In November 1844, he determined that most of the materials and components he used for gun making came from Birmingham, and his business was being hampered by the distance between the two towns.

William Wellington Greener was responsible for several innovations, as described in the sections below, and it was on the strength of his inventions that the company became famous.

Under W.W. Greener, the company established offices in Birmingham, London, Hull, Montreal and New York City.

In the 1851 London Exhibition, the company received the highest award "for guns and barrels perfectly forged and finished".

His next patent was the self-acting striker, followed by a famous cross-bolt mechanism produced as a single top bolt, in 1865.

In 1873, this cross-bolt mechanism was combined with the bottom holding down bolts to produce the "Treble Wedge-Fast" breech action.

The treble wedge-fast was one of the strongest breech actions ever invented and was widely copied by other manufacturers, after the patent rights expired.

In 1895, W.W. Greener invented the world's first Humane Killer, a gun designed to kill cattle, sheep, pigs and horses, quickly and easily.

This instrument was adopted by the War Office, for use in the Veterinary, Remount and Butchering Departments, and by the Admiralty for its Victualling yards.

Recently though, the company was asked to manufacture another model and hence, the Humane Killer Mk II was introduced.

Long, in his book "American Wildfowling", credits a Mr. Jeremiah Smith of Southfield, Rhode Island, as the gunsmith who first discovered the concept, as far back as 1827.

[1] While American gunsmiths were the pioneers of the choke boring system, they had not really progressed beyond the elementary stage and their guns would lead, throw irregular patterns and not shoot straight.

The system of choke boring that he pioneered was so successful that it was later adopted by other manufacturers and hence, some authorities give him the credit for inventing the concept.

The next issue came with an advertisement from W.W. Greener, stating that the firm would guarantee that their new guns would shoot a closer pattern than any other manufacturer.

In other cases, the maker would print "Greener" in bold gilt letters on the top rib and their own name in small characters, elsewhere on the gun.