Category: A Victory!
What do Saturday Night Specials, side by side shotguns, and Mosin Nagant M1891 rifles all have in common?
If you have a moment to read, here is an interesting tale; these were all manufactured by the Meriden Firearms Company, of Meriden, Connecticut. In a brief but meteoric lifespan that lasted a mere dozen years, the Meriden Firearms company turned out an impressive array of inexpensive, but serviceable, and, in some cases, now, even collectible firearms.
The Meriden Fire Arms Co. was a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck & Co., actually manufacturing guns for sale exclusively by the parent company. They also imported guns from Germany and Belgium under their name. Meriden Arms Co. was formed after Sears bought the Andrew Fryberg Arms Co. (Fryberg was closely linked to Iver Johnson, long-time manufacturers of pocket pistols.) Meriden plied their trade, turning out .32 and .38 cal. revolvers with various trade names on them.
Selling for a whopping $3.10, or $4.25 fully engraved (!) these were utilitarian, but hardly heirloom quality pistols. Unless, perhaps, you were willing to spring the extra $1.25 for “Finely fitted pearl grips.” Clearly occupying the workman end of the economic scale, Meriden also turned out serviceable shotguns and .22 rifles of various types.
Then came the War To End All Wars. With Russia hard pressed by the First World War, but desperately needing weapons, and her allies stretched too thin to offer much in the way of assistance, the beleaguered Russian government turned to the British. They, also hard-pressed, turned to American industrial capability, for assistance in meeting their manufacturing needs. With British agents acting as shadowy intermediaries, a deal was struck for three quarter of a million US made Mosin Nagant M1891 Three Line rifles.
Their share of this order far eclipsed Meriden firearms company’s production abilities. Apparently, manufacturing $4.00 revolvers was an order of magnitude less challenging than making a half million battle rifles, and in 1916, they were subsumed under the New England Westinghouse name.
Before all of the rifles could be delivered to Russia, that government fell, and the new Bolshevik government defaulted on the contracts with the United States manufacturers.
This meant that Remington and Westinghouse were left with several hundred thousand rifles in their unsold inventory.
To spare the companies from bankruptcy, the United States government then bought all of the remaining stocks of rifles. Some of the remaining rifles had already been shipped all the way to Great Britain and those were used to arm the US and British expeditionary forces that were sent to Russia in 1918 and 1919. Some of these must have had fascinating histories, as rifles from this issuance occasionally show up with arsenal marks of multiple nations stamped on them, from numerous battles and wars, won and lost.
The rifles that remained in the US were used for training in the Army and also used to arm some National Guard, and ROTC units.
Commanding well in excess of $700.00, today one of these American manufactured rifles can be considered among the elite of the Mosin Nagant line.
Meriden Fire Arms continued to produce some firearms in another facility on Center Street in Meriden until 1918 when Sears announced that the Meriden Fire Arms Company would discontinue the manufacture of sporting guns.
From the verdant forests of New England, to dry goods stores across America, to the snows of Siberia, Meriden Firearms carved a unique niche in the history of American arms.
Michigan and Hawaii, both Democrat-led states, have launched taxpayer-funded tip lines for individuals looking to report perceived firearms violations anonymously. While these dumpster fire states claim the lines are aimed at lawbreakers, Second Amendment groups are reasonably skeptical, as they should be, because such a system can easily be abused. Let’s face it, we know that the weaponization of this service against law-abiding gun owners is exactly what they are intended for.
On Thursday, October 10, Hawaii’s Democrat Governor Josh Green announced the state’s Department of Law Enforcement had established a confidential “Gun Tip Line for people to make anonymous reports of illegal gun ownership and gun crimes,” where tipsters can either call, text or drop a dime via the DLE’s website or a downloadable app where they can submit photographs and videos to back up their report.
The governor’s office went even further during the brown shirt recruiting exercise saying, “People reporting tips are encouraged to leave detailed information including the names of those in possession of illegal guns or committing gun crimes, a location where those people may be found and a description of the guns.” Sure, what could go wrong when hiring unpaid, untrained, overzealous, anti-Second Amendment sycophants typically knowing very little about firearms to play the role of a detective, spying on and recording their neighbors?
Meanwhile, Gretchen “Lockdown” Whitmer, known for hosting the most oppressive COVID lockdowns in America while still having more deaths per capita than any neighboring Midwestern states, signed House Bill 5503, a measure passed off as an education funding bill that allocates $1 million in School Aid Funding to support an anonymous tip line for students to report firearms thought to be “improperly stored.”
The bill goes on to mandate that Michigan’s Department of Education develop materials concerning improper storage of firearms, including tip line usage, and distribute those materials to school districts across the state. The Gestapo may not pay you for your work, but you will receive free training, whether you want it or not.
As the NRA-ILA points out, language regarding the tip line was added to the bill as an amendment that was then swiftly passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature.
“The expedited pace and the silencing of opposition when the bill came up for a floor vote underscores the reality that this was a political move and another attack on gun owners,” says the NRA.
These tiplines will ultimately create a situation that will lead to wasted resources, unwarranted confrontations with law enforcement and what could amount to unconstitutional searches of homes, businesses and other private property based on vendettas and other nefarious agendas. Not only does this negatively impact the community’s relationship with authorities, but those who abuse the tip lines will undoubtedly drive wedges within communities as well, drawing lines at a time when we need to be working together to strengthen and solidify those connections.
Back in early 2000’s, McCann Industries (known for their M1 Garand Gas Trap Adjuster) manufactured an M1 Garand in .458 Winchester Magnum. Not made anymore after the passing of McCann’s primary gunsmith, the rifles are a fine example of ingenuity and practicality applied to big-game hunting.
At first, I flinched just thinking about it, but the few videos of it shooting shed some light on how this big-game cartridge is tamed. While the base rifle was identical, McCann added an aggressive muzzle brake and a mercury cylinder to the stock to absorb and deflect the recoil.
Nathan S
One of TFB’s resident Jarheads, Nathan now works within the firearms industry. A consecutive Marine rifle and pistol expert, he enjoys local 3-gun, NFA, gunsmithing, MSR’s, & high-speed gear. Nathan has traveled to over 30 countries working with US DoD & foreign MoDs.
