American Gun Co.

[Harold Pickens]

Steve, that is a very nice looking gun and history. The one I saw was just as nice and fit me ok also. I thought about it too long and it got sold. Oh well, you cant buy them all, and I still have a couple other guns in mind.

[Researcher]

From the spring of 1905 when the hammerless guns were introduced --



From H & D Folsom Arms Co. Catalogue No. 18, probably right after WW-I --



H & D Folsom Arms Co. used the American Gun Co. name on the shotguns they sold, made at the factory they owned in Norwich, Conn., aka Crescent Fire Arms Co. from about the turn of the Century to shortly after WW-I. A couple of years in there they had them marked Folsom Arms Co. --




Circa 1910.

Sometime in the early 1920s H & D Folsom Arms Co. began having the guns marked Crescent Fire Arms Co. --



In 1930, H & D Folsom Arms Co. sold their gun factory to Savage Arms Corp. and they combined it with their recently acquired Davis Warner Arms Co. and formed Crescent - Davis Arms Corp. and operated into 1935.

[Steve McCarty]

Wow! What great posts. Yep, my gun is exactly like those shown. Same forearm latch, side locks, wrist, etc...

The story was that my grandfather bought that little Knickerbocker from the fellow who was the champion trap shooter in the state of Kansas. So it came with a pedigree. My dad also borrowed his father's Remington Model 11, which eventually came to me. It was heavy as lead. Had a Polychoke. Dad said that one day he and his father were hunting, and his dad somehow stuck the muzzle in the mud and didn't know it. Bang! The last inch of the muzzle opened up like a blunderbuss. On went the Polychoke. I hunted with that gun in college and learned to shoot over the hump. Someone broke into my apartment and ripped it off. I hope there is a special place in Hell for people who steal people's prize guns.

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Harold Lee Pickens

Steve, that is a very nice looking gun and history. The one I saw was just as nice and fit me ok also. I thought about it too long and it got sold. Oh well, you cant buy them all, and I still have a couple other guns in mind.

Those American Gun Co guns aren't too expensive, but I seldom see one in good condition....I NEVER see one in good condition. They are round 100 years old and were heavily used.

But mine is a serviceable gun. It is a little loose, and the forearm wiggles some, but not so you'd notice. It is a great chukar gun. It is light as a feather.

I have several chukar guns. A model 37 Ithaca and wonder of wonders a very nice Winchester Model 59 (If there is such a thing.). Now I'm not a big fan of autos, but that 59 is also light and has a plastic barrel so if I drop it it's no big deal.



There are all kinds of warts on a model 59, but this one works okay. They made them with interchangeable chokes (the first to do so), but this one doesn't have it, but I did buy another barrel so I have a full and modified gun. I use the Modified barrel. Works okay for me and I don't mind using it in the rain.