Remington Model 8

The Remington Model 8 is a semi-automatic rifle designed by John Browning and produced by Remington Arms.^[4] Originally introduced as the Remington Autoloading Rifle in 1906, the name was changed to the Remington Model 8 in 1911.^[5]

History

On October 16, 1900, John Browning was granted U.S. Patent 659,786 for the rifle, which he then sold to Remington.^[6] Outside the U.S., this rifle was made by Fabrique Nationale of Liege, Belgium, and marketed as the FN Browning 1900.^[6] Under an agreement between Remington and FN, the Model 8 would be sold in the US while the FN 1900 would be sold elsewhere. Despite having a larger market, the FN 1900 was sold predominately to hunters in and around Western Europe and Canada.^[6] Because of the new and yet unproven nature of the autoloading rifle, the FN model never experienced the same level of sales as the Model 8. Cameron Woodall of The Great Model 8, a website dedicated to the rifle, postulates that this was likely due to the difficulty convincing European hunters to spend money on an expensive rifle that few people had ever seen before.^[6] Due to lackluster sales, only 4,913 Model 1900s were ever produced compared to the over 80,000 Model 8s produced.^[6]

Design and features

The Remington Model 8 rifle is long recoil-operated and uses a rotating bolt head. After firing, the barrel and bolt, still locked together, move rearward inside the receiver and compress two recoil springs. Then the bolt is held back while the barrel is returned forward by one of the springs permitting extraction and ejection. Once the barrel is returned, the bolt is returned forward by the second spring; in so doing it picks up a fresh round from the magazine and chambers it. The Remington Model 8 has a fixed 5-shot magazine and bolt hold-open device which engages after the magazine is empty. It is a takedown design, meaning that the barrel and receiver are easily separated with no tools, allowing for a smaller package for transport.

Remington created four new calibers for the Model 8 rifle: .25 Remington, .30 Remington, .32 Remington and .35 Remington.^[4] These cartridges were rimless designs to allow reliable feeding from box magazines. The Model 8 was offered in five grades of finish (Standard, Special, Peerless, Expert and Premier) ^[7] and was the first truly reliable medium power semiautomatic rifle ever commercialized (1906).^[5]

Use

The primary market for the Model 8 was sport hunting. The Model 8 was used as a police gun, modified to use detachable extended capacity magazines, among other changes. It is noted as the rifle of choice of famed Texas Ranger Frank Hamer.^[4] Hamer's rifle was a customized .35 Remington Model 8 with a special-order 15-round magazine from Petmeckey's Sporting Goods store in Austin, Texas. He was shipped serial number 10045, and this was just one of at least two Model 8s used in the ambush of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.^[4] The rifle was modified to accept a "police only" 20-round magazine obtained through the Peace Officers Equipment Company in St. Joseph, Missouri.^[8]

Variants

Model 81 Woodsmaster

In 1936, Remington dropped the Model 8 and introduced the Model 81 Woodsmaster with improvements by C.C. Loomis.^[4] The Model 81 was offered in .300 Savage and the .25 Remington chambering was dropped after a limited number of 81s were chambered in this round. It was offered in Standard (81A), Special (81B), Peerless (81D), Expert (81E) and Premier (81F) grades.^[7] The Federal Bureau of Investigation acquired some Model 81 rifles chambered for .30 Remington and .35 Remington in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre.^[9] Production of the Model 81 ceased in 1950.

References

1. 1 2 3 4 "Model 8 Autoloading Centerfire Rifle". Remington Arms. Retrieved 26 December 2012. 
2. 1 2 "Model 81 Woodsmaster Autoloading Centerfire Rifle". Remington Arms. Retrieved 26 December 2012. 
3. ↑ Miller, David. The History of Browning Firearms. p. 75. 
4. 1 2 3 4 5 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. ISBN 0-7627-4508-8. 
5. 1 2 Gilbert, Glenn. "A Century of Remington Autoloading Rifles". American Rifleman. Retrieved 29 December 2012. 
6. 1 2 3 4 5 Woodall, Cameron. "F.N. 1900". The Great Model 8 & 81. Retrieved 30 December 2012. 
7. 1 2 Guns and Ammo, July 2007
8. ↑ http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/hamer_guns.htm
9. ↑ Vanderpool, Bill "Bring Enough Gun" American Rifleman October 2013 pp.80-85&115-116

External links

• History of Model 8 & Model 81

John Browning
Semi-automatic pistols	FN M1900 Colt M1900 Colt M1902 FN Model 1903 M1903 Pocket Hammer M1903 Pocket Hammerless FN M1905 M1908 Vest Pocket FN Model 1910 M1911 Colt Woodsman Baby Browning Hi-Power
Rifles	Winchester Model 1885 Winchester Model 1886 Winchester 1892 Winchester Model 1894 Winchester Model 1895 Remington Model 8 Remington Model 24 FN Trombone
Shotguns	Winchester Model 1887 Winchester Model 1897 Browning Auto-5/Remington Model 11 Remington Model 17 Stevens Model 520/620 Browning Superposed Ithaca 37
Machine guns	Colt–Browning M1895 Browning M1917 Browning Automatic Rifle Browning M1919 M2 Machine Gun
Cartridges	.25 ACP .32 ACP .38 ACP .380 ACP 9mm Browning Long .45 ACP .50 BMG

Remington Firearms and Cartridges
Rifles	Bolt-action JuniorTarget 521TL Remington-Keene rifle M1903 Springfield rifle Pattern 1914 Enfield M1917 Enfield Model 5 Model 6 Model 7 Model 30 Model 34 M40 Model 341 Model 504 Model 511 Model 512 Model 513 Model 521 Model 580 Model 581 Model 582 Model 600 Model 660 Model 673 Model 700 Model 710 Model 720 Model 721 Model 722 Model 725 Model 770 Model 788 Model 798 Model 799 M24 Sniper Weapon System M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle Modular Sniper Rifle Pump-action Model Six Model 14 Model 121 Model 141 Model 572 Model 572 Fieldmaster Model 760 Model 7600 Model 7615 Semi-automatic Nylon 66 Model Four Model 8 Model 24 Model 241 Model 522 Model 552 Model 597 Model 740 Model 742 Model 7400 Model 750 R5 Remington Gas System Model R-15 Model R-25 RSASS Automatic Adaptive Combat Rifle Single shot Rolling Block
Shotguns	Pump-action Model 10 and 29 Model 17 Model 31 Model 870 Model 887 Semi-automatic Model 11 Model 11-48 Model 58 Model 878 Model 1100 Model 11-87 Model SP-10 SPR 453 Break-action SPR 100 SPR 310
Handguns	Semi-automatic 1911 R1 Model 51 R51 RM380 Revolver Model 1858 Model 1875 Model 1890 Derringer Model 95 Rider Single Shot Pistol Zig-Zag Derringer Other XP-100
Cartridges	.17 Remington Fireball .17 Remington 5mm Remington Magnum Rimfire .22 BR .22 Remington Jet .221 Remington Fireball .222 Remington .222 Remington Magnum .223 Remington .22-250 Remington 6mm BR 6mm Remington .25 Remington .257 Roberts .25-06 Remington .260 Remington 6.5mm Remington Magnum 7mm BR Remington 7mm-08 Remington .280 Remington 7mm Remington Magnum 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum .30 Remington .30 Remington AR .300 Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum .300 Remington Ultra Magnum .32 Remington 8mm Remington Magnum .338 Remington Ultra Magnum 7 mm Remington Ultra Magnum .35 Remington .35 Whelen .350 Remington Magnum .375 Remington Ultra Magnum .416 Remington Magnum .44 Remington Magnum