Remingtons - the Long, Not the Short, of It

ly: Jack Appel

My talk will primarily be about someof the rare, engrav-

d, and not too well known long Remingtons. Remingtons
D many collectors are pistols, revolvers, military rolling
locks and boy's rifles. I will talk about some of the de-
elopmental rifles, the engraved rifles, and superb sport-
ng and target rifles.
I will omit most of the percussion period Remingtons,
he military rolling blocks made for our country and 9
oreign countries, and the Remington pistols. Most of us
ave seen the superb pistol collection of our accordian-
laying former president, Karl Moldenhauer, to which
little can be added.
I this day available factory data on rare Remington

Ing guns is basically non-existant and, when found, is

ften inaccurate. Publications of the period, as well as
Id Remington catalogs have been helpful; in many cases,
he back of the catalogs, where extra items and testimonials I will go into the Remington-Hepburn and Hepburn-
rere printed, helped fill in voids. L.D. Satterlee's book, Walker variations in some detail. I believe the data on
Catalog of Firearms for the Collector, privately printed Hepburns to be fairly conclusive.
I 1927, and reprinted in 1939, was once the collector's Looking through our directory, I have seen that only a
ible. This collector's bible was so well thought of that comparatively few members indicate a single shot rifle
lany authors plagiarized complete chapters without a specialty, and that I am apparently the only member who
redit line of any sort to Satterlee. This book, or its pla- specializes in Remington long guns. Is this because the
iarized sections, has helped me in my searches through legend of the superb Remington-Creedmores that gave
he years. this country its shooting reputation by winning at the
There has always been a wide divergence of opinion re- International Matches of 1875 and 1876 at Creedmore,
arding the development of the rolling block mechanism: Long Island and Wimbleton, England, have been forgot-
: is usually attributed to Leonard Geiger of Hudson, N.Y., ten? Or is it because the superb Remingtons have been
4th improvements by J. Rider of Newark, Ohio. I don't languishing in the background, while the bright lights
hink we will ever know for sure. The evidence is often have been on Sharps, Winchester, and Colts? I t now seems
ificult and ambiguous, like the sequence of the chicken as if the Remington picture is changing: recognition has
nd the egg. I have my own opinion, and I will now present arrived. Prices ranging from medium 3 figures to high 4
>me of the material I have accumulated on the Geiger- figures are being offered for rare Remington long guns.
Sder rolling block. Now let us look at some pictures, until we come to the
Aside from showing some of my pretty rolling blocks, Hepburn-Walker story.
**********

"J. Rider Patent Jan. 3, 1865". Patent no. 45,797. Engraved. Exterior left hand hammer similar t o silber print in
Karr's book, page 53, of 1865 prototype army pistol. T w o barrels: 32 and 38 rimfire.

Reprinted from the American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin 38:33-44

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 f. RIDER
Hww iding Rre-Am. Breech-Loading FireAnn
No. 40.867. Palent4 Dec. 8. 1863. Yo. 46.123. Patented Nor. 15. 1864

Illustration from J. Rider patent papers. Print of prototype 1865 Army pistol, from Karr's book, Remington Hand
guns.
 Reminpton percussion SS Breechloader. marked "Rernington's. Herkimer. N.Y." .58 ralibre. Loop lever lowers
to slide barrel forward to tilt i ~ pfor loading. N o rear sight. 0.a. 57". bbl. 40". wt. 10 Ibs.

L. Geiger rifle. Calibre .58 rimfire. Made under patents no. 27.501 of Jan. 27. 1863. reissued Apr. 17. 1866 and Jan.
13. 1874.
 ..' :&...;;;I, L.F<!'..>. 1 OEIOER
.. ,.&. . I . '.
Breech-LoadlugF h - A n n '. ' , Breech-loading F h - A m .
No. 91.601. Pskoted Jan. .21. 1863. - Reissucd April 15, 1866.
L (iLI<:GK
-
,,.,,,..,
j.,,,:

1. G E I G E R .
Breech-Loading F i r s - A r m s .
&. NO. 5 , 7 2 7 . Reissued I a n . 13. 1874.

T h e Reals Rifle - Remington's first cartridge rifles. Patented June 28,

1864. Jan. 30. 1866. All observed serial numbers under 1,000. .38 rimfire
engraved o n silver plated brass frame;.32 rimfire engraved on iron frame.

Illustrations from L. Geiger patent papers.

New York State Shooting Prize: engraved and nickeled. Three different
N.Y. State models were engraved - all actions differently, but barrels
the same - for awards in 1876. Calibre 50-70.

Engraved rolling block carbine, calibre 50-70, and Engraved No. 1% De.
luxe Sporter, calibre .38-2%". German silver buttplate and foreend tip.
E n g r a ~ e da n d nickeled rolling block sporter a n d detail views.
 Engraved rolling block sporter, with animal scenes. .38 calibre.

Engraved N o . 4 rolling block with silver plate. S o m e o n e loved this little boy's rifle, to have it engraved, silver
plated. and fitted with fancy wood.

Engraved Brevet rolling block with Moorish type rear sight. Calibre 50-70. Gold inla>s o n barrel.
Rolling block automatic ejector. If operated in normal manner. after cocking action. breech snaps back automa-
~icall! ejecting rartridge. F o r action t o operate normally, knurled slide must b e pushed forward o n half cock.

Double barrelled engrabed rolling block shotpun with 7 gold inlays. " R e m i n ~ t o nLondon and New York" in gold
on barrel rib. One blork. two hammers. two tripcerr;.

No. 2 action. engraved. pistol grip srhuetzen rifle. A retirement award

t o a factor! foreman. Rare with pistol grip.
Part 2: Remington Hepburn Heartburn
Hepburn patent no. 220,285, Oct. 7, 1879. rifles account for the tremendous demand and price today.
Walker patent no. 354,452, Dec. 14, 1886. Hepburn serial numbers observed by the writer range
Once you have the Hepburn heartburn, you start looking from no. 75 t o no. 991. The observed serial numbers of the
for the cure, and then discover that the only permanent underlever schuetzens start at NW 1and go to NW 17, with
cure is to get the epitome of all single shot rifle, t h e almost a total known number of 11. I t seems that the total Hep-
unobtainable "Remington Special Underlever Match burn production was about 10,000, from the start of pro-
Rifle." duction in 1880 t o its end in 1909.
Until you get that ultimate cure, you can try all the other Of course all of this happened after Lewis L. Hepburn
various cures, such as: left his Colton, NY shop where he had been making per-
1. Remington Hepburn Sporting Model cussion rifles. He went to work for Remington as their top
2. Remington Hepburn Match Rifle barrel maker and designer. The now-famous Hepburn
3. Remington Hepburn Mid Range Creedmore action was developed by him as an improvement o n the
4. Remington Hepburn Long Range Creedmore rolling block action. The Hepburn dropping block action
5. Remington Hepburn High Power Rifle was so simple and strong that only minor changes were
6. Remington Hepburn Long Range Military Creed- needed to take it from the black powder period into the
more and the ultimate, high-power smokeless era.
7. Remington Hepburn Schuetzen Underlever Match Also working at Remington at this time was another
Rifle. expert barrel and tool maker, N. L. Walker, who apparent-
However, before you get to 6 a n d 7, you have undoubted- ly decided that the one flaw in t h e Hepburn was the fact
ly tried these cures: that it would not seat a cartridge that was only partly seated
A. Part octagon, part round barrel; octagon barrel, in t h e chamber. He worked with the action until he had
round barrel, and various barrel lengths. this problem solved. He received a patent for his improve-
B. Calibers - from .22 Short to 50-110 WCF ment on Dec. 14, 1886, seven years after the original Hep-
C. Weights - u p to 30 lbs. (20 Ibs. in author's collec- burn patent. I t doesn't seem as if very much was done with
tion) this improved Hepburn patent. An L. N. Walker patent
D. Single trigger, double set triggers model rifle made t o seat a partially inserted cartridge
E. Plain, fancy, and deluxe woods, grades of checker- with a n underlever is known. This was done with the block
ing, cheekpiece, straight and pistol grips dropping down and back for loading. A few others were
F. Shotgun buttplate, rifle buttplate, (two types), made with an underlever, without this special cartridge
Swiss buttplate, schuetzen buttplate (two types) seating design, but with the front of the breechblock
G. Open sights, mid-range, long range (also vernier), rounded off to help seat the cartridge.
and spirit-level front. The Hepburn rifles were very popular with offhand and
H. Serial numbers. long range rifle shooters. Around t h e t u r n of t h e Century,
Perhaps you are one of t h e lucky ones who can be cured Dr. W. G. Hudson, who was one of the best offhand shots
with a simple sporting model, o r with a sporting and match of his day, worked with'Remington, Walker, and possibly
ifle. However, if you have run the gamut of t h e lesser Hepburn in developing the "Special Underlever Match
:ures, be prepared for a lengthy hunt for the ultimate, at Rifle". Remember if you will that this rifle was sold with
L cost of approximately $5,000. a guarantee that i t would shoot into 2% inches at 200yards.
T h e ultimate was first cataloged in t h e Remington 19045 The Pope rifle was guaranteed to shoot within 2%" at the
:atalog at a cost of $60 t o $100, then disappeared until t h e same range. I n t h e famous schuetzen match on Election
1909 catalog, and then apparently was not available again. Day, 1903, Dr. Hudson beat Harry Pope and everyone else,
rhe high - but justified - cost did not help sales. The using the Remington rifle of his design. This set a record
~nsurpassedaccuracy and low survival number of these that was t o last 75 years, still isn't broken.

Hepburn percussion over-under, cal. .38 rifled barrel over smoothbore barrel.
 (Un U06at.l
L. L. H E P B U R N . L. N. WALKER.
Breeoh-Loading Fire-Arm.
BXEEOA LOADINO OUN.
No. 364,462. Patented Den. 14. 1888.

Illustrations from Hepburn patent papers. Illustrations from L. N. Walker patent papers

60 FOREST AND STREAM. [.\ravn 16. IS&

THE

New Remington Long Range Military (Mepburn Patent.)

I

This rifle has been pronounced after long and exhaustive tests by the most
expert riflemen in the country, as the most perfect l i l i t a r y Rifle under all con-
ditions yet produced. It has also been adopted by the National Rifle Association
of America, who recommend it to competitors for the American Team. It has a
heavy barrel, with our new system of rifling, chambered for a 2 6-10 straight
shell, using 75 grs. of quick, clean, moist powder, hard bullet, 520 grs., with our
new thick Waterproof patch. This rifle is now used by all the leading rifle-
men, who pronounce it unequalled.

E. REMINCTON & SONS,

P. 0. Box 2987. 281 and 283 Broadway, N. Y.
The Dolan Long Range and Military Score Book now ready for delivery, Price 75 cents,
1883 F o r p s ~and Stream advertisement for the Hepburn Military rifle.
 Remington plus H e p b u r n cross of rolling block and dropping block. H a m m e r rollsunder dropping block -extra
long side lever. Calibre .45.

H e p b u r n 45-70 Experimental carbine. Extra large side lever with big thumbpiece. Barrel not drilled o r iapped
for second rear sight srrew.

Hepburn militar? straight grip Creedmoor. Rare: grooled trigger a n d checkered b u t ~ p l a t e ,

"N. L. Walker Patent". This has t h e mechanism as shown i n t h e Walker patent no. 354,452 of Dec. 14, 1886. that
was an improvement on t h e Hepburn, as it forced a partially inserted cartridge i n t o t h e chamber! This feature
was used in their advertising but nor in any of t h e rifles.
Close u p of the action of Remington shown at right top of page 43. "Medicus Skinnern no. 12. "Medicus* was the nom de plume of Dr. S. A.
Skinner, friend and researcher of Dr. Mann, author of "The Bullet's
Flight". Has operational lever as shown on patent drawing, but regular
Hepburn action. Cal. 32-40 breech & muzzle loading.

Two views of the Walker schuetzen which was owned by Dr. Hudson, and with which he outshot Harry I'ope.
Ownership passed to Rowland, Donalson, and now myself.