Remington: The Good Stuff

[soFlaNative]

Two 870's in 12 & 20 ga. from the early 90's have been flawless while much used.
Bought aftermarket followers and springs but haven't needed to swap.
They stay loaded with one chambered and 18.5 barrels in between trips.


I bought a mid 70's 700 BDL in great shape a few years back from a friend.
It's about wasted on me. Couple times a year I shoot a clover leaf off a bench at 200 yds. with a $50 Barska scope. No adjustments necessary just clean and oil and back in the case she goes.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

When I was young,guys in my area would start a fight(granted,after a few beers)over which was best;Winchester or Remington.Nowadays,young shooters buy guns from companies I can hardly pronounce the name and wear more plastic than wood and steel.
Wonder where we're going!Guess I must be gettin'old!

 

[Big E3]

I’m a Remington fan. I used to have rifles and shotguns, but now mostly 22’s. Got side tracked chasing Belgium Browning’s and pre-64 Winchesters so that’s what my shotguns and big bore rifles are these days. Still have the Remington 341 that I learned to shoot on. The very gun that my grandfather gave my dad when he returned from WWII. Sort of a story there, my dad’s 34 was stolen from my grandfather’s truck so he bought the 341 to replace it. So now, I buy 34’s when I see them, hoping I’ll find dads original.
Here’s what I currently have: 341, 34, 34, 550-1, 12, 12A, Win 06 and a Nylon 10C. Didn't have a pic with just the 12’s.

 

[adwjc]

Sorry to say, I only have two Remingtons; my 30 year old 870 and a recently bought RM380. As someone commented above they got the RM380 right!

It has to be one of the best .380s on the market, alloy frame, steel slide, DAO, ambi mag release. 400+ rounds through it w/o a single problem. A friend has an R1, very well done 1911.

I hope the corporate masters do right by the company, while the pols in NY had no regard for the company, obviously they are welcomed in the South. I hope they thrive in their new home.

 

[ancient-one]

My first gun was a Improved Model 6 that my Dad bought me when I was eight. When i got out of the service in 1946 I couldn't afford a rifle until 1950 and I got one of the last machined receiver Model 121's.

 

[Wise_A]

The RM380 is miles better than it has any right to be. I'm not even going to qualify that with "for the money". It'd be a fantastic pistol at twice the price.

The problem is that they released a bunch of terrible to average pistols ahead of it, so nobody believes Remington could make anything good.

Their latest attempts at handguns were just...inept. They bought Para and then didn't make an LDA. Instead they released another by-the-numbers 1911 into a crowded market.

PS--I'm not a huge fan of Ruger's 1911 either. The last one I dry-fired (just recently), had a horribly creepy, rough trigger pull. And a noticeably different trigger pull if you dry-fired, held the trigger back, hand-cycled, reset and dry-fired again. There was something seriously sloppy going on in there.

About the only potential bright spot is maybe their 10mm model, which I heard is pretty cheap. But I'm not too familiar with 10mm 1911 pricing.

 

[JayFramer]

I would like a new Remington double stack 1911.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In the 1860's and 70's the Remington Rolling Block revolutionized almost all the armies of the world (except ours!). Their cost and accuracy most likely put Sharps out of business! The Rolling Block set accuracy and competition records on both sides of the Atlantic.

The repeating bolt action rifle seems to have ended the Rolling Blocks usefulness, but Remington has done pretty well with those too.

I'm down to 2 Rolling Blocks and 4 of the 700's. One of these 700's shoots less than 2" groups at 500 yards! Another has shot several flies off my targets!

A friend of mine has 41 model 40x rifles, all in 222 Remington! (most with those primitive Unertl scopes!) 1 of those is a first year 40x made on the 788 action!

Ivan

 

[OLDSTER]

Been shooting 1100's since 1973. I own four of them, the newest being a 1986 Tournament Skeet. I've never had any desire to own any other auto-loader

 

[99savage308]

I'm a Big R fan. With six rifles: 760 first year made. Which was the year I was born. Has a four digit serial number. The serial number is the yr I got out of high school just the numbers are backwards. Two 700 BDL's. One 308 and 300 WM. Two 7400 308 and 243. One 870 12 ga. One chainsaw. Yes, I typed chainsaw. One hand held clay target thrower with wood handle. One pocket watch.

 

[jmace57]

I still own a Model 51 (most gorgeous pistol ever made), my Dad's Model 870 and my Model 1100 skeet gun. Oh, and my FIRST gun was a little used (from the 1950s) Model 515? that my grand-dad gave me when I turned 12 that I still have.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Oh, and my FIRST gun was a little used (from the 1950s) Model 515? that my grand-dad gave me when I turned 12 that I still have.

Those 500 series 22's were fantastic shooters, for the money they couldn't be beat!

Ivan

 

[crsides]

Got bitten by the rem model 12 bug a yr or so ago. Now have a 12c Octagon bbl from the mid teens. Great bore (which is unusual), some freckling (that's rust on your guns, freckling on mine), and now carries a tang peep sight. Great fun to shoot. I did find out that you should not shoot hi velocity rounds in the model 12"s. Bolt have been known to break. That was the reason the 121's were designed.


Charlie

 

[2152hq]

Great Model 12. The pistol grip oct bbl versions are beautiful little rifles.

I usually tell people to shoot SdVel ammo out of any 22 made before WW2 unless they specificly state 'for HV' on them.
But most of these rifles and other gobble up HV at a steady rate.
They do however shear off the locking lug on the breechblock at times and that is an expensive part to replace.

The 121 engineering change increased the width of the locking lug to fully accross the width of the breech block instead of the Model 12's partial width.
They didn't do anything about the unsupported cartridge case in front of the carrier slots in the breech face. That stayed the same as in the Model 12.
Stevens/Savage went to great lengths on their pumps to redesign their High Speed bolts for the Model 29 and the design of the later Model 29A &29B to elliminate any carrier slot in the breech face immedietaly behind the fired casing.
Their locking lug design on the 29 was much like the Remington M12 breech bolt. The 29A & B went to rear of the bolt lock up like aWin Model 12 bolt.
I have a Model29. It does have a 'High Speed' bolt in it. But it sees nothing but StVel ammo and will as long as I have it.
My 29B can shoot HV with no problem.

When a M12 bolt cracks and lets go, they usually crack the entire top front edge off the breech bolt including part of the breech face. Bolts are much harder than the frame mat'l which usually shows no damage.

The other part that can be easily damaged but by owner or unknowing gunsmithing work is the sear notch in the hammer.
The stock screw can be too long for the depth of the hole cut in the wood,,meaning the threaded end threads in too far to tighten up the stock.
This can come about from loosing a couple of extra stacked washers that may be down inside the hole that are making up that extra depth. Or someone cleans out that stock bolt hole for some reason and deepens it.
Then the bolt goes in further and if the stock is tighten down the stock bolt will protrude into the inside of the trigger/hammer group.
If the hammer is cocked when the tightening is done, the hammer will be squarely pushed forward by the bolt till it snaps the sear notch right off the hammer. Hammers aren't cheap either.
If it's done with the hammer down,,all that will occur is that you can't cycle the action,,the hammer won't go back far enough to cock so you know something is wrong and can be corrected.

 

[crsides]

Thanks for the detailed info on the model 12. All your posts are appreciated.

Charlie

 

[Buford57]

Remingtons have passed through my hands in numbers I forget over the years: several 870s, all 12 gauge, 700 BDLs in .222 and .22/250 when prairie dogs were a weekend diversion and a Model 11 project gun that broke me of cursing inanimate objects. They all worked as advertised, but I never got attached to any of them. Possibly because a worn folding stock 870 was my midnight companion, I viewed them as tools. Each night I checked the oil in the engine, the air in the tires and the buckshot in the Remington. In time they each reached the status of trading stock and disappeared. I doubt if I had $200 in the most expensive of them.

My bride, on the other hand, owns exactly one shotgun, a LightWeight 20 gauge 870 which I gave her about a year before the wedding. She thinks it's beautiful. For about 10 years it was the only Remington in the safe.

Within the past 3 years it has been joined by 2 RM380s (his and hers) a 16 gauge Model 11 Sportsman (the poor man's Sweet 16) and (gasp) an R51.

After initial disappointment over faulty magazines and a longer than expected break in period I had an enjoyable day at the range with the R51 today. Big Green replaced 3 of my 4 magazines free of charge. For a $178 (after rebate) 9mm, I'm growing fond of it. It fits the same Walther PPK holsters I used with a Bersa Thunder .380 and packs way more punch. It dutifully plunks SIG V-Crown 124 gr HPs in the 10 ring with monotonous regularity at 10 yards. As the most vilified new handgun of the past 20 years, nobody will want it in trade, so it will probably stay with me.

The Sportsman shoots so well I may sell off my doubles and Ithaca 37.

The RM380s just work. I gave both of them my normal 200 round shakedown before we started carrying them. Neither needed it.

Remington has fallen on hard times before, having been bailed out by Union Metallic Cartridge and Winchester in 1888 and by DuPont during the Depression. I expect it to survive, which I can't say of the R51.

 

[LittleCooner]

Remington - ?? Wow, where to start. There is this custom belt buckle from '81 that is still worn today that says Remington. Guns around?? well there are the 22 RFs, a 513 T that is super accurate, a 513 S because they did not make many. A 40X that has won a few BR 50 shoots against the best custom guns in the world. The 552 that was purchased in 1969 that has killed several truck loads of small game. Then the pistol, there is the xp100 in 7BR that is a super tack driver. Then to the rifles, o ****, the re barreled 22-250 that has killed 100's upon hundred of crows, woodchucks, rabbits, etc since being around from 1971 as the first varmint gun. Then there is the 742 in 3006 from 1968 that was under the Christmas tree that has taken 50-60 whitetails. Then there is the 280AI 700 that killed the deer at 650 yards a few years ago and a 40x bench rest rifle in unlimited that has a few trophies on the wall from the bench rest game a few years ago. And to top it off, I knew "Mr. Remington" in person, Mike Walker. Dad of the 222, 6 mm Remington the BR case, the 700 action, back when Remington was at the top of the heap in the gun industry. yep, tears for what the "bean counters" have done to one of the greatest gun manufacturing companies to ever exist in the US of A. A sad day is upon us, but the legend lives on. O I forgot all those 870's around some that have taken many Turkey in the mountains of the south and broken so many clay birds on the ranges. There are 4 sitting around keeping all the others company. I guess the price of these items will just go upwards as this great company disappears into the history books. A sad day indeed

 

[99savage308]

Monday April 16th I'll be in the woods with my 870 turkey gun. Yes, it has taken a big Tom before.

 

[DWalt]

I have always been a Remington fan, and at one time or other over the last 60 years have owned an example or two of about every gun Remington made during the 20th century. At present I have two Model 51s (.32 and .380), two M81s (.300 Savage), two M8s (.30 Rem), a Model 12 .22 pump gun, a M700 ADL (.30-'06), a model 740 (.308), a Model 7400 (.270), and most recently a Model 550-1. The latter is probably the finest .22 semiauto ever made by anyone anywhere. I bought it to replace another 550-1 I stupidly sold over 25 years ago.

Personal opinion is that Remington is down for the count and will not survive, at least not in a form we will recognize. I hope I am wrong in that assumption.

 

[Bronco89]

2- Remingtons

I have two Remingtons, purchased both in the last 10 years.
1: a Remington 870 in 20 ga. Wood. Love this squirrel getting scattergun.

2: a Marlin 60, bought 2 years ago. Also a great little squirrel getter.

I think Remington will bounce back just fine. Either way, I'll continue to put bushytails in the crockpot with my two.