Griffin & Howe:
Before Seymour Griffin teamed up with James V. Howe he, in the later years, started marking his rifles “S. R. Griffin New York" in a banner on the forward part of the floorplate. In the very beginning of G&H this same practice continued with two banners on the forward part of the floorplate "Griffin & Howe, Inc. New York". These floorplates were completely engraved and some of them have the original owner’s names engraved on them as well. An early G&H flier shows many of these engraved floorplates in stock and the forward banners can be seen in the photos. When the barrel numbering started some of these engraved floorplates were used on the rifle as well and will be found on guns for several years after the start-up of G&H. I have reports on three and have pictures of one rifle that has no engraving on the floorplate or trigger guard save “Griffin & Howe, Inc. New York” engraved in a circle around the floorplate release hole.
There was a lot of experimenting in the early days on how the rifles were to be marked. It’s appears that the original numbering plan was to number all the rifles with the same number but different calibers. A number “1” in caliber .30-06, .25-Whelen, .250-300, 7x57, 35-Whelen, .400-Whelen then start over with number “2” and have one of each caliber with that number. I have observed several identical single digit numbers which adds confusion to the rifle owner who might think he has the 3rd rifle made by G&H because the number on his rifle is 3.
Examples from my database:
Barrel No. Caliber
3 250-300
3 35 Whelen
4 25 Whelen
4 35 Whelen
6 250-300
6 30-06
7 30-06
8 35 Whelen
10 35 Whelen
10 7x57
For some reason G&H started using the two digit numbers again in 1925 on new calibers they introduced that year and on others using the commercial Mauser action.
Barrel No. Action Caliber Barrel No. Action Caliber
13 Mauser 375 H&H 23 Mauser 275 H&H
15 Mauser 375 H&H 24 Mauser 350 G&H
17 Mauser 375 H&H 25 Mauser 35 Whelen
18 Mauser 350 G&H 27 Mauser 400 Mag
19 Mauser 375 H&H 27 Mauser 416 Rigby
20 Mauser 416 Rigby 31 Mauser 350 G&H
20 Mauser 375 H&H 32 Mauser 30-06
21 Mauser 375 H&H 32 Mauser 350 G&H
21 Mauser 300 H&H 33 Mauser 350 G&H
21 Mauser 35-Wheln 34 Mauser 350 G&H
23 Mauser 350 G&H 36 Mauser 350 G&H
Griffin & Howe next assigned blocks of numbers to particular calibers.
Barrel Number Caliber Highest No. Recorded
101-150 .30-06 147
151-200 .35 Whelen 166
201-250 .400 Whelen 228
251-300 7X57 300
301-350 .250-3000 314
351-400 25 Whelen* 351
401-500 .30-06 494
* The .25 Whelen was a version of the modern .25-06 or .25 Niedner.
As you can see the popular calibers such as the .30-06 used up the blocks of numbers whereas calibers like the .25 Whelen show only one number, the first, out of a block of fifty numbers. This practice was abandoned at number 501 with the numbers from then on in sequence regardless of caliber.
