Just wondering if anyone here has seen or owns any of the old shotgun pistols, guns like the Ithaca Auto & Burglar or the H&R Handy Gun. I recently came across a 20 gauge Ithaca, the first one I have seen. A few pictures of it are attached below.
From the little bit of research that I've done, several companies - including Ithaca and H&R - began manufacturing short shotguns in the 1920s. Ithaca was up front about the purpose of the gun when they called it the "Auto & Burglar." Back when cars had running boards, car jacking had become quite a problem. Imagine the car jacker's surprise when the driver pulled one of these out from between the seats and pointed it towards the window.
The US Government soon did what it could to discourage manufacture of these guns by requiring registration and imposing a hefty fee for registration. As a result, many were destroyed or hidden away. Ithaca stopped manufacturing the double barreled Auto & Burglar in the early 1930s, but H&R continued to make the single barreled Handy Gun into the 1950s. Many (or most?) of the H&R guns came to Canada, which had laxer laws regarding ownership of these shotgun pistols. From the manufacturing information that I have found, H&R made about ten times as many units as did Ithaca, which makes the H&R more common and less expensive to buy today.
In Canada today, both of these models are in the same class as a restricted pistol. Anyway, I'm trying to learn more about these, so please correct or add to any the information included above. Also, are there many out there on this side of the border? They would make an interesting addition to the collection.
From the little bit of research that I've done, several companies - including Ithaca and H&R - began manufacturing short shotguns in the 1920s. Ithaca was up front about the purpose of the gun when they called it the "Auto & Burglar." Back when cars had running boards, car jacking had become quite a problem. Imagine the car jacker's surprise when the driver pulled one of these out from between the seats and pointed it towards the window.
The US Government soon did what it could to discourage manufacture of these guns by requiring registration and imposing a hefty fee for registration. As a result, many were destroyed or hidden away. Ithaca stopped manufacturing the double barreled Auto & Burglar in the early 1930s, but H&R continued to make the single barreled Handy Gun into the 1950s. Many (or most?) of the H&R guns came to Canada, which had laxer laws regarding ownership of these shotgun pistols. From the manufacturing information that I have found, H&R made about ten times as many units as did Ithaca, which makes the H&R more common and less expensive to buy today.
In Canada today, both of these models are in the same class as a restricted pistol. Anyway, I'm trying to learn more about these, so please correct or add to any the information included above. Also, are there many out there on this side of the border? They would make an interesting addition to the collection.
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