Remington Arms
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Remington Arms is a major American manufacturer of rifles, shotguns, other firearms, revolvers and ammunition. They also license the Remington name to hunting apparel, Arctic Cat ATV's, and other hunting and shooting products manufactured by other companies. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington and Sons. It is the oldest company in the United States which still makes its original product, and is the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in North America. It is the only US company which produces both firearms and ammunition domestically, and is the largest US producer of shotguns and rifles. Remington does not currently produce handguns; its last handgun, the Model XP-100R, ceased production in 1998. Its products are distributed in over 60 foreign countries, making its base wider than those of its competitors.
Remington has also developed or adopted more cartridges than any other gun maker or ammunition manufacturer in the world. Adopted cartridges often keep the name given by the wildcatter who developed them, rather than being given the Remington Moniker.
Remington is minority owned by Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice.
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[edit] History
Remington began its long history in 1816. Eliphalet Remington II believed he could build a better gun than he could buy. Farming communities in the region were famous for their diverse skills and self-sufficiency, and the winter seasons were used for crafts that provided goods for self-use and also for sale. Eliphalet's father was a blacksmith, and wanted to expand his business into rifle barrel production. Local residents often built their own rifles to save on costs, but purchased the barrel. Eliphalet's father sent him to a well-known barrel maker in a major city to purchase a barrel, with the mission of observing the barrel-making technique. At the time, the method was to heat and wrap long flat bars of iron around a metal rod of the caliber desired. By heating and hammering the coiled bars around the central rod, the barrel metal became fused into a solid cylinder, at which point the rod was pressed out. After the young mans return home, his family added a successful barrel making operation to his father's forge, in Ilion Gorge, New York.
He began designing and building a flintlock rifle for himself. In the fall of that year, he entered a shooting match; though he only finished second, his well-made gun impressed other shooters. Before Eliphalet left the field that day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he was now officially in the gunsmithing business. By 1828, the operation would move to nearby Ilion, New York, at the same site which is used by the modern Remington firearms plant.
In 1865, Remington incorporated into a stock company, and began a new venture in 1873, producing Remington brand typewriters. Remington would sell the typewriter business in 1886; the typewriter company eventually became Remington Rand, and the firearms business became Remington Arms Company. In 1888, Remington was purchased by Marcus Hartley and Partners, a major sporting goods chain who also owned the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Bridgeport site would become the home of Remington's ammunition plant.
A few years later, in 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. Even today, Remington produces a U.M.C. brand of ammunition. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and this expansion is basically the same plant which currently exists at the site.
With the onset of World War I in 1914, Remington was contracted by several Allied powers to produce arms, including France, Britain, and Imperial Russia. Initially producing M1916 Berthier rifles, Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles, and Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles for those respective nations, with the intensification of the war production grew ever greater.
Notable contributions include the development and production of the US Model 1917 rifle, a simplified version of the British Pattern 1914, and the development of the experimental Pedersen Device.
Late in the war, the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 had tremendous impact on Remington finances, as the Imperial Russian government first attempted to delay payment due to claimed defects, and then defaulted on the contract entirely when the Bolsheviks took power in 1918. Left with massive stocks of war material and no prospects for payment, it required government intervention to save the company from bankruptcy[1]. Based on the sudden explosive growth of business at the beginning of the war, and the subsequent precipitous shrinkage at the end of the war, Remington made the conscious decision to promote and emphasize their sporting product line. They viewed hunting products as a more stable business which might help them to survive future ups and downs.
During the Great Depression, Remington was purchased by the DuPont Corporation, which had made its fortune with improvements to gunpowder. A year later, Remington purchased the Peters Cartridge Company; today, you may notice that many of the Remington headstamps still have R-P on them, for Remington-Peters.
In 1940 the military became worried about its ammunition capacity, and asked Remington to collaborate in a plan for national expansion. With the aid of DuPont, Remington built the Lake City Arsenal and Denver Ordnance ammunition plants, as well as three more later. Though the plants belonged to the U.S. government, Remington was asked to oversee their production. Among the weapons Remington manufactured for the government during World War II was the famous M1903A3 Springfield bolt-action rifle.
In 1970, Remington closed its ammunition plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, creating a brand-new facility in Lonoke, Arkansas. This site was chosen as the geographic center of the sporting ammunition market. A year later, Remington built a new clay targets plant in Athens, Georgia.
In 1993, Remington was sold by DuPont to an investment firm called Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice, or CD&R.
[edit] Remington Models
[edit] Current
[edit] Rifles
- Model 750
- Model 7400
- Model 81
- Model 597
- SPR 22
- SPR 18
[edit] Shotguns
- Model 1100
- Model 11-87
- Model SP-10
- SPR 453
- Model 105CtI
- Premier O/U
- Model 332
- SPR 100
- SPR 210
- SPR 220
- SPR 310
[edit] Obsolete
- Scoremaster 511
- 241 Speedmaster
- Model 600
- Model 660
- M1903 Springfield rifle
- Model 788
http://www.remington.com/library/history/firearm_models/
[edit] Production Sites
Remington has several production facilities today.
Corporate Headquarters: The corporate headquarters for Remington Arms is located at Madison, North Carolina.
Firearms Plants: Remington owns two firearms plants. The larger plant is located in Ilion, New York, at the historic site. A new, state-of-the-art firearms facility was recently built in Mayfield, Kentucky.
Ammunition and Components Plant: All of Remington's ammunition is developed at the 35-year old plant in Lonoke, Arkansas. This plant also is home to Remington's Powdered Metal Products Division, Industrial Products Division, and Ammunition Product Services.
Custom Plant: Custom firearms are hand-crafted by professional gunsmiths at the Ilion, New York facility.
Technical Center: The technical and research center for Remington is located in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Target Plants: Two target plants exist for Remington: in Findlay, Ohio and in Ada, Oklahoma.
