Influencer Marketing in 1900: Charles Young’s Repeating Shotgun

Charles Sparrow Young was an extremely talent trap shooter around the turn of the century, sponsored by the Peters ammunition company. He was also a mechanical tinkerer, and developed several patents, including a shotgun release trigger. In 1901/2 he decided to design his own shotgun, and was granted two patents on it. The idea was to combine the best elements of both break action and repeating designs, and to make a product specifically tailored to trap shooting.

This meant that it would hold specifically two rounds, as that is what the game requires. Young’s design had a short receiver like a break action gun, and it cycled by pulling the barrel assembly forward. This ejected the fired shell and brought the second shell up from the bottom of the receiver to reload by sliding the barrel rearward again. The Young Repeating Arms Company was formed in 1901 to produce the guns. A four-story factory building was leased, and parts production began in 1902. Everything was to be done in-house, including barrel production and engraving, and the plan was to have about $20 invested in each gun and sell them for $75 and up. The marketing campaign to drive sales began in 1903…and then two weeks later the company went completely bankrupt.

After a couple of lawsuits and counter-suits, the company assets were liquidated. In 1904, the Sears Roebuck company purchased the whole affair for $8,000. Sears simply stripped the company of its useful assets, like tools and stock blanks to use for its own firearms division. About 125 guns were assembled from the parts that had been already manufactured, and these were sold in Sears’ 1905 catalog for just $15 each.