The Warner Infallible

Determining the Timeline of the
Warner Infallible Pistol

by Ed Buffaloe

This advertisement for the 1909 Schwarzlose pistol appeared in the Literary Digest for 26 August 1911, and also in the October 1911 Popular Mechanics, the October 1911 Farm Journal, the January 6, 1912 Saturday Evening Post, the September 13, 1913 Country Gentleman, and other popular magazines of the era. The gun is being sold by Kirtland Bros. & Co. The A.W. Schwarzlose company had already gone out of business in 1910 and their remaining guns were being sold at wholesale prices.

This advertisement for the Warner Schwarzlose Automatic Pistol appeared in the Country Gentleman magazine for July 12, 1913. Note that the illustration is identical to the one above, the gun is still described as the “Faultless, ” and the description is nearly identical. However, the Warner Arms Corporation is listed as “manufacturers”. The dates of these ads suggests that the Warner Arms Corporation was formed in 1912 or 1913.




	The above ad from the July 1912 issue of Hunter, Trader, Trapper magazine shows that N.R. Davis & Sons was using the slogan “The Gun That Blocks the Sears” prior to their partnership with Warner Arms.




	It appears that by October 1913 the Warner Arms Corporation was already manufacturing the “Warner Schwarzlose”. The illustration in this article is of what I have called the “Warner Type I” in my article on The 1909 Schwarzlose Pistol.




		I have been unable to locate a copy of the above catalogue to see if it lists the Warner Infallible.




	The above catalogue dates to about 1917. It contains the first listing I have been able to locate for the Warner Infallible.




	This early advertisement for the Warner Infallible pistol is from the undated Kirtland Brothers (c. 1917) Catalogue shown above. The price is $11.50, and the gun shown is the Type I.




	The notice above appeared in the NRA journal Arms and the Man for January 18, 1917.




	The notice above appeared in the Hardware Dealer’s Magazine for February 1917.


	The earliest ad we find for the Davis-Warner Arms Corporation is from the Scientific American for 3 March 1917. Note that the address is 96 Chambers Street, in New York, and the gun shown is still the Type I.


	This advertisement is from the July 1918 issue of Popular Science magazine. The price is $15 and the gun shown is the Type II. The maker is the Davis-Warner Arms Corporation.


	This advertisement is from the Sporting Goods Trade Directory for 1920. Note that the price for the Infallible is $16. This is well past the date that the Davis-Warner Arms Corporation was supposedly dissolved in 1919, though the listing likely was ordered the year before the date on the directory.

This ad appeared in Popular Science for July 1918, the Overland Monthly for January 1920, Popular Science for June 1920, the Electrical Experimenter for November 1920, Popular Science for December 1920, Forest & Stream for December 1920, and Popular Science for June 1921.

Note that the ad does not mention Davis-Warner Arms but refers to the gun as Warner’s “Infallible Automatic”. The price is $18.




	This advertisement is from a small booklet labeled on the cover GUN WISE GUN FITTING and on the back Davis Guns. Inside it references the Davis-Warner Arms Corporation of Norwich, Connecticut. It is undated, but also contains an advertisement for the New Savage Repeating Shotgun, Model 1921, so it should not be earlier than 1921. The price for the Infallible is $18.




		Instructions for the Infallible pistol found in the lid of the box for serial number 7539. Note that the upper illustration shows a late pistol while the lower illustration shows an early pistol. Also note that the company name is Davis-Warner Arms Corporation, in Norwich, Connecticut.

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