Harrington & Richards Handy Gun

This week for Firearm Friday we are showing you something a little bit older and a little bit different.

This is a Harrington & Richards Handy Gun!.

The H&R Handy-Gun is a smoothbore pistol, manufactured from 1921-1934 by the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusettes. It was made in .410 and 28 gauges, most commonly in barrel lengths of 20.32cm or 31.12cm. The Handy-Gun has an unusual tiger-stripe finish, simulating color case hardening.

This one was imported & distributed by Alcock & Pierce, which we still use today at Owen Guns for products in 2025.

Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (or H&R) is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased independent production February 27, 2015

The original H&R firm was in business for over a century from 1871 to 1986.

Frank Wesson, brother of Daniel B. Wesson who co-founded Smith & Wesson, started a firearms manufacturing firm in 1859, sharing an early patent with Nathan Harrington. Wesson produced two trigger rifles and spur trigger pistols and pocket rifles/shotguns popular for short length holster models such as the discontinued topper compact pocket shotguns. He started a brief partnership in 1871 with Harrington's nephew Gilbert Henderson Harrington, as Wesson & Harrington, until Harrington bought him out in 1874.

In 1875 Harrington and another former Wesson employee, William Augustus Richardson, formed the new Harrington & Richardson Company. In 1888 the firm was incorporated as The Harrington & Richardson Arms Company.

Under normal circumstances, the H&R Handy-Gun could be described as several things, perhaps most appropriate as a survival gun, a camper's or hiker's gun, or possibly a home protection gun, giving the use of a .410 or 28 gauge shotgun in a pistol-like weapon. In America as of 1934, circumstances changed. In that year, Congress passed the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), which requires strict registration, licensing, and control of fully-automatic weapons, silencers, pistols with shoulder stocks, and short-barreled shotguns such as the H&R Handy-Gun.

Basically, the H&R Handy-Gun is a smallbore, break-open shotgun (which is sometimes called a pistol because of its length) with a pistol grip and a short barrel. It is not suited for hunting (although it could be used for short-range game); it certainly isn't a competition gun; and it is too large for effective concealment. 

Most H&R Handy-Guns feature a blued barrel, walnut grip and fore-end, and an attractive tiger-strip finish on the frame. This was produced by a hot cyanide bath process that simulates a true case-hardened finish. Some models were available from the factory with a detachable shoulder stock. A matching shoulder stock would be a valuable prize for a collector.

An extremely rare variation of the H&R Handy-Gun was made with a rifled barrel in both .32-20 WCF (Winchester Center-Fire) and .22 Rimfire calibers. 

We are the proud custodians of many different types of Harrington & Richards Firearms in our museum and everyone has an open invitation to come and see these beautiful and interesting firearms.