The Remington Model 8 is an American self-loading rifle. Originally sold as the Remington Autoloading Rifle from 1905, the weapon was renamed the Model 8 in 1911 and the name has stuck ever since.[1]
History[]
Patented in 1900 by famed arms designer John Browning (who later sold his patent to Remington), the Model 8 was first sold as the Remington Autoloading Rifle from 1905 to 1911, when its name was changed to Model 8. The weapon was distributed by Remington in the United States and by FN in Western Europe and Canada as the FN ModĆØle 1900 (no relation to the pistol);[1] unfortunately for FN, the weapon was never popular in Europe, likely due to FN being unable to convince customers to purchase an expensive rifle that many had hardly ever seen before.[2]
Almost exclusively meant for use as a hunting rifle, the Model 8 was only marketed towards civilians; it was never marketed towards any militaries, although apparently the French AĆ©ronautique Militaire did use the Model 8 in very small numbers during the early stages of World War I.[2] The Model 8 was discontinued in 1936 and replaced by the Model 81 Woodsmaster which incorporated a number of improvements by Remington employee C.C. Loomis; this model was in turn discontinued in 1950, putting an end to the 44-year production life of the Model 8.[3] The weapon was then succeeded by the Model 740, of which 251,398 were sold.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation did acquire a number of Model 81s chambered in .30 Remington and .35 Remington in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre.[4]
Design Details[]
Essentially a rifle version of the Browning Auto-5, the Remington Model 8 operates in a very similar, if not identical, fashion. The weapon uses a long stroke recoil operation system[3] where the barrel is covered with a full length tube made of thin-walled steel enclosing a recoil spring, with the barrel and bolt moving backwards locked together while firing the full length of the cartridge; at full length of travel, the barrel returns forward, trips a lever inside the receiver and causes the bolt to fly back forward.[5]
The weapon's bolt has two locking lugs with a pivoting tail Ć la FN FAL. The weapon is designed to be unable to fire if the bolt is not fully rotated as the firing pin is not long enough to strike the primer. The weapon's fire control group is extremely similar to that of an AK.[5] The weapon uses five-round internal box magazines as standard fed by five-round stripper clips, although later versions can take detachable box magazines with capacities of five to fifteen rounds. The Model 8 and 81s had walnut stocks and were offered in five grades of finish: Standard, Special, Peerless, Expert and Premier (officially known as the A, C, D, E and F-grade finishes respectively);[3] however, the FN ModĆØle 1900s were noted to have better finishes than its American counterparts and used European walnut furniture.[6]
Ammunition[]
Four new calibers, namely .25 Remington, .30 Remington, .32 Remington and .35 Remington were designed specifically for use with the Model 8.
Variants[]
- Model 81 Woodsmaster
Improved version of the Model 8 with improvements by Remington employee Crawford C. Loomis.
Trivia[]
- A Model 8 in .35 Remington was the weapon of choice of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer.[7] The rifle was fitted with a 15-round box magazine manufactured by the Peace Officerās Equipment Company.[3] A similar rifle (actually a Model 81 Special Police, S/N 10015), although not the actual rifle Hamer used, is on display at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum.[8]
References[]
- ā 1.0 1.1 https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2009/7/27/a-century-of-remington-autoloading-rifles/
- ā 2.0 2.1 http://thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety.com/?page_id=1562
- ā 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 https://gundigest.com/more/classic-guns/classic-guns-remington-model-8
- ā Vanderpool, Bill "Bring Enough Gun" American Rifleman October 2013, p.80-85, p.115-116
- ā 5.0 5.1 https://youtu.be/XsQXksP-YhI
- ā https://www.guns.com/news/2015/09/30/remington-model-8-browning-semi-automatic-sporting-rifle
- ā Herring, Hal (2008). Famous Firearms of the Old West: From Wild Bill Hickok's Colt Revolvers to Geronimo's Winchester, Twelve Guns That Shaped Our History, TwoDot, p. 224
- ā http://thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety.com/?page_id=434