It's no secret to my friends I'm into guns that are somewhat obscure or forgotten, especially those that are high quality, or at least were during their day...
My latest "review" is for a gun that, at least at first, I didn't know much about. I had seen pics of this in old ads for Remington but never really knew what it was...the Remington Model 8.
Yes, it's a take down gun. As far back as the turn of the century there was a market for guns that could break down into smaller parts for storage. This particular example is a 1915 Remington Model 8. Many were chambered in .35 Remington, but this one is chambered in the now hard to find .30 Remington. I just recently got this after finding it in the back of my local gun store, and decided to bring it home after more research.
The model 8 started out as The Remington Autoloader in 1906. It is fact a John Browning design. As you can see, it's barrel is large but that's because its a shroud that houses springs with an internal barrel...it's a recoil design that absorbs some of the force, fairly ahead of its time definitely. The gun was produced until 1950, with a name change and minor "improvements" in 1936 (became known as the Remington model 81, stock was changed and the foregrip was fattened up a bit). It was offered in various grades and calibers, from .25 Remington up to .300 Savage. Apparently there are some rather ornate examples out there in terms of engraving. Mine is simply the standard grade, which is what most were at the time.
The rifle has a significant place in history as it was used by Frank Hamer, the law man who hunted down Bonnie and Clyde. His and other police examples were given 20 round police only removable magazines (the gun has a fixed mag that holds 5 rounds, 4 if using .35 Remington and .300 Savage).
I'm anxious to take this out and give it a whirl. I came across a company in OKC that makes .30 Remington, so I grabbed a few boxes to have on hand. The round is the parent case of the 10 mm and 6.5 SPC, and it can be made using 30-30 cartridges and load data. From what I have read, .30 Rem was the equivalent to 30-30 Winchester, and over time the expensive Model 8/81 became too expensive when there were cheaper options. The gun was actually experimented with in war with the French and some other militaries over the years, mostly during WW1. But again, despite its design being successful, cheaper to make examples were used of course, and the military didn't adopt auto fire rifles until the late 1930s in the form of the M1 Garand (this is a common theme throughout the years, back in the day, our military was behind the game on gun tech usually, see the lever gun in the 1860s and the military's continued use of the single shot trap door rifle until the 30-40 Krag of 1896).
In included a pic of Frank Hamer's model 81 for comparison with the larger mag. Would love to have an example of it with the original Remington .35 caliber cartridge, it was known to shoot through 5/16 inch steel plate back I the day...
Anyway, anybody else have one of these? Would love to hear some others thoughts...
My latest "review" is for a gun that, at least at first, I didn't know much about. I had seen pics of this in old ads for Remington but never really knew what it was...the Remington Model 8.
Yes, it's a take down gun. As far back as the turn of the century there was a market for guns that could break down into smaller parts for storage. This particular example is a 1915 Remington Model 8. Many were chambered in .35 Remington, but this one is chambered in the now hard to find .30 Remington. I just recently got this after finding it in the back of my local gun store, and decided to bring it home after more research.
The model 8 started out as The Remington Autoloader in 1906. It is fact a John Browning design. As you can see, it's barrel is large but that's because its a shroud that houses springs with an internal barrel...it's a recoil design that absorbs some of the force, fairly ahead of its time definitely. The gun was produced until 1950, with a name change and minor "improvements" in 1936 (became known as the Remington model 81, stock was changed and the foregrip was fattened up a bit). It was offered in various grades and calibers, from .25 Remington up to .300 Savage. Apparently there are some rather ornate examples out there in terms of engraving. Mine is simply the standard grade, which is what most were at the time.
The rifle has a significant place in history as it was used by Frank Hamer, the law man who hunted down Bonnie and Clyde. His and other police examples were given 20 round police only removable magazines (the gun has a fixed mag that holds 5 rounds, 4 if using .35 Remington and .300 Savage).
I'm anxious to take this out and give it a whirl. I came across a company in OKC that makes .30 Remington, so I grabbed a few boxes to have on hand. The round is the parent case of the 10 mm and 6.5 SPC, and it can be made using 30-30 cartridges and load data. From what I have read, .30 Rem was the equivalent to 30-30 Winchester, and over time the expensive Model 8/81 became too expensive when there were cheaper options. The gun was actually experimented with in war with the French and some other militaries over the years, mostly during WW1. But again, despite its design being successful, cheaper to make examples were used of course, and the military didn't adopt auto fire rifles until the late 1930s in the form of the M1 Garand (this is a common theme throughout the years, back in the day, our military was behind the game on gun tech usually, see the lever gun in the 1860s and the military's continued use of the single shot trap door rifle until the 30-40 Krag of 1896).
In included a pic of Frank Hamer's model 81 for comparison with the larger mag. Would love to have an example of it with the original Remington .35 caliber cartridge, it was known to shoot through 5/16 inch steel plate back I the day...
Anyway, anybody else have one of these? Would love to hear some others thoughts...
