Remington 1858 Army puzzle

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Bigterr
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:05 pm

Remington 1858 Army puzzle

Post by Bigterr »

Hello everyone, a newbie here. I recently acquired what I believe to be a Remington Army. The name on the top of the barrel has been rubbed off. The serial no. on the bottom of the barrel is 29206 and near the breech is the no. 738. These 2 nos. also are on the frame under the grips. On the under side of the trigger guard stamped on the tab is 738 and on the opposite side of the tab is 29. Why is there 2 separate nos. Is there any other way to correctly identify this revolver as an authentic Remington Army.
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billt
Posts: 258
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2003 6:42 pm

Re: Remington 1858 Army puzzle

Post by billt »

Hi,
Not being able to see the whole gun I will make an educated guess. From the placement of the numbers on your revolver I believe you probably have a percussion revolver which has been converted to cartridge. The 29206 is the serial number which can be found of the bottom barrel flat, the left frame under the grip and on the trigger guard tab. The 738 is the conversion number which is also found on the barrel, the frame and the trigger guard. After the civil war Remington converted their surplus 44 caliber percussion revolvers to cartridge. The Remington conversion was from a 44 caliber six shot percussion revolver to a five shot 46 rim fire cartridge revolver. There were also many gun smith conversions mostly to 44-40 centerfire caliber. Those revolvers had six shot cylinders and their triggers were modified to impact the primer. If you could send more pictures we could probably nail down exactly what you have.

Bill
Bigterr
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:05 pm

Re: Remington 1858 Army puzzle

Post by Bigterr »

Thanks for your info billt but the revolver has the cylinder for percussion caps,that’s the way it was when I bought it. I have attached photos of the gun. The photo of the cylinder is stamped with those same 3 nos. 738. What puzzles me is why someone would have rubbed off the Remington name on the top of the barrel. Does the hammer seem to have been modified to fire cartridges and maybe someone replaced the cylinder with an original one.
The mystery is the 3 nos. 738 which is stamped on the frame, barrel, trigger guard, and cylinder. In your opinion is this an authentic Remington Army made in July 1864. Thanks for any help you can give me.
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billt
Posts: 258
Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2003 6:42 pm

Re: Remington 1858 Army puzzle

Post by billt »

Bigterr,
The hammer looks like a standard percussion hammer.

In the picture of the underside of the barrel with the number 738 it looks like the loading lever post is dovetailed into the barrel. If so, this is an after factory modification. The original factory loading lever post was threaded into the bottom of the barrel.

The serial number on the frame looks much deeper than the one on bottom barrel flat. It could mean the revolver was at one time refinished which would explain why the barrel address is missing. Many of the barrel addresses were lightly stamped and it would not take a lot of buffing to remove it.

The extra numbers on your revolver are usually associated with revolvers which have been converted to cartridge but that is obviously not the case with your revolver. Remington did not normally put numbers on their cylinders unless some “hand fitting” was required for the cylinder to operate properly. One possibility is if your revolver was returned to the factory to correct a problem and the revolver had to be disassembled to complete the rework, the 738 number could have been used to keep track of the parts.

The revolver looks like a correct Remington New Model Army with the possible exception of the loading lever latch post modification.

Bill
Bigterr
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:05 pm

Re: Remington 1858 Army puzzle

Post by Bigterr »

Thanks for all the info on my revolver. Maybe the loading lever post some how got damaged and dovetailing was the repair. It feels good to know that I probably have a real Remington new model army. Thanks again for your expertise.
Terry
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