Firearm Factory of the Month: C.S. Shattuck Arms

 The story begins with Major Charles S. Shattuck who served with the 6th Vermont Infantry during the Civil War.

In 1875 Shattuck along with Andrew Hyde started a pistol manufacturing business in Springfield, Massachusetts to cash in on the massive post war demand for affordable pocket pistols.

In February of 1877 they moved to Hatfield Massachusetts and took on a third partner a Mrs. Mary D. Porter.

They set up shop in the factory that once housed the recently failed Crescent Pistol Co. The factory was converted from the old Thomas Meekin Sawmill which sat on the banks of the Mill River at a man-made fall, designed to provide waterpower for the machines.

A year later Mrs. Porter withdrew from the company. In 1880 Shattuck bought out Hyde and continued on his own.

Many of the pistols produced could be categorized as "Suicide Specials". The one below was actually designed by Oscar Mossberg, who later with his two sons founded the famous shotgun company.

Soon after Hyde's departure Shattuck began making single barrel breech-loading shotguns, which led to double barrel shotguns. The shotguns were chambered in the typical sizes as well as larger ones, as large as an 8 bore.

The factory cranked out some 15,000 guns per year.

In 1881 the gun factory burned to the ground; it was quickly rebuilt on the same site.

Most agree that the C.S. Shattuck company ended production in 1908, however some have stated that guns continued to be made in the factory for another year or two. After that it may have been used as a grist mill.

 

The old gun factory still stands on the banks of the Mill River, just off Prospect Street in Hatfield. It is now a bed and breakfast, see more info here.

Featured Gun: The Winchester M1897 Shotgun

The Winchester model of 1897 Shotgun is among the most written about firearms in history. So why bother to author a blog post about a gun which has so many previous articles written? 
I was brought on of these guns by a family member and asked to restore it. I was curious about its date of manufacture, which led to more reading which led to this post.

As always I try to cover most of the info and bring something new to the table.

We start the story with the most famous gun designer of all time: John Moses Browning. After learning the trade from his gunsmith father, he began to experiment with different designs. He earned his first patent in 1879 for what became the Winchester model of 1885 rifle. That rifle started a long relationship with the New Haven gun maker.

Now working in partnership with Winchester, Browning and his brother Matthew Sandefur Browning designed lever action shotgun known as the model of 1887. Browning had tried to talk Winchester into a pump action design, but they wanted to stick with a lever action.
A few years later the brothers created the world's first pump action shotgun. On June 25th 1890, the Browning Brothers filed for a patent for what they called the "magazine gun" and were granted a patent on November 25th that same year.

Winchester then decided they wanted to produce the gun and bought the rights to the "magazine gun". This became the model of 1893.

A few years later smokeless powder was quickly adopted by the industry and the 1893 needed a redesign to cope with the higher pressures.
After only 4 years and 31,000 units, the model of 1893 was replaced by the upgraded, but nearly identical model of 1897.

One of the distinguishable features of the 1893 & 1897 models was the exposed hammer, the bolt would retract out the back of the receiver and cock the hammer, similar to the lever action guns popular in the day. The advantage of course, was that you could leave the chamber loaded and de-cock the hammer. The gun would be safe from being fired with the trigger, but not safe to carry or drop as the gun has no hammer block.
Another unique feature is the ability to "slam-fire" the gun, by holding the trigger down and working the action, the gun will fire without needing to reset the trigger.

Between 1897 and 1909 there were 37 major and 52 minor changes made to the design.

As early as 1900 the U.S. Military had been purchasing shortened model 1897 shotguns for special use. This later became known as the "Riot" model.

This led to the development of the shotgun as a "Trench Weapon". The barrels were shortened to 20" and the bayonet lug from the M1917 rifle was added along with sling swivels and a barrel heat shroud.
The U.S. deployed more than 20,000 M97 shotguns in WWI. The weapon was so successful that the Germans made a protest, claiming the guns violated modern rules of warfare....this from the people that used Mustard Gas against the British and Canadians earlier in the war... 

The M97 was deployed again in WWII as both surplus and new units were sent to both theaters to support the U.S. Troops.

Another major design change came in 1919: The ability to remove the barrel and magazine. This "take-down" feature made the gun much more portable, decreasing its overall length from 50+ inches to 30 inches or less (basically the length of the barrel).

The guns retailed for $25 in 1897 and started with serial number 34150 (where the model of 1893 left off). 
The gun was replaced (perhaps superseded is a better word) by the model 12 in 1912, but Winchester continued to make and sell the model 97. 

A side note here, in 1919 Winchester abandoned the use of the year of introduction as the model number and simply went with a two digit number, so the model of 1897 became the model 97.

It wasn't until 1957 that Winchester ceased production of the model 97 after nearly 60 years and more than one million units produced.

Specs (of the gun below)

Model: 97 Standard 
Action: Pump/Slide
Gauge: 12 Gauge - 2 3/4"
Overall Length: 50.5" (originally 51")
Weight: 8 lbs
Barrel Length: 30 "
Magazine Capacity: 5 shells
Choke: Full
Length of  Pull: 13 5/8"
Years produced: 1897-1957 (59)
Number of units produced: 1,024,700


This particular gun was built in New Haven in 1925, the previous owner removed the factory butt plate and added a Pachmayr recoil pad.
This gun will be refinished, but not restored. The recoil pad will stay, but the metal and wood will be renewed so the gun can be used for generations to come.

Check the year of manufacture for your 1897/ M97 here


Resources:

Marauder
Wikipedia
American Rifleman
Guns Magazine

Gun Company Logos & Fonts

 

Do you ever wonder where the gun companies got their logo from? Maybe not, but I did, so I did some investigating and here is what I found:

Sturm, Ruger & Co.

This first one was easy to research as I have the book written about the Sturm, Ruger & Co., authored by R.L. Wilson.

The eagle, hawk or phoenix, which ever you choose to call it was designed by co-founder Alexander Sturm. Sturm was of German descent, an artist and also a fan of heraldry. He chose a logo that harkens back to medieval times.

A similar logo is or has been used by the City of Phoenix Arizona, Imperial Beer in Costa Rica, the Pontiac Firebird and country singer Hank Williams Jr., who was a personal friend of Bill Ruger and a huge fan of Ruger firearms.

The fat Ruger font shown above and below was either copied from or inspired by 18th century Italian typographer Giambattista Bodini.

Ruger uses two other fonts, the one below was taken from the classic Roman Square Capitals found on many marble statues. The modern version is called Trajan. Ruger has been using this since the very beginning, so it stands to reason that it was also chosen by Alexander Sturm.

Ruger began using the "Hard R" font in the 90's, it is officially called "Super Duty" and was designed by James Grieshaber.

Savage Arms

Savage has been criticized for using the image of an Indian chief. Regardless of your feelings on the use of this logo, it gets murkier.

As told by official Savage Arms communique the image is of a Chief Lame Bear, who in 1919 signed an agreement with Savage for the use of his likeness in exchange for free or discounted Savage products.

This story doesn't completely jive with history, Savage was using the logo as far back as 1903, and many say the picture isn't Chief Lame Bear, it is John Fire, the great grandson of Souix Chief Lame Deer. It is not clear if the picture of John Fire was staged or taken from another source, nor is it clear if Savage ever had authorization to use it.

The font is very similar to the one of the "Hype" family of fonts, but was probably based on earlier typefaces available at the time.

Marlin

Marlin has used the logo with the horse mounted cowboy since around 1900. It originated from an illustration by Frederic Remington (no relation to the gun company), done for Harper's Weekly in 1895.

Later that same year Remington painted the image in full color and named it "Danger Ahead". Then in 1900 John Marlin commissioned a painting of Danger Ahead, specifically for advertising use and it appeared on the cover of the Marlin Catalog that same year.

While the fonts used by Marlin has changed over the years, the horse mounted cowboy has stuck around, becoming the official logo of Marlin in 1964.

As historian Glen Fryxell puts it, "it is a reminder of how Americans see themselves, independent, free and capable".

The font used in the logo is probably custom, based on many similar semi-script serif typefaces that existed at the time.

Winchester

Winchester has a similar logo, a horse mounted cowboy at full gallop, trusty Winchester rifle in his hands. 

Although reminiscent and perhaps inspired by the works of Frederic Remington (again, no relation to the gun company), the logo was actually created in 1919 by artist Phillip R. Goodwin. The Winchester stylized serif font was created earlier, maybe as early as 1903.

Smith & Wesson

The famous Smith & Wesson logo is perhaps one of the most recognized brands in the World. It was first trademarked in April of 1913 as just the S ampersand and W. The circle and two 4-pointed stars came later. It was originally designed by engraver Louis Nimschke circa 1876.

The font used in the logo is a heavy version of the Clearface font, created in 1907 by American Type Founders, designed by father and son team of Morris and Linn Benton.

Beretta

Beretta holds the distinction of being the oldest gun maker in the World, having been founded in 1526. The current logo is much newer of course.

The modern logo was adopted in 1962 and is known as "the arrows". 

It was inspired by a poem by Italian poet Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863-1938). Entitled "Dare in Brocca" which Beretta claims to translate as "hit the target", although the translation in both Italian and Latin are a bit different.

 

Mossberg

Officially known as O.F. Mossberg & Sons, the company was founded in 1919 by Swedish immigrant Oscar Frederick Mossberg and his two sons.

The logo is without question inspired by the Swedish national flag, which makes sense as Oscar was born in Sweden. The three crowns are also a national symbol of Sweden.

The font is called ITC Benguiat and was created in 1977 by Ed Benguiat and release by International Typeface Corporation. It was influenced by earlier Art Nouveau typefaces. Most likely Mossberg paid a license fee to use the font commercially.

Sig Sauer

Sig Sauer, if you didn't already know was a merger between SIG Arms of Switzerland and J.P. Sauer & Sohns of Germany. The merger occurred in 1976.

The font used is believed to be the Entrusco font. Created in the early 1920s by an Italian typographer company called Niebolo. The company began using this logo in 2007 when they changed their name from Sig Arms to Sig Sauer.

Colt

While the modern logo is simply the name, the company still imprints their firearms with the famous rampant horse image so I will include both here.

The rampant horse goes back to the founding of the company in 1857. It is not known who created the logo. According to the Connecticut State Library, the rampant horse harkens back to the "days before firearms, when crusaders went into battle on horseback armed with spears, one very intelligent horse, seeing that his rider was about to be pierced by the enemy's spear, reared on his hind legs, grasped the spear in its mouth, struck out with one hoof and broke the spear: This is emblematic of the Colt, always coming to the defense of its master."

The stylized Colt font has a custom capital C which is meant to look like a horseshoe, the rest of the font is simply a bold, block sans serif font.

Remington

Remington was founded in 1816 and is considered America's oldest gun maker, although lapses in production may have taken that title away. 

The logo is a serif font, probably custom, although there are others similar, so it is possible that it was type face used at the time. It is believed to have been adopted in the mid 1920s, as it was 1926 when the logo began appearing on everything from gun boxes to knives, camping gear and other outdoor apparel. It was later, although I don't know when, that the specific shade of forest green was adopted as the company color.

Springfield Armory

This one has some "murkiness" as well. The modern company that goes by the name Springfield Armory Inc. was incorporated in 1974. The company has absolutely no connection to the actual Springfield Armory which was founded in 1777 by George Washington.

The crossed cannons and flaming bomb were not created by the owners of the Geneseo, Illinois company either, they also borrowed that. This type of logo was used by U.S. armories dating back to at least 1833. The "since 1794" part is a complete lie, it should read "since 1974", again this Springfield Armory Inc, has NOTHING to do with the US. Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. I did a story on companies that do this sort of co-opting of names and trademarks, read more here.

Glock

The Glock Firearms division was founded in 1980, the font used was probably created by an artist and later copied by several fontographers, the closest being "Pero Extra Bold" or perhaps "Arista Pro Bold".

The font used in the word PERFECTION is most likely Jam Grotesque.

Sources:

Americans: Savage Arms | Smithsonian Institution (si.edu)

More about the Indian Head logo (savageshooters.com)

marlin history (leverguns.com)

History | SIG SAUER

Legendary Innovation (winchester.com)

Our History - Beretta Holding

Colt Logo, symbol, meaning, history, PNG, brand (logos-world.net)

Colt "embattled horse" logo history | 1911Forum

The Marlin Firearms Company Bronze Statue by Sculptor Trace Guthrie - C.O.A. | #2010449937 (worthpoint.com)

I'd like to know the history of the S&W shield placed on their firearms. | Smith And Wesson Forums

Wilson, R.L., (2007), Ruger & His Guns, New York, NY: Chartwell Books, Inc.