Weapons Manufacturing

With the outbreak of World War One in Europe the stagnating economy of Connecticut rushed back into action to meet the increased demand for weapons overseas. While Colt Firearms was the most famous of Connecticut's gun manufactures, a myriad of other factories worked hard to churn out weapons to supply the war. Bullard Engineering Company, usually a parts manufacturer for turret lathes (machining equipment), switched to producing weapon parts for the Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) mle.1917, otherwise known as a M1917 155-mm gun. The gun was a heavy artillery piece used to lob explosive shells across the battlefield into German trenches. Originally designed by a French Colonel Louis Filloux in 1917, the design was adopted by the United States and classified as the M1917. While the Bullard plant specialized in manufacturing one type of large weapon, other plants such as the Winchester plants in New Haven produced both their famous semi-automatic rifles as well as more traditional bolt-action rifles.

The Winchester Repeating Arms Co. in New Haven was first recognized for its world-famous Winchester Model 1873, the “Gun that Won the West.” Oliver F. Winchester originally started his company as a shirt-making factory in 1850 before purchasing stock in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company of Norwich and transitioning into the arms production business. After the Civil War Winchester bought out the American Repeating Rifle Company, the Spencer Repeating Rifle Company, and Whitney Arms, a shell of Eli Whitney’s armory. After locking down the market for repeating rifles, the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. was ranked first among New Haven manufacturers and in 1913 the company employed 6,000 workers in 28 acres of factory space.

As the war started Winchester produced rifles for allied countries such as Britain and Russia, supplying the British with some 250,000 repeating rifles that year as well as over 300,000 standard rifles for the Russians. Once the United States entered the war in April 1917 Winchester started to produce the Model 1917 Enfield rifle, a British designed bolt-action rifle that was the primary weapon used by the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. During the time of American involvement in the war, some nineteen months, the Winchester factories produced 465,980 Enfield rifles. Winchester factories, along with Marlin-Rockwell Co., also helped to produce the M1917 Browning Machine Gun when demand for the weapon outpaced Colt’s production.