Antique arms and vintage posters on display at Icebox Armory

By Karen Linden

Jack, a cute and friendly canine, is the first greeter you’ll meet at Ice Box Armory. Next is Hal Cannon, who has opened his cozy, well-provisioned arms shop right on Route 44 near the west end of Norfolk. Cannon was employed by the former owner of the gun shop, Dave Pilbin, for several years before going into the business himself.

Primarily a collector of arms and a historian of arms manufacturing, Cannon has a bountiful display of long guns, pistols, ammunition, cleaning supplies, and Vortex optics. He is also a birder, so his Vortex supplies include excellent binoculars, monoculars, other bird-identifying products and holographic sighting accessories.

The antique firearms on display at Icebox Armory alone are worth a trip from a historical standpoint. The exquisite engraving on older models is intricate and amazing, considering it was all done by hand as opposed to today’s engraving methods which are done by laser. The patination on metal parts, accomplished by a process called case color hardening, gives tints of various blues or grays, and can even result in a wood-grain pattern.

Cannon is an expert firearms historian, and can explain the long history of gun manufacturing in Connecticut, where at least 22 manufacturers operated, some right here in Norfolk. In fact, he will proudly show you a silver-plated brass pocket revolver with walnut grips that was made in 1867 in Norfolk and on which is stamped “Conn. Arms Co. Norfolk, Conn.” Shortly after the onset of the Civil War in 1861, this company was formed in Norfolk for the manufacture of Springfield muskets. Dr. William W. Welch was instrumental in securing a contract with the U.S. Government, and the work was done in the Long Stone Shop of the Empire Company on the Blackberry River. The main building was 233 feet long by 40 feet wide, with a wheelhouse attached. The water wheel was 43 feet in diameter. The company produced 5,000 Springfield muskets for the government and 2,700 revolvers.

Vintage posters on display at Cannon’s shop are nostalgic and humorous. An old Remington Arms advertising poster called “The Right of Way” features a cowboy with a Remington rifle confronting a huge grizzly bear in a narrow mountain pass. Also on display is a poster designed by Lester Arms picturing the same mountain pass, but this time with the grizzly triumphant, a few shreds of clothing dripping from his jaws, and the cowboy nowhere to be seen. The caption reads: “It Usually Works!”

Cannon is always eager to discuss the history of firearms or the reasons why big manufacturers located in Connecticut. He welcomes people to stop in to talk, or to bring in unused arms that they might want to sell or have appraised.

The shop, located at 368 Greenwoods Road West, is open Wednesdays from noon until 5 p.m., Fridays, noon until 7 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sundays noon to 3 p.m.

Photo, top, by Bruce Frisch: Icebox Armory’s owner, Hal Cannon.