Connecticut Valley Arms was founded in 1971. CVA was an importer and not a manufacturer, although they assembled some rifles very early on. On their imported revolvers usually, under the loading lever, is the makers name or logo. With CVA imported revolvers, if they were made before 2000 it's most likely ASM (Armi San Marco) and after 2000 they were made by Pietta.

The history of CVA imported rifles and pistols is a bit more complicated. CVA rifles were made in Spain by Jukar, Ardesa, then Dikar, then Bergara. The early CVA mountain rifles had "Made in USA" stamped on the barrels. Because they were assembled in the United States, "Made in USA" was stamped on them. While the original prototype had a Douglas barrel used as the template for the barrel, there is debate over who actually made the production barrels. Initially all the parts for the rifles, including barrels, were imported from Spain and assembled by CVA using barrels from what is now to be believed as Bergara. This makes perfect sense since the remaining history of CVA rifles includes Bergara being owned by the same company that now owns CVA.

It all starts with Mendi, which was a maker of replica dueling pistols, in northern Spain, from the very late 1950's to possibly the early 70's. They sometimes came as a kit. The gun making business in Spain is a varied as is the Italian industry. These Mendi’s were produced before Spain signed the CIP treaty (1991) that made proof marks and other identification standard. MENDI was eventually absorbed into Dikar, just as Jukar was.

Dikar S. Coop. was created in 1980 and specialized in the manufacture of rifles and pistols, located in the Guipuzcoan town of Bergara. It was created by the merger of two companies, Mendi and Jukar, originating in the armored city of Éibar, resulting in the name of Dikar. Dikar S Coop., through Blackpowder Products Inc. (BPI), now owns the CVA brands and CVA is the distributor exclusively in North America of Bergara, which Dikar also owns. Dikar is part of Mondragon Corporcion Cooperativa. The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It is the largest cooperative in the world.