Post-war Remington Repairs/Rebarrel/Refinish

[jeffery c]

Does anyone have an idea how late Remington accepted Parkers in for repairs?

What is the latest date code for a barrel replacement we have seen?

What would a 1949 factory refinish/restock look like? I'm assuming a lot like a Del Grego refinish with cyanide colors?

At some point was Remington sending them to Del Grego for factory repairs?

A few interesting guns on GB and GI have popped up with Remington barrels on earlier guns recently, is why I was wondering about this.

[Kevin McCormack]

Sometime in late 1954-55, Remington made the decision to cease repair work on Parker Guns in any form. They had decided that the repair and refurbishment of Parker Guns had become an economic drag and an employee "time sink" relative to the more lucrative market of post-WW II and Korean War demand for repeating shotguns and rifles.

A few months later, Larry Del Grego Sr. made the decision to retire from Remington to pursue business on his own repairing Remington Model 32 over/under and Parker shotguns. Upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1958, his son Larry Jr. ("Babe") joined him in the business.

In 1960, they negotiated the purchase of all of the remaining parts inventory of the Parker Gun along with a few specialized machines (rib matting and ejector installation jigs among others) that had not been scrapped by Remington Arms at the end of Parker production at the close of WW II. Remington began referring all Parker and Remington M32 shotgun repairs and refurbishing to Del Grego at this time.

I have no idea what the latest Remington code for FACTORY barrel replacement would have been, but it is known and documented that a very few Remington Parkers were produced after 1947 (the "generally accepted" date for a (the) final completed Parker Gun having left the factory) for a few select Remington upper managers and vice presidents.

A 1949 Remington factory refinish would essentially look like an early 1950s Del Grego refinish (a small number of the early frames were cyanide case colored at "The Arms"; later in the late 1960s when Reminton declined the work they began sending frames to a specialty metal treatment and fabricator in NJ for cyanide coloring). The early frame coloring process can be distinguished by the "tiger stripe" pattern, a product of dipping the receiver into a hot cyanide bath then retracting it a soon as the desire color appears. This is an identical effect as seen on the very earliest Perrazis imported by Ithaca to the US in the early 1970s; later versions were subjected to a more pleasing "wash effect" by swirling the receiver around in the cyanide mixture an stirring constantly until the desired hues were achieved.

Rebarreling early SN guns was commonly done by Parker (Remington, not so much) for a variety of reasons: replace Damascus with fluid steel; longer/shorter lengths; tighter/open chokes; improvements in bolting mchanisms, etc.

For a more detailed and comprehensive history of Del Grego's business and operations, see my article in The Double Gun Journal, "At Del Grego's", Vol. 7 Issue 4 (Part 1) and Volume 8 Issue 1 (Part 2).

[James Palmer]

Did they actually get the Rib Matting machine?

I know the whereabouts of the machine have been a topic of discussion for some time.

J

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by James Palmer

Did they actually get the Rib Matting machine?

I know the whereabouts of the machine have been a topic of discussion for some time.

It has been around but they did have it way back when.

Then I think Lefever had it, then Tony Galazan... not sure where it is today.





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[B. Dudley]

The machine that Lefever had is still around. It is safe for the time being. But it is not matting any ribs. I do not know if Delgrego every had it or had one at all.

I am sure the factory did not have just one machine. But that is the one that I know about at least.

[jeffery c]

Does anyone have a post-war example of a Remington replacement barrel they could show us a picture of?

Correct me if I'm wrong: A Remington replacement barrel code would be two letter codes and have the 3 suffix. If multiple date codes are present then only the earliest date code could be the date of actual barrel replacement.

[B. Dudley]

The repair codes on the barrels do NOT mean that the barrel was replaced. It only means that some work was done on the gun as a whole. It could be for something minor like a recoil pad replacement or mechanical work.

[jeffery c]

I had in mind examples of barrels like this one, a 1901 gun with Remington barrels serial number matching the frame and a date code of 1940. Since there is only one date code and these are for sure replacement barrels does that define the date of barrel replacement? I was curious how long this went on for post-war.

[Researcher]

The handful of Remington rebarreled guns I've recorded are all pre WW-II.

[Dean Romig]

That is a set of barrels made in Meriden and marked at both Meriden and Ilion. After the move to Ilion Remington no longer stamped the barrel flats with the type of steel or grade and that set is stamped OV for Trojan. If Remington replaced those barrels in Ilion (dated 1940) they would have used a set brought from Meriden in the move.




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