doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Warner Arms Corp., Brooklyn NY

Was Warner Arms Corp. acting also as a wholesaler/retailer separate from manufacturing? How long did they continue after the sale of Davis-Warner to Savage?

John

Mostly courtesy of Researcher and
http://www.scottcreative.net/Default.asp?ID=33&pg=Short+History+of+N%2ER%2E+Davis+%26+Sons+Shotguns
and
https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/WarnerAd/warnerad.html

The N.R. Davis Arms Co. was located in Assonet, MA starting in 1853. In 1917, N.R. Davis & Sons merged with Warner Co., Norwich, Connecticut and 1917 to 1930 operated under the name Davis-Warner Arms Corp., Brooklyn, NY and Norwich, CT.

New England Westinghouse bought J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. for war production in 1916 and changed the name to J. Stevens Arms Co. In 1920, J. Stevens Arms Co. was sold to Savage Arms Corp., which continued to run it as a separate entity until after WW-II. In 1930 J. Stevens Arms purchased Davis-Warner Arms Corp., and a Stevens memo dated December 15, 1930 announced the purchase from H&D Folsom Arms Company of the assets of Crescent Fire Arms Company of Norwich, Connecticut. The assets of Crescent were to be merged with those of Davis-Warner Arms Corporation and that the newly formed firm would be known as The Crescent-Davis Arms Corporation, Norwich, Conn.

On November 4, 1935, an order of dissolution was filed with the New York Secretary of State and the Crescent-Davis remains were moved to the J. Stevens Arms Co. plant in Chicopee Falls, MA. After the move, Stevens continued to manufacture a few models of Crescent-Davis shotguns until 1943.

I understand the Davis-Warner merger, and then the Crescent-Davis dissolution. But what time frame was Warner Arms Corp. selling shotguns stamped only "Warner Arms Corp. Brooklyn NY"?

I have read that they were marketing cheap Belgian guns but I have not seen one. What I have found is a Fulton boxlock and a Savage/Stevens Hammergun.

John

There was a Meriden Fire Arms Warner Arms Corp Brooklyn NY USA Utica Special sold by Sears. The last Meriden guns were made about 1918.



The Hunter Arms Fulton Warner Arms Corp. on the internet is from 1919, and is the only one I've seen.

Drew,

The Fulton model





A link to the GB auction with a Savage/Stevens model 215?
I believe it to be Savage era gun because of the stock profile.
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/818677855

Thanks,

John

Thanks John. That's where I got the Fulton SN. Unfortunately, the images did not show if there was a creative steel name on the top of the right barrel as had many of the Fulton tradename guns
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17126039

Sorry I didn't comprehend your question and I cleaned up my first post.

A little more information about Warner Arms Corp., Brooklyn NY
https://www.bevfitchett.us/firearms-identification/warner-pistols-utw.html

and an old thread here
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=249331&page=1

Turns out that Franklin B. Warner was President of Kirtland Bros. & Co. at 96 Chambers St., New York City at least until 1921
https://books.google.com/books?id=HIkoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA155&lpg
https://books.google.com/books?id=HeMcAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA27&lpg
https://books.google.com/books?id=72q1bWJDhFYC&pg=PA326&lpg

That might explain the tradename guns. Manhattan Arms Co. was a trade name used on hammer and hammerless side by sides imported by Schoverling, Daly & Gales, Kirtland Bros. Co., and Von Lengerke & Detmold, all of New York City. The guns were made in Belgium by Neumann Freres and Fabrique d'Armes Fs. Dumoulin & Cie, and in Germany by J.P. Sauer. SD&G also had a Manhattan Arms Fulton.

1918 "Davis Guns & Warner Pistols" by Kirtland
https://books.google.com/books?id=mCgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA2-PA122&lpg

Cornell Pubs has a 1924 catalog; nothing earlier
https://www.cornellpubs.com/old-guns/item_desc.php?item_id=413

https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Warner/warner.html
Kirtland Brothers & Company was an outfitter and outdoor equipment company that also sold dry goods and a variety of personal and household items in Lower Manhattan beginning in 1870. An 1893 advertisement lists their address as 62 Fulton Street. A later catalogue shows the company as �Kirtland Bros & Co, Dealers in Family Supplies - Sporting & Military Goods,� with locations in New York, Chicago, and London. The New York address in the later catalogue is 296 Broadway--only a few blocks away from the Fulton Street address. Later still advertisements and catalogues list another nearby address at 90 Chambers Street and also 96 Chambers Street.

Franklin Brockway Warner was born 28 July 1862. We find him listed as the director of Kirtland Brothers, 90 Chambers Street, in 1904 in the Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Clues in a 1920�s catalogue indicate he may have managed Kirtland Brothers as early as1891. Late in 1913 Warner filed a patent on a telescope design, and in 1915 he filed two patents related to the manufacture of shotgun barrels. In the 1915-1916 Directory of Directors in the City of New York, we find F.B. Warner listed as President and Director of Kirtland Brothers & Co. aswell as President and Director of the Warner Arms Corporation. In the same publication, his brother Marvin (born 10 January 1864) is listed as Director of Kirtland Brothers and Vice-President and Director of Warner Arms Corporation. Early advertisements for the Schwarzlose pistol list the address of Warner Arms Corporation as 33 Prospect Street, Brooklyn, New York.

Andrew Fyrberg was a firearms designer and manufacturer. In the 1880�s he designed a number of revolvers with or for Iver Johnson, and in 1896 began making revolvers and shotguns under his ownname. He is most famous for his 1891 (filing date) transfer-bar safety design for revolvers (U.S. patent 566,393) which was assigned to Iver Johnson. He did business in Worcester, Massachusettsas Andrew Fyrberg & Sons from 1886 to 1902, and established Andrew Fyrberg & Co. in Hopkinton, Massachusetts from 1902 to 1910. Sears, Roebuck & Co. bought a part interest in hisWorcester company in 1902 and bought him out completely in 1905, moving the factory to Meriden, Connecticut. It seems likely that Fyrberg licensed his 1903 top-break revolver design (U.S. patent735,490) to Warner Arms, as the Warner revolvers appear nearly identical to guns marked Andrew Fyrberg & Co. So far as we know, the Infallible is the only self-loading pistol Fyrberg ever designed.

Found a low resolution 1913 Kirtland catalog page.



The sidelock could be a Meriden Fire Arms.
The boxlock pins look like a Fulton, but not the stock.

1912 SD&G Fulton

Drew,

That is much more info than I dug up yesterday. I had made the Kirtland connection, but had not pinned down many dates. The 16ga Hammergun on the GB listing is now mine. I should have it by next week. What got my attention is the stock profile being the late style I call Savage vs the earlier Stevens stocks. It follows the same lines as the Utica mfg'd Fox Sterlingworth. If so this should put Warner Arms Corp. still in operation after 1930. ???

There is another Fulton model, ser# 21xxx with the "WARNER ARMS CORPORATION" label listed on GB now. It is the same variant as the one pictured above. Stock looks like the ad copy you posted.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/817117949

Lots of riddles in the gun business,

Thank you Drew,

John