From M14 Rifle History and Development by Lee Emerson copyright 2005-2006:
"Texas Production
The Springfield Armory, Inc. story begins with U. S. Air Force veteran Mr. Elmer Ballance of Devine, Texas. His last name is correctly spelled with two lower case letters “L.” He started his business, L. H. Gun Co., in 1960 while stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The base had a housing subdivision named Lackland Heights. To save time writing, he named his company, L. H. Gun Co. “L. H.” is an abbreviation for Lackland Heights. While serving in the Air Force, Mr. Ballance shot the M14 rifle in competition on the All Air Force High Power Team. He completed his military service in 1964. After that, he built match grade M1 Garand rifles for competition shooters.
The U. S. Army Springfield Armory had closed down in April, 1968. During the NRA National Matches at Camp Perry in the summer of 1968, the closure of Springfield Armory was a topic of discussion among the attendees including Elmer Ballance, Karl Maunz and Melvin Smith. These three men and an unnamed fourth person, held two or three meetings during August, 1968 in one of the wood huts used to house civilian competitors. During one of these meetings, there was a Buckeye beer case full of Melvin Smith welded M1 Garand receivers wrapped in newspaper in the middle of the hut. It was in this meeting that Karl Maunz voiced his suggestion to name the business venture that would produce commercial M14 type rifles, “Springfield.” This was agreed to by the four men present. That particular wood hut still stood in February, 2005.
Subsequent to this, Mr. Ballance began the process to acquire the name “Springfield Armory” for production of his commercial version of the M14 rifle. In late 1969, Mr. Ballance commenced work on making the dream of civilian M14 type rifles become reality. Though banks refused to fund his dream, this did not deter him. Mr. Ballance raised the funds himself. He and Melvin Smith of Valley Ordnance Co. worked together to get the equipment set up for production of the civilian receiver and complete rifles at their respective facilities in Texas and Pennsylvania. Some of the machinery and parts which Mr. Ballance purchased for the project came from the Harrington & Richardson M14 production facility.
During this time, Mr. Ballance also modified less than fifty Springfield Armory and Winchester M1 Garand receivers to accept the M14 barrel and gas system, to function with M14 magazines, and to fit in M14 stocks. This was completed prior to September, 1971. These are the first commercial production M14 type rifles ever made. One of these modified M1 Garand receiver semi-automatic M14 rifles was sold by Collector Firearms in Houston, Texas in 2004 for $2500.00. The workmanship on these modified M1 Garand receivers is excellent.
Mr. Ballance began marketing the M1A rifle in September, 1971. In October, 1971, his Federal Firearms License was in the name of his business, L. H. Gun Company at 3426 Weir Avenue San Antonio, TX 78226. The M1A rifle was first advertised in Shotgun News in the November 01, 1971 issue. About this time, BATF Agents informed Mr. Ballance that he could not market the M1A rifle because the receiver markings did not bear the name and address of the manufacturer or the distributor. Mr. Ballance promptly applied for a new Federal Firearms License in the name of Springfield Armory, Inc. He agreed to indicate the address on the barrel. Thus, L. H. Gun Company became Springfield Armory, Inc. The name of the closed government arsenal, Springfield Armory, was well known by the public and especially by competition shooters. It turned out to be a successful marketing strategy.
Production of newly manufactured investment cast M1A receivers began at the end of 1971. For example, M1A receiver serial number 000065 was received by the buyer on December 24, 1971. These M1A rifles were assembled from USGI and National Match M14 parts except for the receiver and select fire parts. The Texas business warranted M1A rifles for one year.
In January, 1972 Valley Ordnance Co. (Wilkes-Barre, PA) was prepared to manufacture all major M1A components. Melvin Smith and Elmer Ballance agreed that Valley Ordnance would be responsible for the manufacture of the components parts and for maintaining an adequate supply of spare parts. Valley Ordnance would handle all quality control on receivers and any barrels that it might make. L. H. Gun Company would supervise all quality control during assembly and final testing and would have the sole right to sell M1A rifles. A large stack of customer orders had been building up. The San Antonio plant was not able to meet the demand. So, the L. H. Gun Company was forced to move to a new facility in Devine, TX. Beginning on February 03, 1972, Springfield Armory, Inc. moved operations and inventory about thirty-five miles to Route 1 Devine, TX 78016. No M1A rifles or receivers were shipped until after an amended Federal Firearms License with the new address was issued on March 23, 1972.
Guns Illustrated conducted a test of a bedded but rack grade M1A with a Winchester chromium plated M14 barrel in January, 1973. The rifle consistently shot 1.5 to 2 MOA out to 500 yards using 1968 Lake City 173 grain Match and Sierra 168 grain Match hand load ammunition. The M1A became eligible for use in NRA High Power shooting matches on January 01, 1974. The NRA had modified Rule 3.1.1 in the High Power Rifle Rule Book to allow commercial made M14 type rifles to be used in competition shooting matches. At about the same time, the American Rifleman tested and reviewed M1A serial number 001562 in the March, 1974 issue.
In early May, 1974 Springfield Armory, Inc. moved operations and inventory to 12106 Radium Drive in San Antonio to cut costs. Production ceased temporarily while equipment and inventory was moved from the Devine facility to the San Antonio facility and set up. An application was submitted to the BATF on May 13, 1974 to change the address on the Federal Firearms License. The new FFL was not issued by the BATF until late September, 1974. Springfield Armory, Inc. at 12106 Radium Drive San Antonio, TX 78216 shipped M1A stripped and barreled receivers to customers until the end of October, 1974.
Mr. Ballance never made or converted any M1A or M14 type rifles to select fire. All of the Texas M1A receiver serial numbers start with a zero. It is not possible to determine the original model of a Texas M1A by serial number. The serial numbers were logged in as "manufactured complete" regardless of model type, standard, National Match or E2. The serial number was logged a receiver if shipped unassembled. Some of the Texas M1A receivers were assembled into complete rifles by U. S. Army armorers at Fort Benning, GA. 150 of the M1A rifles assembled in Texas were fitted with T44E4 wood stocks with the selector cutout filled in, e.g., M1A serial number 001830.
Texas M1A Models
From a L. H. Gun Co. brochure mailed on January 06, 1973 from Devine, Texas, M1A models and prices were as follows:
Standard model with fiberglass stock $200.00
Standard model with new walnut stock $225.00 or used walnut stock $215.00
Standard model with new beech stock $215.00 or used beech stock $200.00
M1AE2 with birch stock $250.00
M1AE2 with bipod $275.00
Match grade model with walnut stock $250.00
New issue bayonet $5.00
Texas Barrel Markings
All M1A complete rifles assembled in Texas had barrels with the complete address where it was assembled. These barrel markings are typically located on the underside between the gas cylinder and the flash suppressor. There were three barrel markings for the Texas company. The marking L H GUN CO S A TEX 78226 was found on the first 100 rifles assembled by Mr. Ballance. Additionally, a few of these hand stamped barrels were shipped to Fort Benning, GA. This stamping was done by hand in two lines using serif font characters. L H GUN CO is on the first line and S A TEX 78226 is on the second line.
The barrel marking then changed to RT I BOX 2I0 DEVINE TEX or RT I BX 210 DEVINE TX. Initially, the Devine address marking was in two lines with RT I BOX 2I0 or RT I BX 210 on the first line then DEVINE TEX or DEVINE TX on the second line. The two line Devine address marking has been observed as late as M1A serial number 000567. By serial number 000812, this marking was changed to one line (RT I BOX 2I0 DEVINE TEX) to avoid indexing the barrel. The third Texas barrel marking is 12106 RADIUM SA TEX 78216. This third barrel marking appeared on the barrels some time between June and October, 1974. This address is a one line marking. The first Devine address barrel markings appeared sporadically on assembled M1A rifles beginning at about serial number 00013X. For example, barreled M1A receivers 000172 and 000214 had no address markings. The original owner received both barreled M1A receivers on April 21, 1972 from L. H. Gun Company in San Antonio, TX. The Devine address marking continued until at least M1A serial number 002127 in April, 1974. The Radium San Antonio address marking appears as early as M1A serial number 002167 in September, 1974.
Springfield Armory, Inc. in Texas marked the barrels at the time of rifle assembly. Barrels with the simple address of DEVINE TEX or DEVINE TX are not barrels marked by Springfield Armory, Inc. when it was located in Texas. Mr. Ballance never used Canadian Arsenals barrels in the assembly of M1A rifles because he did not have any from that maker in his parts inventory. Mr. Ballance gave some stripped M1A receivers to armorers at Fort Benning as payment for assembly of other M1A receivers into complete rifles.
A very few Texas marked barrels were sent to Geneseo, Illinois. The barrels on the first M1A rifles leaving the Illinois factory were electro-penciled Geneseo Ill. However, M1A rifles in 1975 were sold with a coupon to be used towards the purchase of a spare barrel. Thus, a very few of the spare barrels sold by the Illinois company had Texas markings. It is likely that a very small number of individuals eventually had these Texas marked spare barrels installed on M1A rifles sold by Springfield Armory, Inc. in Illinois."
FWIW, I recently bought M1A serial number 00288X in a gun shop for $1590.00 including sales tax, background check and lots of parts and accessories thrown into the mix. This rifle was likely sold by the Texas SA, Inc. as a stripped receiver as it looks lightly used, military armorer built and has no Texas barrel markings.