Savage Arms

founded in 1894
Westfield, Massachusetts & Canada

  • 1892 Arthur Savage designed a rifle for Colt
    – magazine in the stock, not under the barrel
    – but contract was won by the Krag–Jørgensen
  • 1894 Savage Arms founded by Arthur Savage in Utica, New York
  • 1895 Model 1895 the first hammerless lever-action rifle
    – Savage invented the rotary magazine rifle
  •  one of six companies to participate in the United States Army trials for a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
  • 1897 – 1999 Model 99 lever-action rifle made for 102 years
  • 1908 invented the removable box magazine
    – but his patent expired in 1942
  • .300 Savage. Savage
  •  merged with the Driggs-Seabury Ordnance Company
  • World War I
    – produced Lewis machine guns in Sharon, Pennsylvania
    – produced Model 1899 muskets
  • 1919 approached by Chief Lame Deer to buy rifles for his tribe in New York
    – Lame Deer offered Savage to use his image as its logo in exchange for discounted rifles and an annual fee
  • 1091 – Arthur Savage moved to Duarte, California, and formed the Savage Tire company, he invented radial tires
  • 1920, Savage Arms bought Stevens Arms of Chicopee Falls, MA
  • 1929 Savage acquired the A.H. Fox Gun company of Philadelphia and moved production to Utica, New York
  • 1939 Model 24 combination gun
  • World War II
    – made most of the Thompson submachine guns used in World War II
    –  produced the British No. 4 Lee–Enfield bolt-action rifle
  • 1969 Canadian operations began called Lakefield Arms
    Lakefield, Ontario
  • 2002 the AccuTrigger
  • 2018 Savage Arms is still paying the annual fee to Lame Deer

Ammunition

  • 1894 –  .303 Savage
  • 1912 – .22 Savage Hi-Power
  • 1915 – .250-3000 Savage
  • 1920 – .300 Savage

Iver Johnson

from 1871 to 1993
Massachusetts

  • U.S. firearms, bicycle, and motorcycle manufacturer
  • Iver Johnson (1841–1895)
  • 1857  educated as a gunsmith in Bergen, Norway
  • Had a gun store in Oslo, Norway
  • 1863 immigrated to Worcester, Massachusetts
  • he made “pepperbox” pistols for Allen & Wheelock
  • 1871 with Martin Bye created the Johnson Bye & Company
  • 1883 Johnson bought Bye out
    – name changed to Iver Johnson & Company
  • 1891 name changed Iver Johnson’s Arms & Cycle Works
    – relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts
  • O.F. Mossberg worked for Iver Johnson durring this time
  • 1895 Iver Johnson died of tuberculosis, his sons took over
  • 1971 Louis Imperato purchased the name and moved IJ to New Jersey
  • 1983 Investors bought Iver Johnson name and moved to Jacksonville, Arkansas
  • 1993 ceased trading under its own name
    – owned by American Military Arms Corporation (AMAC)
  • 2006 Iver Johnson Arms opened (relation in name only)
    – in Rockledge, Florida
    – manufacturer and firearms importer
    – Iver Johnson Arms is making 1911s

 

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H&R Firearms

Harrington & Richardson

founded in 1871 – 2015
Massachusetts

  • 1875 Harrington & Richardson = Nathan Harrington and William Richardson (former S&W employee)
    – Harrington was president
    – Richardson was treasurer
  • 1871 – 1877 at 18 Manchester Street, Worcester, MA
  • 1877 – 1894 at  31 Hermon Street, Worcester, MA
  • 1897 Harrington and Richardson both passed away
    – held by  Harrington’s son and Richardson’s wife
  • 1894 new facility in Worcester, Massachusetts
  • 1950 new facility in Drummondville, Québec, Canada
  • 1960s was acquired by the Kidde corporation
  • 1986 original H&R company went out of business, and building was demolished
  • Was in business for over a century from 1871 to 1986

  • 1991 – H&R 1871, Inc., was formed
    – using original H&R designs
  • November 2000 bought by Marlin Firearms
  • December, 2007 acquired by Remington Arms Company
  • 2008 production was moved to Ilion, N.Y.
  • February 27, 2015 – “H&R 1871” ceased production

 

Stevens Arms

1864
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts

  •  founded by Joshua Stevens in 1864 in Chicopee, Massachusetts
    – J. Stevens & Co.
  •  tip-up single shot pistol
  • 1883 they purchased the Massachusetts Arms Company
  • 1886  incorporated as J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co
  • 1887, Stevens developed the .22 LR cartridge
  • 1896 bought by I.H. Page
  • 1898 .25 Stevens  rimfire rifle cartridge
  • 1901 manufactured Stevens-Duryea automobile
  • 1902 .25 Stevens Short  rimfire rifle cartridge
  • May 28, 1915 a division of Westinghouse Electric purchased Stevens
    – created specifically for a contract to produce 1.8 million Mosin-Nagant rifles for Russia in World War I
    – 1916-1917 produced over 770,000 rifles
    – 225,260 were delivered, rest were sold to the USA
  • July 1, 1916, renamed the firearms division the J. Stevens Arms Company
  • 1917 commies never paid, company & fell into financial distress
  • April 1, 1920 purchased by the Savage Arms Company
    – until 1942 its own brand
  • During World War II produced:
    – Savage Lee–Enfield No. 4 rifle
    – Thompson submachine gun
    – Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
    – Browning M1919
    – M2 machinegun
  • July 9, 2019 sold with Savge to Investors

Smith & Wesson

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

 

Benjamin F. Butler

November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893
Massachusetts

  •  criminal defense lawyer
  • major general of the Union Army during the American Civil War
  • September 27, 1862, Butler formed the first African American regiment in the US Army, the 1st Louisiana Native Guard
  • 1869 – founded the United States Cartridge Company
  • leadership role in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson
  • 1882 33rd Governor of Massachusetts
    – January 4, 1883 – January 3, 1884
  • coauthored the Civil Rights Act of 1875