Remington Model 8 35 Rem What Do I have

[jjmorgan64]

I just picked one up at the local shop, and was wondering what I had, Very nice condition, some blueing wear on the top of the reciever, but very nice bore.

I don't know anything about this gun however, I'm assuming it's a solid action as it's a Browning design, am I right?

Do these like lighter bullets for ther semi action?
Disasembly and cleaning?
can I load it up with 158 gr lead 38 bullets and 9 gr unique for plinking?

What is the big barrel shrouid for?

Sorry for the ignorance, Thanks for the help. JM

[Gewehr98]

http://mauser98.com/oakleygun.gif

I've got two of them. Here's a good thread to learn more about the Remington Model 8/81 autoloading rifle:


http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15943&highlight=Remington+Model

Lucky for you, the .35 Remington is still a fairly popular, and easily available, round. ;)

[Gewehr98]

Houses a large recoil spring assembly. It also has the front barrel bushing, centering and guiding the smaller actual barrel inside. The rifle works on the long recoil principle - the inner barrel and bolt move backwards all the way to the rear, then the barrel moves all the way forward from the recoil spring's tension. Then the bolt releases and moves forward from the bolt spring, picking up a round from the box magazine and chambering it. Neat, huh?

Light .38 lead bullets will shoot, but the twist rate in the barrel is optimized for full-power .35 Remington loads. Obviously a light-loaded cast bullet won't cycle the action, it needs the impulse of that full-power load to move the barrel back in it's long recoil mode of operation. That's where these guns are fussy - they need just the right amount of "oomph" to work their recoil actions.

Disassembly is a snap. The forend is held on by either a smallish swivel (NOT a sling swivel) or a large-ish screw. Once the forend is off, you'll see a lever attached to the takedown bolt. With the bolt retracted, you can unscrew the takedown bolt to remove the barrel, barrel shroud, and forward receiver assembly. Voila`! Cleaning is a snap!

John Moses Browning got the patent for this autoloading rifle at almost the same time he got the patent for the autoloading shotgun known as the Browning Auto 5/Remington Model 11. He sold the rights of manufacture to Remington. One of my Model 8's has a 1906 date of manufacture, they wasted no time getting it into production.

Something to be careful about: The earlier Model 8 rifles had no firing pin rebound spring. If you chamber a round by placing it all the way into the barrel's chamber, and then let the bolt fly home when it closes, you risk the very real danger of having a slamfire due to firing pin inertia. To chamber rounds in this gun, you MUST place the round or rounds in the box magazine, and let the bolt pick up the round and chamber it that way. This slows down the bolt and removes some of the firing pin inertia. It will still put a dent in the cartridge primer, but it won't be quite as deep. I've had one accidental discharge because of this, it wisens one up in a hurry. :(

The later Model 81's included a firing pin rebound spring to fix this problem.

[Mike Irwin]

I've wanted one of these for YEARS.

Was it the 8 or 81 that was made in .300 Savage. That's what I really want, to go with my Model 99 and my 722 Rem.

[jjmorgan64]

Neat, huh?
Yup, very.

Well I guess ask and you shall recieve on TFL:D

Gewehr98 i'm not sure John Browning could have done any better, thank you sir.

[Gewehr98]

Full pistol grip, fatter forend, firing pin rebound spring, and a good bit of snap from the .300 Savage cartridge. Soon as I finish restocking and rebluing mine, I'll put up an image of it.;)

[BigG]

One of the two was chambered for 300 Savage. That puts it out of the intermediate level and close to the '06 in power.

I had a 300 Sav in my hands about a week ago. The caliber is marked in the little piece of bbl visible thru ejection port IIRC. Must've been 81 that was later. The 8 was chambered in 25, 30, 32, and 35 Rem which were rimless versions of the Winchester lever action ctgs, except for the 35 which was the best of the four.

[Jim Watson]

Dagnabbit, you are costing me money.
I know of an M81 .35 Remington for sale, and you have got me wanting it. I shot one several years ago and it would feed light loads with .38 semiwadcutters but of course would not function with them.

[Mike Irwin]

There's some good evidence that the .35 Remington was nothing more than the legitimization of a fairly common wildcat of the time, the .35-.30-30, which was being used to salvage worn out .30-30 and especially .32 Winchester Special barrels with simple reboring.

I had a .35/.30-30 for a short period of time years ago.

[Gewehr98]

http://mauser98.com/restored.jpg

I lucked into a bunch of unfired brass in .32 Remington for the old girl.

Can't wait to feel how my Model 81 restoration project will feel in .300 Savage. Saw one or two converted to .308 Winchester, but I thought that was just plain nuts.:eek:

If anybody's looking, I have a spare Model 8 barrel in excellent shape, chambered in .30 Remington...

[Mike Irwin]

GEW,

My God but that looks like a nice piece of wood!

[ACP230]

With the safety lever beside the receiver and the Rem 8/81's squared off back, I've always figured that Mr. Kalahnikov stole from Remington when he was developing the AK 47.

Since the pols are always screaming about "military weapons" being redesigned as "sporters," I like to point out that things have gone the other way quite often too.

[C.R.Sam]

G98...
Echoing Mike re wood.

Sam

[BigG]

Ditto, on the wood. :)

[Gewehr98]

Hence the "frosty" appearance of the wood and metal in that pic, the hot Florida humidity does that to my eyeglasses when I step out, too!

The wood is Fajen, I asked for plain black walnut. (This was before they went out of business and restructured under Potterfield) The stock and forend blanks showed a pretty grain structure when I got it wet with alcohol, so I spent a bit of extra time with the MinWax stain/sealer, then about a month with nothing but boiled linseed oil and 0000 steel wool, I figure about 30 coats added and taken off for a deep-looking satin finish. It's actually nicer looking than the picture lets on, lots of depth and warmth to the grain.

Thanks to the TFL family here, I found another set of old Fajen inletted blanks for my .300 Savage Model 81. That should look like a million bucks when I'm done, too.

The old Remington autoshuckers aren't particularly collectible, unless they're the higher grades with engraving, or the FN-marked ones, or the law-enforcement versions with extended magazines. On the rifle pictured above, the most valuable part of the gun is that little Lyman #2 tang sight. The Marbles sight on the barrel sleeve was fun to find, too. ;)

Wonder when Kalashnikov got his mitts on a Model 8, because the safety lever does look strikingly similar...

[Mike Irwin]

What did you have to give for the Lyman?

Last one I saw at a gun show, several years ago, was in the $150 range.

[Gewehr98]

But that was the price for the entire rifle with battered wood and worn bluing, not just the Lyman #2 that was already installed. Yard sale purchase...;)