|
Sportco History
Known to hundreds of thousands of sporting shooters in Australia and overseas as “Sportco” this Adelaide based company for over 35 years produced sporting firearms for the domestic market and export to Great Britain, Rhodesia, Borneo, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America.
Born in the post war era where sporting firearms were almost impossible to source (those that belonged to sporting shooters during the war years were taken by the military for the war effort) the company expanded its market to include the design and production of semi-automatic shotguns, the conversion of military rifles to sporting calibres, the manufacture of world-class target rifles and the development of a 22 rim-fire action that was sold to the giant USA arms manufacturer Winchester.
Eventually sold to Omark Industries of Oregon U.S.A., Sportco shut its doors in the early 1980’s.
Sportco remains an icon of a once thriving Australian firearm industry and the information and photographs on this website are dedicated to the staff and management who made great firearms for the Australian sporting shooter.
We would welcome photographs and any other historical facts or records that individuals may hold regarding the production of firearms at Sportco.
Click on a link to open a document.
Article in Sporting Shooter Magazine
Sportco history in Australian Shooter magazine - part one
Sportco history in Australian Shooter magazine - part two
Sportco history in Anglers' Digest & Shooters Monthly
This
clipping, from the November 1955 issue of Anglers' Digest &
Shooters Monthly,
shows
a photograph of John (Jack) Warne, with Harris Scarfe
representative Ivo Noyes and LIndsay Clarke 'President of
the South Australian Cartridge Convention'.
Photo gallery of Adelaide and Clovelly Park sites
Sportco promotion for SSAA
|
