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#Post#: 124--------------------------------------------------
The Remington Model 8
DIR By: allmanav
Date: March 18, 2020, 9:48 am
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The first semi-automatic rifles were blowback-operated.
Winchester debuted the Model 1903 chambered for the .22
Winchester Automatic cartridge. Two years afterward, Tom
Johnson—designer of the 1903—scaled up the rifle to handle
centerfire cartridges. But the .32 and .35 Winchester Self
Loader rounds lacked enough power for even small deer.
John Browning had been working on a self-loading shotgun design
for several years. Instead of a blowback operation, Browning
developed a long-stroke recoil operation that kept the
breechblock closed until after the bullet left the barrel,
allowing for more powerful cartridges better suited for hunting.
Patent number 659,786 for an autoloading rifle was granted to
Browning on October 16, 1900. Browning sold the patent to
Remington, but foreign manufacture was done by Fabrique
Nationale. The FN Model 1900, manufactured from 1910 until 1929,
never received much attention and was dropped with only 4,913
copies made.
Catalog page advertising the Browning Autoloading Rifle as made
by Fabrique Nationale.
Remington, however, got on the ball and designed four cartridges
based upon the same case in .25, .30, .32 and .35 calibers to
compete with the most popular hunting cartridge of the day—the
.30-30 Winchester. It brought out the Remington Autoloading
Rifle in 1906 with a lot of fanfare and promotion. Sales were
good, if not spectacular. In 1911, the rifle was rechristened
the Remington Model 8, and over the next 25 years, more than
80,000 copies were made.
As manufactured by Remington and implemented in the Model 8,
Browning’s long-recoil operation features a rotating bolt. At
firing, the barrel and bolt travel rearward still locked up and
compressing a pair of recoil springs. When the assembly hits its
most rearward point, the bolt is temporarily restrained while
the barrel returns forward under one of the recoil spring’s
pressure. When the bolt is in battery, the bolt is released to
move forward under the second spring’s pressure, stripping a
cartridge from the integral box magazine and chambering it. The
barrel is contained within a large-diameter sleeve that gave
rise to a false rumor that one could remove the barrel and shoot
a 12-gauge shotgun shell in the sleeve.
During its manufacturing run, the Remington Model 8 was
available in five grades: Standard, Special, Peerless, Expert
and Premier. Although standard with a fixed, five-round box
magazine that could be loaded via stripper clips made for the
Remington line of cartridges, a few Model 8s were made for law
enforcement with higher-capacity detachable magazines.
Renowned Texas Ranger Frank Hamer used a Model 8 in .35
Remington with a 15-round detachable magazine to end the careers
of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker on May 23, 1934. Hamer’s Model
8, serial number 10045, was custom ordered through Petmeckey’s
Sporting Goods store in Austin, Texas. Magazines capable of
feeding 20 rounds were available to law enforcement agencies
only through the Peace Officers Equipment Company in St. Joseph,
Mo.
The Remington Model 8 was a beautifully made, if complex and
heavy, rifle. Remarkably, in spite of its complexity, it was a
very reliable rifle—a hallmark characteristic of John Browning’s
designs. In fact, the Model 8 was the first successful
autoloading hunting rifle. I’ve shot a couple of Model 8s and
found all the machinery and its machinations operating in my
face a bit distracting. Too, compared to a bolt-action sporter
the Model 8 is just ugly, in my eyes. Nonetheless, more than
100,000 of them were made, and those that bought them, loved
them.
Like a lot of other fine guns, the Model 8 fell victim to The
Depression and in 1936 was redesigned into the Model 81
Woodsmaster. Changes were mostly designed to lower manufacturing
costs, but the wrist and fore-end were also strengthened to
better handle recoil. The Model 81 lasted another 14 years and
more than 55,000 copies before yielding to the gas-operated
autoloader. Ol’ John Moses’s first autoloading rifle was and
remains a resounding success.
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