Remington Repairs during WW2

[Cold Spring]

I've used the Advanced Search function and found some threads but haven't come up with a clear answers to the following two questions:

1) I've come across a nice 1920's Parker with Repair Code RMM3 indicating November 1943 and of course that was during WW2 when Remington was heavily involved in our war efforts. The question is: at that time was Remington generally accepting Parker repair work from the public, or were repairs primarily done for factory staffers or others "with pull"?

2) In November 1943 was Remington doing restorations with cyanide case colors and if so, were they striped, mottled or what?

Thanks in advance for replies.

[B. Dudley]

I know that the late remington made guns were bone charcoal hardened on all of the parts except for the top levers which were cyanide colored. As they were supposedly having issues with the levers warping with bone charcoal.

I would not think they would have varied from that process at that time with service work. But I wiuld not be able to say for sure.

[Cold Spring]

Thank you Brian. Anyone know how Remington took in Parker repair work during the War?

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Frank Srebro

Thank you Brian. Anyone know how Remington took in Parker repair work during the War?

More than likely, something like "I have a friend..."

[Alfred Houde]

Since some Parker Gun employees made the move to Ilion it would seem unlikely that they were not tasked with doing repairs during the war.

Remington was fully engaged in the war effort and Parker production was suspended, but I don't think Parker repair work was only done for exclusive folks.

If I had to guess, it was more like as time allows, or the extent of the needed repair. Hunting and shooting continued during the war, so it is doubtful Remington told folks "Sorry, not until the war is over." But "I needed it yesterday" probably didn't fly either.

Just speculation. FWIW, Alden Hatch's Remington Arms, In American History has a good summary of Remington's days during WWII.

[Dean Romig]

‘As time allows’ I could go through my small collection of Remington documents and letters to customers. Maybe there is something in them that might shed some light on the subject.
All of their documents and correspondences were dated.





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[Kevin McCormack]

Remington did repair Parker guns during the war, albeit on a limited basis. According to Babe Del Grego and Bob Runge, the supply of common parts (e.g., triggers, floorplates, top levers, spindles, hammers and such) available to repair guns was thought sufficient to last for literally years, but specialty items and the machines to make and install them like barrels, vent ribs. and ejector parts were virtually unobtainable either because the machinery to make them had been scrapped for the WW II effort, or their specialty materials used in their production (specific types of tensile steel for barrels) were strictly relegated to arms production for the war. A fascinating sidebar is that one repair category, single triggers, was listed as 'unavailable' because the counterweights used to reset the triggers for the second shot were made of stainless steel, a component deemed critical in the logistics of armament production. Chromium plating ordnance steel was contemplated as an alternative, but the cost was deemed prohibited given the frequency of requests for same and the duration and intensity of labor required to produce them. Remington produced a list of
doable and not doable repairs, which was sent to jobbers and dealers and as a response to individual inquiries from interested clients. If your requested repair was on the approved list, they would do it for you, provided you remembered there was a war going on!

[Researcher]

I just found this in a 1943 issue of Hardware Retailer --

Frank Lefever, Hardware Retailer 1943.jpeg

and remembered this thread.

[Sara LeFever]

Originally Posted by Dave Noreen

I just found this in a 1943 issue of Hardware Retailer --

Attachment 129806

and remembered this thread.

What a find! Thank you for sharing that! I have a few family photos of Frank, but not much.

Sara

[J. Scott Hanes]

Sara,
That looks like the Vandalia, Ohio water tower in the background (at the Grand American). Do you know for sure?