Charles Daly: Over 100 Years Of Importing Firearms

The Charles Daly story begins in 1865—making it one of the oldest firearm companies in the nation—when Charles Daly and August Schoverling launched Scholvering & Daly in New York City. A third partner was added to the sporting goods firm in 1873, and the company name changed to Schoverling, Daly and Gales.

By 1875, it was operating under the Charles Daly name, importing firearms from across the globe for the growing United States market. It was renowned for the fine Prussian-made shotguns in its line, but through the years, its offerings grew to include a variety of major makers.

Charles Howard Daly assumed the company’s helm when his father, Charles, died in 1899. An investor purchased the company in 1919 who, in the late 1920s, in turn sold it to the owners of Sloan’s Sporting Goods (based in Ridgefield, Conn.).

Charles Daly continued its tradition of importing quality firearms, an asset polished for more than a century, when Outdoor Sports Headquarters Inc. purchased it in 1976. The new ownership maintained that legacy, but 20 years later, the entire company—including Daly—was sold to Jerry’s Sport Center in Forest City, Pa.

Not long after that, KBI Inc., located in nearby Harrisburg, Pa., procured the Charles Daly name and assets. In 2008, the company announced it was entering an extremely competitive section of the firearms market with the launch of American-made AR-15s through its defense division. The expense likely took a toll. In January 2010, the company closed its doors.

Charles Daly was back two years later under the ownership of Harrisburg, Pa.-based Trans World Arms, but by September, it sold to another firearm importer with decades of experience. Unfortunately, co-owners of that firm, Samco, were not in agreement as to their respective financial obligations, and it ultimately filed for bankruptcy in late 2015.

It wasn’t the end of the firm, though. In 2017, Chiappa Firearms acquired the trademark and reopened the company in Dayton, Ohio. The marriage between the two firms is a solid one, burnished by Chiappa’s gun-making history that began in 1958.

Today, Charles Daly’s lineup includes pistols, shotguns, an AR-410 upper, accessories and more.