Saturday, August 22, 2009

Biweekly Gun Shots 14 - Remington Model 8

I just bought another 60 rounds of this ammo > to fire in my Marlin .336 lever gun. The round is the .35 Remington. The .35 Remington was first developed in 1906 and its development coincided with three other rounds - the .25 Remington, .30 Remington and .32 Remington (all rimless cartridges). Of all these rounds, the only one that remains popular today (and in fact commercially available as far as I can determine) is the .35 Remington. Back in the day though, all 4 of these cartridges were developed due to the introduction of a single rifle.

That rifle was one for which John M. Browning obtained a patent in October 1900, then later sold the patent to Remington. In 1906, Remington began to produce the Remington Model 8, a semi-automatic, 5 shot fixed box-magazine fed, rifle. About 80,600 of them were produced, in 6 grades, from 1906 through 1936 as per Remington (ref.). It was primarily designed for sports hunters, but another type of hunter soon became interested in it and several wound up in the hands of law enforcement officers of the day.

There were at least four features that may have made this rifle particularly appealing to law enforcement officers. One was that it was a takedown rifle which was easily broken down so that the barrel could be removed from the receiver; this made for ease of concealment and portability. The second, and a probably much more important feature, was that this rifle was a semiautomatic. A third and also very important feature was that this rifle had a hold open device. Having a hold open device simply means that the bolt is held in an open position after the last round is fired. This is an invaluable feature of any firearm used as a tactical weapon because it immediately allows the shooter to realize that the weapon is empty and it allows for faster reloading because the shooter does not have to retract the bolt to reload since the bolt is already held open. In essence it facilitates and speeds up reloading while in a do or die situation. The fourth and other very important feature was the caliber offering. The .35 Remington was a large and powerful round and it often found its way into Model 8s utilized by law enforcement of the times when the Model 8 was in production. A fifth factor, though not so much a feature of the rifle, that put this rifle in a good light with law enforcement was the fact that it functioned reliably.

Frank Hamer, one of the more famous lawmen of the years during which this rifle was produced, used one chambered in .35 Remington to end the criminal careers of two of the most notorious criminals of 1930's Depression Era America. Frank Hamer was the lead law enforcement officer in charge of, and the man mainly responsible for setting up, the successful ambush of Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. The particular rifle that he used was purported to have been equipped with a 'Police Only' 15 round (or 20 round depending upon your source) magazine, and bore serial number 10045. I imagine that frank Hamer's Model 8 must have looked much like the rifle in the above photo, which I found at http://i98.photobucket.com/download-albums/l246/TonyRumore/Mdl8a.jpg. I freely used it here because the PhotoBucket site at which I found this photo freely provides ways to share and download the photo including ways to embed it in various blogs including Blogger. The photo is credited as that of Tony Rumore.

I have seen a good number of these rifles and probably more of their replacement the Model 81 Woodsmaster (produced 1936-1950) which supposedly had a number of so called improvements over the Model 8. Many of both models that I have seen have been hanging on walls in hunting lodges and peoples homes, and others - probably the majority I have seen - have been at gun shows. Most have been in a state of poor repair. There are probably quite a few of them out there though that are in very good to excellent condition and should I ever run across one of them chambered in .35 Remington and for sale at a good price (in my estimation), you can bet your bottom dollar that if I have or can get the cash - I will be buying it (and I may go into a bit of debt to get one at that like using my credit card to get funds from an ATM - something I rarely do). Now mind you when I say go into debt, that does not mean I am going to pay an unreasonable amount for one of these. I am looking for one at a good or better yet at a very good price. Like one I might find at an estate sale where some little old lady is selling off her husband's hunting rifle collection - something in the $350 to $400 range. I may just keep wishing but sometimes wishes do come true. Of course, if I cannot find one and if I find a Model 81 that is in excellent condition at a good price - well, I just may have to settle for one of those. I am planning on going to the Great Middletown Firearm and Knife Show on September 12 or 13th and one never knows - does one!

For a lot more about the Remington Model 8 (and even about the Model 81) try this spectacular website: http://thegreatmodel8.remingtonsociety.com/.

All the best,
Glenn B

Do We Hate Candadians Enough To Deprive Them Like This?

Yeah I know, some of you think Canadians and Canada suck. Some of you, well not many of my readers, probably think this because you think they are not enough to the political left. Others, more likely my readers, think so because you believe they are really just ever so gosh darned liberal it makes you want to puke. Me - well I figure why bother with them. If they leave me alone, I will leave them alone. If they want to be friendly, I can be friendly back. If they are respectful of me, then me toward them - and of course I will start with respect in virtually every encounter. As for Canadians, I almost always look at them as our kind of friendly, politically nutty, neighbors to the north who are not worth much more than a thought like that at most times. Then again, I am a fairly decent human being - or so I consider myself - and when it comes to helping out a neighbor - well I would do what I can so long as I know the neighbor has done what he can to help himself first. I do not like freeloaders, but nor would I leave a neighbor hanging when the neighbor was deserving of my help. Are Canadians ever deserving of my, or our help. Sure they are. As a matter of fact I think they are beginning to understand that the good old U.S.A. is not a bad as a place as they may have thought it was. Yeah they have often bashed us, heck look at a guy like Neil Young who by way of his songs has, more than once in my opinion, berated those of us in the USA who are more conservative. I have visited Canada quite a few times in my life and each time have gotten a bad reception from at least 15 to 25% of the people I have met on each trip there. Why - simply because I was an American (as in citizen of a country not of a continent). I have never seen any foreigner get treatment that badly here in the USA based on where he came from unless it was someone from an Arabic/Muslim country after 911. Despite the cold should I have received all too often in Canada (and mind you my wife, my children, my friends on these trips received similar unwarranted bad feelings just because we were from the USA), I still would be willing to help out a respectful Canadian neighbor in need. How about you - how do you feel about Canadians.

Watch the embedded video, then answer the question: Do We Hate Canadians Enough To Deprive Them Like This?



Not me brother, I don't hate em that much - heck I love it when they come here to tell their stories that warn us about the peril we are facing with single payer (aka: government run) health care.

All the best,
Glenn B

It's Been A Rough Last Few Days...

...and therefore there has been no blogging on my part since I was pretty much laid up in bed. I went to a friend's retirement party on Wednesday night, and decided to have a good time. No that does not mean I drank to excess, in fact I did not even allow a drop of any alcoholic beverage to pass my lips. Instead I drank club soda and water. I figured I would have a good time without the booze. That may have been my downfall. During the cocktail hour I probably polished off at least 4 club sodas (no ice), I also managed to wolf down just about every item they had as an appetizer - twice. Well it did not take long for me to find out something was rotten in Denmark, or at least with something I had eaten during the cocktail hour. Within about 30 to 45 minutes of its end, I had to run to the throne. After that I figured I'd go out to my car and sit there while getting some fresh air. Well within another 1/2 hour or so it all came out topside. Then over the next several hours I had to run again - several times. On Thursday, during the day, I had to keep up my running several times but was feeling a bit better despite some pretty bad abdominal pains. Then, during the night, it seemed that something inside of me decided I needed to train for the Olympics and I increased the frequency of my running at least two or maybe threefold; and I also felt as if I had been training for a boxing match since my stomach and back ached as if I had been in a prize fight, my head was pretty achy too. Come Friday morning my son took me to the doc, who then sent me to the Gastro Doc, both of who told me that I probably had food poisoning but was getting over it. What rocket science! I finally ate something again last night - the first time in about 46 hours. It did not make me feel any better, but I managed to keep it in me. Woke up this morning feeling a lot better but still on the weak side. Wow - amazing how some little boogers you cannot even see can knock you for a loop like that - isn't it!

Now I wonder a couple of things. Did anyone else at the party get sick? I have not heard that anyone else did get ill, and that is good. Should someone else have gotten sick I think a call to Public Health would be in order so they could inspect the catering hall. Then again, I am pretty certain that the catering hall owners may have friends who are health or restaurant inspectors - so what would it accomplish!

I did say there were a couple of things I was wondering - well here is the second one: Should I have imbibed some alcohol at the party? I am wondering this because maybe - just maybe - had I had a good stiff drink while there it would have killed off or weakened whatever it was that got me sick before it could have gotten me sick. I mean alcohol is used as a disinfectant - isn't it? The Gastro Doc did not agree with my theory, but I cannot recall ever getting a case of food poisoning from a meal that I enjoyed at the same time I also enjoyed some fine spirits.

All the best,
Glenn B