Tobin arms

[Herb Hewlett]

Saw a Tobin arms shotgun in a local shop today.Made in Norwalk Conn.sidelock,2ivory beads ,12ga.,Krupp steel brls,nice engraving,
They built or imported shotguns at the turn of the 20 century and were gone in less than 10 years,to Woodstock ,Canada.Built some there then disapeared.
Were they good shotguns? Did they build or import guns? Someone had this shotgun redone from stem to stern,but very nice work.case colors,stock finish,brl. blue ,all beautifully done. very interesting shotgun.

[OH Osthaus]

they built some nice graded guns, and used better grade Belgium barrels I believe. there was a very informative article in Double Gun Journal some years ago about the Tobin guns.

[Drew Hause]

Researcher wrote the Tobin article but some of it is here
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22641451

Barrel steel was both Krupp Essen and DeMoya

[Researcher]

-- I may be the guru of Tobin as I've had four articles published on that company. I discovered Tobin in the 1980's when I was researching things Fox at the Library of Congress and feeding my findings to Mike McIntosh for his book on Ansley H. Fox. Mike encouraged me to continue the Tobin search and write about them. Frank Major Tobin, Canadian by birth, was a gun salesman for various companies around the U.S. from the 1880's to after the turn of the century. Somewhere he acquired the rights to a shotgun patent of Clarance Wollam of San Francisco and set up a company in Norwich, Connecticut, to manufacture the gun. Tobin operated there from 1904 to 1909, then moved to Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, 1910 to about 1916. My Tobin articles were published in Volume Five, Issue 1, and Volume Eight, Issue 1, of The Double Gun Journal; Volume 39, Number 12, May 1994 of The Gun Report; and Volume 34, Number 3 of (the Canadian Journal of) Arms Collecting. Volume 14, Number 1 of Canadian Journal - Arms Collecting reproduced Tobin catalogue #311 from the factory in
Woodstock. The Tobin gun was offered in 12- and 16-gauge and a variety of grades from $30 to $250 with options of ejectors and a single-selective trigger. Tobin also made guns for the trade, that don't say Tobin anywhere on them, but they can be confirmed by the patent stamp -- PAT. MAY 23-93 AND PATENTS PEND'G. The transition from Norwich, to Woodstock guns spans about 2000 serial numbers from the low 9000 range to just over 11000. G.B. Crandall, a gunsmith in Woodstock that had worked for Tobin, took over the remains and from about 1922 billed himself as successor to Tobin Arms. He probably assembled around 500 guns in the high 18,xxx and low 19,xxx range until he retired in 1951. I believe he was more noted for his varmint rifles.

Tobin guns have both a grade name and number, with an E, T, or ET appended when fitted with ejectors, single trigger or both. I've never seen a Tobin stamped with a grade marking, and about half of them have engraving which doesn't match the cuts in any of the catalogues I've found. The Norwich catalogues I have list --

Model Grade, No. 60 $150, No. 60E $175, No. 60T $175, and No. 60ET $200.

Model Grade, No. 55 $80, No. 55E $100, No. 55T $100, and No. 55ET $120.

Special Pigeon Grade, No. 50 $70, No. 50E $90, No. 50T $90, and No. 50ET $110.

Trap Grade, No. 21 $60, No. 21E $80, No. 21T $80, and No. 21ET $100.

Premium Grade, No. 45 $55, No. 45E $75, No. 45T $75, and No. 45ET $95.

Featherweight Grade, No. 40 $45, No. 40E $65, No. 40T $65 and No. 40ET $85.

Expert Grade, No. 30 $40, No. 30E $60, No. 30T $60, and No. 30ET $80.

Standard Grade, No. 20 $30.

In 1907, the Jobber Price of the highest Tobin, a Model Grade No. 60ET was $109, with a net selling price of $160 and a list price of $200. The lowest Standard Grade No. 20 had a jobbers price of $18, a net selling price of $22.50 and a list price of $30. During those pre WW-I years all the companies seemed to have high list prices and a much lower actual net selling price -- I've got similar info on Parker Bros, Lefevers, L.C. Smiths, A.H. Fox and Remingtons.

As long as I'm on a roll here, after the move to Canada, the grades were

Standard Grade No. 40 -- list price $40

Black Diamond Grade No. 55 -- list price $55

Trap Grade No. 70 -- list price $70

Pigeon Grade No. 100 -- list price $100

Model Grade No. 200 -- list price $200

Regal Grade No. 250 -- list price $250

Ejectors or single selective trigger were each $20 extra from No. 55 to 200 and $25 each on the No. 250. In Canada, Tobin offered a Leader Grade No. 25 for $25 that was a hammer gun. It used the same frame, but with a coil-spring driven hammer lockplate in place of the hammerless sideplate and frame-mounted hammer and V-mainspring. They also offered a single shot .22 rimfire “Boy Scout Rifle.”