N.R. Davis of Assonet, Mass., started in the 1850's manufacturing muzzleloaders and one of America's earliest breech-loading doubles, a sliding breech pin-fire.
There is an article by Cdr Gunther on N.R. Davis in the April 1990 issue of
The Gun Report, Volume 35, Number 11. There is a little article by Charles E. Carder on the N.R. Davis sliding breech pin-fire in
The Double Gun Journal, Volume Three, Issue 2, page 88.
N.R. Davis, one of the first U.S. manufacturers of breechloading double barrel shotguns, was taken over by Warner Arms Corp around WW-I. Warner moved the assets from the original factory in Assonet, Mass. to their plant in Norwich, Conn. in 1919, and became Davis-Warner Arms Corp. They continued to manufacture Davis doubles until about 1926 when they closed the plant and tried their hand at importing guns from Belgium. My 1926 E.K. Tryon catalogue showed four Davis hammerless doubles -- the Premier Grade with fine decarbonized steel barrels in 12-, 16-, or 20-gauge for $30. The Maximin Grade had 24-inch barrels in 12-gauge, 22-inch barrels in 16-gauge or 20-inch barrels in 20-gauge, with "a special choke to get maximum results from a short light gun" was also $30. The Hy-Power Grade was a 30- or 32-inch barrel 12-gauge for 3-inch shells for $35. The Ajax Grade was the same as the Premier but with a plain wood half-pistol grip stock not so finely finished for $25.
In early 1930 Davis-Warner was purchased by J. Stevens Arms Company (owned and operated by Savage Arms Corp.). A Stevens memo dated May 23, 1930, announced the acquisition and the intent to resume manufacture of the Davis doubles. Another 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 memo went on to say that the assets of Crescent would 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. Crescent-Davis would be operated as a competitor of J. Stevens. The new firm was no more successful then its predecessors. On November 4, 1935, an order of dissolution was filed with the New York Secretary of State.
So, after that the remains must have been moved to Chicopee Falls and assembled and sold off under various names. The Crescent-Davis and Springfield guns shown in the 1938 to 1941 Stevens paper I have all appear to be variations on the 311. The Springfield 311 had a casehardened receiver while the Crescent-Davis 600 and 900 had blued receivers. From 1938 --
From another source, the late Joe Vorisek's Shotgun Research Newsletter I find this -- Davis-Warner Arms Corp. was formed in January 4, 1917, by combining the old N.R. Davis of Assonet, MA, and the Warner Arms Corp. of Norwich, Conn. There is some evidence that the Assonet factory remained in use until possibly as late as 1925, and after that they assembled Davis parts from Assonet at the Warner factory in Norwich. They also had premisis in Brooklyn, NY, and offices in Manhatten. There is some evidence that the letter prefix of the serial numbers indicates year of production of Davis shotguns at the Warner pistol factory from A=1924, B=1925, C-1926, to G=1930.
03-12-2014, 04:34 PM
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