Griffin & Howe

Certain companies are synonymous with American firearms history. Names like Winchester, Remington, Colt, Smith & Wesson and Browning are so wedded to the national character that they bring to mind images of settling the frontier and protecting our shores. For the collector of early American bolt-action sporting rifles, the names are much more obscure: Wundhammer, Niedner, Owen, Hoffman, Adolph. And included among these is a firm that has transcended the genre to become an icon in the world of “best” firearms: Griffin & Howe.
    Part of the legend of G&H, a company founded in 1923 on the back of the “sporterized” Springfield rifle, originates from the many notable people outfitted by the firm before World War II. A look through company records reveals names like Sousa, Chrysler, Roosevelt and Hemingway, reminders of the khaki-clad age when brave men and their shapely consorts dispatched charging beasts and then calmly retired for sundowners in the tent camps of Africa, Asia and Alaska. Some of the G&H cachet undoubtedly grew out of the firm’s epicentral New York City location; it was easy for the titans of industry and government to play hooky for a few hours in the Madison Avenue store. The legendary location on the seventh floor of the Abercrombie & Fitch building (which even housed an underground shooting range) provided a total escape in the heart of Gotham. But most of Griffin & Howe’s reputation came from nothing more—and nothing less—than supplying best-quality products and exemplary service.
    These days it’s comforting to know that the firm holds dear those values that made its name. I recently spoke with G&H salesman John Franco, who summed up the company’s philosophy: “We treat everyone who walks through the door the same.” From kings to cab drivers, all customers enjoy excellent service at G&H. For shotgunners the firm still “has it all.” A trip to one of G&H’s two locations is a viable alternative for those who want the complete shotgunning experience without crossing “the pond.” In addition to an extensive selection of fine guns, the company offers gunsmithing, gunfitting (with a Boss try-gun no less), a shooting school, custom  tailored tweeds and a full line of accessories.

To trace the history of this venerable firm, one must look back to the early 20th Century and one Seymour R. Griffin, a cabinetmaker by trade. Griffin was an ardent rifleman and read about Teddy Roosevelt’s 1903 Springfield “sporterized” bolt-action military rifle in African Game Trails. Roosevelt’s book and other articles in the sporting press created tremendous interest in an alternative to the lever-action rifle, yet such rifles were not readily available.
    In 1910 Griffin, putting his uncommon woodworking skills to the test, converted his own Springfield. His effort at building a hunter from a soldier took several weeks, and ironically, the $5 French walnut blank came from Von Lengerke & Detmold, a firm that later would be purchased by G&H. Griffin’s work was impressive and resulted in, according to him, “A pretty-good-looking sporting rifle.” Others were impressed too, and Griffin spent the next 13 years stocking rifles as an adjunct to his cabinet work. Custom-rifle authority Michael Petrov defines what set the Griffin rifle apart in his excellent book, Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century: “His inletting is unequaled . . . the care and time it takes to produce this level of work can only be done by someone with an income from other than stocking.”
    In 1922 Griffin’s work was singled out in The National Rifleman by the legendary commander of the Frankford Arsenal, Col. Townsend Whelen, who reported: “I think he is doing the best work of any of the gunsmiths.” Whelen went further and brokered the union of wood-man Griffin with a craftsman whose metalwork he admired: James V. Howe. The formation of Griffin & Howe, custom rifle-makers, was announced on June 1, 1923.
    James Howe had been working as a gunsmith since at least 1921, when he advertised as “Howe and Kessler, 3203 Benner St., Frankford, PA”—an address less than two miles from the US Small Arms Frankford Arsenal, on Bridge and Tacony streets in Philadelphia. In Howe’s early advertising Col. Whelen is listed as a reference, and by 1922, working under Whelen, Howe was employed at the Arsenal in charge of the Small Arms Experimental Dept. (It was during this time that Howe made the tooling and built the .35-caliber .30-06 wildcat cartridge still bearing Whelen’s name. He also had a hand in the development of the .22 Hornet.)
    In the official incorporation document of Griffin & Howe, Whelen was listed as “advisory,” with Griffin being president, John M. Holzworth treasurer, and James L. Gerry secretary. It’s interesting—and perhaps telling—that Howe was not named an officer, as on October 2, 1923, Howe, compensated with 34 shares of stock, resigned and went to work for Hoffman Arms Co., the only real American competitor of G&H. After that Griffin hired several competent gunsmiths from Germany and Austria and single-handedly supervised the shop in a New York City loft at 234 East 39th Street. He later stated that he usually “worked seven days a week except one Sunday a month.” On his monthly day off Griffin most often could be found in the Jersey City shop of rifling genius Harry Pope getting help with problem barrels. With the 1929 market crash, Griffin hit financial dire straits when many rifle orders were canceled. The Whelen-commanded Springfield Armory helped keep him afloat with a large order of rifle stocks for the International team match.
    In 1930 things unraveled and re-knitted. First, G&H treasurer Holzworth asked Griffin if he could find someone to take over his interest. A good friend of Griffin’s, Anson Hard, consented, and on March 17 the company was reorganized as Griffin & Hobbs, Inc. (Hobbs was Hard’s secretary and proxy). Later that year James S. Cobb, president of Abercrombie & Fitch, approached Griffin with the proposal that G&H become a wholly owned subsidiary of A&F. Griffin agreed, and ownership was transferred on September 1. Because of the excellent reputation that had been earned by the original company, Cobb wisely suggested that the name be changed back, and on October 1 it became Griffin & Howe again.
    To understand the high status Griffin & Howe occupies in the international shotgun trade, one needs first to look at the history of Abercrombie & Fitch. A&F was founded in New York City in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie and Ezra H. Fitch. Fitch, an affluent attorney with outdoor interests, eventually found camping-equipment-manufacturer Abercrombie—a former railroad worker, miner, trapper and surveyor—ill-suited for his grandiose ambitions. The pair parted company in 1907, and Fitch stayed in business with other partners, risking his fortune to print and mail a 456-page catalog. The catalog was a great success, and by 1917 A&F was the largest sporting-goods dealer in the world. The company had its own 12-story building at East 45th Street and Madison Avenue—“Where the blazed trail crosses the Boulevard.” At this legendary location, A&F could outfit any adventure an outdoorsman might undertake, from an extended expedition in the Gobi Desert to an overnight camping trip on Long Island. The list of A&F-outfitted trips included polar sojourns by explorers Byrd and Amundsen, T.R.’s African safari, and long-distance flights by Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. Fitch even built an upscale log cabin—along with a casting pond—on the roof of the building and furnished it as his personal townhouse.
    Abercrombie & Fitch prospered through the Roaring Twenties, and in 1928 Ezra Fitch retired, selling his interest to his brother-in-law, James S. Cobb, and an employee, “Mr. Guernsey.” During his first year as A&F president, Cobb absorbed New York sporting-goods house Von Lengerke & Detmold as well as its Chicago branch, Von Lengerke & Antoine (which retained its name until 1959). With VL&D came some of the best names in the shotgun world: Francotte, Griefelt, J.P. Sauer, W.W. Greener, Churchill, Purdey, Boss, Woodward, Holland & Holland, Westley Richards, Parker, Fox, Smith, Ithaca, Remington, Browning and Winchester. It also carried rifles by Mannlicher-Schoenauer, Sauer, Gibbs and Rigby, as well as pistols by Luger, Smith & Wesson, and Colt. And with the subsequent acquisition of Griffin & Howe in 1930, Cobb had secured for A&F the most complete line of fine arms available in the world.
    Griffin & Howe continued as an integral part of A&F through hard times in World War II and the prosperity afterward (the company made thousands of military gun parts during the war), and over the next couple of decades developed a nationwide network of stores. In 1960 A&F posted record sales of $16.5 million, but profits were off for the fourth year in a row. The pattern of declining profits continued until August 1976, when Abercrombie & Fitch was forced to declare bankruptcy after losing $1 million in the first two quarters.
    The over-expansion and failure to modernize that led to the demise of A&F was not seen at Griffin & Howe. As a profitable asset, G&H was partitioned and sold to William Ward in 1976. Ward moved the firm to a combined shop and showroom at 589 Broadway. Together with John Realmuto, he continued with the tradition of offering fine custom rifles and excellent service until 1986, when he sold the company and ushered in current management.
    At that time the Broadway location was closed and the business moved to a more suitable property in Bernardsville, New Jersey. In 1991 Griffin & Howe opened another New York City showroom in a suite shared with Willis & Geiger at 36 West 44th Street, near the NYC Yacht Club. In 1999 G&H opened another store in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut. The New York showroom was subsequently closed in 2003.

Today walking through the door at Bernardsville is heady stuff for the lover of fine guns and accoutrements. The oiled wooden floors, regulator clock, mounted Abercrombie & Fitch “logo” tiger, racks of tweeds, leather goods, shooting books, gleaming brass accessories, and a portal in back opening to a real workshop with files, tools and talent harken back to an earlier age. Even if the store seems stuck in time, there are real people inside, working away, seemingly unaware that they are actors in a classic saga. Many of the employees, like John Franco, are aficionados: “I spent so much time in the store I decided I might as well get paid for it.”
    Forest Mervine, a longtime G&H customer, sums it up simply: “I treasure my time in the place.”
    Complementing its two ambience-rich locations, G&H has another jewel in its crown: 4,000-acre Hudson Farm. It would be difficult to find a comparable shooting venue on the East Coast. In fact I’ll go out on a limb and say that every sporting clays shooter owes himself a round at The Farm at least once. In addition to offering a first-class layout, there are five shooting instructors, a complete pro shop and all of the amenities you might expect. There also are opportunities for preserve shooting and high-released pheasants.
    Other G&H services include a worldwide shooting syndicate, corporate shooting retreats, gun importation, and researching the sales records of Abercrombie & Fitch and Von Lengerke & Detmold to find out whether a particular firearm was ever sold by those companies.
    Paul Chapman, director of gunsmithing for Griffin & Howe, is the anchorman of daily operations. He was the last of G&H’s five-year apprentices, having started with the firm after completing his gunsmith training at Trinidad State College in 1979. Besides handling myriad store details and helping with sales, Chapman still finds time for hands-on work in the shop and enjoys specialized tasks such as timing shotgun ejectors and locks. He is also the person called upon to make hinge pins and to “black down” rejointed actions. According to Chapman: “We can handle any shop task the customer requires with our staff of eight, from routine maintenance to making a complete custom shotgun or one of our famous rifles.”
    Current Griffin & Howe president Guy Bignell became associated with the firm 20 years ago by helping when the company exhibited at shows. In 1999 he was asked to become a partner and open the Greenwich location. In spring 2007 he became only the fifth president in the company’s 85-year history.
    At 6'5", Bignell may at first seem imposing, but he is actually garrulous and approachable. He also takes the stewardship of Griffin & Howe very seriously. His goal for the company is to “modernize and reinvent ourselves to meet the challenges of the 21st Century without losing any of the traditional flavor that has made the company great.” Off to a wonderful start, Bignell has some favorite projects. One is the Game Conservancy USA Showcase—a fine-guns gathering and charity clays tournament held in the early fall at Hudson Farm. Another is bringing to market a number of 80-year-old Belgian 12-bore side-by-side Holland-type actions that recently were found in the white. These high-quality actions are now ready for custom fit and finish under the name Jules Bury (a former Belgian gunmaker).
    The continuing commitment of Griffin & Howe to the future along with the company’s reputation for supplying top-quality products bodes well for G&H remaining a true icon in the firearms world for many years to come.

Author’s Note: Special thanks to Cornell Publications for providing Griffin & Howe catalog reprints, author Michael Petrov, and the cooperative staff at G&H. For more information, contact Griffin & Howe, 908-766-5171; www.griffinhowe.com.

Clair Kofoed is an Editor at Large for Shooting Sportsman.