As is often the case, as soon as Remington rifles saw the light of day, imitators appeared: October 17, 1865 T. T. S. Laidley and S. A. Emery received Patent # 54,743 for a bolt similar to Joseph Ryder's, but designed to avoid infringing on Ryder's patents. In 1870, the Whitney arms company in Connecticut bought the rights to the Laidley-Emery patent and began producing weapons for this bolt, competing with the Remington company.
The 1864 carbine turned out to be an exemplary weapon and was produced for many years. Its only improvement consisted in the fact that its bolt was changed every time for each order for the corresponding cartridges and, above all, from circular ignition cartridges to central combat cartridges.
However, it turned out to be more difficult to manufacture, had not three, but four parts, and did not give real advantages. The firm did not manage to interest the United States government, and it lost to Remington in state tests of rifles in New York. Nevertheless, the company's rifles were popular in Latin America, where they were supplied chambered for the.43 caliber for the Spanish Remington or the.50-70 caliber adopted in the United States. They remained in production from 1871 until the end of 1881.
After the expiration of the Remington-Ryder patents, the Whitney firm began to copy the Rmington bolts in the open, and in total released from 50,000 to 55,000 rifles and carbines, although this has not yet been documented. However, the company's financial position deteriorated, and in 1888 all of the company's assets were acquired by the Winchester company. The reason for the purchase is trivial: thus, another competitor was eliminated from the market, and technical documentation could no longer fall into the hands of potential competitors.
As for the army of the United States itself, it should be noted that the Remington rifle was never officially adopted into its armament and was not officially entered into service. Although … although it doesn't really mean anything!
Rifle bolt chambered for central combat.
So, the Remington carbine ("Naval carbine of 1867") in 1867 was purchased by the American fleet, which had a separate department of armaments from the ground. First, the Navy ordered 5000 carbines from the company, and then the same number of pistols with a rolling block bolt. True, pistols were not as popular as carbines, because at that time there already existed a sufficient number of much more effective revolvers. They were not in service for long, and already in 1879, 4,000 carbines were sold to private traders and thus sold to the states.
The shutter is closed, the trigger is released.
In 1867, in the amount of 498 pieces, the fleet ordered the so-called "cadet rifles" of the same caliber as the carbines for the cadets of the naval schools. In 1870, in addition to the carbines, the navy ordered 10,000 M1870 Navy rifles. From the same 1870 to 1872, three modifications of the Reinton rifle were produced for the American army by the Springfield State Arsenal, having received a license for this from the company. First, 1008 rifles and 314 carbines were produced, and a year later, already 10001 rifles. For what? For testing! And they were carried out very intensively, as evidenced by the number of shot cartridges - 89,828 pieces in 1872 alone. Of these, there were 2595 misfires, that is, 2.9% of shots. It was possible to find out that the maximum rate of fire of the Remington rifle is 21 (!) Rounds per minute, against 19 for the Springfield bolt-action rifle and the Pipody rifle. It would seem a wonderful result, but the company, which has all the rights to the bolt, demanded a price for the rifles that the army did not agree to.
A rifle with the simplest sights. These could be supplied to Honduras, Chile, and the Philippines …
At the same time, as soon as the test results became known, "walkers" from the states began to come to the firm to order rifles for … the National Guard! In November 1871, the Governor of New York State ordered 15,000 rifles chambered for.50-70 for the State National Guard.
The rifle was named the New York State Model, followed by an 1873 order for 4,500 rifles and 1,500 ring-and-shackle saddle carbines. Outwardly, they were distinguished by "blue barrels" (ie blued steel) and "white parts", that is, a polished bolt and hammer. Then the remingtons were received by the militia of South Carolina (caliber.45-70), Texas, and already in 1898 35 rifles chambered for the 7x57 Mauser cartridge were manufactured for the crew of the Niagara ship, which delivered to Cuba (and just at that time the Spanish-American war began) a group of journalists for the New Yorker newspaper, owned by the father of the yellow press, William Hirst.
The Remington M1866.50 caliber pistol was offered for free sale.
But if Remington was not very lucky with America, then in Europe his rifles were greeted with open arms. Where? Yes, everywhere! For example, in the same Austria-Hungary, where in 1866 the firm of Eduard Pajea in Vienna began production of rifles chambered for 11, 2-mm caliber and with a Scimitar bayonet of the Verdl system. The next country was the arms Mecca of Europe - Belgium, where Remington rifles in 1869 began to be produced by the company … Nagant! True, not for yourself! And for the neighboring powers: 6100 infantry rifles for the Pope's Guards (on the barrel are stamped "St. Peter's keys") plus another 1700 carbines (1868); 5,000 cavalry carbines for the Netherlands and 2,250 carbines with bayonets for the police and militia; 686 rifles for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; 15,000 for Brazil; 6000 for Greece. However, later the Belgians also produced remingtones under the Mauser cartridge 7, 65x53 mm, and they, under the name M1910, were used in their own army.
The hammer is cocked, the bolt is open.
The Danish M1867 / 96 rifle used 11, 35-mm central combat cartridges. In total, Denmark received 31,500 infantry rifles and 7,040 cavalry carbines. An interesting feature of the Danish carbines was an additional magazine in the butt. It contained 10 rounds and was closed from above by a hinged lid representing the upper edge of the butt. This was called the "engineering" model.
In Canada, Remington carbines were produced for the Montreal police, had a long straight needle bayonet and.43 caliber "Spanish design" cartridges. It is interesting that the axes of the bolt and the trigger were fixed on them from the opposite side with one screw and a two-blade plate.
The hammer is cocked, the bolt is closed.
As for France, a country of such powerful weapons traditions, then … until the end of the Franco-Prussian war, she received from Remington a total of 393,442 rifles and carbines of all types, and under different cartridges: Russian Berdan.42 caliber,.43 Egyptian, and.43 Spanish, because during the war, the French took everything that they could shoot. That is, the contracts of other countries were bought by the French at an inflated price, since they did not have enough of their own weapons! The French arsenal in Saint-Etienne has launched the production of Remington chambered for 11 mm M / 78 Beaumont, but why this was done for all researchers remains a mystery.
The First World War began, and France, which had an eight-shot Lebel rifle chambered for an 8-mm cartridge, was again forced to order "single-shot" Remington for the colonial troops. The caliber was standard - 8 mm, the model was called M1910 and was supplied to the French in 1914-1915. Units in Morocco, Algeria, and French Indo-China were armed with them.
French soldiers of the 22nd Engineer Regiment in their amazing sky blue uniforms and holding 8mm Remington rifles. 1915 year.
Another major buyer of Remington was Greece, which placed a large order but received only 9202 rifles. And then the Franco-Prussian war began, France's own weapons were not enough, and her government made an offer to Reminton: buy a Greek order at $ 15 apiece at $ 20! "The power aches the straw!" As a result, the Greeks were so offended that they did not make a second order!
However, the most interesting thing about Reinton's affairs was where? Well, of course in Russia, where else … It should be borne in mind that the company “E. Remington and Sons”from the very beginning considered Russia as an important potential client, and tried to open it for her products, but no matter how hard she tried, luck did not come to her. But in the documents of the company in 1877 it is noted that "Karl Gunnius was benevolently disposed towards the Remington system and did not like the Berdan rifle." He also sent a memorandum to the Minister of War, General Milyutin, urging him to show interest in the Remington rifle. But he was against her and wrote a sarcastic resolution that Russia is not the Papal States and not Egypt to buy remingtons, and that he finds it necessary to declare the importance for Russia to develop its own weapons system.
Wait, wait, but isn't it written in the books on the history of weapons of the Soviet era that it was Gorlov and Gunius who “paved the way” for Berdan's rifle to Russia? Here is the text, which I already forgot where I took it, but the fact that it was printed here is undoubtedly: “In Russia, the transition to a reduced caliber 4, 2 lines took place in 1868. Not long before this, the War Ministry had sent officers A. Gorlov and K. Gunius to the United States. They had to sort out all the abundance of small arms systems, … and select the best for the Russian army. After careful study, Gorlov and Gunius chose a rifle developed by Colonel of the American Army H. Berdan. However, before transferring it into service and recommending it for mass production, both envoys made 25 improvements to the design. As a result, the rifle changed so much that it practically lost its resemblance to the prototype, and the Americans themselves called it "Russian". After successful trials, the Russians ordered at least 30,000 rifles from the Colt plant in Hartford, which were used to arm rifle battalions."
But in reality everything was not so, or rather not quite so! The same Gunnius, it turns out, did not sympathize at all with the system of Hiram Berdan, but tried to promote the Remington rifle into the armament of the Russian army! And it turns out that it was our Minister of War and the "tsar's satrap" Milyutin who insisted on the adoption of the Berdan-2 rifle with a sliding bolt, and Gorlov and Gunnius in the end simply did what they were ordered from above! And after all, the right minister made a decision! Because the Remington bolt, although it was good and simple enough, nevertheless had one serious drawback - it was not suitable for installing a magazine on it, while magazine rifles had already begun to appear. That is, our Minister of War turned out to be so far-sighted that even then he understood it, and was not at all such a stupid courtier, what tsarist ministers were usually portrayed in these times! How is this known? Here's where it comes from: from a study by George Lauman, the largest rifle specialist in the United States, Remington, the author of a serious study published in 2010. Moreover, this discovery in no way begs our history, so there was no point in coming up with it, and the relevant documents were also preserved.
Filipino insurgents of 1899 with Remington rifles in their hands.
It has already been noted above that during the First World War, when the belligerent powers were in dire need of weapons, France purchased Remington rifles to arm its second-line soldiers, and their service life turned out to be surprisingly long. But the most interesting thing is that the batch of rifles "Remington" М1902 (that is, released in 1902), and made for the Russian cartridge 7, 62x54 mm, was also purchased by Russia, and even earlier, namely during the Russian-Japanese war! It is difficult to say whether they were used or not at that time, but individual samples from this batch are still appearing on the market for collection weapons. Then, already from the USSR, these rifles were for some reason sent, where do you think? To Spain, in 1936, as military aid to the Republicans. In total, 23350 rifles were delivered in October 1936, which were recorded in the invoice documents as "foreign old rifles." And what "foreign old rifles" could have come from Russia? Only remingtones, I see. By the way, later they were captured as trophies by nationalists and were shown at an exhibition of captured weapons in August 1938! It is not clear why Stalin did just that, "fusing" the military trash to the Republicans. That is, it is clear that in this way part of the warehouses was cleared of the old, but still generally usable weapons that had accumulated there, and besides, the USSR received payment for them in Spanish gold. But was it really such a good advertisement for us? Or, from the very beginning, he did not believe in the victory of the Republicans, where the main rulers were still not the Communists, but the Social Democrats who were so disliked by him, who knows ?!
Private and officer of the Philippine Republican Army. In the hands of a private, a Remington carbine.
As for Spain itself, in 1868 the Remington, Peabody and Chaspo rifles were tested there. Remington won, and the Spaniards ordered 10,000 rifles chambered for the Spanish.43 caliber. This was followed by a second contract for 50,000 and a third for 30,000 rifles already in 1873. Moreover, the third order was received simultaneously with the second due to the "business activity" of the defeated French! Well, then the Spaniards themselves set up the production of remingtones under license and sold their products to Latin America.
The Remington M1867 rifles and the M1870 carbines of the year were in service with the armies of Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. In general, the list of countries that had Remington rifles in their arsenals is extremely extensive. Among them: Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia and Morocco, Persia, Turkey, Yemen, Israel (!), Where they were used in 1948, then Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba and Puerto -Rico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cambodia, China, Japan, Philippines and even New Zealand !
Well, and then they instantly sank into oblivion. It is impossible to attach a store, although the system itself is exhaustively perfect!
