New forum member - Model 14's

[No1_49er]

Hello all.
New to the forum, and new to Rem Model 14's. In fact, new to Remington altogether.
Have acquired a 44-40 Dominion of Canada issue, serial # 31705. From that number, am I correct in believing that it's from 1914 ?
I've also got my eye on a Model 14, 30Rem cartridge. Have not yet been advised the serial number so don't yet know YOM. Is there anything that I should be aware of that "bubba" might have tampered with?

Thanks to the knowledge base here.

[admin]

Hello all.
New to the forum, and new to Rem Model 14's. In fact, new to Remington altogether.
Have acquired a 44-40 Dominion of Canada issue, serial # 31705. From that number, am I correct in believing that it's from 1914 ?
I've also got my eye on a Model 14, 30Rem cartridge. Have not yet been advised the serial number so don't yet know YOM. Is there anything that I should be aware of that "bubba" might have tampered with?

Thanks to the knowledge base here.

14 1/2 44-40 - yes 1914.
Lucky dog, and if it's a carbine, I don't even want to know.

[nambujim]

One thing you can be sure of is that a lot of hands have messed with both your rifles but the 14-1/2's seem to be more tolerant of this than the 14's. The older the serial, the more problems you are likely to have, and its pretty rare to find one that functions perfectly. The better 14's start around serial 85,000 but with that being said you can find super-nice ones in any serial range but you need to be wary.

Here's the deal, the older guns in particular are very "parts specific" meaning they were hand assembled from a specific set of parts made to work in that rifle. If you break or remove any of the key parts and try to find a drop in replacement, you're out of luck. Almost all people selling parts including Numrich, Ebay, and Gunbroker haven't got a clue as to what will fit your rifle. Most of these sellers think that 14/141 parts interchange, the truth of the fact is they don't and they don't even interchange with each other.

When buying your .30 Cal. it would be best if you could test it for loading, feeding, firing, and ejecting. If it doesn't do all those perfectly then my suggestion would be to avoid it. I will state for about the 50th time on this site that OACL is critical with these rifles (including the 14-1/2) and in the case of the rifle calibers use nothing but round nose bullets. If you buy the the .30 caliber, try to buy some factory ammo for it to set your reloading dies, and I might also suggest you try to locate some original factory brass. Remember that these rifles are brutal to brass and you won't get more than maybe 4-5 loadings before it gets so nicked up or the rim becomes undersized that it won't function. The older 14's in particular were designed to use new factory ammunition, and please note that these rifles came with a "hang tag" that stated "use round nose ammunition only".

These are really cool rifles but they are really "quirky", almost impossible to find a "smith" that can repair them, and are super-fussy about the ammo you put into them. I could go on and on and on..........about all this but most have heard it all before. Good luck with your purchases.

Jim Peterson
Charlotte, Nc

[No1_49er]

Thanks guys.
I've been able to get a serial which is C38912; I think puts it somewhere around 1915?
Vendor also has some empty brass and several packets of new ammo.
I might dive in and, hopefully, enjoy another oldie.