Blackrock Arms

Blackrock Arms
Type	Subsidiary
Traded as	BRA
Industry	Firearms; Ammunition; Sporting goods;
Predecessor	Blackrock Rifle Company
Founded	1816
Founder	Eli Black
Headquarters	Tidewater, Shenandoah
Area served	Copperhead; Shenandoah;
Key people	CEO: Elliot Price; Director: Travis Bennett;
Products	See list
Revenue	350 million (2018)

Blackrock Arms is a manufacturer of firearms, ammunition and other sporting goods primarily serving costumers within the Copperhead Republic and Shenandoahan Commonwealth. The company was founded in the Allegheny Confederacy in 1816 by Eli Black in South Rock. Uniquely Blackrock Arms continued to operate in both Shenandoah and Copperhead following the end of the civil war in 1924, with the provision that the company would never engage in contracts supplying ammunition, weapons or other equipment to either government. Since then, Blackrock has become one of the largest suppliers of sporting goods, firearms, and ammunition on the civilian markets in both nation's, as well as enjoying moderate success in exporting its products internationally.

Blackrock Arms is headquartered in Tidewater, in the Shenandoahan Commonwealth. Due to the unique operating structure of the company, and the antagonistic relationship between the Shenandoahan Commonwealth and the Copperhead Republic, the company director, and its CEO, share equal control over the company with both nation's always represented within the board of directors. Blackrock is the oldest firearms manufacturer in operation in Shenandoah, and one of the oldest in the Copperhead Republic. Aside from Westin Repeating Arms, Blackrock is the only firearms company established in the Allegheny Confederacy still in existence today.

History

The Blackrock Arms company was founded in 1816 by Eli Black of South Rock, located in present day Copperhead. Black set about designing a flintlock rifle for himself for use in hunting, as it was difficult for citizens in southern Allegheny to obtain firearms at reasonable prices. Black believed that he could design a weapon of higher quality and cheaper cost than what was commercially available at the time. Having completed his flintlock rifle, he took it into town to show to several friends, all of whom were impressed with his work, and requested rifles be made for them. Further, one of Black's acquaintances, John Hattrick, was a mail currier, and often carried his Black flintlock when delivering mail, gaining notoriety for the rifle from across the region. By 1816, Black had received more than 40 orders from the citizens of South Rock and the surrounding area, and decided to entering the gunsmithing business, establishing the Blackrock Rifle Company.

In 1820, Rupert Steele, owner of Steele and Sons, a sporting goods chain located in Tidewater which processed several other firearms-oriented business including the United Metallic Cartridge Concern, approached Black, offering to provide him with finances to establish a larger workshop, as well as modern machining tools and trained personal to assist in fulfilling the multitude of orders. At the time, Black, along with his sons Bradley and Hiram, and his daughter Rebecca, were all engaged in gunsmithing. The average wait time for a Black Flintlock was appoximently 4-6 months, Steele informed Black he could assist him in getting that time dons o 3-5 weeks. Further, Black's wife, Anne, was engaged as the company's administrative officer, and the entire family was overwhelmed from the success of Black's design, fulfilling orders and running the business became extremely difficult for the Black family. Steele offered to purchase Blackrock Rifle Company from Black, and offering to pay him a royalty on every Blackrock rifle sold, as well as a position with the company to continue development and gunsmithing work, if he desired. Black agreed and sold the company to Steele and Sons on March 15, 1822. In 1828, Steele and Sons decided to relocate the Blackrock Rifle Company's manufacturing center from Harrisburg to Tidewater, and relocated UMCC's ammunition's works into the same complex. In 1832, it was decided to merge Blackrock Rifle Company and UMCC, creating Blackrock Arms. During the mid to late 1800's, Blackrock provided a number of designs for the Confederacy's armed forces, including the Blackrock Model 1858 Army, Blackrock Model 1875 Army/Navy and Blackrock Model 1880 Army/Navy revolvers and the Blackrock Rolling Block rifle, sometimes referred to as the Copperhead Rifle.

When the Allegheny Civil War erupted in 1918, the director of Blackrock Arms, Harold Kingmen, was approached by both the Allegheny government and rebel movements to provide arms for the conflict. Kingman, unable to decide where his loyalties lay, and facing worker strikes and sabotage from underpaid craftsman sympathetic to the rebel cause, decided that the company would not support either side in the conflict. The Blackrock Arms facility in Tidewater refused to produce firearms for either group during the war, and was instead taken over by the Allegheny government, the equipment used to produce rifles and munitions, but not under the Blackrock name. When the war ended and two separate nations were established, the southern Copperhead Republic and Shenandoahan Commonwealth, the nominal successor to the Allegheny Confederacy, the property was returned to Blackrock's control. Although there were many in the Commonwealth who wished to see Blackrock sanctioned for their refusal to assist in the war effort, Blackrock Arms products were highly prized in both Shenandoah and the Copperhead Republic. In the end, an agreement was reached to allow the company to continue operation in both nation's, something of an oddity at the time, with the understanding that Blackrock would never again supply military arms to either nation.

Products

Bolt-action firearms

Break action firearms

Pump-action firearms

Semiautomatic firearms

Revolver firearms

Single shot firearms

Blackrock Arms

History

Products

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