The Remington–Lee is a
bolt-action
Bolt action is a type of manual Action (firearms), firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt (firearms), turn-bolt via a cocking handle, bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (a ...
, detachable box magazine
repeating rifle designed principally by
James Paris Lee in the mid-1870s.
Description
It first appeared in 1879, manufactured by the
Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. Eventually
Remington took over production and produced copies in
.45-70. Arguably this was the most modern rifle in the world, until the introduction of the 8mm
Lebel M1886 rifle using
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powder
Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...
, the Remington-Lee rifle utilized the first successful detachable
box magazine, unlike the Lebel rifle which was still using a fixed
tubular magazine
A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holdi ...
.
The design was incorporated by the British into the
Lee–Metford and
Lee–Enfield
The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...
rifles, thereby becoming one of the most widely used rifle designs of the early
to mid-20th century.
Remington's version of the Model 1879 saw only limited use by the
U.S. Navy and the Model 1882 was tested by
U.S. Army and issued on a very limited scale.
Ultimately, it was passed up in favor of the
Krag–Jørgensen in 1892.
In 1884, China acquired 13,000 Remington-Lees chambered in
.43 Spanish (11.15×58mmR). Of these, around 4,000 Model 1882 rifles were rechambered in .43 Spanish. During the
Sino-French War they proved to be highly effective against the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
, which predominantly used the
single-shot
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...
Gras rifle.
New Zealand purchased 500 for its militia in 1887, also chambered in
.43 Spanish. These were quickly replaced after many complaints about the quality of the ammunition.
[Scarlata, Paul. ''The Military Rifle Cartridges of New Zealand''. ''Shotgun News'', 2008, Volume 62, number 28, p. 18.]
Users
* : Purchased 2,000 Remington-Lee rifles of unknown model in 1891 in
.43 Spanish, most likely M1885.
* : Between 1884 and 1896, Model 1882 Remington-Lee rifles in
.43 Spanish were purchased from the New York firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham and issued to the Haitian army, gendarmerie and private militias.
* :Bought 500 M1882 Remington-Lee rifles in 1884 in .43 Spanish from Schuyler, Hartley & Graham
* : Used the M1882 Remington-Lee in
.45-70 Government.
* : Purchased 500 M1885 Remington–Lee rifles in 1887 in
.43 Spanish for the New Zealand Militia.
* : Purchased 4,000 M1882 Remington-Lee rifles in 1884 in
.43 Spanish.
* : Purchased 1,000 M1879 for the US Navy, 750 M1882 for the US Army, and 3,400 M1885 for the US Navy, all in
.45-70 Government.
Sources
*.45-70 Rifles by Jack Behn. C1958 by Stackpole Publishing.
*Small Arms of the World by WHB Smith and Joseph Smith.
{{DEFAULTSORT:M1885 Remington-Lee
Bolt-action rifles of the United States
Remington Arms firearms
Weapons of New Zealand
Early rifles
Guns of the American West