Tag Archives: Connecticut

Ye Connecticut Gun Guild

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  • Sunday evening May 7, 1944  five men met in the home of Walter MacGregor on Cumberland Avenue in Wethersfield, Connecticut to discuss the formation of a new organization to promote their interests in the preservation, study and collecting of antique firearms.

Gun Collecting, Buying and Selling

 

The Guild and it’s members have been gathering monthly since 1944 fostering the preservation of history and an appreciation for all things militaria. From the waning years of World War II to the present, the Connecticut Gun Guild has grown from five enthusiastic men to a diverse, multinational organization of over 350 members. The Guild continues to promote safety, responsibility, friendship, and research while attempting to preserve our constitutional rights and pursue our chosen hobby which includes the collecting and preservation of firearms.

Olin

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started 1944
Connecticut, Missouri

  • 1892 Founded in East Alton, IL by Frank W. Olin
    – blasting powder for coal mines
  • 1898 Franklin Olin formed the Western Cartridge Company
    – competitors got suppliers to limit raw materials
    – Olin diversified
  • 1931 Western bought the Winchester Company.
  • 1935 formed Winchester-Western
  • 1944 Franklin Olin companies organized under Olin Industries, Inc
  • 1954 Olin Industries and Mathieson Chemical merged
    – Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation
  • 1963 John Olin retired
  • 1964  “re-tooled” the Winchester line, which damaged their reputation of quality
  • 1969 became the Olin Corporation
    – sold off many of its acquired businesses
  •  December 12, 1980  Olin sold Winchester firearms to the employees
    – with the name US Repeating Arms Company
    – Olin kept the Winchester brand and licensed it to US Repeating Arms Company
  •  2006 entered a new license with Browning Arms Company
    – to make Winchester rifles and shotguns
  • World’s number one chlorine producer
  • #1 producer of small ammunition globally

High Standard

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1926 – 2018

  • 1926 founded in Hamden, Connecticut
  • 1932 purchased by Carl Gustav Swebilius
  • During World War II supplied .22 pistols for pistol training
  • D developed a silent, flashless pistol for use by OSS agents behind enemy lines
  • 1962 – 1984 High Standard D-100
    hammerless, double-action derringers
  • 1968 acquired by the Leisure Group
  • 1976 relocated to East Hartford, Connecticut
  • February 1977 stopped production of long guns
  • 1978 Clem Confessore led management buyout from Leisure Group
  • December 1984, its assets were auctioned to Gordon Elliott
  • 1990 American Derringer obtained the rights to High Standard Derringer design
  • 1993 High Standard of Houston, Texas acquired the company assets and trademark Arcadia Machine & Tool (AMT)
  • March 1994 first Houston manufactured pistols
  • 2000s acquired Interarms
  • 2001 Acquired Arcadia Machine & Tool (AMT)
  • 2018 went out of business

High Standard Manufacturing Company

O.F. Mossberg & Sons

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Started March 1919
New Haven, Connecticut

O.F. Mossberg & Sons the oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in USA

  • 1866 Oscar Frederick Mossberg born in Sweden
    1866–1937
  • 1886 emigrated to the United States
  • worked at the Iver Johnson Arms
  •  managed C.S. Shattuck Arms Co
  •  worked for J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co
    –  he designed a small four-shot novelty pistol
  • 1907 – 1909 made 500 four-shot pistols in old barn behind his house
  • 1914 worked for Marlin
    moved to New Haven, Connecticut
  • 1919 Marlin went out of business
  • March 1919 at 53-years-old O.F. Mossberg
    his two sons, Iver and Harold
    started O.F. Mossberg & Sons in New Haven, Connecticut
  • 1920 -1932 4-shot .22-caliber pocket pistol the Brownie
  • 1921 the company purchased a new building
  • 1922 first .22 rimfire rifles
  • 1922 pump-action repeater designed by Arthur E. Savage
    (son of the owner of Savage Arms Corp)
  • 1937 built a third factory
  • 1937 O.F. Mossberg passed the business continued under his son Harold
  • made parts for Browning M2 during World War II
  • 1960 new facility in North Haven
  • firearms production moved to Eagle Pass, Texas

O.F. Mossberg & Sons

Auto-Ordnance

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Aug 1916

Auto-Ordnance

  • August 1916 founded by John T. Thompson
  • 1919 first short run production
  •  Model 1921 made by Colt
  • 1950s, Auto-Ordnance was owned and operated by Numrich Arms Corporation (N.A.C.)
  • 1999 bought by Kahr Arms

1437 Railroad Ave
Bridgeport, Connecticut

Marlin Firearms

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1870
Connecticut, New York, Kentucky

  • 1870 founded by John Marlin in North Haven, Connecticut
  •  side ejection lever action rifles
    – good for shooters who need to use optics
  • World War I one of the largest machine gun producers
    –  M1895 Colt–Browning
  • 1917 bought Hopkins & Allen Arms Company
  • 1953 patented MicroGroove Rifling
  • Nov 2000 purchased  H&R 1871, Inc
  • Dec 2007 bought by Remington Arms
  • 2010 moved to Remington plants
    – Ilion, New York
    – Mayfield, Kentucky

https://marlin-collectors.com/forum/

1-800-544-8892

marlinfirearms.com

Hopkins & Allen

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founded in 1868 – 1916

  • 1868 founded by 5 people
    based in Norwich, Connecticut
  • 1898 Hopkins & Allen went bankrupt
  • 1900 lost factory and machinery in a fire
  • 1901 factory was rebuilt
  • 1902 acquired Forehand Arms Company
  • 1905 warehouse robbed of all its inventory
  • 1916 went bankrupt
  • 1917 Marlin purchased the machinery, inventory and designs

Hopkins & Allen

Parker Bros

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1867 – 1942
Meriden, Connecticut

  • 1867 launched by Charles Parker in Meriden, Connecticut
    – Parker Snow Co
    – produced rifles for the US Army during Civil War
  • produced mostly break-open shotguns
    – 242,000 produced
  • gun of choice for:
    – Annie Oakley
    – Frank Butler (her husband)
    – Clark Gable
  • 1934 acquired by Remington Arms 
  • 1942 phased out of business

Parker Bros

Winchester Repeating Arms Company

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founded in 1866
New Haven, Connecticut

  •  1855 the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company
    – Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson partnership
    – Norwich, Connecticut
    – largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester
  • 1856 moved to New Haven
  • 1856 Volcanic Repeating Arms Company went bankrupt
  • 1857 Winchester and partner John M. Davies purchased the assets
    – New Haven Arms Company
  • 1860 Benjamin Henry perfected the .44 Henry cartridge
  • 1860 Henry rifle based loosely on the Volcanic to use the new ammunition
    – manufactured by the New Haven Arms Company
  • 1866 reorganized as Winchester Repeating Arms Company
  • Model 1866
  • Model 1873 the first Winchester center fire cartridge, the .44-40 WCF
    “Gun That Won the West”
  • December 1880 Oliver Winchester died
  • 1881 his son William Wirt Winchester died
    – his widow , Sarah Winchester, built the Winchester Mystery House.
  • 1883-1898 John Browning worked with Winchester Repeating Arms Company
  • Winchester had borrowed heavily to finance its massive expansion
  • 1931 went into receivership
  • December 22, 1931 bought at bankruptcy auction by the Olin family’s Western Cartridge Company
  • 1944 reorganized as the Winchester-Western Division of Olin Industries
  • World War II produced the M1 Garand rifle
  • post-war  first civilian manufacturer of the M14 rifle

Winchester Repeating Arms Company

Smith & Wesson

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founded in 1856
Connecticut, Massachusetts

  • Smith and Wesson both worked at the National Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts
  • 1852 Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson founded
    – the (1st) Smith & Wesson Company in Norwich, Connecticut
    – 1855 renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms
    – purchased by Oliver Winchester
    – Wesson stayed as plant manager with Volcanic Repeating Arms for 8 months
    – April 1857 renamed New Haven Arms Company
    – 1866 renamed Winchester Repeating Arms Company

 

  • 1856  Samuel Colt’s patent on the revolver expired
  • 1856 Smith & Wesson Revolver Company
    – founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
    – in Springfield, Massachusetts
  • 1899 Model 10
  • January 4, 2007, Thompson/Center was purchased by Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson
2100 Roosevelt Avenue
Springfield, MA 01104

1-800-331-0852

smith-wesson.com