Oscar Frederick Mossberg at the age of 20 emigrated to the United States in 1866 and settled in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He was known as a tinkerer and in a small boiler factory shortly after arriving here. In 1892, Oscar became employed with Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works and his mechanical ingenuity was put to work. During the year 1900, Oscar left Iver Johnson and moved to Hatfield, Ma where he was superintendent of production with C.S. Shattuck Arms Co til 1902. At this point in time, he left C.S. Shattuck and became a moved to Chicopee where he became a gun designer for the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company. While employed with Stevens, Oscar designed his four barrel pocket pistol known as the Novelty and during many evenings, on weekends and holidays, he would produce this pistol with the help of his two sons in their barn. Approximately 500 pieces were manufactured from 1907 to 1909. Oscar finished his career with Stevens in 1916 and moved to New Haven, Connecticut and went to work for Marlin-Rockwell. Here, he was involved heavily in Military contracts for machine guns and when World War I had ended in 1919, Oscar left the company at the age of 53 and started his own business with his two sons. Their first firearm was the four shot Brownie handgun which was a success. In 1922, a hammerless 22 rifle was added to production known as the model K. A bolt action 22 rifle known as the model B was added in 1928 and lever action rifles in 1929. A wide variety of rifles and shotguns continue to be produced today by this major firearms manufacturing company with the motto of “More Gun for the Money”.
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