A design from the Civil War era, here’s how I restored a Hopkins & Allen 922 falling block .22 rifle.

by Paul Mazan

Hopkins & Allen Arms Company was founded in the wake of the Civil War in Norwich, Connecticut in 1868 and went out of business in 1916. In the 48 years they operated they were responsible for making many of the unfamiliar brands of firearms we find on gunshow tables to this day.

Probably the most common product they made for other gun “manufacturers” were the Merwin & Hulbert revolvers. In fact, H&A had a separate dedicated space just for manufacturing Merwin & Hulbert revolvers. When you look at spur trigger revolvers – or suicide specials, as some call them – it was usually Hopkins & Allen that was busy turning them out for various customers under names like Acme, American Eagle, Blue Jacket, Chichester, Defender, Dictator, Imperial Arms, Monarch, Mountain Eagle, Ranger, Universal, and several others. They also made rifles and shotguns for many retailers under whatever name the customer wanted.

Hopkins & Allen closed their doors for the last time in 1916 so any firearm we find today made by them is over 100 years old. That, of course, suggests many will be in heavily used condition and that was certainly the case with the Model 922 falling block .22 rifle that recently came into my shop.

In one of my videos for my …

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