Report of Experiments, 1875

Topics related to Pre - 1898 Remington Rifles
Post Reply
dbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by dbm »

In the Annual Report of the National Rifle Association for 1875, General Alexander Shaler (President 1875-1877) reported on experiments with powder charges for long range shooting.

The experiments commenced during the summer 1875 and were concluded that December. The aim was to determine the proper charge of powder to use in long range shooting in the Remington Creedmoor Rifle. Swaged bullets weighing 550 grains were used, and interestingly made of a hard alloy composed of fifteen parts lead and one of tin.

The report has been added to the Long Range Rifle Fire section of the Research Press web site: see ‘Report of Experiments‘.


David
David Minshall
Research Press - www.researchpress.co.uk - www.facebook.com/ResearchPress
Firearms, long range target shooting and associated history
Dick Hosmer
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by Dick Hosmer »

This prompts me to raise the question, again, regarding the Remington barrel marking on one of my Long Range Springfield rifles.

To the best of my knowledge, it is a dimensionally proper Springfield barrel with the requisite 6-groove (normal is 3) 19.625" rifling twist (normal is 22") of that particular model of the trapdoor. It does not have the lengthened chamber for the 2.4" case, but, not all of the early LR rifles do.

The associated receiver is 116189, putting in the 1879 time frame. It is in an 1880-cartouched stock with the large Hotchkiss butt typical of long-range Springfields. I'm not terribly concerned about the slight date mismatch, since I'd suspect parts may well have gotten swapped during testing of such limited-production arms.

But, the big mystery is that the barrel is marked "REMINGTON ARMS CO.ILION.N.Y.". Ed Hull pointed out that such a marking should/could not appear before 1888, well after the LR experimentation at SA (for an interesting article see "The .45-70 at Two Miles") and that Remington probably did not make the barrel; but the question remains as to why their name would be on it.

Have any new ideas cropped up?
dbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by dbm »

In the Report I posted above is mention of the cases being the "long kind". Can anyone clarify this?

Thanks,

David
David Minshall
Research Press - www.researchpress.co.uk - www.facebook.com/ResearchPress
Firearms, long range target shooting and associated history
roundtop
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:57 pm

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by roundtop »

I believe I saw a paper showing some surplus trapdoor barrels made by Remington. Will see if I can find it. I would think the Remington barrels would have 5 lands & grooves. The late Jim Serven had some trapdoor barrels and the one I saw from him in Nebraska in the 1950's had 5 or 6 grooves. It was cut off and put on a carbine before realizing what it was. Ed
Dick Hosmer
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:15 pm
Contact:

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by Dick Hosmer »

Thanks for the responses.

The five-groove TD barrels are an issue all by themselves - no one seems to know who made them - other than that SA most likely did not. They are known in all three (22", 29.6", 32.6") standard lengths, and are most commonly found on those arms made outside of the Armory during the early 1890s, from surplus parts.

They do not seem to be associated with the Long Range testing program at all - that being restricted to 6 or 3, but with varying twists.
jon_norstog
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:10 am
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Contact:

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by jon_norstog »

5 groove barrels ... hmm. That was what all the Argy #1`s out of the Ilion NY plant I've ever seen had on them. Could it be???

jn
dbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 1:49 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by dbm »

My web site has been rebuilt and the above article can now be found at: 'Report on Experiments, 1875'

David
David Minshall
Research Press - www.researchpress.co.uk - www.facebook.com/ResearchPress
Firearms, long range target shooting and associated history
Yellowhouse
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:43 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Report of Experiments, 1875

Post by Yellowhouse »

dbm wrote:In the Report I posted above is mention of the cases being the "long kind". Can anyone clarify this?

Thanks,

David
I'm going to stick my neck out here and venture that he's referring to the more 2 9/16 inch bottleneck (44-90) known as the Remington Special as opposed to the shorter 2 1/4 (44-77) that could be and was loaded with up to 90 gr of powder. I'm thinking its a little early for the 44-100 straight case.
Post Reply