Merwin Update

[Buffalo Dick, SASS #12880]

Pistol Maker to Locate on A-Square Grounds

 

 

GLENROCK—The Sharps Rifle Company, parent of A-Square Rifle Company, is planning to locate production operations for another subsidiary, Merwin, Hulbert and Co., on the grounds of the ASquare

facility in Glenrock sometime in the next quarter. Sharps CEO Michael Blank says the company will begin assembling outsourced components for its historical pistols and likely will be performing polishing and finishing operations on the ASquare grounds before June. Merwin Hulbert production

will be located in the older building there so as not to disrupt A-Square operations. He anticipates hiring three to five new employees to begin pistol-making operations here and says that number could

grow into the teens within the first three or four years. Blank says he conservatively anticipates production of up to 1,000 revolvers a year to start, each of which will sell for more than $1,200.

“That’s starting off with one model of a historical revolver,” Blank says. “As we go forward, we’re going to expand that to a few models, and then I’d like to see a modern revolver come in to the mix, so I would hope that our employment numbers there would creep to double digits by year two or three.

And, frankly, there’s no reason why I don’t think that we shouldn’t be able to sell a few thousand Merwin Hulberts of different styles very readily within three to five years, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see us employ in the mid-teens or better within three to four years. This is very, very, very

conservative.”

 

The first model of historical revolver the company plans to produce has been in the development and engineering stages for the past four years. The company bought the exclusive trademark “We’re having the raw components outsourced right now,” Blank says. “We’re going to do final assembly in

Glenrock and, as time goes on, we’ll bring more of those processes in house.” Merwin, Hulbert and Co. began operations in the 19th Century in Connecticut and produced a wide array of handguns that were popular around the world. Its intricate revolvers were widely used in the Old West. “It’s a revolver that was very popular, and the most advanced revolver in the 1800s,” he says. “We’re

bringing it back. We’re right about there with all of the componentry for a full production run. This has been a multiple-year process. We’ve spent the last 18 months doing heavy-duty reverse engineering on these guns.” Blank says the engineering work is being done at Sharps headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., but no employees from there will be moved to Glenrock. Instead, the assembly of the first models of the guns from pieces shipped in to Glenrock will be done by new local hires. “There is an internal clean area built into that building that we can use as production space,” he says. “It will be mostly a fitting and polishing operation in the beginning, but as time goes on, we’ll be bringing in more and more production equipment. The important thing is, as we transfer production technology, the mark will change as we move forward in the production run and they’ll read ‘Made in Glenrock,

Wyoming’ on the side of the revolver.” Blank says that he is hoping that the pending federal license to begin production of the revolvers may be processed as soon as possible. Until it does, work is continuing on the guns in St. Louis. “We would love to do an official debut at End of Trail, the Single Action Shooting Society’s big yearly shoot in June,” Blank says. The SASS End of Trail World Championship event is scheduled for June 20-26 in Founders Ranch, N.M. “The primary market for

these guns is the cowboy action shooting crowd,” he says. “A lot of people want to carry them as concealed weapons, and recreational shooters also want them. They were widely used out there in the

West; now they’re going to be made out there.”