Request info on 1899 Rem Lee Sporter

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wsmrto
Posts: 50
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:00 pm

Request info on 1899 Rem Lee Sporter

Post by wsmrto »

I just received this from a estate sale and besides the little in the Blue book there is not much info on them. This one is the only one I have had in my collection of RB's and it is in beautiful condition. has the Pistol grip 2 point checkering and not a lot of wear showing. Barrel is very nice crisp rifling and just needs a cleaning. I will post Pics asap but late now. I have quite a few nice RB's but this was a real find. It has the bolt mounted rear sight and is marked to be in 236 which is the Navy cartridge. Very rare in this as it is a commercial sporter version. I have been a forum member a long while and read most posts however I don't post a lot. It seems that there is very little on the net about the 1899 but quite a bit on the 1885 Rem-Lee, What's up??
Dick Hosmer
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Re: Request info on 1899 Rem Lee Sporter

Post by Dick Hosmer »

I used to have a similar (less ornate) rifle, marked ".236" on the bottom of the barrel, just ahead of the forend. I was never sure of the caliber as there are three possibilities: 6m/m Navy rimmed, 6m/m Navy rimless, and .236 Remington. The latter is a VERY rare rimmed cartridge, shorter and fatter than the others, whose only difference was rimmed vs. rimless. I was told that mine was in the rare chambering but never took a cast to be sure. The serial number was in the sporter range, 75xxx as I recall, but I do not believe I ever recorded it as I did not own it for very long.
GeneM
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Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:57 am

Re: Request info on 1899 Rem Lee Sporter

Post by GeneM »

The quickest way to find out the cartridge is to measure the bolt head. Head diameters for the 6mm USN rimless measures .445 in., the .236 USN rimmed is .517 and the rare .236 Remington rimmed is .548. The 7mmx57 rimless is .470. I measured actual cartridges for the 6mm, .236 Remington rimmed and the 7x57. The .236 USN rimmed is from George Layman's book. I mention the 7mmx57 head diameter only because in working on the Remington Lee book I came across an interesting M1899 Rem Lee factory sporter that had the bolt (or bolt head) changed to a 7x57 to use .220 Swift cases resized to 6mm USN. Had me scratching my head for while until the chamber cast. It was a standard Sporting Rifle, 26 inch bbl marked .236, plain walnut stock with the checkering having two points facing the action. Serial number was 75xxx. I did shoot it and later sold it.


The other interesting rifle picked up in my research/collecting for the Winchester Lee book was a German Commission Model 88 carbine that was extensively reworked to a sporting rifle with a Winchester Lee sporter barrel fitted, a pistol grip fitted, the buttstock sling slot filled in, the barrel channel lined and the stock reworked to a sporter configuration. Excellent workmanship. It, too, took the .220 Swift case reworked to the 6 mm USN. See p.76 of my Winchester Lee book for a picture. Some one spent fair sum of money to sporterize the Model 88 carbine. It shot well and I later sold it. The Winchester Lee rifles, especially the Navy rifles, were candidates for reboring to .256 Newton by Pachmayr or later, to .257 Roberts or 7mm Mauser by Ward Koozer.
Dick Hosmer
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Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:15 pm
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Re: Request info on 1899 Rem Lee Sporter

Post by Dick Hosmer »

Thanks, Gene!

Wish I'd known that before I parted with the gun - but it went in part of the cash/trade deal which brought me my "Type 2" (Sharps-sighted) Springfield Long Range rifle in .45-80, one of the seven known of the 24 produced in 1881, so I really cannot squawk too much.
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