Hopkins & Allen Spur Trigger antiques

jw mathews · May 17, 2018

Anyone here knowledgeable re these guns? I'm trying to determine the period of manufacture for an XL No3, caliber .32 RIMFIRE, 5-round cylinder, bearing patent dates of 1871 & 1876. My guess is that it was made during the 1880s, but would like to know the start & end dates for production of thios model. I posted an inquiry on GUNBOARDS over two weeks ago & have received no responses.

Thanx for reading this.

DWalt · May 17, 2018

There were many different versions of the H&A XL revolvers, but I doubt if any of them continued in production past the 1880s. Especially those having spur triggers and chambered in .32 RF. Maybe someone with expertise in the H&A company can respond. It might be helpful if you added some pictures of what you have.

2152hq · May 17, 2018

The best production dates I could ever find for the H&A spur trigger revolvers was a starting year of 1869/1870.
They like all the others had to wait for the Rollin-White patent for a bored through cylinder (cartridge) to expire at that time to be able to produce a revolver with one. Only S&W had use of that patent till then.

The last of the XL production both spur trigger and trigger guard models
of the Hopkins & Allen XL spur trigger revolvers IMO was in 1885 or 1886. That's judging from catalog info and other resources.

Hopkins & Allen's top break 'auto ejecting' pistols (revolvers) came on the market in that year (1885).

The XL series of H&A revolvers covers both spur trigger models in 22, 32 and 38 & 41 RF. Additionally a bit later, XL models with a trigger guard and added calibers in 44WCF and 44Henry.
Lots of bbl lengths, sq or rd butt, oct or rd bbl options, nickel or blue, ect.

Now,,,to muddle this all up,,
There is another Hopkins & Allen mfg'd Model XL #3 revolver different from the above.
This is the XL#3 ...'Made by H&A for Merwin, Hulbert & Co.'
(Hopkins & Allen was the mfg'r of all M-H revolvers)

The M-H XL#3 was a DOUBLE ACTION w/trigger guard revolver, Cal 22rf (7) or Cal 32RF. (5).
Sq butt, solid frame. 2.5 or 4.5" bbl
Made 1875 to 1907.

Hope this helps out some. H&A info is scarce and always hard to pin down with no real hard factual records to focus on.

jw mathews · May 31, 2018

Thanks to both above respondents, & especially to 2152hq for the above info. I had looked up H&A and was aware they made guns for other firms. The gun in question is plainly marked H&A on the top strap with the model # also. I described it accurately & thus saw no need for pix, as all I wanted to know was the period of production. There are plenty of photos on the web if one desires to search for images of the Spur trigger H&A XL No 3 revolver. This is a neighbor's family heirloom that I cleaned up a bit. It is missing the hand but is otherwise in working order. Gun had not been treated well so bore is dark, but that doesn't matter much imo because ammo is obsolete as well.

I am glad I posted here because I know S&W made spur trigger revolvers early on & hoped somebody might have some info on the H&A similar models. Many thanks for the help; the S&W Forum is great!

mainegrw · Jun 2, 2018

Hopkins & Allen Spur Trigger antiques

I have a couple of H&A revolvers made under the Blue Jacket brand name. One is a No. 1 1/2 in 22 caliber the other is a No. 2 (I think) in 32 RF. Supposedly these belonged to my great grandfather or possibly his father, they came to me with a bunch of old guns when my grandfather passed away some time ago. I have never shot either of them, the No. 2 had a mainspring that appears to have been filed on to lighten the trigger pull, but ultimately caused it to fail, and the No. 1 1/2, while tempting to throw some 22 CB shorts or Colibri in and try out, the small size of the gun (about the same size of a NAA Derringer) has me worried about the repercussions of doing so...

Anyway, H&A seemed to make at least a half way decent firearm back in the day, and was supposedly at one time, the third largest producer of firearms in the world behind Smith and Wesson and Winchester, IIRC. The company has a neat, but unfortunate history that includes a fire in 1900 that burned the factory to the ground. In response, the company owners bought another facility that was out of business in Worcester, MA, and continued manufacture there for a short time while rebuilding their Norwich, CT plant. The interesting part is that once the new plant in Norwich was ready, they started moving equipment little by little overnight from Worcester on down, having entire workstations moved and setup by the time first shift started in the morning so that the gunsmiths could go on working uninterrupted. The company also had its warehouse robbed of its entire inventory in 1905, and for a time was making Mauser rifles for Belgium early in WW I, though the contract was never completed after Germany invaded Belgium a short time later. H&A ultimately succumbed to financial problems and was sold off in 1916 to Marlin down the road.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hopkins & Allen Spur Trigger antiques

jw mathews

Member

DWalt

Member

2152hq

Member

jw mathews

Member

mainegrw

Member

Similar threads

Latest posts