Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 - Dan Shideler - Страница 20
Оглавлениеa robert hillberg cornucopia
BY ROBERT HILLBERG
Editor’s Note: In our opinion, Robert L. Hillberg – former head of research and development for High Standard Manufacturing – is a national treasure, being one of the few surviving masters of post-WWII American firearms design. Many of his countless creations, including the Whitney Wolverine, the Wildey gas-operated .45 pistol and the COP four-shot derringer, are avidly sought by collectors today, as are his more conventional designs. Here, the esteemed Mr. Hillberg offers his insights on the early history of High Standard and the development of the Ithaca Model 49 single-shot Rifle, the Savage 101 pistol and the Browning BPS shotgun.
CREATION OF THE BROWNING BPS SHOTGUN
When we take a close look at the splendid line of shotguns offered by Browning, we observe a high quality line of guns ranging from the expensive single shot Trap guns, to the popular over/under double guns such as the beautiful Citori line In the autoloading field, Browning has been a popular choice of shooters ever since John Moses Browning invented the first autoloading shotgun way back in 1911. This world-famous gun was produced in Belgium by Fabrique Nationale as the Browning Auto 5, and by Remington in this country as the Remington Model 11 and the Savage Model 720 et al.
Bob with the original BPS design blueprint drawing in the background.
Oddly enough, there was not a pump shotgun in the company’s line since Mr. Browning sold the manufacturing rights for the initial design of a pump action shotgun to Remington in 1915 (patent 1143170, originally issued to John M. Browning). In fact, the pump shotgun was missing from the Browning sales inventory until the introduction of the BPS in 1977 – an absence from the rapidly-growing pump action gun market for 62 years!
Remington introduced the 1915 Browning design as the Model 17 pump action shotgun. Remington sold a total of 72,644 Model 17s before discontinuing it in 1933. When the Browning patent expired, the Ithaca Gun Co. was free to copy the basic Model 17 Remington. They promoted it as the Ithaca Model 37; it was designed in 1933 and put in production in 1937. This fabulous pump shotgun is still manufactured today and it has been the cornerstone of Ithaca’s production since its inception.
The great market potential for the pump action shotgun was recognized by both manufacturing giants Remington and Winchester. The popular Winchester Model 12 pump was designed by T.C. Johnson, a Winchester engineer who spent many years designing a pump action that did not infringe on the Browning patent. This highly successful shotgun was accepted as one of America’s premier shotgun designs. Nearly two million were sold from 1912 to 1963, when production was discontinued.
Remington also recognized the tremendous sales and market appeal potential for a reliable, top-quality pump gun that could be competitive in cost with the Winchester Model 12. They designed the famous Remington Model 870, which was first sold in 1950. The 870 was exceptionally successful and it turned out to be the world’s highest-volume shotgun ever produced. Sales of the 870 had reached two million by 1973 and over seven million by 1996! It is still being manufactured today by the Remington Arms Co. in Ilion, New York, using the very latest technology in materials and methods.
Firearms designer extraordinaire and emeritus Bob Hillberg holding the Olympic arms copy of the Whitney Wolverine pistol.
Onserving the vast sales potential for a pump action shotgun and the complete absence of this type of shotgun in Browning’s line of guns, I couldn’t help but wonder if a well-designed, premium-quality Browning pump gun that offered advanced features could compete with the legendary Winchester and Remington. I was further tantalized by the fact that it would be a natural move for Browning, since John M. Browning pioneered the very first pump action shotgun with several advanced features not even found today on the Remington 870.
The more I thought about developing and presenting a proposal for an advanced, premium quality pump shotgun to Browning, the more enthusiastic I became. It seemed to me to be a natural, considering the early patent and history of the first Browning-designed pump. I reviewed the past history of the pump action shotgun with my boss Howard Johnson, president of the Bellmore Johnson Tool Company (BJT) of Hamden, Connecticut. I was employed as BJT’s chief engineer at the time, and in 1970 I persuaded Howie to let me design a prototype of the proposed shotgun, later known as the BPS (Browning Pump Shotgun). He became equally enthusiastic about the possibility of selling the BPS and gave me permission to design the gun’s layout in detail prior to the actual presentation to Browning.
I proceeded to set up the design project objectives for the new project as follows:
1. The gun must be completely ambidextrous and favor both right and left hand shooters. Bottom ejection was essential, and the side ejection receiver ports would be eliminated.
2. The safety must be thumb operated, centrally located on the receiver tang and easily controlled by the thumb on the trigger finger right or left hand.
3. It must be loaded from the bottom ejection port opening without depressing the lifter and with no restriction or finger pinching by the lifter during the loading operation.
4. Twin action bars must be employed for smooth non binding slide operation.
5. The receiver must be machined from quality high strength steel. All components should likewise be quality materials. (No die-cast parts.)
6. Smooth, streamlined receiver, stock, and forearm shape. (No humpback shape to rear of receiver.)
7. Best quality balance and user-friendly stock dimensions in accordance with Browning’s high standards.
8. Absolute top quality to be employed in all components with no substitutes in materials or methods.
9. Tremendous reliability of function and smoothness of operation to be absolutely mandatory.
10. Addition of a trigger disconnector to positively eliminate the possibility of accidentally firing when shucking the slide while holding the trigger to the rear.
This illustrates the thumb engaging the central position of the BPS’s ambidextrous safety without moving the trigger finger to operate the safety for a fast shot, as is necessary with a conventional crossbolt safety.
With these project objectives now clearly established, I was at last ready to start the new design layout with a clean sheet of paper. This was the beginning of many decades of long, laborious hours of detailed design work for me. It also involved an intensive study of the competition to analyze their good and bad features.
I was then engaged in making the largest and most complete design layout I have ever made. After countless design studies following the project objectives, the layout consisted of detailed sectional drawings of the action in the locked firing position, the eject position, and the loading position. Full scale outlines of all the action components were illustrated along with a complete parts list and heat-treat specifications.
When the design layout was finally complete, Howie and I were ready to make a presentation to the Browning executives at their beautiful corporate headquarters at Morgan, Utah, in the foothills of the rugged Wasatch mountain range.
We were well received by company president John V. Browning and the owner, Mr. Val A. Browning, a well-known Utah industrialist and son of the great John Moses Browning. Val’s father acquired 126 firearms patents in his lifetime and created a myriad of the world’s most famous commercial and military guns of all types. Needless to say, it was a prestigious moment for me to meet these people. The meeting couldn’t have gone better because they were intrigued by the proposal of adding a quality pump shotgun with a touch of the original Browning heritage in its design. They were well pleased with my design layout.
Val Browning was a Cornell law and engineering graduate and a gun designer in his own right with 48 patents. He pored over my proposed BPS design layout and understood exactly what I was trying to accomplish. Howie and I were more than pleased at their interest, and we all agreed the next step would be to build a prototype for test. Building new model guns from scratch was old hat to us at BJT. We had for years built many first model and experimental guns for Hi-Standard, Winchester, Marlin, Colt, the CIA, and the Springfield Armory. We had a staff of the area’s best tool and die makers. It was agreed that we would make detailed engineering drawings from the layout and actually fabricate and preliminary test the gun. This was right up our alley as we had done this successfully many times before. For this phase, Browning agreed to our building the prototype at their expense. We also agreed on a royalty to be paid on each gun sold in production.
The bottom loading and ejection port opening showing the retracted lifter and the bottom of the locked bolt with an unobstructed access for loading a fresh round with the bolt and slide in the foreword or firing and loading position.
The bottom port opening showing the lifter in the down or eject position with the slide and bolt in the rear position.
Howie and I returned to BJT elated at our success, and we made plans for the final phase of our agreement, the actual building and test of the prototype. This required many hours of concentrated effort by carefully-chosen tool makers. Once again our good fortune held. The prototype went together as planned, and it performed beautifully right from the start. Quite frankly, I was very proud and grateful to the many individuals who made it happen. Usually a new prototype generally requires parts redesign and fabrication due to malfunction, worn or broken parts in test, awkward assembly, etc. – but the BPS required absolutely no rework.
Our involvement in the BPS program was virtually over at this point; it was up to Browning to put the final approval on the gun and get it manufactured in quantity production. For many years Browning guns were manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal in Liege, Belgium. The Browning Company was required to seek an outside contractor to manufacture the BPS because they lacked the large facility necessary to build the production guns in the U.S.A. A decision was made to make the BPS in production by the Miroku Firearms Mfg. Co. in Japan to Browning’s exacting quality standards. Browning sent an early sample of the production gun to BJT for our examination. We were highly pleased with the performance and high quality of this production gun. Howie gave me the gun as a souvenir for proposing and designing the BPS.
Things had progressed from a dream to a reality. BJT kept their word and shared one half of the Browning royalties with me during the first production phase. Unfortunately for BJT and me, that arrangement would come to an early termination.
The Browning Arms Company was established in the United States in 1927 a year after the death of John M. Browning. Half a century later, in 1977, the Belgium firm of Fabrique Nationale acquired the company. At that time the BPS was in full production and our BJT royalty was in full effect. The new organization wanted to continue to produce the gun but did not want to pay the royalty to BJT. As a result, Browning offered BJT a lump-sum cash buyout to eliminate the royalty agreement. We accepted this offer and our participation and all future communications with Browning regrettably came to a close. I have worked for numerous firearms companies and the military over the years as a designer, court expert witness and consultant, but I have never enjoyed working for anyone more than I did Browning. To me, they have always been a class organization in every respect.
The BPS saga did not die at the ending of our involvement. In fact, it was only the beginning, and the BPS is still being made today with numerous options to meet public demand. It is now available in 10, 12, 28, 20, and .410 gauges with high-post full-vent sighting ribs, Invector choke tubes, various barrel lengths, select model walnut stocks, and engraved receivers. These additions were all added by Browning. My prototype gun consisted of only the basic functional action.
The current BPS suggested retail price ranges from $519 to $780, depending on model. Market sales have steadily improved, and expert critics have given the BPS a top rating for its exceptionally smooth function and reliability, with Browning’s typically fine workmanship and finish.
CREATION OF THE HIGH STANDARD MANUFACTURING CORPORATION
The complex history of High Standard generated from the elementary designs for .22 caliber single-shot and semiautomatic pistols by a Hartford, Connecticut, inventor, Lucius N. Diehm, who patented a series of firearms from 1916 to 1925. The Hartford Arms & Equipment Company was established primarily to produce several of the Diehm-designed pistols. This small company was only mildly successful and produced about 5,000 pistols between 1925 and 1930 before suffering bankruptcy and going out of business. Needless to say, these early Hartford Arms Diehm-designed pistols have become a very scarce rarity for pistol collectors.
The early birth and growth of the High Standard Company in Connecticut was all due to the guiding genius and drive of one man, a very talented and energetic Swede and New Haven, Connecticut, resident, Carl Gustav Swebilius. He was instrumental in the entire concept and the initial achievements of the High Standard Company.
Swebilius had a very extensive background in the firearms business. The son of a Swedish watchmaker, he learned his trade as a young man working as an apprentice toolmaker and designer for the Marlin Firearms Co. in New Haven. During World War I he was instrumental in converting a Colt .30 caliber machine gun into an aircraft weapon. He is also credited for developing a synchronous fire control permitting a machine gun to fire through the moving blades of an aircraft propeller. He became experienced and well-respected at Marlin, both as a tooling expert and as an accomplished designer.
After the war was over, Swebilius joined a Hamden wire company for which he designed machinery for manufacturing insulated wire. In 1921 Marlin rehired him back as the chief engineer for a short time until they temporarily ceased operations in 1923. Swebilius then joined Winchester as a senior gun designer. During this period of unrest in the firearms industry, Swebilius wanted to start and control his own gun company, and he subsequently resigned from Winchester and started his own business in 1926.
This company, the High Standard Arms Manufacturing Company of Hamden, Connecticut, produced deep-hole drills for making rifle barrels and specialty items for the local firearms factories. This was the actual birth of the fabulous High Standard Company. It started out as a small shoestring operation, but then Swebilius purchased the now-bankrupt Hartford Arms Company for less than $1,000. This was the beginning that started High Standard in the handgun manufacturing business, and it allowed Swebilius to produce a clone of the Diehm-designed Hartford Arms Model 1925 .22 semi-automatic pistol. It was ultimately to became the very successful High Standard Model B and the beginning of a long list of various High Standard .22 models. At the time of Swebilius’s death from cancer in 1948, High Standard had produced over a quarter of a million .22 pistols of various models. It can be truly said that High Standard’s birth and growth were largely due to the dynamic energy, dream and guidance of Carl Gustave Swebilius.
His rapid success was due to his ability to recognize and select key men of outstanding ability to build the framework of the rapidly expanding gun company. In one of his first moves in the new company, he hired George Wilson, Sr. from the defunct, recently-purchased Hartford Arms Co. Wilson was a very experienced and capable gun designer with years of know-how in the manufacturing business. His addition to the newly-formed High Standard Co. to manufacture handguns came from his previous experience at Hartford Arms producing Diehm pistols.
Swebilius had a burning desire to produce and aid the allied forces with their war effort at the outset of World War II. To this end, Swebilius enlisted the help of Jack Owsley, who had many influential contacts in England. He was able to convince the British Purchasing Commission that High Standard could be a major supplier to their desperately-needed .50 caliber machine gun program. They responded immediately, and High Standard was awarded a contract for 12,000 Browning aircraft guns with an advance of $6 million. With very large contracts in their pocket, High Standard was able to secure local bank financing to build a new factory on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden. They were able to purchase the very latest machine tools and equipment for massive machine gun production. Needless to say, this was all they needed to greatly expand in rapid order from a small, modest, pistol manufacturer of 250 employees to one of the largest and most respected players in the gun industry with a work force of 4,000!
The US Army soon became High Standard’s main customer and the company responded by outproducing all other suppliers of .50 caliber Browning Aircraft machine guns. This included such giants as Colt, Savage, and General Motors. At the same time they also supplied the army with .45-caliber barrels for the 1911-A1 service pistol and thousands of model HD B .22 pistols for training and recreation purposes. They also manufactured and supplied over 2,000 Model HD-MS pistols equipped with silencers for the Office of Special Services. The OSS guns were used for clandestine operations. Wartime production of High Standard was 228,000 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns.
During the war Swebilius was the second highest salaried citizen in the United States. A congressional investigation revealed that High Standard’s price to the government for the.50 caliber machine gun was considerably less than any of the other contractors for the same gun. Suffice it to say they must have done something right!
After the end of the war, the massive buildup of military equipment slowed to a virtual standstill. At that time, High Standard’s management decided to become a major player in the commercial arms business by increasing their own handgun product line and to establish a long-time agreement to produce an economy line of shotguns and rifles for the Sears, Roebuck Co. Sears was unusally successful in promoting these products through their massive coast-to-coast merchandising network under the trade name of J.C. Higgins. [Editor’s note: “J C Higgins” was not a made-up brand name, like “Betty Crocker” or “Aunt Jemima.” John C. Higgins (1908-1964) was the head of Sears, Roebuck’s Chicago accounting office and their chief comptroller. – DMS]. The agreement with the Sears, Roebuck Company was for them to invest a substantial sum of capital annually in the Research and Development group to design, build, and test new Sears firearms products and to create the new tooling required to produce these guns.
Carl Swebilius hired an old friend from Winchester, Fred Humiston, to head the newly-formed High Standard research department. Fred was a gun designer from the old school who created his new designs on milling machines and lathes rather than on the drawing board. The modern age of CAD-CAM and computers had not yet arrived, of course.
(Historical footnote: The heavily-publicized Hollywood film Carbine Williams film starring Jimmie Stewart gave credit exclusively to David “Marsh” Williams for designing the US M1 Carbine. Not so. The carbine was hurriedly designed by several members of the Winchester engineering group with Fred Humiston as the key designer. It was actually the Humiston-designed carbine and not the Williams design that was tested and approved by the government for wartime mass production and use. Knowledgeable Winchester engineering personal and executives know that Fred Humiston and not Williams was actually the main person in the carbine’s development and acceptance. An excellent report in a June 6, 1951, article by Edwin Pugsley, the chief of engineering of Winchester at that time, clearly establishes and verifies the carbine’s true story and the extent of Williams’s involvement.)
Humiston’s High Standard Research and Development department was started with three designers and two excellent ex-Winchester tool makers. Their initial duty was concerned with manufacture and design of Sears product. After about a year, in 1956, the gifted Fred Humiston passed away from cancer, and vice president George Wilson Sr. appointed me as his replacement.
The R&D workload increased considerably as High Standard took on experimental government contracts from Springfield Armory and the Detroit Tank Arsenal for the design of the T-152 and T-153 tank machine gun. A new design of the T-3 double action 9mm pistol with a twin stack feed was also required for the armed services. In addition to the added military research, the R&D department was required to continue with the Sears commercial gun design program. This expansion obviously required increased R&D personnel, so the workforce was expanded to 10 designers and six tool makers, plus the use of subcontractor tool companies. It was during this period that I designed, built and tested the world’s first gas-operated autoloading shotgun. This unique shotgun was produced by High Standard as the Supermatic and the Sears JC Higgins Model 60.
Many thousands of the Higgins Model 60 Sears guns were sold. It employed the patented hollow gas piston which surrounded the magazine feed tube, thus allowing greater magazine capacity without lengthening the forend stock. High Standard enjoyed a fine reputation for creative design and excellent workmanship in that era.
The momentum and drive of the of the original High Standard company were sadly missing with the deaths of Carl Swebilius, George Wilson Sr., Fred Humiston, and a number of management and key employees who either resigned or retired at that time. I went to the Bellmore Johnson Tool Co. as chief engineer, in which capacity I designed the .22 caliber Whitney Wolverine sporting pistol, the 12-gauge Browning BPS pump shotgun (see above), and the .45 Winchester Magnum Wildey gas-operated pistol. Harry Sefried, after designing the popular Sentinel .22 revolver in the High Standard R&D department, went to the Sturm-Ruger Co. as the Chief Engineer and designed a number of Ruger’s finest guns, including the famous 10-22 rifle, several of the Ruger revolver models and the Mini-14 .223 caliber rifle.
In 1968 the original High Standard top management had changed and they decided to sell the company. It was acquired by the Leisure Group, a non-firearms company selling sporting goods equipment. A turbulent period followed. The original High Standard facilities in Hamden were moved to the Leisure Group location in East Hartford in 1976. in 1978 the property changed again with a buyout of the Leisure Group. In 1984 the assets were sold by the buyer.
Corporate stagnation followed until 1993 when a progressive, up-to-date company bought High Standard and completely reorganized it. The new owner is the High Standard Manufacturing Company, Inc., of Houston, Texas.
This new owner invested in facilities and the very latest technology and equipment. In 1994 They began to ship the newly manufactured High Standard .22 pistols. They are dedicated to returning the High Standard reputation and quality back to equal or better than the excellent pre-1968 standards. I pray that the new organization will continue with the legacy, spirit, and success of the Swebilius area.
DESIGN OF THE ITHACA MODEL 49 RIFLE
After the Whitney Wolverine pistol development with the Bellmore Johnson Tool Company in the early 1950s, I took a close look at the various firearms manufacturer’s product lines to determine if there were any opportunities for marketable products. I was aware that many progressive sales departments were undoubtedly searching for the same thing. One company stood out as obviously in need of new product design: the Ithaca Gun Company of Ithaca, New York. They were well-known for producing a very high quality product that often needed precision hand-fitting by highly skilled workman. This type of labor, while greatly admired, was gradually placing itself out of the competitive price range. Other companies were using advanced designs with newer machines and the latest technology. This ultimately limited Ithaca’s competitive abilities.
Gun Digest editor-in-chief John T. Amber personally reviewed the Ithaca M49 .22 in the 1962 edition.
Ithaca had for a long time lacked an aggressive design staff. Aside from their excellent old double guns, their greatest design achievement had been the redesign of the Browning-designed Remington Model 15 pump shotgun as the Ithaca model 37. It was universally accepted by the shooting public and it even outsold and outlasted the fabulous Winchester model 12 pump gun! Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to sustain this early landmark company, which was founded way back in 1880.
World War II provided some relief for the financially troubled Ithaca. They produced a number of .45 Colt 1911-A1 service pistols and M3 grease guns between 1943 and 1945. This activity served only as a temporary band-aid, however. They were hurting for a new product to augment their only winner, the rock-solid Model 37 pump gun. Ithaca’s president, Sheldon Smith, and his brother and director of manufacturing, Charles Smith, made a valiant attempt to create a business turnaround after the great war by producing a .22 autoloading rifle which developed numerous function problems, and they also made an ill-fated attempt to have MIT personel design a semiautomatic shotgun for them. As one might expect, it was a brilliant study but thoroughly impractical to mass produce as a competitive sporting shotgun.
These post-war failures made Ithaca understandably cautious despite the fact that they were extremely anxious to produce a single-shot .22 rifle that I designed, the BJT Saddle Gun, after witnessing a flawless demonstration of the prototype rifle. The Smiths personally contacted a large number of leading firearms merchandisers and surveyed their estimate of the volume sales at different price levels. Because of the extremely low direct labor and low cost material to produce the rifle, the retail price was established at an amazingly low $21.95. This price was established extremely low to dramatically produce a very high sales volume at a minimum profit. This was in stark contrast to prior Ithaca sales philosophy. In 1960, the Ithaca Model 49 sold for $21.95 – and the Ithaca single barrel trap gun sold for $2,500!
In setting up the project objectives for the first presentation of what became the Itaca Model 49 rifle, I figured it must be compatible with Ithaca’s current capabilities and finances. With this in mind I established the following objectives.
1. It must include the lowest possible tooling expense.
2. It should require an absolute minimum of direct labor to produce.
3. It must be unique in design and appeal to a vast new potential market.
4. It must have eye appeal.
5. It must be safe, accurate, and durable.
From a design point of view these project objectives were extremely difficult to achieve. A high-cost, expensive and complicated mechanism would be infinitely easier to design, but it obviously would never be compatible with Ithaca’s immediate requirements. To meet these five objectives I reasoned that a low-cost single shot “boy’s first rifle” with the eye appeal and look of “the gun that won the west” would add considerably to its sales appeal. The legendary Winchester 94 was Hollywood’s standard equipment for the western lawmen and the bad guys. It would have great appeal to the movie-going teenage shooters. If the price of the rifle was rock bottom and the gun was accurate and safe, it should be a winner!
To meet the cost objectives, the single shot and safety requirement seemed the most logical answer. To preserve the Model 94 look, the lever action would be used for loading, extraction and ejection only. Lever function would not cock the hammer. For safety reasons, the hammer had to be manually cocked for each shot. With the hammer forward in the down or fire position, the gun would not discharge if the gun were dropped or suffered a hard blow on the hammer. This required the shooter to perform deliberate, separate motions to load and fire the gun.
To meet the low cost objectives, a concentrated effort was centered on reducing the direct labor wherever possible. The two main components that presented the greatest cost savings were the bolt and the receiver. The bolt did not move horizontally but its front end swung vertically, Martini fashion, thus exposing the barrel breech for loading and ejection. This normally would require a complex bolt that was expensive to machine from a solid bar. A tremendous cost saving was employed here by using a new process utilized by Chrysler and Ford for certain engine parts at great savings: the forming of parts by compacting powdered iron under tremendous pressure and then sintering them under high heat. The advantage of this process is extreme accuracy and very low cost. The cost saving for the bolt was substantial and the strength was more than adequate, as attested by the performance of many thousands of rifles. The powdered metal process today is common and utilized by many industries.
The receiver was fabricated from die-cast zinc, and it saved a lot of difficult machining from a forging or bar stock. This cost savings realized by the resulting elimination of many direct labor operations was tremendous. The construction of the barrel, however, did not save any direct labor. It was fabricated the same way all quality barrels have been made for many years. This became evident when the Model 49 demonstrated excellent accuracy over many thousands of rounds.
The western-styled wooden forend and stock were in keeping with their famous big brother, the Model 94 Winchester.
The overall appearance of this rifle and Ithaca’s low sales price of $21.95 was sensational. When the BJT prototype was first demonstrated to Sheldon and Charles Smith, they were extremely impressed with its appearance, performance, and low cost. They immediately opened negotiations with us to purchase the rifle.
Since this was the very first of many firearms which were designed to and built for outside production, instead of asking for a royalty we negotiated for a lump sum cash payment to cover our expenses for the designing and fabricating the prototype plus a nominal profit. Ithaca accepted this approach and Bellmore Johnson and I agreed to split the profit equally. This was virtually the end of our connection with Ithaca and we observed the initial activity and the successful introduction of the Ithaca Model 49 BJT-designed rifle.
Ithaca successfully produced many thousands of guns before they were consumed by debt and bankruptcy from previous indebtedness. They were faced with a demand to remove hazardous materials from the site by the New York State Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Ithaca. This was the result of over a century of manufacturing. A federally-mandated cleanup program to dispose of land containing thousands of tons of lead-contaminated soil cost Ithaca $4.8 million dollars! Besides the cleanup, the factory itself was in a sad state of disrepair. It was obvious the grand old factory had to be sold or go out of business. Unfortunately, the low volume of the trap gun, the steady sales of the Model 37 and the large sales volume of the Model 49 all failed to revive the troubled company. They were forced into bankruptcy and the only saleable things left of interest for other investors were the timeless Model 37 pump shotgun and the new Ithaca Model 49 rifle.
The rifle was eventually sold to Savage and it was marketed as the Stevens Model 89. A total of 31,841 guns were shipped by Savage during the next few years. By then the direct labor costs to manufacture the rifle had increased, as had the price of zinc, the material for the major die-cast components. The rifle had lost its momentum and no longer offered the sales and profit advantage it originally enjoyed. This would be the sad ending of this fine little rifle, the Ithaca Model 49.
The Model 49 Ithaca .22 rifle ended with the sale to Savage. The price was right, and its workmanship and accuracy were very acceptable. I designed it to be a Honda, not a Cadillac. (Note: the M49’s design, which I did not patent, was later produced by Agawam Arms of Agawam, Massachusetts.)
(Note also that the solid design and performance of the Ithaca Model 37 were not about to be forgotten, however. After surviving several sales and bankruptcies, the remaining company was sold. The new owner, David Dlubak, is an avid sportsman, hunter and businessman. Dlubak purchased Ithaca Guns USA, LLC in June of 2007 and he created a new and up-to-the-minute facility in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, using the very latest and finest manufacturing technology. Receivers and other parts are now fabricated on CNC machines from solid billets of the finest steel. Dlubak insists that all operations of the new factory are to be of the very highest quality and all parts are to be fabricated entirely by U.S. manpower. This type of operation ensures top performance and quality equal to or better than the original Ithaca’s very high standards.)
THE SINGLE-SHOT SAVAGE MODEL 101 PISTOL
The concept for this unique handgun came as a result of the spine-tingling early struggles between heroic lawmen and despicable bad guys as shown on TV in the 1950s. This universal theme was that honesty and fair play always win. These scenarios made a deep impression on young Americans and entertained many oldsters as well. The numerous handgun conflicts which erupted always involved the rock-solid legendary Colt single action pistol. This was Hollywood’s standard equipment for the good guy’s and bad guy’s handgun, which, in truth, was close to being historically correct. The lasting romance of this famous old six-shooter is still with us today. It had excellent balance combined with a superb universal grip. It was well built and rugged and it always functioned.
Loading the single action Colt revolver to fire in a single shot mode is not a simple operation, however. A live cartridge has to be placed in an empty chamber and the cylinder manually rotated to the proper position to align with the barrel when ready to fire by cocking the hammer. This is not a simple, straightforward operation. It is not a maneuver for an inexperienced shooter. A simple, safer, and inexpensive concept for loading and extracting a single-shot had to be devised.
I therefore imagined a new “lookalike” single-shot version of the famous old Colt. If produced at an extremely low sales price, would have an immediate sales appeal as a boy’s first handgun. I have always considered that the safety and simplicity of a single-shot was mandatory for a novice’s first gun. Too many careless and unnecessary accidents have been caused by beginners with repeating firearms.
The solution to this problem was to load the pistol directly by passing the barrel through a false, non-rotating cylinder. This combined unit was rotated to the right side of the frame for easy and safe extracting or loading. When the unit is rotated back to the firing position, the hammer remained in the safe rebound position and had to be be manually cocked to fire. I made the layout and the finished detail drawings for this design and enlisted the excellent tool makers of the Bellmore Johnson Tool Co. to build the prototype for the proposed production gun.
The 1961 Gun Digest featured two Hillberg-designed pistols on the same page: the Whitney Wolverine and the Savage M101.
I had become very familiar with Savage through several previous design projects and also as a Savage expert witness in several court cases. I decided to present this proposal to their top management. When I demonstrated the pistol to Jack Knode, the VP and chief engineer of Savage, he was enthusiastic over the design prospectus and decided to make the tooling in-house. I had recommended subcontracting the die-cast frame to Alcoa, the contractors for my Whitney Wolverine pistol frame. They had a large engineering office and a huge manufacturing facility. Jack decided to save money and hire a moonlighter to design the tooling and produce the die castings in-house at their own facility. I was hired by Savage to work with this individual in the Savage engineering department until the tooling for the die-cast frame was complete. Fabricating the frame from an aluminum die casting saved Savage a considerable amount of direct labor in machining and polishing. The hammer and trigger were formed and hardened by the sintered metal process from a subcontractor, and this further eliminated large machining and finishing costs. The plastic-impregnated wood segments for the grips were subcontracted with the typical Savage molded Indian head logo embedded.
Savage was able to produce and market the newly-christened Model 101 pistol in 1960 at the very low price of $19.50! This single shot pistol was well-made, accurate, and economical. It made a lot of sense for a beginner’s first handgun, or for a safe, reliable, and inexpensive general-purpose .22 pistol for just about any shooter.
Of possible interest to collectors is the fact that I had Savage make up about a dozen 101 pistols which couldn’t be loaded and fired. They were marked “DUMMY” on the bottom strap of the grip. I gave four of them to my neighborhood kids to play with as cowboys and Indians. The rest were used by Savage as salesmen samples.
