Artifact of the Month: Game Getter

December 8, 2022

Written by Amanda Kramp, Assistant Curator of Collections & Exhibits
Researched and Developed by Bob Harris, Collections & Exhibits Volunteer

No, this isn’t Ralphie’s “official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time”. The lightweight, versatile firearm on exhibit in the Turtle Bay Museum belonged to Edward and Mabel Moores Frisbie, and it is not known, though highly unlikely, that it put anyone’s eye out. The gun was developed by Marble’s Arms & Manufacturing Company in the 1900s, during a time when many families supplemented their food supply by planting vegetable gardens and hunting small game, hence the name “game getter.”

Marble’s Arms & Manufacturing Company saw the need for a versatile firearm that could be used by anyone in the family to protect their vegetable garden from pests, as well as shoot small game such as rabbit, quail, and dove. The same type of gun, which was also lightweight and compact, could be used by outdoorsmen. On display is a Marble Model 1908A Game Getter with a folding stock. It is a two-barreled over/under firearm chambered and rifled for a .22 caliber short, long, or long rifle cartridge in the upper barrel and chambered in the smooth bore lower barrel for .44 caliber cartridges loaded with ball or shot.

Did you know the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 impacted the Game Getter on exhibit? The NFA classifies the Game Getter, with its barrel lengths of 12 and 15 inches and folding stock, as an illegal concealable weapon and a sawed-off shotgun. This classification requires a United States Government permit to own a collector firearm. Turtle Bay Exploration Park has a waiver allowing the Game Getter to be displayed.

To learn more about this artifact, visit the Artifact of the Month exhibit inside the Museum entrance at Turtle Bay Exploration Park. We hope to see you soon!

Game Getter, 1966.5.75, Gift of Edward and Mabel Moores Frisbie