded Sturm, Ruger & Company in Southport, Connecticut in 1949. A Ruger manual describes the startup as a small Southport machine shop opened with $50,000 and an idea.

The company’s first product was a .22 caliber semiautomatic pistol called the Standard Pistol. Ruger also describes that first product as a .22 caliber autoloading pistol that became the foundation of the company.

That first pistol matters because Ruger ties it directly to one of its best known current product lines. Ruger says the Standard Pistol evolved over the years, but that its basic design is still represented in the Mark IV pistol line.

Ruger’s manual gives a short account of the company’s leadership after the founding period. It says Alexander Sturm died in 1951 and Bill Ruger guided the company for more than five decades, until his death in 2002.

Business and ownership status

Ruger is not presented in its current filings as a small private workshop. Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K says the company has been in business since 1949 and was incorporated in its present form under Delaware law in 1969.

Ruger’s investor relations page says Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1990 under the ticker symbol RGR. The 2025 Form 10-K also lists the company’s common stock, with $1 par value, under ticker RGR on the New York Stock Exchange.

For readers asking who owns Ruger, the clearest official answer is that it is a public company with registered common stock, rather than a founder owned private company. Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K listed 15,944,300 common shares outstanding as of February 10, 2026.

The same filing describes Ruger as principally engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of firearms to domestic customers. It also says that virtually all of the company’s sales for the year ended December 31, 2025 came from the firearms segment, with less than 1% from the castings segment.

Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K describes its domestic sales channel in wholesale terms. It says the company’s firearms are sold through independent wholesale distributors, principally to the commercial sporting market. Those distributors resell to federally licensed, independent retail firearms dealers, which then resell to legally authorized end users.

Product families and brands

Within Ruger branded pistols, the filing lists rimfire autoloading and centerfire autoloading pistols. For shotguns, the filing lists over-under shotguns.

Ruger’s brand picture is broader than the Ruger name alone. The 2025 Form 10-K says the company offers lever-action rifles under the Marlin name and trademark, and bolt-action rifles under the Glenfield name and trademark.

Ruger’s official brands page says the company offers almost 800 variations of more than 40 product lines across the Ruger, Marlin and Glenfield brands. That number is Ruger’s own current brand-page description, so it is best read as a company claim that can change as catalog offerings change.

Product categories in Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K

Category	Ruger listed subcategories or brand notes
Pistols	Rimfire autoloading and centerfire autoloading pistols
Shotguns	Over-under shotguns
Marlin	Lever-action rifles under the Marlin name and trademark
Glenfield	Bolt-action rifles under the Glenfield name and trademark

Factories and operations

Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K says the company’s design and manufacturing operations are located in the United States, and that almost all product content is domestic. The filing says manufacturing operations were carried out at five facilities in 2025.

The five manufacturing locations listed for 2025 are Newport, New Hampshire; Prescott, Arizona; Mayodan, North Carolina; Hebron, Kentucky; and Earth City, Missouri. The filing also lists Southport, Connecticut as a corporate facility and says Ruger’s principal executive offices are in Southport.

The SEC filing separates the manufacturing sites by use, ownership or lease status, and size. It lists Newport, New Hampshire as a 350,000-square-foot owned firearms and castings facility. It lists Prescott, Arizona as a 230,000-square-foot leased firearms facility. It lists Mayodan, North Carolina as a 220,000-square-foot owned firearms facility.

The same filing lists Hebron, Kentucky as a 65,000-square-foot owned firearms facility and Earth City, Missouri as a 35,000-square-foot leased castings facility. Southport, Connecticut is listed separately as a 25,000-square-foot owned corporate facility.

Ruger facilities listed in the 2025 Form 10-K

Location	Size	Status	Listed use
Newport, New Hampshire	350,000 sq. ft.	Owned	Firearms and castings
Prescott, Arizona	230,000 sq. ft.	Leased	Firearms
Mayodan, North Carolina	220,000 sq. ft.	Owned	Firearms
Hebron, Kentucky	65,000 sq. ft.	Owned	Firearms
Earth City, Missouri	35,000 sq. ft.	Leased	Castings
Southport, Connecticut	25,000 sq. ft.	Owned	Corporate

What each Ruger firearms plant does

Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K gives a limited description of how work is allocated among several firearms facilities. Newport, New Hampshire produces some pistol models, most revolvers and some rifle models.

Prescott, Arizona produces one revolver model, one rifle model and most of the company’s pistols. Mayodan, North Carolina produces some rifle and pistol models. Hebron, Kentucky produces some rifle models, and the filing says that facility was acquired in July 2025.

The filing also describes quality related operations at a high level. It says each Ruger firearms facility contains enclosed ranges for testing firearms. It also says all assembly, inspection and testing of firearms manufactured by the company are performed at Ruger manufacturing facilities.

Ruger’s 2025 Form 10-K further states that every firearm manufactured by the company is test-fired before shipment, including every chamber of every revolver.

The 2020 Marlin acquisition

Ruger’s Marlin ownership traces to a 2020 asset purchase, not to a purchase of all Remington businesses. On September 30, 2020, Ruger announced that its offer to purchase substantially all Marlin Firearms assets had been accepted by Remington Outdoor Company and approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

That announcement was specific about what Ruger was buying. Ruger said the transaction was exclusively for Marlin Firearms assets. It also said Remington firearms, ammunition, other Remington Outdoor brands, facilities and real estate were excluded from the Ruger purchase.

Ruger announced on November 24, 2020 that the acquisition of substantially all Marlin Firearms assets closed on Monday, November 23, 2020. The company said the purchase price was approximately $28.3 million and was paid with available cash on hand.

Ruger’s 2020 Form 10-K describes the Marlin assets as including equipment, inventory and intellectual property related to Marlin, including the Marlin names and marks.

How to read Ruger’s brand today

For brand background, Ruger is best understood in three layers. First is the original Sturm, Ruger & Company story that began in Southport in 1949 with the Standard Pistol. Second is the modern public company, incorporated in Delaware in its present form in 1969 and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under RGR. Third is the current brand family, where Ruger’s own materials describe Ruger, Marlin and Glenfield product coverage.

Readers checking current product lines, facility status, share data or brand assignments should use Ruger’s latest investor materials, SEC filings and official company announcements, because these details can change over time.