The Massachusetts Arms Company, of
Chicopee Falls,
was a manufacturer of firearms and firearm-related products from about 1849 into the early 20th century.
The Massachusetts Arms Company was incorporated March 5, 1850 and was founded by
Joshua Stevens
Josh Stevens (born Joshua Steven Gill, November 21, 1983) is an American singer, record producer, songwriter, audio engineer and music executive, located in Los Angeles. His works are Grammy Award winning, Emmy Award Winning, RIAA Platinum cer ...
along with
Horace Smith and
Daniel Wesson, who later founded
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
. It was an outgrowth of the Wesson Rifle Company.
Christian Sharps
Christian Sharps (January 2, 1810 – March 12, 1874) was the inventor of the Sharps rifle, the first commercially successful breech-loading rifle and the Sharps Four Barrel Pistol, and ‘’’Sharps Breech-Loading Pistol’’’.
Life, death ...
, who later founded the
Sharps Rifle Company, transferred the manufacture of his first rifle to the company in 1849 or 1850.
The company also manufactured Wesson & Leavitt
revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
s between 1850 and 1851. These were said to be the first revolvers patented after Colt's.
In 1851,
Samuel Colt
Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of r ...
filed and won a historic patent infringement lawsuit against the Massachusetts Arms Company. The company then limited its revolver production to relatively unpopular designs by
Edward Maynard until 1857, when Colt's patent expired.
Maynard patented his revolutionary
breechloading
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle).
Modern firearms are generally breec ...
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
in 1851. It was actually manufactured by Massachusetts Arms, which had been using Maynard's system under contract for several years. In 1855 they produced 2,000
Greene Carbines, a Maynard system firearm, for a British government contract. These carbines were NOT used in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
.
Maynard's rifle was operated by a lever which when depressed raised the barrel to open the breech for loading. A brass cartridge, also developed by Maynard, was then inserted and the lever raised to close the breech. Once cocked the loaded rifle could then be primed by either placing a percussion cap directly on its nipple or by using Maynard's patented priming system to advance a primer to the nipple.
Also in 1857 the company received a contract to manufacture
Adams revolvers under license for the U.S. government. Some 500 or so were produced and used in the
U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
The company also produced single- and double-barrel shotguns, including both box-locks and external central hammers. Later it manufactured a selection of 20- and 28-bore Maynard-action shotguns of 1865 and 1873 patterns.
With civil war looming some Southern states purchased Maynard rifles from the company for their state militias. Of close to 3000 sales, most were to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, and
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. The First Model Maynard was designated an official
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
firearm.
The factory burned down in January 1861, halting production until the factory was rebuilt in 1863. The company then received an order for 20,000 of the simpler Second Model Maynard carbines. Deliveries of these guns began in June 1864 continuing through May 1865. As the war was then coming to an end few saw service. Some, however, are known to have been used by the 9th and 11th Indiana Cavalry and the 11th Tennessee Cavalry regiments.
In 1893 the company was purchased by the
J Stevens Arms & Tool Company, also founded by Joshua Stevens. Stevens had left the Massachusetts Arms Company in 1864. The purchase was made to protect the interests of Edward Maynard's widow and provide security for the company's workers.
In the late 19th century the company began producing revolvers on various Smith & Wesson patterns.
Production continued until the factory closed permanently during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.
The Massachusetts Arms Company name was retained by Stevens and later used as a trade name for firearms produced for sale at the Blish, Mize and Silliman Hardware Company of
Atchison Atchison may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
*Atchison, California, a former settlement
*Atchison, Kansas, a city
*Atchison County, Kansas
*Atchison County, Missouri
People with the surname
* Bob Atchison (born 1941), Canadian drag race ...
,
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
.
References
{{Authority control
Firearm manufacturers of the United States
Massachusetts in the American Civil War
American Civil War weapons
Privately held companies based in Massachusetts
Companies based in Hampden County, Massachusetts
Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts
Stevens Arms