Opening the first retail store on the grounds of the Grand American Trapshoot, designing the first shooting vest, and the first non-military camouflage pattern were just a few of Bob Allenï¿½s firsts.

After the war, the hats found favor with shooters and soon Bob was selling hats, shooting vests, pouches and bags from the trunk of his car as he traveled the shooting circuit. Trading a ration of wartime Scotch in the parachute shop for each one of his prized hats, the Bob Allen Company was born. Bobï¿½s first product design was a long billed cap that helped keep the sun out of bomber crewsï¿½ eyes on their long flights to mainland Japan. Bob Allen was a young, nationally known, clay target shooter before the war, who later parlayed his aerial gunner instructor duties into a combat assignment in the South Pacific. The Boyt Five Star canvas case, named for the five award stars that the company had been presented for their production efforts during the war years, was quickly heralded as the premier method of firearm storage of the times, a position that Boyt has maintained for almost 70 years.īuilding upon Boytï¿½s dominance in the high end gun case and accessory markets, the company begin to acquire other top sporting brands starting with the acquisition of Bob Allen Sportswear in 1997.īob Allen Company was started in a parachute shop on the tiny Pacific atoll of Tinian towards the end of World War II. For the first time, sporting goods became a priority and gun cases, hunting vests and cartridge bags begin to make up the majority of production. From 1941 through 1945, The Boyt Harness Company produced millions of pieces of equipment destined for American offensives in both the European and Pacific theaters as tens of thousands of teachers, farmers, office workers and tradesmen were transformed into the largest standing fighting force in the nationï¿½s history.Īfter the war, Boyt shifted production back to saddles and harness, but the mechanization of America had put most of the work horses out to pasture. Struggling through the Great Depression and the dust bowl years, Boyt Harness Company developed a reputation for quality and delivery second to none and farmers across the country proudly tacked their draft teams in well oiled Boyt harness and collars each morning but the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor begin another shift to production for the war effort.

In 1925, the name was changed from The Walter Boyt Saddlery Company to The Boyt Harness Company and a new generation of Boyt brothers continued the tradition of making harness, saddles, bridles and tack for farmers and stockman across the Midwest. 45 pistol along with cavalry saddle bags and harness for artillery and transport horses. The advent of World War I found the company building the first of many firearm accessories such as military pistol holsters for the then new Colt 1911.

The Boyt brotherï¿½s burgeoning enterprise primarily manufactured fine driving harness for buggies, however, the Great War in Europe took the company in a direction that would frame it for the next 100 years. The industrious Boyt brothers founded Walter Boyt Saddery in 1901. Boyt Harness Company, the hunting industry standard for gun cases and firearm storage and transport, traces their beginnings to a family owned regional harness shop in turn of the century Iowa.

Mud river gun case