Former type Private Fate Bankrupt Area served U.S. Headquarters California Ceased operations 1998 | Industry firearms Defunct 1998 (1998) Key people James Waldorf Founded 1989 | |
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Lorcin engineering company top 6 facts
Lorcin Engineering Company was a firearms manufacturer established in 1989 by Jim Waldorf. Lorcin produced a series of very inexpensive handguns, which were sold primarily through pawn shops and marketed towards people with low income. As such, their guns were frequently referred to as saturday night specials, and Lorcin was noted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as one of the Ring of Fire companies (a series of companies established around Los Angeles, California, all of which manufactured inexpensive handguns of similar design and all of which were connected to Raven Arms. Waldorf was a high school friend of Bruce Jennings, founder of Raven Arms.
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The guns were constructed of injection-molded Zamak, a zinc alloy.
In 1993, Lorcin was the number one pistol manufacturer in the United States, producing 341,243 guns. However, in 1996, Lorcin filed for bankruptcy, with 18 pending product liability, personal injury, and wrongful death lawsuits. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 1997, but went out of business permanently in 1998 with an additional 22 lawsuits having been filed.