Firearm History: Remington Arms Company

Remington Arms Company is the oldest firearm manufacturer in the United States, founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Llion, New York. It is also the only US company that produces both firearms and ammunition domestically and is the largest producer of shotguns and rifles. Its products are distributed to over 60 foreign countries. Remington is owned by Cerberus Capital Management. In 2013, the Model 1100 semiautomatic shotgun celebrated its 50^th anniversary. The Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2012. After a 12-year absence from the market, Remington began producing Model 1911 R1 handgun in June 2010. Remington Arms stopped making handguns in 1998.

Eliphalet Remington believed he could build a better firearm than he could buy and founded his firearm manufacturing enterprise in 1816. Eliphalet's father was a blacksmith and wanted to expand his business by producing rifle barrels. Local residence often built their rifles to save on costs, but purchased a barrel produced by a manufacturer. Eliphalet went to a barrel maker in a major city to purchase a barrel and observe barrel-making techniques. The method was to heat and wrap long flat bars of iron around a metal rod of the caliber desired. Heating and hammering the coiled bars around the central rod, the barrel metal became fused into a solid cylinder and then the rod was pressed out. After that visit, Eliphalet added a successful barrel making operation to his father's forge.

1862 Remington Police Revolver

Remington designed and built a flintlock rifle for himself and in the fall of 1827, he entered a shooting match finishing second and made an impression with other shooters of his personally designed rifle. By the time he left to return home, he had so many orders from other competitors that he had established himself practically overnight as a gunsmithing business. By 1828 he moved his operation to the site where the modern Remington firearms plant is located today.

Model 1862 New Army

In 1865 Remington incorporated his business and in 1873 he expanded his line of products by producing Remington brand typewriters, but sold the typewriter business in 1886; the company later called Remington Rand, and the firearms business became Remington Arms Company. In 1886, Remington was purchased by Marcus Hartley and Partners, which was a major sporting goods chain who also owned the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

M1917 Enfield

During World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers like the M1907-15 Berthier for France, Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles for Imperial Russia, and the Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles for Britain. When the United States entered the war, Remington developed and produced the M1917 Enfield rifle, a more simplified version of the British Pattern of 1914 for American troops. The collapse of the Imperial Russian government had a severe impact upon Remington finances. When the Bolsheviks took power in the Russian Revolution, they ended Remington's contract and the firearm company was left with huge stock of firearms and ammunition and no prospects of selling it off. The US government purchased the firearms and prevented a total loss in that financial misadventure.

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, Remington purchased the DuPont Corporation and made a fortune with improvements to gunpowder production. During the same time Remington purchased the Peters Cartridge Company, which cartridges today still bear the trademark R-P.

In 1940, The US Army became worried about ammunition capacity and so Remington became part of a national expansion enterprise, and with the aid of DuPont, Remington built the Lake City Arsenal and Denver Ordnance ammunition plants with three more plants added later that included the Lowell Ordnance Plant. The plants belonged to the US government, but Remington was asked to oversee their operation. The most famous Remington produced during World War II and used by the troops was the M1903A3 Springfield bolt-action rifle.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Remington branched out again, purchased the Mall Tool Company in 1956, one of the major products was chain saws.

Remington's most successful rifle was the Model 700 bolt-action, first produced in 1962, and models were produced for law enforcement agencies and the military M24 SWS that became the US Army standard sniper rifle between 1988-2010 and still is used by armed forces around the world. Other companies sniper rifles are designed and manufactured based upon the reliable and accurate Remington Model 700 action.

In 1993, Remington sold off DuPont.

After Cerberus Capital Management purchased Remington Arms for $370 million in 2007, Remington Arms acquired the rifle producing company, Marlin Firearms. The Remington military division acquired the suppressor manufacturer, Advanced Armament Corporation in 2009.

In 2010, Remington produced the fastest shotgun shell, Hypersonic Steel that travels at 1700 FPS with the help of a patented wad technology.

In 2012, Remington won the contract to build for the US Army 24,000 M4A1 carbines at $673 per rifle.

In 2013, Remington introduced the Model 783 bolt-action rifle creating a new platform/design that is more advanced and has accuracy features beyond the Model 700. Reviews has shown that the Remington Model 783 has more features than one would expect for a rifle selling about $500 [MSRP - $451]. It has the popular Remington CrossFire trigger set at the factory at 3.5 lbs, it can be adjusted by the user from 2.5 to 5 lbs.