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Iver Johnson Serial Number History

Iver Johnson Arms Works Topbreaks (Safety Hammer).32 cal. S&W small frame Owl is looking to the barrel, cylinder is free wheeling when at rest, for black powder cartridges Model 1, First Model Single top latch, 100'000 were manufactured in 1894, serial number without letter prefix, marked on the top of the barrel rib. LSB#: 180208MG78 Make: Iver Johnson Model: Excel (same as Model 36 Champion) Serial Number: 94560D Year of Manufacture: 1910-1935 ('Iver Johnson Arms & Cycle Works Firearms 1871-1993, Goforth, P214) Gauge: 12 Gauge Action Type: Single Shot, Top Break Shotgun with Extractors Markings: The left side of the receiver is marked 'EXCEL'.

Iver Johnson
Type	Private
Industry	Manufacturing
Predecessor	Johnson Bye & Company
Founded	1871
Founder	Iver Johnson and Martin Bye
Defunct	1993
Fate	Dissolved
Headquarters	, U.S.
Products	firearms, bicycles, and motorcycles
Parent	American Military Arms Corp

Advertisement from Iver Johnson touting its drop safe innovation.

Iver Johnson was an American firearms, bicycle, and motorcycle manufacturer from 1871 to 1993. The company shared the same name as its founder, Norwegian-born Iver Johnson (1841–1895).

Iver Johnson Excel Shotgun Serial Numbers

The name was resold and in 2006 Iver Johnson Arms opened, but does not have any parts or information relating to the pre-1993 company, and represents a continuation of it in name only.^[1]

Iver Johnson[edit]

Iver Johnson revolver advertisement, pre-1907

Iver Johnson was born in 1841^[2] in Nordfjord, Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.^[3] He was educated as a gunsmith in Bergen in 1857, and had a gun store in Oslo. Johnson emigrated from Norway to Worcester, Massachusetts, United States in 1863, and continued his work as a gunsmith by trade and an inventor in his spare time. Seeking new and creative uses for his partially idle manufacturing equipment after the American Civil War, he worked not only gunsmithing locally in Fitchburg, but also providing designs and work to other firearms companies; notably making pepper-box pistols for Allen & Wheelock.^[4]^{[clarification needed]}

On April 9, 1868, Johnson married Mary Elizabeth (néeSpeirs, born January 1847) in Worcester;^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] and the couple had three sons, Frederick Iver, John Lovell and Walter Olof, and two daughters, Mary Louise and Nellie.^{[citation needed]}

Johnson Bye & Company[edit]

In 1871, Johnson merged his and Martin Bye's gunsmithing operations to form the Johnson Bye & Company. Beginning in 1876, Johnson and Bye filed jointly for, and received, multiple new firearms features and firearms feature improvement patents. Their primary revenues came from the sale of their self designed and manufactured inexpensive models of revolvers.^[9]

The company's name changed to Iver Johnson & Company in 1883, upon Johnson's purchase of Bye's interest, but Bye continued working in the firearm industry for the remainder of his life.^[9]

Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works[edit]

The company's name changed again to Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works in 1891, when the company relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, (sometimes incorrectly referred to as 'Fitzburg') in order to have better and larger manufacturing facilities. The company attracted a number of talented immigrant machinists and designers to its ranks, including O.F. Mossberg and Andrew Fyrberg, who would go on to invent the company's top-latching strap mechanism and the Hammer-the-Hammer transfer bar safety system used on the company's popular line of top-break safety revolvers.^[10]^[11]

Iver Johnson died of tuberculosis in 1895,^[2] and his sons took over the business. Frederick Iver, (born 10/2/1871),^[6]^[7]^[8]^[12] John Lovell (born 6/26/1876),^[6]^[7]^[8]^[13]^[14] and Walter Olof (born August 1878),^[6]^[7]^[8] each had vastly different levels of involvement in the company ranging from executive leadership to barely any involvement at all. They shepherded the company through a phase of expansion, as bicycle operations grew, then converted to motorcycle manufacturing and sales. They also saw the growth of the firearms business and the eventual restructuring of the company to focus on firearms and related business as they divested non-firearms concerns, such as the motorcycle business, in the face of growing firearms demand, World War I's armaments industry expansion, and other factors. As family ownership waned and outside investment via publicly traded stock and mergers/acquisitions/partnerships took hold, the company changed ownership and moved several times during its operation.^[15]

The company eventually dropped 'Cycle Works' from its moniker when that part of the business was shut down. The business successfully weathered the Great Depression (in part thanks to higher rates of armed robbery, which helped maintain demand for personal firearms) and was buoyed by the dramatic increase in the market for arms leading up to and during World War II.^[15]

After World War II, the company's introduction of new firearms slowed to a trickle. Increasingly, company fortunes depended upon sales of its increasingly outmoded revolvers and single-barrel shotguns. Without new research and development, most firearms changes were limited to cosmetic updates of existing designs.^[15]

As a result of changes in ownership, the company had the first of two major relocations in 1971 when it moved to New Jersey. It moved again to Jacksonville, Arkansas, and was jointly owned by Lynn Lloyd and Lou Imperato, who also owned the Henry brand name, before it finally ceased trading under its own name in 1993, at which time it was owned by American Military Arms Corporation (AMAC).^[16]

Iver Johnson firearm models[edit]

An Iver Johnson RAI 500 sniper rifle.

Third Model Safety Hammerless .38 S&W

Iver Johnson nomenclature refers to its top-break revolvers as Safety Automatics. These are revolvers, not semi-automatic pistols, which they largely pre-date. The term 'Safety Automatic' refers to Iver Johnson's Hammer-the-Hammer transfer bar safety system ('safety') and the automatic ejection of cartridges upon breaking open the revolvers ('automatic').^[9]

Safety automatic[edit]

Standard models with external hammer:

First Model (1894–1895), single post latch system
Second Model (1896–1908), double post latch system
Third Model (1909–1941), double post latch system, adapted for smokeless powder

Iver Johnson Safety Automatic 'New Model' Mid 20th century Calibers .22/.32 Long/ .38 S&W. This variation with the pictured 'Western' grips was catalogued in the 1940 Shooter's Bible.

Safety automatic hammerless[edit]

First Model (1895–1896), single post latch
Second Model (1897–1908), safety lever added to face of trigger
Third Model a.k.a. New Model (1909–1941), no safety lever on trigger, a

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