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American Western Arms
Posted:adminThe Western Arms Corporationand Winfield Arms Corporationof Los Angelesby Ed BuffaloeI doubt that much would be known about the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles (also known as Winfield Arms Corporation) if Sam Cummings hadn’t been associated with it briefly in 1952. Little enough isknown. Cummings (1927-1998) was the famed founder of Interarms, and the largest arms dealer in the world during the second half of the 20th century. My interest in the two companies arose because they were theimporters and distributors of MAB pistols in the United States after World War II. Most of the references I found about Western Arms and Winfield Arms came from books about Sam Cummings and/or the international arms trade.Western Arms Corporation 1Thus far, the two books I have encountered with the most information about Western Arms are George Thayer’s The War Business: The International Trade in Armaments and Brogan and Zarca’s Deadly Business: SamCummings, Interarms, and the Arms Trade.
American Western Arms The Revolver Files. I bought an AWA years ago when Colt SAA's were extremely hard to find. The gun looked good, IIRC it was color cased hardened, and functioned well enough.
Of the two, I feel the latter is the more reliable since it is based on interviews with Sam Cummings, who cooperated with the authors while they were writing the book, going sofar as to read and correct it before publication. But Brogan and Zarca quote Thayer, and Thayer’s book deals with issues outside the scope of the book about Cummings and Interarms. Another book that coversmuch of the same information is Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy, by Russell Warren Howe.Thayer does not give a date for the establishment of Western Arms, but he implies that it took place sometime between 1945 and 1947, after the dissolution of the OSS and before theestablishment of the CIA. He prefaces his brief history of Western Arms by stating that during the two years between the OSS and CIA “America's intelligence needs were met by the Rand A Research and Analysis Branch in State.” Thayer recounts that U.S. Intelligence wanted to: (1) keep track of the excess small arms floating around in the world; (2) make suremost of them ended up in the U.S.; and (3) have a source of foreign arms to provide to other governments and political entitiesthat could not be traced back to the U.S.
Thayer states that a man by the name of Leo Lippe, variously described as aHollywood cinematographer, promotor, or director, convinced the State Department to set him up in business, first as the Western Arms Corporation, and later as the Winfield Arms Company. Howe says much the same thing:An early CIA decision was to bring war surplus in Europe to the United States, rather than let it fall into the hands of left-wingmovements.
Some of the guns would also, it was reasoned, be useful as “sterile” weapons (foreign-made and untraceable to theUnited States) to be provided secretly to foreign friends. Two firms were set up to handle this trade: one was WAC, headed by Hollywood promoter Leo Lippe.The Central Intelligence Agency was formed by theNational Security Act of 1947, which became effective on 18 September 1947. Western Arms filed its incorporation papers on 15 May 1948. Advertisements for Western Arms began appearing in American Rifleman, PopularMechanics, and Popular Science magazines in October of 1949. Leo Lippe and Sam Cummings were sent to Europe in 1951 to buy surplus weapons for the CIA.
The involvement of Western Arms in the purchase andimportation of CIA weapons is often implied, but not stated explicitly in the above-referenced books. However, after the European trip, Cummings was sent to Costa Ricaby the CIA to oversee the sale of that country’s surplus small arms to the Western Arms Corporation. Multiple sources indicate that Cummings worked for Western Armsfor as much as two years, but Brogan and Zarca indicate that his true employer was the CIA.While there is no doubt that Leo Lippe was involved in the firearms trade and was associated with Western Arms, WinfieldArms, and Hy Hunter in the 1950’s and 1960’s, according to Brogan and Zarca his only connection to the CIA prior to 1951was that he had sold the OSS some cooking equipment during the war. The CIA used Lippe’s Hollywood connection as acover for Sam Cummings’ mission to Europe to buy surplus weapons (they were ostensibly buying them for the movies) but,according to Brogan and Zarca, at the time Lippe knew nothing about weapons and had never traveled outside the U.S.
Lisa Beth Pulitzer, in her book A Woman Scorned, states that Lippe did not know the true purpose of his mission with Cummings,but this seems to be contradicted by some statements in Brogan and Zarca’s book. Supposedly, it was during this Europeantrip with Cummings that Lippe gained some knowledge about, and developed an interest in, weapons-and only after he returned did he decide to go into the arms business.According to Brogan and Zarca, Western Arms was “founded after the war by Robert Lee, a California arms dealer, and anEnglishman, Cecil Jackson.” The company filed for bankruptcy in 1950, but was apparently rescued by Leo Lippe, when heand Cummings began buying arms for the CIA. Brogan and Zarca do not mention any CIA connection with Western Armsprior to 1951, but they do state that Sam Cummings “.collaborated with Western Arms, which certainly had close associations with the CIA.”Thayer states that Lippe was not associated with WesternArms when Cummings worked with the company during his stint with the CIA. However, Brogan and Zarca state that “Cummings worked with Lippe during this period andgot to know Western Arms and Cecil Jackson.” After he left the CIA at the end of 1952 and went into business for himself, Cummings’ first big purchase of weapons wasfrom Panama, and he sold them to Cecil Jackson of Western Arms. Cummings continued to sell guns to Western Arms through his distributor, Hunters Lodge, probably right up to the time they went out of business,sometime in the early to mid- 1960s.There is a brief mention of Western Arms in Dillinger: The Untold Story, which simply states that it may have been the successor to the Monarch Arms Company of Los Angeles, which manufactured custom parts for automaticpistols circa 1933. I’m dubious about this assertion and have been unable to find any further information about Monarch Arms.Western Arms is mentioned in Stephen Cuthbertson’s book Worldwide Webley.
The Australian Police bought 250 of theWebley & Scott.380 auto pistols to replace some of their Smith & Wesson revolvers in 1912. Much later, in the 1950's,hundreds of ex-police and confiscated pistols of all sorts were dumped at sea. But divers kept bringing them back up, so laterguns were melted down. Cuthbertson writes: 'However, some of the confiscated or surrendered pistols and revolvers weresold to the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles, California in February 1953. One hundred and nine pistols andrevolvers of various makes were purchased by the company for $171US. These pistols were later distributed to dealers inCanada and the United States.'
The Dublin Police ordered 200 W&S auto pistols in 1920-50 in.32 caliber and 150 in.380caliber. Cuthbertson writes: 'Then, in 1925 the Metropolitan Dublin Police Force was reorganized to become part of theFederal Garda Siochana. The Webley & Scott Automatics were used until the mid 1930's when they were placed in reservestorage. As with some of the South Australian Pistols, the Western Arms Company of Los Angeles, California managed to purchase these when they were finally declared surplus by the Irish Government in 1951.' The earliest address that appeared on Western Arms ads was 1206 Maple Avenue, Los Angeles 15, California-in 1949.
By1950 they were at 417 E. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. I have located an ad from 1953 that gives their addressas 411 E. Pico Boulevard, and two others from January 1954 that shows them at 409 E. The January 1954 ads for theWAC R9 pistol made by MAB are the last I have been able to locate for Western Arms. By February of 1954 the WAC pistols were being marketed by Winfield Arms.Winfield Arms Corporation 2Information about the Winfield Arms Corporation of LosAngeles is hard to come.
As quoted above, Thayer stated that Leo Lippe convinced the CIA to set him up first as Western Arms, then as Winfield Arms, but Brogan and Zarca state that Leo Lippe only became associated withWestern Arms after it had been in business for three years.There are many advertisements for Winfield Arms in old gun magazines from the 1950’s, as well as in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. The earliestadvertisement I’ve been able to locate is from December of 1951 in American Rifleman. Relay wiring schematic.
This ad lists the address of Winfield Arms Corporation as 409 East Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. The Winfield Arms address at 409 East Pico is separated from the Western Arms address at 417 East Pico by one small storefront. Lateradvertisements, from the mid-1950’s, give the address for Winfield Arms as 1006 South Olive, Los Angeles 15, California.
In 1963, their last advertisements shows them at 10927 W Pico Boulevard.The earliest advertisements for Winfield Arms Corporation (dating from 1951) state that it is the distributor for Western Arms Corporation. These early ads are the only hard link I’ve been able to find between the two entities, which were essentially thesame company. Van tharp position sizing. Incorporation papers for the Winfield Arms Corporation were filed on 25 January 1951, right about the timeLippe and Cummings were being sent overseas to buy arms for the CIA.
Winfield eventually became the public face of thecorporation, handling distribution, while the purchase and importion of arms continued under the Western Arms Corporation name. Western Arms continued to advertise the MAB/WAC pistols through January of 1954.In 1953 Winfield Arms bought all the Johnson Automatic Rifles held as surplus in the U.S., which they refurbished and soldthrough the mid-1960’s. Many of their advertisements in 1953 and 1954 were for these rifles. Winfield Arms also importedand rebranded.41 Swiss rimfire cartridges made in Italy by Leon Beaux. Winfield sold surplus weapons from all over the world, including Remington rolling block rifles, Martinis, Mausers, Terni carbines, Ross.303 rifles, Swiss Vetterlis, Webley revolvers, Swedish Lahti pistols, as well as sabers, bayonnets, and gun stocks.Speculations and a Few Known FactsAccording to a source who once worked for Winfield Arms, WesternArms/Winfield Arms was set up by the CIA and was partially staffed by CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence personnel throughout its existence. The sole purpose of the company was to purchase arms on the internationalmarket and make them available to governments or political entities supported by the CIA, including foreign intelligence services. The company’s commercial business was real and quite extensive, but served asa cover for the clandestine activities of American intelligence agencies.
Western/Winfield provided arms to various Central American countries, Mexico, Chile, and Israel, among others.I suggest that the Western Arms Corporation name was no accident. The CIA was setting up a company that was in clearopposition to the “Eastern bloc,” so its name reflected its purpose, which was to provide arms to allies of the Western bloc.Since the company was in California, people in the U.S. Just assumed it referred the Western U.S.
Rather than the WesternWorld. But I think at some point the CIA decided that the Western Arms name might be a little too obvious, so they began using the name Winfield Arms for their sales.Cecil Jackson, one of the founders of Western Arms, served in the British Army’s Jewish Brigade during World War II. TheJewish Brigade saw action fighting the Germans in Italy in 1944. Jackson had close ties to Israeli intelligence, as well as the CIA. Cecil’s son, Nigel, also worked for Winfield Arms, but I do not know if he was connected in any way with the intelligencecommunity.
Steve Kessler was a CIA employee who worked for Winfield Arms in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Around1962 he left to work for World Arms Corporation, which was a California company founded on 17 November 1947, a meretwo months after the official establishment of the CIA. I haven’t been able to learn anything more about World Arms, but it mayalso have been established by the CIA. Kessler has also been linked with INCO of Burbank, California.The Winfield Arms Building in February of 2010Photograph by Emma Roberts, fromI haven’t found any evidence that MAB pistols were imported into the U.S. Prior to Western Arms.
I can speculate that someone in U.S. Intelligence may have encountered the gunsduring the war and admired their quality, but it is only speculation. Brogan and Zarca state that “Western Arms had some useful connections in Europe, particularly in Denmark and Sweden.,”and these contacts were valuable to Lippe and Cummings when they were buying arms in Europe.According to Mark Kurlansky, in his book The Basque History of the World, 'the Basque Nationalist Party and the OSS. Worked hand in hand.” The Basque Nationalist Party hadformed the Guernica Battalion to fight with De Gaulle’s resistance forces in Southern France. Composed largely of men who had fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, theGuernica Battalion was armed and trained by the OSS.
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The Western Arms Corporationand Winfield Arms Corporationof Los Angelesby Ed BuffaloeI doubt that much would be known about the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles (also known as Winfield Arms Corporation) if Sam Cummings hadn’t been associated with it briefly in 1952. Little enough isknown. Cummings (1927-1998) was the famed founder of Interarms, and the largest arms dealer in the world during the second half of the 20th century. My interest in the two companies arose because they were theimporters and distributors of MAB pistols in the United States after World War II. Most of the references I found about Western Arms and Winfield Arms came from books about Sam Cummings and/or the international arms trade.Western Arms Corporation 1Thus far, the two books I have encountered with the most information about Western Arms are George Thayer’s The War Business: The International Trade in Armaments and Brogan and Zarca’s Deadly Business: SamCummings, Interarms, and the Arms Trade.
American Western Arms The Revolver Files. I bought an AWA years ago when Colt SAA\'s were extremely hard to find. The gun looked good, IIRC it was color cased hardened, and functioned well enough.
Of the two, I feel the latter is the more reliable since it is based on interviews with Sam Cummings, who cooperated with the authors while they were writing the book, going sofar as to read and correct it before publication. But Brogan and Zarca quote Thayer, and Thayer’s book deals with issues outside the scope of the book about Cummings and Interarms. Another book that coversmuch of the same information is Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy, by Russell Warren Howe.Thayer does not give a date for the establishment of Western Arms, but he implies that it took place sometime between 1945 and 1947, after the dissolution of the OSS and before theestablishment of the CIA. He prefaces his brief history of Western Arms by stating that during the two years between the OSS and CIA “America\'s intelligence needs were met by the Rand A Research and Analysis Branch in State.” Thayer recounts that U.S. Intelligence wanted to: (1) keep track of the excess small arms floating around in the world; (2) make suremost of them ended up in the U.S.; and (3) have a source of foreign arms to provide to other governments and political entitiesthat could not be traced back to the U.S.
Thayer states that a man by the name of Leo Lippe, variously described as aHollywood cinematographer, promotor, or director, convinced the State Department to set him up in business, first as the Western Arms Corporation, and later as the Winfield Arms Company. Howe says much the same thing:An early CIA decision was to bring war surplus in Europe to the United States, rather than let it fall into the hands of left-wingmovements.
Some of the guns would also, it was reasoned, be useful as “sterile” weapons (foreign-made and untraceable to theUnited States) to be provided secretly to foreign friends. Two firms were set up to handle this trade: one was WAC, headed by Hollywood promoter Leo Lippe.The Central Intelligence Agency was formed by theNational Security Act of 1947, which became effective on 18 September 1947. Western Arms filed its incorporation papers on 15 May 1948. Advertisements for Western Arms began appearing in American Rifleman, PopularMechanics, and Popular Science magazines in October of 1949. Leo Lippe and Sam Cummings were sent to Europe in 1951 to buy surplus weapons for the CIA.
The involvement of Western Arms in the purchase andimportation of CIA weapons is often implied, but not stated explicitly in the above-referenced books. However, after the European trip, Cummings was sent to Costa Ricaby the CIA to oversee the sale of that country’s surplus small arms to the Western Arms Corporation. Multiple sources indicate that Cummings worked for Western Armsfor as much as two years, but Brogan and Zarca indicate that his true employer was the CIA.While there is no doubt that Leo Lippe was involved in the firearms trade and was associated with Western Arms, WinfieldArms, and Hy Hunter in the 1950’s and 1960’s, according to Brogan and Zarca his only connection to the CIA prior to 1951was that he had sold the OSS some cooking equipment during the war. The CIA used Lippe’s Hollywood connection as acover for Sam Cummings’ mission to Europe to buy surplus weapons (they were ostensibly buying them for the movies) but,according to Brogan and Zarca, at the time Lippe knew nothing about weapons and had never traveled outside the U.S.
Lisa Beth Pulitzer, in her book A Woman Scorned, states that Lippe did not know the true purpose of his mission with Cummings,but this seems to be contradicted by some statements in Brogan and Zarca’s book. Supposedly, it was during this Europeantrip with Cummings that Lippe gained some knowledge about, and developed an interest in, weapons-and only after he returned did he decide to go into the arms business.According to Brogan and Zarca, Western Arms was “founded after the war by Robert Lee, a California arms dealer, and anEnglishman, Cecil Jackson.” The company filed for bankruptcy in 1950, but was apparently rescued by Leo Lippe, when heand Cummings began buying arms for the CIA. Brogan and Zarca do not mention any CIA connection with Western Armsprior to 1951, but they do state that Sam Cummings “.collaborated with Western Arms, which certainly had close associations with the CIA.”Thayer states that Lippe was not associated with WesternArms when Cummings worked with the company during his stint with the CIA. However, Brogan and Zarca state that “Cummings worked with Lippe during this period andgot to know Western Arms and Cecil Jackson.” After he left the CIA at the end of 1952 and went into business for himself, Cummings’ first big purchase of weapons wasfrom Panama, and he sold them to Cecil Jackson of Western Arms. Cummings continued to sell guns to Western Arms through his distributor, Hunters Lodge, probably right up to the time they went out of business,sometime in the early to mid- 1960s.There is a brief mention of Western Arms in Dillinger: The Untold Story, which simply states that it may have been the successor to the Monarch Arms Company of Los Angeles, which manufactured custom parts for automaticpistols circa 1933. I’m dubious about this assertion and have been unable to find any further information about Monarch Arms.Western Arms is mentioned in Stephen Cuthbertson’s book Worldwide Webley.
The Australian Police bought 250 of theWebley & Scott.380 auto pistols to replace some of their Smith & Wesson revolvers in 1912. Much later, in the 1950\'s,hundreds of ex-police and confiscated pistols of all sorts were dumped at sea. But divers kept bringing them back up, so laterguns were melted down. Cuthbertson writes: \'However, some of the confiscated or surrendered pistols and revolvers weresold to the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles, California in February 1953. One hundred and nine pistols andrevolvers of various makes were purchased by the company for $171US. These pistols were later distributed to dealers inCanada and the United States.\'
The Dublin Police ordered 200 W&S auto pistols in 1920-50 in.32 caliber and 150 in.380caliber. Cuthbertson writes: \'Then, in 1925 the Metropolitan Dublin Police Force was reorganized to become part of theFederal Garda Siochana. The Webley & Scott Automatics were used until the mid 1930\'s when they were placed in reservestorage. As with some of the South Australian Pistols, the Western Arms Company of Los Angeles, California managed to purchase these when they were finally declared surplus by the Irish Government in 1951.\' The earliest address that appeared on Western Arms ads was 1206 Maple Avenue, Los Angeles 15, California-in 1949.
By1950 they were at 417 E. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. I have located an ad from 1953 that gives their addressas 411 E. Pico Boulevard, and two others from January 1954 that shows them at 409 E. The January 1954 ads for theWAC R9 pistol made by MAB are the last I have been able to locate for Western Arms. By February of 1954 the WAC pistols were being marketed by Winfield Arms.Winfield Arms Corporation 2Information about the Winfield Arms Corporation of LosAngeles is hard to come.
As quoted above, Thayer stated that Leo Lippe convinced the CIA to set him up first as Western Arms, then as Winfield Arms, but Brogan and Zarca state that Leo Lippe only became associated withWestern Arms after it had been in business for three years.There are many advertisements for Winfield Arms in old gun magazines from the 1950’s, as well as in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. The earliestadvertisement I’ve been able to locate is from December of 1951 in American Rifleman. Relay wiring schematic.
This ad lists the address of Winfield Arms Corporation as 409 East Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. The Winfield Arms address at 409 East Pico is separated from the Western Arms address at 417 East Pico by one small storefront. Lateradvertisements, from the mid-1950’s, give the address for Winfield Arms as 1006 South Olive, Los Angeles 15, California.
In 1963, their last advertisements shows them at 10927 W Pico Boulevard.The earliest advertisements for Winfield Arms Corporation (dating from 1951) state that it is the distributor for Western Arms Corporation. These early ads are the only hard link I’ve been able to find between the two entities, which were essentially thesame company. Van tharp position sizing. Incorporation papers for the Winfield Arms Corporation were filed on 25 January 1951, right about the timeLippe and Cummings were being sent overseas to buy arms for the CIA.
Winfield eventually became the public face of thecorporation, handling distribution, while the purchase and importion of arms continued under the Western Arms Corporation name. Western Arms continued to advertise the MAB/WAC pistols through January of 1954.In 1953 Winfield Arms bought all the Johnson Automatic Rifles held as surplus in the U.S., which they refurbished and soldthrough the mid-1960’s. Many of their advertisements in 1953 and 1954 were for these rifles. Winfield Arms also importedand rebranded.41 Swiss rimfire cartridges made in Italy by Leon Beaux. Winfield sold surplus weapons from all over the world, including Remington rolling block rifles, Martinis, Mausers, Terni carbines, Ross.303 rifles, Swiss Vetterlis, Webley revolvers, Swedish Lahti pistols, as well as sabers, bayonnets, and gun stocks.Speculations and a Few Known FactsAccording to a source who once worked for Winfield Arms, WesternArms/Winfield Arms was set up by the CIA and was partially staffed by CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence personnel throughout its existence. The sole purpose of the company was to purchase arms on the internationalmarket and make them available to governments or political entities supported by the CIA, including foreign intelligence services. The company’s commercial business was real and quite extensive, but served asa cover for the clandestine activities of American intelligence agencies.
Western/Winfield provided arms to various Central American countries, Mexico, Chile, and Israel, among others.I suggest that the Western Arms Corporation name was no accident. The CIA was setting up a company that was in clearopposition to the “Eastern bloc,” so its name reflected its purpose, which was to provide arms to allies of the Western bloc.Since the company was in California, people in the U.S. Just assumed it referred the Western U.S.
Rather than the WesternWorld. But I think at some point the CIA decided that the Western Arms name might be a little too obvious, so they began using the name Winfield Arms for their sales.Cecil Jackson, one of the founders of Western Arms, served in the British Army’s Jewish Brigade during World War II. TheJewish Brigade saw action fighting the Germans in Italy in 1944. Jackson had close ties to Israeli intelligence, as well as the CIA. Cecil’s son, Nigel, also worked for Winfield Arms, but I do not know if he was connected in any way with the intelligencecommunity.
Steve Kessler was a CIA employee who worked for Winfield Arms in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Around1962 he left to work for World Arms Corporation, which was a California company founded on 17 November 1947, a meretwo months after the official establishment of the CIA. I haven’t been able to learn anything more about World Arms, but it mayalso have been established by the CIA. Kessler has also been linked with INCO of Burbank, California.The Winfield Arms Building in February of 2010Photograph by Emma Roberts, fromI haven’t found any evidence that MAB pistols were imported into the U.S. Prior to Western Arms.
I can speculate that someone in U.S. Intelligence may have encountered the gunsduring the war and admired their quality, but it is only speculation. Brogan and Zarca state that “Western Arms had some useful connections in Europe, particularly in Denmark and Sweden.,”and these contacts were valuable to Lippe and Cummings when they were buying arms in Europe.According to Mark Kurlansky, in his book The Basque History of the World, \'the Basque Nationalist Party and the OSS. Worked hand in hand.” The Basque Nationalist Party hadformed the Guernica Battalion to fight with De Gaulle’s resistance forces in Southern France. Composed largely of men who had fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, theGuernica Battalion was armed and trained by the OSS.
...'>American Western Arms(23.02.2020)The Western Arms Corporationand Winfield Arms Corporationof Los Angelesby Ed BuffaloeI doubt that much would be known about the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles (also known as Winfield Arms Corporation) if Sam Cummings hadn’t been associated with it briefly in 1952. Little enough isknown. Cummings (1927-1998) was the famed founder of Interarms, and the largest arms dealer in the world during the second half of the 20th century. My interest in the two companies arose because they were theimporters and distributors of MAB pistols in the United States after World War II. Most of the references I found about Western Arms and Winfield Arms came from books about Sam Cummings and/or the international arms trade.Western Arms Corporation 1Thus far, the two books I have encountered with the most information about Western Arms are George Thayer’s The War Business: The International Trade in Armaments and Brogan and Zarca’s Deadly Business: SamCummings, Interarms, and the Arms Trade.
American Western Arms The Revolver Files. I bought an AWA years ago when Colt SAA\'s were extremely hard to find. The gun looked good, IIRC it was color cased hardened, and functioned well enough.
Of the two, I feel the latter is the more reliable since it is based on interviews with Sam Cummings, who cooperated with the authors while they were writing the book, going sofar as to read and correct it before publication. But Brogan and Zarca quote Thayer, and Thayer’s book deals with issues outside the scope of the book about Cummings and Interarms. Another book that coversmuch of the same information is Weapons: The International Game of Arms, Money and Diplomacy, by Russell Warren Howe.Thayer does not give a date for the establishment of Western Arms, but he implies that it took place sometime between 1945 and 1947, after the dissolution of the OSS and before theestablishment of the CIA. He prefaces his brief history of Western Arms by stating that during the two years between the OSS and CIA “America\'s intelligence needs were met by the Rand A Research and Analysis Branch in State.” Thayer recounts that U.S. Intelligence wanted to: (1) keep track of the excess small arms floating around in the world; (2) make suremost of them ended up in the U.S.; and (3) have a source of foreign arms to provide to other governments and political entitiesthat could not be traced back to the U.S.
Thayer states that a man by the name of Leo Lippe, variously described as aHollywood cinematographer, promotor, or director, convinced the State Department to set him up in business, first as the Western Arms Corporation, and later as the Winfield Arms Company. Howe says much the same thing:An early CIA decision was to bring war surplus in Europe to the United States, rather than let it fall into the hands of left-wingmovements.
Some of the guns would also, it was reasoned, be useful as “sterile” weapons (foreign-made and untraceable to theUnited States) to be provided secretly to foreign friends. Two firms were set up to handle this trade: one was WAC, headed by Hollywood promoter Leo Lippe.The Central Intelligence Agency was formed by theNational Security Act of 1947, which became effective on 18 September 1947. Western Arms filed its incorporation papers on 15 May 1948. Advertisements for Western Arms began appearing in American Rifleman, PopularMechanics, and Popular Science magazines in October of 1949. Leo Lippe and Sam Cummings were sent to Europe in 1951 to buy surplus weapons for the CIA.
The involvement of Western Arms in the purchase andimportation of CIA weapons is often implied, but not stated explicitly in the above-referenced books. However, after the European trip, Cummings was sent to Costa Ricaby the CIA to oversee the sale of that country’s surplus small arms to the Western Arms Corporation. Multiple sources indicate that Cummings worked for Western Armsfor as much as two years, but Brogan and Zarca indicate that his true employer was the CIA.While there is no doubt that Leo Lippe was involved in the firearms trade and was associated with Western Arms, WinfieldArms, and Hy Hunter in the 1950’s and 1960’s, according to Brogan and Zarca his only connection to the CIA prior to 1951was that he had sold the OSS some cooking equipment during the war. The CIA used Lippe’s Hollywood connection as acover for Sam Cummings’ mission to Europe to buy surplus weapons (they were ostensibly buying them for the movies) but,according to Brogan and Zarca, at the time Lippe knew nothing about weapons and had never traveled outside the U.S.
Lisa Beth Pulitzer, in her book A Woman Scorned, states that Lippe did not know the true purpose of his mission with Cummings,but this seems to be contradicted by some statements in Brogan and Zarca’s book. Supposedly, it was during this Europeantrip with Cummings that Lippe gained some knowledge about, and developed an interest in, weapons-and only after he returned did he decide to go into the arms business.According to Brogan and Zarca, Western Arms was “founded after the war by Robert Lee, a California arms dealer, and anEnglishman, Cecil Jackson.” The company filed for bankruptcy in 1950, but was apparently rescued by Leo Lippe, when heand Cummings began buying arms for the CIA. Brogan and Zarca do not mention any CIA connection with Western Armsprior to 1951, but they do state that Sam Cummings “.collaborated with Western Arms, which certainly had close associations with the CIA.”Thayer states that Lippe was not associated with WesternArms when Cummings worked with the company during his stint with the CIA. However, Brogan and Zarca state that “Cummings worked with Lippe during this period andgot to know Western Arms and Cecil Jackson.” After he left the CIA at the end of 1952 and went into business for himself, Cummings’ first big purchase of weapons wasfrom Panama, and he sold them to Cecil Jackson of Western Arms. Cummings continued to sell guns to Western Arms through his distributor, Hunters Lodge, probably right up to the time they went out of business,sometime in the early to mid- 1960s.There is a brief mention of Western Arms in Dillinger: The Untold Story, which simply states that it may have been the successor to the Monarch Arms Company of Los Angeles, which manufactured custom parts for automaticpistols circa 1933. I’m dubious about this assertion and have been unable to find any further information about Monarch Arms.Western Arms is mentioned in Stephen Cuthbertson’s book Worldwide Webley.
The Australian Police bought 250 of theWebley & Scott.380 auto pistols to replace some of their Smith & Wesson revolvers in 1912. Much later, in the 1950\'s,hundreds of ex-police and confiscated pistols of all sorts were dumped at sea. But divers kept bringing them back up, so laterguns were melted down. Cuthbertson writes: \'However, some of the confiscated or surrendered pistols and revolvers weresold to the Western Arms Corporation of Los Angeles, California in February 1953. One hundred and nine pistols andrevolvers of various makes were purchased by the company for $171US. These pistols were later distributed to dealers inCanada and the United States.\'
The Dublin Police ordered 200 W&S auto pistols in 1920-50 in.32 caliber and 150 in.380caliber. Cuthbertson writes: \'Then, in 1925 the Metropolitan Dublin Police Force was reorganized to become part of theFederal Garda Siochana. The Webley & Scott Automatics were used until the mid 1930\'s when they were placed in reservestorage. As with some of the South Australian Pistols, the Western Arms Company of Los Angeles, California managed to purchase these when they were finally declared surplus by the Irish Government in 1951.\' The earliest address that appeared on Western Arms ads was 1206 Maple Avenue, Los Angeles 15, California-in 1949.
By1950 they were at 417 E. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. I have located an ad from 1953 that gives their addressas 411 E. Pico Boulevard, and two others from January 1954 that shows them at 409 E. The January 1954 ads for theWAC R9 pistol made by MAB are the last I have been able to locate for Western Arms. By February of 1954 the WAC pistols were being marketed by Winfield Arms.Winfield Arms Corporation 2Information about the Winfield Arms Corporation of LosAngeles is hard to come.
As quoted above, Thayer stated that Leo Lippe convinced the CIA to set him up first as Western Arms, then as Winfield Arms, but Brogan and Zarca state that Leo Lippe only became associated withWestern Arms after it had been in business for three years.There are many advertisements for Winfield Arms in old gun magazines from the 1950’s, as well as in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. The earliestadvertisement I’ve been able to locate is from December of 1951 in American Rifleman. Relay wiring schematic.
This ad lists the address of Winfield Arms Corporation as 409 East Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles 15, California. The Winfield Arms address at 409 East Pico is separated from the Western Arms address at 417 East Pico by one small storefront. Lateradvertisements, from the mid-1950’s, give the address for Winfield Arms as 1006 South Olive, Los Angeles 15, California.
In 1963, their last advertisements shows them at 10927 W Pico Boulevard.The earliest advertisements for Winfield Arms Corporation (dating from 1951) state that it is the distributor for Western Arms Corporation. These early ads are the only hard link I’ve been able to find between the two entities, which were essentially thesame company. Van tharp position sizing. Incorporation papers for the Winfield Arms Corporation were filed on 25 January 1951, right about the timeLippe and Cummings were being sent overseas to buy arms for the CIA.
Winfield eventually became the public face of thecorporation, handling distribution, while the purchase and importion of arms continued under the Western Arms Corporation name. Western Arms continued to advertise the MAB/WAC pistols through January of 1954.In 1953 Winfield Arms bought all the Johnson Automatic Rifles held as surplus in the U.S., which they refurbished and soldthrough the mid-1960’s. Many of their advertisements in 1953 and 1954 were for these rifles. Winfield Arms also importedand rebranded.41 Swiss rimfire cartridges made in Italy by Leon Beaux. Winfield sold surplus weapons from all over the world, including Remington rolling block rifles, Martinis, Mausers, Terni carbines, Ross.303 rifles, Swiss Vetterlis, Webley revolvers, Swedish Lahti pistols, as well as sabers, bayonnets, and gun stocks.Speculations and a Few Known FactsAccording to a source who once worked for Winfield Arms, WesternArms/Winfield Arms was set up by the CIA and was partially staffed by CIA and Office of Naval Intelligence personnel throughout its existence. The sole purpose of the company was to purchase arms on the internationalmarket and make them available to governments or political entities supported by the CIA, including foreign intelligence services. The company’s commercial business was real and quite extensive, but served asa cover for the clandestine activities of American intelligence agencies.
Western/Winfield provided arms to various Central American countries, Mexico, Chile, and Israel, among others.I suggest that the Western Arms Corporation name was no accident. The CIA was setting up a company that was in clearopposition to the “Eastern bloc,” so its name reflected its purpose, which was to provide arms to allies of the Western bloc.Since the company was in California, people in the U.S. Just assumed it referred the Western U.S.
Rather than the WesternWorld. But I think at some point the CIA decided that the Western Arms name might be a little too obvious, so they began using the name Winfield Arms for their sales.Cecil Jackson, one of the founders of Western Arms, served in the British Army’s Jewish Brigade during World War II. TheJewish Brigade saw action fighting the Germans in Italy in 1944. Jackson had close ties to Israeli intelligence, as well as the CIA. Cecil’s son, Nigel, also worked for Winfield Arms, but I do not know if he was connected in any way with the intelligencecommunity.
Steve Kessler was a CIA employee who worked for Winfield Arms in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Around1962 he left to work for World Arms Corporation, which was a California company founded on 17 November 1947, a meretwo months after the official establishment of the CIA. I haven’t been able to learn anything more about World Arms, but it mayalso have been established by the CIA. Kessler has also been linked with INCO of Burbank, California.The Winfield Arms Building in February of 2010Photograph by Emma Roberts, fromI haven’t found any evidence that MAB pistols were imported into the U.S. Prior to Western Arms.
I can speculate that someone in U.S. Intelligence may have encountered the gunsduring the war and admired their quality, but it is only speculation. Brogan and Zarca state that “Western Arms had some useful connections in Europe, particularly in Denmark and Sweden.,”and these contacts were valuable to Lippe and Cummings when they were buying arms in Europe.According to Mark Kurlansky, in his book The Basque History of the World, \'the Basque Nationalist Party and the OSS. Worked hand in hand.” The Basque Nationalist Party hadformed the Guernica Battalion to fight with De Gaulle’s resistance forces in Southern France. Composed largely of men who had fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War, theGuernica Battalion was armed and trained by the OSS.
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