Stephen Grove owns Sigwo Arms and its manufacturing side on West Commercial Street in Springfield, Missouri. He builds custom guns, runs Cerakote and laser engraving, machines parts for other companies, and loads his own ammunition — all out of a building he and his crew gutted themselves in late 2022. Then one morning in January he woke up to a deleted Facebook account, death threats in his inbox, and his name and business address on a wanted poster tied to a shooting in Minnesota he had nothing to do with. This conversation covers both: the business he's built, and the week the internet decided he was somebody else.
We get into 23 years in the Army National Guard and what being a warrant officer taught him about leading people, why he'd rather say "let's figure it out" than no, what CCW classes actually get you in Missouri, how a shop on a street of mom-and-pop businesses earns its place at Halloween and Small Business Saturday, and why he'd rather sell affordable ammo to a customer for twenty years than gouge them once. There's also a lot here for anyone in Springfield or Southwest Missouri running a small business — protecting your accounts, the difference between growing retail and growing manufacturing, and what happens when the market tells you to stop doing something you love.
This episode is part of the Ozarks Experience series — long-form conversations focused on the people behind the work shaping the Ozarks.
Sigwo Arms
522 West Commercial Street, Springfield, MO