Hollenbeck/Three-Barrel/Royal Gun Companies
Hollenbeck Gun Co. 1901-early 1905
Three-Barrel Gun Co. Late 1905-early 1908
Royal Gun Co. 1909-May 1910
The shot barrels were offered in 12-, 16-, 20-, and 28-gauge (only Hollenbeck Gun Co.), with the rifle barrel at various times in .22 WCF, 25-20 Win., 25-20 SS, 25-25 Stevens, 30 WCF, 32-20 Win., 32 Ideal, and 32-40. It appears to me that 25-25 Stevens and 32-40 were by far the most common calibers.
One often sees guns marked Three-Barrel Gun Company on the barrels with a Hollenbeck Butt Plate, or marked Royal Gun Company on the barrels with a Three-Barrel Gun Company Butt Plate. One also sees quite a few of these guns unmarked in any way except for the serial number and the patent date, which were probably taken by workers in-lieu-of pay. "Patd FEB 13, 1900" which was Frank A. Hollenbecks patent number 643,601 which covered the bolting, and was also used on the Baltimore Arms Company double guns. Frank A. Hollenbeck's Patent # 753,492 granted Mar. 1, 1904 covered the locks and cocking mechanism, though I've never seen this date stamped on one of the guns. All three companies also offered
doubles, and the latter two offered a single barrel trap gun of Lefever design.
My two-part article on these companies was in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Thirteen, Issues 2 and 3. There was an article on a very interesting one of these guns fitted with a Miller single trigger in the Arms Gazette for September 1978, and one in The American Rifleman for June 1964.
These were not the only American drillings. William H. Baker and his partner Lyman C. Smith made three-barrel guns in Lisle and later Syracuse, New York in the late 1870s/early 1880s. Frank Hollenbeck worked for them part of that time.
Last edited by Researcher; 03/11/07 06:03 PM.
