The Remington Model 8 is a

semi-automatic rifle A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single round each time the Trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled while automatically loading the next Cartridge (firearms), cartridge. These rifles were developed Pre-World War II, and w ...

John Browning John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was an American firearm designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world. He ...

and produced by

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...

, introduced as the ''Remington Autoloading Rifle'' in 1905, though the name was changed to the ''Remington Model 8'' in 1911.

History

On October 16, 1900, John Browning was granted for the rifle, which he then sold to Remington. Outside the U.S., this rifle was made by

Fabrique Nationale , trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale, or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium, and former vehicle manufacturer. It was the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe . FN ...

of Liege, Belgium, and marketed as the FN Browning 1900. Under an agreement between Remington and FN, the Model 8 would be sold in the US while the FN 1900 would be sold elsewhere. Despite having a larger market, the FN 1900 was sold predominantly to hunters in Western Europe and Canada. Because of the new and yet unproven nature of the autoloading rifle, the FN model never experienced the same level of sales as the Model 8. Cameron Woodall of ''The Great Model 8'', a website dedicated to the rifle, postulates that this was likely due to the difficulty convincing European hunters to spend money on an expensive rifle that few people had ever seen before. Due to lackluster sales, only 4,913 Model 1900s were ever produced compared to the over 80,000 Model 8s produced.

Design and features

The Remington Model 8 rifle was the first commercially successful semiautomatic rifle offered for civilian sale in the United States. It is long recoil-operated and uses a

rotating bolt Rotating bolt is a method of locking the breech (or rear barrel) of a firearm closed for firing. Johann Nicolaus von Dreyse developed the first rotating bolt firearm, the "Dreyse needle gun", in 1836. The Dreyse locked using the bolt handle ra ...

head. After firing, the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

and bolt, still locked together, move rearward inside the receiver and compress two recoil springs. Then the bolt is held back while the barrel is returned forward by one of the springs permitting extraction and ejection. Once the barrel is returned, the bolt is returned forward by the second spring; in so doing it picks up a fresh cartridge from the magazine and chambers it. The Remington Model 8 has a fixed 5-shot magazine and bolt hold-open device which engages after the magazine is empty. It is a take-down design, meaning that the barrel and receiver are easily separated with no tools, allowing for a smaller package for transport. Remington created four new calibers for the Model 8 rifle: .25 Remington, .30 Remington, .32 Remington and .35 Remington. These cartridges were rimless designs to allow reliable feeding from box magazines. The Model 8 was offered in five grades of finish (Standard, Special, Peerless, Expert and Premier) Guns and Ammo
July 2007 and was the first truly reliable high power semiautomatic rifle ever commercialized (1906).

Use

The primary market for the Model 8 was sport

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

. The Model 8 was used as a police gun, modified to use detachable extended capacity

magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, among other changes. While seeing limited use in World War I, it was used by the French

Aéronautique Militaire The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

in very small numbers. It is noted as the rifle of choice by famed Texas Ranger

Frank Hamer Francis Augustus Hamer (March 17, 1884 – July 10, 1955) was an American lawman and Texas Ranger who led the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Renowned for his toughness, marksmanship, an ...

. Hamer's rifle was a customized .35 Remington Model 8 with a special-order 15-round magazine from Petmeckey's Sporting Goods store in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. He was shipped serial number 10045, and this was just one of at least two Model 8s used in the

ambush An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by people lying in wait in a concealed position. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "". Ambushes as a basic military tactics, fighting tactic of soldi ...

of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The rifle was modified to accept a "police only" 20-round magazine obtained through the Peace Officers Equipment Company in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

Variants

Model 81 ''Woodsmaster''

In 1936, Remington dropped the Model 8 and introduced the Model 81 ''Woodsmaster'' with improvements by C.C. Loomis. The Model 81 was offered in .300 Savage and the .25 Remington chambering was dropped after a limited number of 81s were chambered in this round. It was additionally offered in Standard (81A), Special (81B), Peerless (81D), Expert (81E) and Premier (81F) grades. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

acquired some Model 81 rifles chambered for .30 Remington and .35 Remington in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre.Vanderpool, Bill "Bring Enough Gun" ''

American Rifleman ''American Rifleman'' is a United States–based monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA). It is the 33rd-most-widely-distributed consumer magazine and the NRA's primary magaz ...

'' October 2013 pp.80-85&115-116 Production of the Model 81 ceased in 1950.

References

External links

History of Model 8 & Model 81
{{DEFAULTSORT:Remington Model 008 Semi-automatic rifles of the United States Remington Arms firearms Takedown guns .35 Remington firearms Long recoil firearms Firearms_by_John_Browning