Hamilton Boys Rifles

8/1/2019 Hamilton Boys Rifles

1/28

THE QUINTESSENTIAL BOYSRIFLE: HAMILTONS MODEL 27

Responsibility, personal discipline,and self-reliance: all these aremanly virtues, character traits


2/28

whose importance was fixed in thenational psyche by the collectiveAmerican experience of Colonialtimes, the Civil War, and westwardexpansion. (As quaint as suchwords sound to modern ears, thetime when American societyexpected its youth to develop them

is still within living memory.) Thatcollective national experience alsofostered a belief in marksmanshipand skill at arms as ideal ways todevelop and encourage thesepersonal virtues. It was commonwisdom throughout the 19 th andmost of the 20 th Centuries thatproviding a boy with a firearm andinstruction in how to use it was anormalin many ways an essential

part of training him to be aresponsible adult.


3/28

By the late 19th

Century, theAmerican firearms industry hadseized on this universally acceptednotion to develop the specialproduct that today we call boysrifles. Between roughly 1880 and1950 this category of gunsrepresented a significant part of theoverall market: Savage, Stevens,Remington, Winchester, and others


4/28


5/28

Clarence J. Hamilton and his sonCoello werent gunsmiths in thetraditional sense. Their principalbusiness experience was as


6/28

manufacturers of sheet-metalproducts, especially iron-bladedagricultural windmills. They appliedtheir technical knowledge of metal-forming to reduce the costs of making small-caliber rifles, enablingthem to enter the field with acompetitive edge over companies

using traditional methods. Theywere very successful in thisstrategy: no one really knows howmany Hamilton rifles were madeduring the firms existence, but justone, the Model 27, is known to havebeen made in numbers well overhalf a million. Coupled with thelarge numbers of less-common Hamilton products thecompanys total output of boys

rifles was simply staggering, fargreater than any of the large firms.Though it wasnt the first nor was itthe last boys rifle, the HamiltonModel 27 has today emerged as the


7/28

archetype of the class, not leastbecause so many of them are still inexistence, despite the hard usagesuch guns usually received fromtheir young owners.

The Model27 wasintroduced

in 1907 andproductionceased in1930. Itcombinedmajorinnovationsfor whichthe HamiltonCompanyheld

patents.The first wasthe method

of making the barrel: by pressure-forming a sheet of metal into a


8/28

short, thick tube, and then rolling itaround a mandrel engraved with areverse pattern of the rifling. Thisprocess was covered under PatentNumber 660,725 of October 30,1900. The Hamilton method wasfast and well suited to massproduction: more importantly, it was

far less expensive than theconventional methods of qualitygunmakers.Despite itsspeed and lowcost, it wasperfectlyacceptable forlow-powered .22rimfireammunition.

Although Hamiltons patentcovered drawn-over-mandrelbarrels made


9/28

from a variety of materials, by farthe greatest number of Model 27shad barrels of brass. The barrel wasenclosed in a folded-steel sheetmetal jacket that incorporated thesights and the pivot for the break-open action.Most quality rifles of the day used

forged and machined receivers.Again, the Hamiltons took advantage of their metal-formingexpertise to design a two-piecereceiver made of sheet metal whosecomponents interlocked andenclosed the simple and reliablelockwork. This design was coveredby Patent Number 863,171 of August 13, 1907, and both patentnumbers and dates usually appear

on the receiver of the Model 27. Avery few early guns bear the wordsPatent Applied For.


10/28


11/28

With acoupleof piecesof

machine-cut wood for a stock andforearm, a spring, and a fewstandard screws and pins as theremaining parts, Hamilton 27s

could be produced so cheaply thatthey sold at retail for under $3.00for most of their production life.Most were sold for far less. In fact,they were often given away aspurchase premiums to farmers whobought Hamilton windmills; and theModel 27 was wholesaled in hugenumbers to firms recruitingyoungsters to sell salve, seeds, and


12/28

other products door-to-door.Winning a rifle as a prize was astrong motivation for youngentrepreneurs!


13/28

Mindful that there are always a fewcustomers who have an extra dollarto spare and demand the best,Hamilton obliged by producing theModel 027, identical in all respectsto the humble Model 27, butfeaturing a slightly higher grade of wood in the stock and forearm.

Some Model 27s have a plain buttwith no buttplate, but some have asheet metal buttplate tacked inplace.


14/28

The Model 27 was, in short, theperfect product of its type and forits time. It incorporated innovativedesign, fast mass production, goodquality control, and savvymarketing to serve the publicsneed for a safe, reliable, andpractical gun for young boys

learning to be men.Hamilton advertised heavily,especially in the numerous youthmagazines of the era, emphasizingthe manly virtues to be gainedfrom gun ownership, illustrating thecopy with images of exuberant boysusing their rifles to hunt for thetable and training to defend theirnation in times of peril. Millions of squirrels, rabbits, vermin and empty

tin cans met their end from thebusiness end of a Model 27, wieldedby a young hunter who envisionedhimself as a latter-day Buffalo Bill,clearing the plains of bison and red


15/28

savages or a young Doughboyfighting the bestial Hun andMaking The World SafeFor Democracy.


16/28

A rifle designed to be inexpensivehas to be simple in order to bereliable, and the Model 27 is awonderful example of simplicity of design, in which every component isfunctional, as no frills as anymechanical object can get. The tip-up action, locked by a rotating


17/28

drum, has only five moving parts:the locking bolt, trigger, hammer,firing pin and extractor. Masteringits use was the work of a fewseconds for any boy, something thatisnt always true of modernproducts catering to the youthmarket.


18/28

Despite its simple and practicaldesign, the Model 27 has a gooddeal of visual appeal as well, thanks

to its graceful lines and diminutivesize. This is perhaps one reasonwhy it was made for so long andsold so well, compared toother Hamilton products.


19/28

When Hamilton closed up shop afterWorld War Two, their chief gunsmithbought the companys tooling andbriefly made some on his own; anda Japanese copy of the Model 027was retailed for a very short time in1965 by a California import firm.The few Japanese copies sold poorly

because the action, too weak formodern ammunition, was regardedas unsafe.Barrel lengths on Model 27s varyfrom just under 15 to 16. Formany years the Model 27 cameunder the provisions of theNationalFirearms Act of 1934 as a shortbarreled rifle, but present daycollectors can heave a sigh of relief: in a rare burst of good

sense, the BATF eventually decidedthat the Model 27 does not, afterall, represent much of a threat tothe peace and stability of theAmerican Republic. All Hamilton


20/28

27s have long since been exemptedfrom the NFA. And of course allqualify as Curio & Relic guns byvirtue of age.

Boys rifles by their nature led avery hard life, and its testimony tothe quality of Hamiltons design andproduction team that so manyModel 27s still exist, though mostof them are pretty beaten up today,


21/28

worn out and fit only for displays.Very few will have all original parts.The very simple nature of thedesign encouraged boys to act astheir own gunsmiths and itsnormal to encounter Model 27swith hardware-store screws andbolts to replace lost or worn-out

ones.The action is not the most robustdesign, and after tens of thousandsof rounds the barrel pivot andlocking block inevitably wear to thepoint where headspace increasesand the gun becomes unsafe. (As ayouth I was foolish enough to shoothigh-speed Long Rifles in a typicallyworn Model 27, and dumb enoughnot to think about why the rims

were blowing out! Yes, I still havetwo functional eyes, dont ask mewhy.)


22/28

The brass barrels, used withcorrosive ammunition (often loadedwith black powder as well) arealmost always shot out. If there isrifling visible at all, the barrel is inbetter shape than average. Many of the barrels will be cracked wherecorrosion has eaten through the

seam left when the barrel wasformed around its mandrel. Crackedbarrels are unsafe and relegate therifle to wall-hanger status. TheModel 27 was designed to shoot .22Shorts and Longs, but the relativelylow-powered varieties of the time,not whats on the market now. Iwould not fire any Hamilton today,no matter how good its condition,with any variety of modern Long

Rifle ammunition, even standardvelocity rounds; and Id assiduouslyavoid high-speed Shorts. A Model27 thats tight and in good conditioncan be safely fired with CB or BB


23/28

caps, or the Aguila Kolibricartridges, but on the whole itsbetter not to shoot one at all.


24/28


25/28


26/28

The

Hamilton Model 27 is an icon of anera in American life that is, alas,gone forever, washed away by atidal wave of Political Correctnessand anti-gun hysteria. Thoughmost boys rifles are still reasonably

affordable, their inherent collectorsinterest and the nostalgia factorhave been driving prices steadilyupwards. Prices for Model 27s havebeen strong for the past couple of


27/28

years and have risen significantlyfor really good examples. Acomplete and original one in Goodcondition will bring $200-300; areallypristine one half again or eventwice that (if such a thingeven exists

outside amuseum).As with anyothercollectiblefirearm,condition isthe maindeterminantof price: themore

originalparts thathave beenreplaced,the less its


28/28

worth. Small boys have a strongurge to mark their names with apocketknife or woodburning kit oneverything they ownnote that therifle depicted here has beenbranded with a J by some long-forgotten ownerand suchpersonalization detracts from

value. An average-quality Model 27fetches about $125-175; one incomparable condition to the rifle inthis article, with a shootable bore,might easily go for twice thatfigure.

Documents

Hamilton Boys Rifles