The H&R Arms Company was one of the rare gun makers to survive for over a century. In fact, there is a possibility we may see it back for yet another run. Joe Vorisek worked in insurance and traveled extensively throughout New England for his job. Off hours gave him plenty of time to research many of the old gun companies that flourished along or near the Connecticut Valley region, Hopkins & Allen, H&R, American Arms, Crescent Arms, Savage, Stevens, Iver Johnson and more. He wrote books about all of them and this story is a deep dive into H&R, a great company with a winning plan. H&R went out of business in 1986 but was reincarnated, bought and sold several times until 2015 but may be coming back again.

Here is a link to H&R and all Joe’s books.

Rob Mouat for Cornell Publications