Harwood Hornet Jim Foral


Illustration of the properly head stamped Harwood Hornet shell together with the Ideal #22636 bullet. The addition of a band increased the bullet weight and length correspondingly. This Herrick bullet could be had up to 98 grains! From the 1893 Ideal Handbook.


At left, unheadstamped, not fully fireformed 22-20 Harwood Hornet cartridge loaded with the recommended Herrick bullet.


inventors, or whatever name they might be called by, the world would come to a standstill and cease to move, while the old fogy class might say, ‘No matter; things are well enough as they are.’ The writer belongs to the first class and is always looking for something new and novel, that is, at the same time, a real improvement.” This statement, published during


“If it were not for those cranks, experimenters, investigator,


the winter of 1889, effectively capsulizes the outlook and attitude of the man who wrote it. This unique self-description appeared over the signature of Rueben Harwood in that year’s December 12 number of the popular rifleman’s weekly Shooting And Fishing. Mr. Harwood had an absorption


with rimfire and small bore rifles, and was considered to be something of an innovator. By 1888, he was able to boast of thirty years of experience with all sorts of rifles and shotguns. He was consid- ered to be the period authority on small game shooting and the small game rifle. Under the pseudonym “Iron Ramrod,” he published his thoughts in sporting periodicals such as Shooting And Fishing and Forest And Stream, specializing in squirrel, rabbit, and woodchuck shoot- ing, the year-round sniping of ducks, and the proper rifles and ammunition for these activities. Harwood was a popular,


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if somewhat irregular, contributor. He provoked the input of the reader, who reacted by encouraging and inviting Harwood to cover related subjects, and often posed questions to Iron Ramrod who would generally provide an answer in the next couple of issues with a column or two devoted to the topic requested. The practice began, as nearly as


I can determine, in December of 1881, when he succeeded in publishing a re- port on a 32 rimfire rifle he’d converted to centerfire. The article detailed tests of muzzle loading #1 buckshot versus fac- tory cartridges in his 32 breechloader. This sort of thing was not Forest And Stream’s usual fare. Harwood had a flair for experimenting. A.O. Niedner once walked into Harwood’s residence and caught him at an attempt at making smokeless powder on the kitchen table. Rueben Harwood was a merchan-


diser who ran a gun shop and salesroom at 29 Avon Street in Somerville, Mass. He catered to the gun crank in need of rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and other shooting gear. He made a practice of “hand select- ing” rifles for the discriminating marks- man, as well as the tyro just taking up the game. His services were highly rec- ommended “... to those who are in doubt about the proper arms to select for special work.” Harwood did some barrel fitting and chambering, installed and adjusted iron sights, and rebored worn or rusted-


out bores to larger calibers. Mr. Harwood made and distributed an alkaline bullet lubricant, compounded of a proprietary mixture, which was favorably endorsed by those who had tried it. The stuff sold for a quarter in 1889. He also offered a much needed


brass jointed cleaning rod and marketed a bullet lubricating pump of his own devising. He made shell scrapers, bul- let seaters, and other specialties for the rifleman. Harwood sold and mounted telescope sights, and acted as agent for Mogg (“The Best on Earth”) telescopes. Bullet casting to order was another of his services. Harwood’s contributions to the


magazine continued throughout the 1880s. During 1888 and 1889, Harwood authored a seven-part series of essays appearing in Forest And Stream, focusing on his primary expertise, rifles and car- tridges for small game. For his readers, Iron Ramrod evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the 22 caliber small game cartridges available in the late 1880s. The 22 Short, or 22-3-30 as it was


sometimes called, had a usefulness beyond gallery shooting, in Harwood’s opinion. This was plinking sparrows “... around town or city backyards.” This activity, now banned everywhere, was then commonplace. Apart from being fairly accurate, the low cost of the am- munition was the Short’s only virtue, and


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