Rowen and Becker Christmas 1960

[DRB]

From the old photo albums, Joe Becker on left Kenny Rowen (AKA Russo) on the right.

[da gimp]

Uh, ya gotta help me hand...... who are they?

[DRB]

Made carbines post war as Rowen and Becker this is mentioned in the book War Baby Comes home.

[jimb]

Most of their recievers are marked RB.

[Tuna]

Started in 1956 by buying 1000 receivers from National Ordnance. Later had their own receivers cast in Ohio and later still in Detroit. Becker left in 1962 and a Mr. Ahl took his place in the company. It is believed that they used some scraped receivers and welded them at some point in time. This was along the same lines as National Ordnance late production when they appear to have used welded receivers too. All of the other parts were USGI surplus on their carbines. The company folded in 1963.

[phil441]

A noble venture, but isn't it amazing that so many of the companies using re-welded or cast receivers started dying off about the same time? I own a National Ordnance '03A3 and a Universal carbine. Not because of their future value (non-existant) but because they represent an era of folks trying to make a profit from the left-overs of war.
Both are decent shooters, but off-limits to guests.

[Tuna]

I think the cause of a company like Rowen and Becker folding was the lack of surplus parts available to them and their not being able to make enough of them. The government stopped releasing parts as they needed parts for carbines going overseas.

[kar66]

Yes my one and only commercial carbine was a Plainfield in the late 60s. At the time there wasn't much information on them and I thought it was G.I. when I bought it. Also there wasn't many G.I. ones available at the time just the few that had been sold through the DCM program and most of them weren't being resold yet. It wasn't a bad gun but I think the only G.I. parts it had on it were the type 3 barrel band and a stamped .U. triggerhousing. When I got the chance I traded it for a Inland. It wasn't a bad gun, I just wanted a G.I. one.

[jim c 351]

[QUOTE=Tuna;363242]I think the cause of a company like Rowen and Becker folding was the lack of surplus parts available to them and their not being able to make enough of them. The government stopped releasing parts as they needed parts for carbines going overseas.[/QUOTE

Yes, that plus the fact that the DCM started selling carbines for $20.00 at this time. Hard to compete with a price like that.
Jim C

[DRB]

Joe Becker is my father, Kenny Rowen settled in Waterville because his car broke down there. He rented a room from my aunt and took a job at Rimers. The gun making venture ended up costing my father several thousand dollars. They also made parts for Colt Cap and Ball revolvers and were just starting to work on a 03A3 receiver when the company folded. A short time after it folded Kenny just up and left without even saying goodbye. My aunt found a phone number he had called several times so she called it and it was his mother. Turns out his name was Kenny Russo and he had deserted from the Marines. That explains why he quit his job at Rimers when they got a government contract and were supposed to fingerprint all their employees. He has not been heard from since then.