I found my second Russian rifle in the first special forces museum in Okinawa. Again, it had an unusually short barrel, a feature I initially mistook for a modification. This rifle was in even worse shape. However, the caliber markings were clear, as well as the Remington address and the date October 22, 1901. The patent markings were partly visible. The hammer tooth was shortened, the stock was repaired, and the stock and neck of the butt were stamped in Chinese, Cyrillic and Vietnamese.
An advertisement for a Remington M1897 rifle.
Several hundred or more striking mechanisms of the 1902 Remington rifle were found in Gardone, Italy a few years ago. According to a number of European collectors who bought some of them, this was what remained from the Spanish Civil War and that they were all were sold to an unknown person in Italy around 1958, where they were kept until recently.
If these are remnants of weapons from the Spanish Civil War, then they almost certainly were once part of the Remington M1902 rifles sold to Russia, and they were part of a large shipment of weapons that Stalin sent in support of the Spanish republicans. Stalin cleared out Russian arsenals, first sending outdated and then modern small arms of all kinds.
These bolt-action rifles were probably part of the first batch of weapons that the Compesh ship took out of the port in Crimea on September 26 and delivered to Spain on October 4, 1936. This shipment is listed simply as 23350 "Rifles - Foreign, Old" …
In August 1938, the victorious Spanish nationalists staged an exhibition of weapons and equipment seized from the Republicans. The catalog of this exhibition includes a list of types of captured small arms and the very first entry in the list is "Fuzea … the Remington arms factory …, М1887 (sic) … 7.62 … Russia". Except that the year of the model is not entirely correct and for some reason it was strangely called five-shot, this, in all likelihood, is a Russian bolt-action rifle. Since the compilers of the catalog knew Russian and bolt-action rifles well, the "M1887" is most likely a misprint, and the five-shot one is just a mistake or the result of some confusion. Or … the phrase "five-shot" can refer to an experimental device, which will be discussed further, and about which we essentially know nothing.
The photographs show rifles of all models and calibers in the hands of soldiers who took part in the Spanish Civil War on both sides. But how many of the 2,981 bolt-action rifles were shipped to Spain cannot be determined, and why the striking mechanisms of the Remington rifles found in Gardon remained in storage for so long is also difficult to say. The two intact rifles that I reviewed in 1971 indicate that not all Russian rifles were shipped to Spain, that some of them may still be in circulation.
And only in 2004, I was finally able to purchase a Remington rifle with a butterfly valve of the Russian caliber 7.62x54mm, made for tsarist Russia; her photograph is given in this book.
In 2002, Alex Aksenov, a collector-exporter of Russian weapons and antiques, contacted me. He learned about me from my first book on Remington rotary-action rifles and asked if I was still collecting them. Having received the answer that I was always interested in them and constantly looking for something that I might not have, he told me about a rifle that I no longer hoped to find, M1902, serial number 88, adapted for the Russian cartridge 7.62x54mm. * * I sent a letter by express mail with my postal and e-mail address, work and home phone, marked ASAP (as soon as possible), as I did not want to lose this find. It took me two years to resolve all the difficulties, resolve the customs formalities and move her out of the Russian Federal Republic through Canada to the United States.
The fastening of the bolt pins was very simple.
How this rifle returned to its country of origin is another example of the importance of being "in the right place at the right time."
This rifle began its journey back to the West only because the implacable members of the Communist Party refused to leave the parliament building. In 1991, the Russian army was ordered to dislodge the former members of the Politburo who had taken up residence in this building. Artillery (so in the text - approx. Authors) fired at this building before starting its assault. Two shells generally missed and both hit the building of the former Moscow Military Research Center. This center was founded in 1935 and displayed military equipment for research and use by the military. Only in 1986 was it opened to the public and became a museum. Exhibits included all types of military equipment such as sabers, muskets, rifles and saddles, from the war with Napoleon to the Soviet period of World War II. The firearms exposition also included five Remington bolt-action rifles, which were called blunderbuss. Artillery shells damaged the building of this military research center, it was not guarded and it was possible to enter it. It took the Moscow police and the military about 4 days to finally remove all curious citizens from there and provide his protection. However, more than 1000 rifles, pistols, rare prototypes, drawings, and many historically valuable military and civilian artifacts disappeared without a trace before appearing on the flourishing Moscow black market. Alex also told me that many other rare rifles such as Winchester Models 1866 and 1895 and muskets in good condition disappeared from this center along with the Remington Model 1902 Blunderbuss.
Complete disassembly of the Remington shutter.
While the whereabouts of the other four rifles with serial number 88 remain unknown. Having an almost photographic memory, Alex was able to memorize and later briefly write down a significant part of the information from the cards that remained at the exhibition long after the building of the center was plundered, but he did not dare to ask whether it was possible to make copies of them, although he himself was in did not participate in this robbery.
On the research center card, these rifles were called "Remington Special Rifle Model 97" and it was noted that most of them were equipped with a "Maxim 3-S silencer". The Maxim silencer was invented by Hiram Percy Maxim, the son of Sir Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the famous machine gun. It was patented in 1909. The 3-S was intended for rifles chambered for high power and was offered to the civilian market around 1910. The markings on the tail of the receiver also changed around 1911, so they were made in or 1910- 1911, or mufflers were installed on them already in Russia. The card also noted that fewer than 1,000 rifles showed signs that they were equipped with a combination of "fast-loading clip and rear sight on the receiver." Whether this was done in Russia or by Remington itself, or perhaps by a subcontractor, is also unknown, although I think that if it had been done in the United States, there would have been some records, patent or memories of this. Alex told me that the idea of combining a rear sight on a sniper-type receiver and a loading accelerator was abandoned around 1911-1912, and 981 rifles with such a device were refurbished. They simply plugged additional screw holes. These clogged holes are located on the upper left and right sides of the body, at the top of the bolt and on the tail. Since I have never seen any such device, I have no idea what it looked like or how it worked, but since a bolt action rifle is a single shot rifle, I wonder if it could have included a simple cartridge lock, something like the Metcafe attachment, which was tested on a Springfield bolt action rifle.
The barrel was shortened and the ramrod removed to make room for the muffler. Alex noted that my rifle was received complete with a frictionally fitted Maxim silencer. The card in the exhibition of these five rifles mentioned their use during the First World War, but nothing was reported about their current whereabouts. All five rifles on display were finished in white, but it is not known if the entire batch of 2,981 rifles came in the same finish. European museums are notorious for adding a polish to everything, so the fact that rifles look so great doesn't prove anything. Alex wrote down the serial numbers of the four missing rifles from the cards that remained on display. These are 116, 1467, 1673, and 2504. Numbers 88 and 116 are the only two numbers that testify to this mysterious rework. No one knows if any of these rear sight / booster devices survived, and Alex made it clear that further questioning would be unwelcome.
(Author's note: in the photograph on page 69 in the book "Firearms" by Y. Shokarev, S. Plotnikov, and E. Dragunov, you can see an image of a Remington carbine with such an accelerator.)
* For obvious reasons, this is a fictitious name.
** This is the Russian serial number. Bolt action rifles never had them.
Shurupova Irina Vladimirovna
Russian Remington rifle with M1902 rotary bolt. Its distinctive feature is an unusually short barrel, on which a Maxim silencer can be installed. Maxim S-3 should be screwed onto the barrel, but in this case, a friction fitting, reinforced with a rod, was used, which is installed in the ramrod channel. The rifle has the serial number 88 adopted in Russia and a stamp consisting of a number and letters of the Russian alphabet (Cyrillic). Of the 2,981 rifles purchased by Russia, 981 were modified and equipped with a rear sight and a quick-loading device. I have no idea what it looks like, but there are screw holes on the receiver and tail, which are plugged when this device is removed. On the top of the barrel, about three inches in front of the trigger guard, there is a marking “CAL 7.62R”. (Author's collection. Photo - Rick Panderson)
Text from George Lauman's Trading Card:
REMINGTON
Model 1897/02 Russian "Blunderbuss". Special order 273 A.
7.62x54mm Early Russian 1902 model (pre-Remington / U. M. C. tail marking, but includes Daze's extractor).
Note: the barrel is marked "CAL.7.62K". The serial number "88" is stamped behind the hammer across the tail of the receiver, on the lower part of the tail, on the guard across the upper part, on the lower front part of the butt and on the lower part of the forearm. The Cyrillic “order” (contract) marking is easily distinguishable, as are other markings such as MV, which stands for Moscow Military, short for Moscow Research Center. The emblem with the Soviet star, hammer and sickle, and above the letters MV - this is the designation of the owner."
Note: this text, as you can see, is very indicative in all respects. First, it is information from a serious source. Secondly, it is a clear example of the fact that our propaganda does not always inform us about the "intrigues" of our overseas partners in a proper way and often writes much more than what actually is. It is also information about how and where our historical artifacts flow away and the attitude of people like George Lauman to Russia and its history. All this is very interesting and revealing. In addition, we found out that the role of Gorlov and Gunius in the story of the Berdan rifle was exactly the opposite of what Soviet historiography attributed to them! Accordingly, the “bad” tsarist minister and “satrap” Milyutin turned out to be the very person who opened the way for the “Berdanka” in Russia, and, as a result, for our famous “three-line”, that is, he acted like a smart, statesman and responsible husband!
