1900 Barrel ident.

[lightning2923]

Have a 1900 16ga. 28" ejector with what i think is damascus barrels. It is marked Y or X KED Y or X again (think this is grade). Under RP in oval is H. LH barrel has 7 above Y or X ser. #386351 i don't know mfg. date. Oct. 30th, 94 stamped twice on water table. Has 859 stamped on water table and forend plus other hard parts. Can any tell me what all this means? Other than i have a nice 16ga. bird gun.
Thanks
Tommy

[lightning2923]

Had another question i forgot about. What is the difference between 1900 guns marked Q and not marked? Mine is not but a friend has Q373211 which is older than my 386351.
Thanks again
Tommy

[Researcher]

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. Your gun serial number 386351 would be from 1910 when Remington Arms Co. cleaned out all of their break-action gun production and sold the lot to Norvell Shapleigh Hardware in St Louis.

You need to check out Charles G. Semmer's book Remington Double Shotguns. It is available from the author 7885 Cyd Drive, Denver, CO 80221, for $60 plus $5 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.

Remington Arms Co. stamped the actual pellet counts of their test patterns on the rear barrel lug of their Model 1889 hammer doubles and their Model 1894 and 1900 hammerless doubles. If the number is three digits, that is the count, if the number is two digits a leading 3 is implied. From surviving hang-tags we know the standard load they used to target 12-gauge guns was 1 1/4 ounces of #8 going 511 pellets to the load. My 12-gauge KE-Grade Model 1900 is stamped 33 on the left and 24 on the right. That would be 333/511 = 65% left and 324/511 = 64% right, or about improved modified in both barrels. The chokes measure .027" in both barrels of that gun.

I don't think anyone has really decoded those letters and hashmarks down the barrel tube bottoms. I've posted this information before, but if someone with a lot of Remingtons, add these to what he has and what is in Charles' book, maybe a pattern will emerge.

1906 12-gauge KE-Grade has /// K E Y

1907 12-gauge KE-Grade has L K E Y

1909 16-gauge KE-Grade has X K E A1

1896 12-gauge AE-Grade has P A

1906 12-gauge FE Trap has /// F E G 13

1894 12-gauge BE-Grade has B J and a poorly struck E or an F

1907 CEO-Grade 12-gauge has /// M

1905 DEO-Grade 16-gauge has X O

In some cases you can get the grade as in the KE and FE. My BE-Grade has Chain Damascus barrels, and on the Remington Damascus salesman sample the Chain Damascus is labeled CHAIN J. So, B for the grade, J for the barrel material and E for ejectors?!? Hmmm....

Just from looking at my little list there seems to be a difference in the markings on the early guns, 1894 and 1896 and those from the later years 1905 to 1909. Anyone willing to share marks on 1897 to 1904 guns? I also noted that in my later guns both 16-gauges have an X and the 12-gauges all have ///. I see Semmer shows the barrels of 12-gauge KE-Grade 361550 and it has the same /// K E Y as my slightly earlier 12-Gauge KE-Grade.

[lightning2923]

Thanks for the info. I also saw the simularities in the 16ga. guns. And put mine under a magfnifying glass and it is XKEDX. But don't yet know what the H or the 7 means. I will invest in the book as i would some day like to have a set of the 1900s. Got the 16 now need 12 and 10ga.
Thanks again
Tommy

[Researcher]

I don't know of the Model 1900s ever being offered in anything but 12- and 16-gauges, with a very few experimental 20-gauges right at the end of production (never catalogued). I think you'll have to get into the Model 1894s for a 10-gauge. FWIW, during the years Remington Arms Co. built their hammerless doubles, they were called in the catalogues "Remington Hammerless Double Barrel Shotgun" and differentiated only by their grade. The terms "Model 1894" and "Model 1900" only appeared in the parts lists.