Navy Arms

[klw]

Are they still in business?

[C. Erroll Madre]

KLW-

 

Yes, Navy Arms is still in business. They also do business as Old West Scrounger and Gibbs Rifle Company. They had a booth at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh

last month, so they are still around. Their website is active, though most of the rifles are listed as out of stock. Navy Arms is an importer, so you'd have

to go through a dealer who has to go through their network.

[Lone Dog, SASS #20401]

They did, tho I don't know if they still do, have a division called Replica Arms.

[Driftwood Johnson, SASS #38283]

Howdy

 

I grew up not too far from Navy Arms' old Ridgefield NJ storefront. When I was a teenager in 1968 I borrowed my Dad's car and drove down there and bought my first firearm, a 44 cal brass framed 'Navy'.

 

Navy Arms was an outgrowth of Val Forgett Jr's old Service Armament Company. The Centennial of the Civil War was approaching and Val got the idea that replica firearms of the period might be a good product to produce. He got together with Aldo Uberti and they produced their first run of revolvers, the 1851 Colt Navy. That was the start of Navy Arms. It was also the beginning of the entire replica arms industry, and without it we probably would not be shooting cowboy guns today.

 

Replica Arms was an early competitor of Navy Arms. Val Forgett bought them out around 1973 or so. Replica Arms' product line then merged with Navy Arms's product line.

 

Here is a link to Navy Arms' history page. It also contains a link describing how Val got started. Very interesting stuff.

 

Link

 

I have a copy of Service Armament's 1968 catalog. They carried some pretty amazing stuff back then.