No F&W production records from that era survive, but judging from the number of its S&W clones today, the company must have sold a boatload or two of them.Īs the company closed out the decade, it also introduced a nice copy of Webley’s snub-nosed Bull Dog revolver. 38-caliber double-action top-break revolvers in hammer and hammerless versions. As did almost everyone, F&W relentlessly knocked off Smith & Wesson’s. The company’s Breech-Loading Shot Gun was an attractive rabbit-ear model available in 10- and 12-gauge.īut Forehand & Wadsworth was built on revolvers, and revolvers remained its bread and butter. “Several have attempted to imitate it,” the company’s 1880 catalog said, “but they make miserable failures.”Īnd F&W’s New Hammerless Single Barrel Breech Loading Shot Gun was a surprisingly streamlined top-lever 12-gauge available with a 30-, 32- or 36-inch barrel and automatic extractors. Forehand and Wadsworth must have been satisfied enough with the gun to beat the competition over the head with it. With its single side-mounted hammer, the Single Barrel Breech-Loading Shot Gun resembled in its general lines the Morse percussion rifle. The double, known as the Breech-Loading Shot Gun, was an attractive rabbit-ear model available in 12- and 10-gauge. When Allen died in January 1871, the firm was renamed Forehand & Wadsworth in honor of the two new principals.īy 1880, under Forehand’s leadership, Forehand & Wadsworth was offering several single- and double-barreled shotguns in addition to its revolvers. Wadsworth had already married another of Allen’s daughters, and when Wheelock left Allen & Wheelock in 1863, it seemed like a good time to take another look at the situation.Īllen renamed the company Ethan Allen & Co., the “& Co.” referring to his sons-in-law Forehand and Wadsworth, who became his active partners. Hired as an accountant at Allen & Wheelock in 1856 after a stint at Worcester’s Pratt & Inman steelworks, Forehand soon lost his heart to Allen’s daughter Nettie, and they were married in 1859. This sturdy little gun was available in a seven-shot. F&W introduced a nice copy of Webley’s snub-nosed Bull Dog revolver. Wheelock, joined what would become almost a dynasty of American gunmaking. Thurber retired in 1856, and the company became known as Allen & Wheelock when Allen’s brother-in-law, T.P. Their firm of Allen & Thurber relocated to the burgeoning metal-working city of Worcester, Mass., in 1847. Allen’s guns were held in high regard, and about 1842, he entered a partnership with Charles Thurber. This Ethan Allen was a pioneering gunmaker who opened his first shop in Grafton, Conn., in 1832. And in that case, the boss was Ethan Allen, one of America’s most visible arms makers.Īllen is not to be confused with the strong-willed Revolutionary War hero of the same name who compelled the British to surrender Fort Ticonderoga. These ambitious entrepreneurs rose to prominence in the firearms industry of the 1870s in a time-honored manner: They married the boss’s daughters. Wadsworth, a former officer in the Union army. However, Forehand & Wadsworth was a true-blue American enterprise presided over by Sullivan Forehand, a bookkeeper with a knack for numbers, and Henry C. I can hear it now: “Stand back, vile ruffian! I am protected by Forehand & Wadsworth!” Exit ruffian, stage left. Some of that reputation undoubtedly derived from the stateliness of the brand name, which was faintly British and unmistakably confidence-building. In a market flooded with inexpensive pocket guns such as Avenger, Tramp’s Terror, Bang Up and Christian Protector, the guns of Forehand & Wadsworth managed to retain some respectability. Largely forgotten today, Forehand & Wadsworth was for a time one of the nation’s best-known manufacturers of small, concealable revolvers. The Forehand & Wadsworth factory was in Worcester, Mass.
Others did not.Ĭonsider Forehand & Wadsworth. Some gunmakers, such as Smith & Wesson, rode this wave of gun consciousness to enduring fame. Immediately after the Civil War, in which bloody battles raged within eyeshot of the nation’s capitol, and previously quiet city streets ran red, America became a nation of concealed-carriers. F&W relentlessly knocked off Smith & Wesson’s.
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