O.F. Mossberg & Sons

O.F. Mossberg & Sons (commonly known as Mossberg) is an American firearms manufacturer, specializing in shotguns, rifles, scopes and firearm accessories. From the 1940s through the 1960s, it also produced a HI line of .22 caliber target and sporting rifles.

Oscar Frederick Mossberg, a native of Sweden, came to the United States in 1886. He worked in the bicycle plant of Iver Johnson, a native of Norway who became famous for his revolver. Together with his two sons Iver and Harold, O.F. Mossberg founded O.F. Mossberg and Sons in 1919. Beginning in 1919, firearm production consisted of a four barreled, .22 caliber handgun known as the “Brownie”. Following the success of the Brownie, .22 caliber rifles, shotguns, and rifle scopes were also developed, spawning a period of diversification within the sporting goods market.

Mossberg was soon producing gun racks, golf clubs, campers and sailboats, while maintaining the core sporting firearms business. The company has remained a family-owned business to this day, and is the oldest family-owned firearms manufacturer in America.

When Mossberg left Iver Johnson, he went on to manage the small factory of the C.S. Shattuck Arms Co. in nearby Hatfield, Massachusetts. From there he went to work for Stevens and finally for New Haven, Connecticut based Marlin-Rockwell. In 1919 when Marlin Rockwell went out of business (they primarily made machineguns and WWI had just ended), the unemployed 53-year old O.F. Mossberg, and his two sons started a new firearms company of their own.