MidwayUSA (formerly Ely Arms, Inc.) was a small start-up gun shop in Columbia, Missouri that opened on June 18, 1977.

The business was opened by Larry Potterfield, with his next younger brother Jerry, in a 151 square metres (1,630 sq ft) metal, pole-frame building.

In 1980, Midway received the first shipment of what was to be a total production run of 500,000 rounds of 8mm Nambu brass, produced by B.E.L.L.

MidwayUSA immediately began conducting direct-to-consumer sales in addition to continuing to sell to FFL holders.

In 2014 MidwayUSA became an online-only retailer, moving away from mail orders and the master catalog upon which the company was built.

[7][8] Larry and Brenda Potterfield created two programs[9] and several educational endowments in the NRA Foundation.