I have this Remington Underhammer Rifle at auction, but I still can not find out anything about it. Does anyone out there know anything about this rifle? Thanks for any help on this matter.<p>
http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displ ... um=4157564
Remington 54 Cal Underhammer Antique Rifle
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Roy_Marcot
Underhammer "Remington" rifle
Dear klines:
I recently answered this question for another fella who had a half-stock percussion rifle with a Remington marked barrel. The reply I gave him is the same for your rifle, and it went like this:
Sir:
Noted Remington historian Jerry Swinney has conducted more research on early Remington history (prior to 1861) than anyone. His conclusion is that prior to 1850, Remington did not make or assemble sporting arms. Flintlock and percussion sporting arms featuring Remington barrels and/or lock plates and/or Remington marked patch boxes were the work of private gunsmiths throughout the Americas (1820s through the 1850s)... and are not Remington factory guns.
A brief mention in REMINGTON - AMERICA'S OLDEST GUNMAKER goes like this:
The peak of 19th-century population of most of rural upstate New York counties and towns came about 1840. Gunsmiths had been among the settlers who had flooded in to the area, and the prosperity of upstate New York that was fostered by the highly successful Erie Canal provided customers for the products of gun shops. At that time rifle barrels were commonly welded by hand with sledge hammers, but certain enterprising individuals began to set up forges to weld iron barrels under power-driven hammers. By this time, Remington had become a major supplier of rifle barrel blanks to gunsmiths in upstate New York, and soon to much more distant customers.
Eliphalet’s rifle barrels were not finished, rifled, or ready for assembly by gunsmiths. Remington started with barrel blanks, welded under the hammer out of flat wrought iron bars. Power hammers eased the tedious, laborious process of hammer welding by hand. The resulting barrels were wrought iron tubes of suitable length, apparently rough-reamed on the inside and ground to the traditional octagon form on the outside. The gunsmith-customer finish-reamed and rifled the barrel blank, and fitted a breechplug, sights, and ramrod thimbles. He also made a flash hole (or if the rifle were to be a caplock, fitted a drum or bolster and nipple) and a stock, and did all the other work required to turn out a finished rifle.
In 1832, less than four years after moving his establishment to the location alongside the canal, Remington built a large, frame factory building on a stone foundation. Soon thereafter, twenty workmen were busy making gun barrels and other metal goods.
Gunsmith shops--whose main products were rifles--opened all across New York State, and Remington's move to the banks of the Erie made it possible for his goods to be economically shipped far and wide. Remington’s product became exclusively rifle barrels. In the 1830s, Eliphalet formed a new and distinct partnership with Benjamin Harrington of Ilion to make the non-barrel products that had formerly been made at the little forge up Steele's Creek. The few fragmentary records of Remington's activity that survive from the 1830s, primarily forwarder's receipts, all relate to the shipment of barrels with a single exception, in which the shipment included several hundred pounds of sleigh runners. All of his shipments were to known riflemakers.
I hope this information is helpful to understanding your .36 caliber percussion rifle.
Roy Marcot
Remington Historian
I recently answered this question for another fella who had a half-stock percussion rifle with a Remington marked barrel. The reply I gave him is the same for your rifle, and it went like this:
Sir:
Noted Remington historian Jerry Swinney has conducted more research on early Remington history (prior to 1861) than anyone. His conclusion is that prior to 1850, Remington did not make or assemble sporting arms. Flintlock and percussion sporting arms featuring Remington barrels and/or lock plates and/or Remington marked patch boxes were the work of private gunsmiths throughout the Americas (1820s through the 1850s)... and are not Remington factory guns.
A brief mention in REMINGTON - AMERICA'S OLDEST GUNMAKER goes like this:
The peak of 19th-century population of most of rural upstate New York counties and towns came about 1840. Gunsmiths had been among the settlers who had flooded in to the area, and the prosperity of upstate New York that was fostered by the highly successful Erie Canal provided customers for the products of gun shops. At that time rifle barrels were commonly welded by hand with sledge hammers, but certain enterprising individuals began to set up forges to weld iron barrels under power-driven hammers. By this time, Remington had become a major supplier of rifle barrel blanks to gunsmiths in upstate New York, and soon to much more distant customers.
Eliphalet’s rifle barrels were not finished, rifled, or ready for assembly by gunsmiths. Remington started with barrel blanks, welded under the hammer out of flat wrought iron bars. Power hammers eased the tedious, laborious process of hammer welding by hand. The resulting barrels were wrought iron tubes of suitable length, apparently rough-reamed on the inside and ground to the traditional octagon form on the outside. The gunsmith-customer finish-reamed and rifled the barrel blank, and fitted a breechplug, sights, and ramrod thimbles. He also made a flash hole (or if the rifle were to be a caplock, fitted a drum or bolster and nipple) and a stock, and did all the other work required to turn out a finished rifle.
In 1832, less than four years after moving his establishment to the location alongside the canal, Remington built a large, frame factory building on a stone foundation. Soon thereafter, twenty workmen were busy making gun barrels and other metal goods.
Gunsmith shops--whose main products were rifles--opened all across New York State, and Remington's move to the banks of the Erie made it possible for his goods to be economically shipped far and wide. Remington’s product became exclusively rifle barrels. In the 1830s, Eliphalet formed a new and distinct partnership with Benjamin Harrington of Ilion to make the non-barrel products that had formerly been made at the little forge up Steele's Creek. The few fragmentary records of Remington's activity that survive from the 1830s, primarily forwarder's receipts, all relate to the shipment of barrels with a single exception, in which the shipment included several hundred pounds of sleigh runners. All of his shipments were to known riflemakers.
I hope this information is helpful to understanding your .36 caliber percussion rifle.
Roy Marcot
Remington Historian