I have what I believe to be a model 1900 12 Gauge double barrel shotgun. I've used it for dove hunting for years with "light" shells (low recoil, or target). I came to my senses and retired the old fella, as I was beginning to give it deep clean I discovered that a date stamp october 20th 1984 (or maybe 1897) is stamped beside a matching serial number. Serial Number is 329647, there's another number 9911. The Barrels are *KD.
So I had the belief that model 1900 started in 1900, so what is my shotgun?
Remington 1900 with an 1894 date stamp?
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Re: Remington 1900 with an 1894 date stamp?
Remington Model 1900s are a simplified, cheaper, version of the Model 1894, built on the same patents -- No. 528,507 and No. 528,508 both granted Oct. 30, 1894. The Model 1900s were all K-Grades, with E added to the designation if the gun had ejectors and D if it had Damascus barrels -- K-, KE-, KD-, or KED-Grades. The K- and KE-Grades had Remington Steel barrels. The Model 1900s had a snap-on/off forearm and their serial numbers were in the 300,000 range, often preceded with a stock letter Q. Model 1894s had a Purdey style push button forearm latch and had serial numbers in the 100000 range, often preceded with a stock letter P. FWIW, Remington Arms Co. called them all "Remington Hammerless Double Barrel Shotguns" differentiating them only by their grades. From the 1903-04 catalogue --
From the 1906 catalogue --
1907 magazine ad --
The terms "Model 1894" and "Model 1900" were only used on parts lists.
You need to check out Charles G. Semmer's book Remington Double Shotguns. It is available from The Double Gun Journal, 800-447-1658 for $49 plus $10 shipping and handling. It is invaluable if you are going to shoot, invest, collect or play in the Remington double gun field. Remington supplied a number of different pattern Damascus barrels on these old doubles. A picture of their salesman’s sample of the various styles of Damascus available is shown on page 275 of Semmer's book. According to the serial number chronology Charles assembled from shipping records, your gun would be of 1902 vintage.
From the 1906 catalogue --
1907 magazine ad --
The terms "Model 1894" and "Model 1900" were only used on parts lists.
You need to check out Charles G. Semmer's book Remington Double Shotguns. It is available from The Double Gun Journal, 800-447-1658 for $49 plus $10 shipping and handling. It is invaluable if you are going to shoot, invest, collect or play in the Remington double gun field. Remington supplied a number of different pattern Damascus barrels on these old doubles. A picture of their salesman’s sample of the various styles of Damascus available is shown on page 275 of Semmer's book. According to the serial number chronology Charles assembled from shipping records, your gun would be of 1902 vintage.
Re: Remington 1900 with an 1894 date stamp?
I've been using my KED 12 ga. for the past 40 years or so. Best field gun I've ever had. My feeling is that if the gun is in good condition there isn't any reason to retire it. I limit my loads to 5000 psi or less.
BTW - there should be two numbers stamped on the barrel lugs. They may be either two or three characters long and are the pellet counts used to determine choke. If there are two characters a leading 3 is assumed. Remington used 511 pellets (1 1/4 oz) of #8 shot fired at a 30" circle from 40 yards to determine choke. So, for example, a count of 342 would equal mod to imp mod (342/511=67%).
Also - you are correct, the K grade started production in 1900. It ended in 1910 along with the other SxSs (Model 1894 and Model 1889). At that time, Remington felt the future lay with the new auto loader and pump.
BTW - there should be two numbers stamped on the barrel lugs. They may be either two or three characters long and are the pellet counts used to determine choke. If there are two characters a leading 3 is assumed. Remington used 511 pellets (1 1/4 oz) of #8 shot fired at a 30" circle from 40 yards to determine choke. So, for example, a count of 342 would equal mod to imp mod (342/511=67%).
Also - you are correct, the K grade started production in 1900. It ended in 1910 along with the other SxSs (Model 1894 and Model 1889). At that time, Remington felt the future lay with the new auto loader and pump.