Jr. Patriot Report - November 2025

John Stumpner

Made Like a Gun

Many of our modern machines are complicated and have many moving parts. These parts have to work together in a precise and exacting arrangement. In a gun for example, all the parts have to work so the gun fires when the trigger is pressed, not before, and for the spent shell to properly eject so the gun does not jam. In a motorcycle, many parts also have to work together. The camshaft, for example, has to turn just so, so that the valves open and close at the right times. If the engine parts do not fit tightly and move together, the engine will vibrate horribly and lead to a rough ride and early engine failure.

The Birmingham Small Arms Company in Great Britain started making guns and ammunition in 1863. Bicycles and other precision tools soon followed and, in 1903, BSA set up a motorcycle division. By the early 1950's, one in every four motorcycles sold worldwide was a BSA. By the early 1970's though, management problems and competition from Japanese manufacturers ended the British manufacture of BSA's. This was not the end though. In 2016, the Indian industrial giant Mahindra acquired the BSA trademark and is again making the classic BSA motorcycle.

The company that eventually would start making Royal Enfield motorcycles was the Eadie Manufacturing Company. In 1892, Eadie started making precision parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, Great Britain. In 1901, a division of Eadie, called The New Enfield Cycle Company, started making motorcycles. The slogan for the new Royal Enfield motorcycles was “Made Like a Gun,” calling attention to the company’s roots in the gun industry. In the 1950's, an automaker in India got the rights to make Royal Enfield motorcycles in India. Because of this, when the factories in Great Britain stopped making Royal Enfield’s in the 1970's, the brand name continued. This makes Royal Enfield the oldest, continually manufactured brand of motorcycles in the world. The Royal Enfield Bullet, first introduced in 1932, is the oldest, continually made model of motorcycle in the world too.

The British weren't the only ones to use their gun-making talents on motorcycles. The Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works was a gun and bicycle manufacturer in Massachusetts. During the early 1900's, Iver Johnson also made big V-twin engine motorcycles. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the First World War, Iver Johnson quit making motorcycles to concentrate on their gun manufacturing business.

All over the world, various gun manufacturers have turned to making motorcycles. In Sweden, it was Husqvarna, in Belgium, Fabrique Nationale (FN) and in Italy, Bennelli. An interesting note about Bennelli though. Bennelli actually started out as a motorcycle manufacturer and only in the late 1960's did they start making their high-quality sporting guns.

So, if you or someone you know is going hunting this fall, just think, the motorcycles you've seen on the road or been riding all summer had their roots in the same industries that made the guns you're carrying while hunting this fall.

John