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CHARLES NEWTON'S COMPANIES CATALOGS
IN CURRENT PUBLICATION

Tel: 810-225-3075 (9-5 Eastern U.S. time please!)

Charles Newton, Boston, trained as a lawyer, Newton is best known as the designer of the first commercially successful high power bolt action sporting rifle to made in the USA. His fame ironically is due more to cartridge design such as the .250-3000 Savage, that have stood the test of time. He began importing guns from Oberndorf made German Mauser actions and fitting them with barrels chambered for his Sporting Rifle. These were replaced by the Newton Sporting Rifle built on a patented multi-lug turning bolt action known for its slender design. Production under the Newton Arms Company began in 1916 but the advent of the first world war and the reluctance of Americans to purchase bolt action rifles, forced the company into liquidation in April 1918. Only a few thousand guns had been completed, in chamberings from .256 Newton to the .35 Newton. Then the inventor formed the Charles Newtown rifle Company which lasted until 1922. This company made a few rifles to an improved 1921 design with an interrupted thread locking system instead of lugs.

Meanwhile a few hundred guns marked by the spurious Newton Arms Corporation had been assembled from parts sold by the liquidators of the original company. The Buffalo Newton company was formed to exploit the 1921 design, trading in Buffalo, New York until 1924 then in New Haven Connecticut until 1930. The guns were not as well made as those dating from 1916-18 and could not compete with the products by other manufacturers. Newton had already left Buffalo Newton to start the Lever Bolt Rifle Company but his death in 1932 brought even this venture to a premature end. (Dictionary of Guns and Gunmakers by John Walter, ISBN 1-85367-392-7)