Firearm Factory of the Month: Kessler Manufacturing Co.

The story of the Kessler Arms Corporation starts with the Crosman Airgun Company . Crosman had been making air rifles since 1924 and a supplier of theirs was Monroe Gasket and Manufacturing Co.
Monroe Gasket and Manufacturing Company was making gaskets, o-rings and seals for air guns. Both companies were located in Rochester, NY.

With the end of the war, came the end of military contracts and the folks at the Monroe Gasket Company decided that they wanted to build their own air rifle. So in 1946 they did just that.
Legend has it that they hired a couple of engineers away from Crosman and had them design a copy of the Crosman 101 rifle, although no concrete proof of this story has been discovered, it does make sense as the new rifle did resemble the Crosman 101 rifle.

Monroe's new rifle was named "Rochester Precision Air Rifle".  
  
The ad below is from 1946

photo courtesy of Trev's Airgun Scrapbook

 
Sometime in 1948 the designs and parts were sold off to Kessler Manufacturing of Buffalo, New York. Their factory at 20 Superior Street may still exist, but the address does not exist on modern maps.

 At some point Kessler moved their production 40 miles south to the town of Silver Creek, New York on the banks of Silver Creek just blocks from the shore of Lake Erie. 

It wasn't long before their offices moved as well.

Sometime in 1950 Kessler decided to switch gears and begin making firearms.


By the fall of '51 they were advertising their bolt action shotgun (model 30).
A while later they followed with a lever action (model 50).

The model 30 gave way to the models 128FR & 228FR which featured a removable magazine.

The model 50 was known as the "Levermatic".

A letter to gun dealers dated October 3rd, 1951 announcing the Kessler bolt action shotgun.

A gun display rack which used the Levermatic blank stocks as uprights ( as seen in distributor info above)

There are rumors that the guns were given away with furniture, but I have not found any evidence of that. Many have mentioned that the guns were sold in Spiegel Catalogs and brand labeled for other stores.

I did find this owners manual showing the model 30 being brand labeled as a Western Field Model 30C for Montgomery Wards.

The model 128 became the Western Field 15K

By 1953 Kessler Arms was in financial trouble and had to close its doors, but that was not the end of the story. 

When the company filed for bankruptcy the parts and pieces went different directions. 
A local lawn mower shop purchased the air gun parts. 

Smith's Lawnmower Shop had pallets of parts and would assemble guns for buyers or they could assemble one of their own. As late as 1997 you could still buy a "new" Kessler air gun.
 
Rumor has it that Ruger purchased the tooling and steel.

Numrich Arms (Gun Parts Corp.) of West Hurley, NY purchased the remaining firearms and parts. A year or two later they had sent a gun to Marlin's design department. Ewald Nichol (creator of the Marlin model 99 & 60) and Tom Robinson decided to redesign the gun into a rifle. They worked out agreements with the original patent/trademark holders and in 1956 were awarded a patent on the new design.
In 1955 Marlin introduced their new model 56 "Levermatic" rifle, followed by the model 57.

The Kessler factory building still exists. It can be found at 16 Mechanic Street Silver Creek, NY.
The current occupant is Newbrook Machine.

Sources
Vintage Air Gun Gallery
Another Air Gun Blog
Cinedux
Shotgun World