1900 Remington at Rock Mountain

[Jack]

Originally Posted by Pete Lester

Are you familiar with the graded 1894's? The workmanship is outstanding and it could be argued the engraving is better i.e. no flying turnips.

No, I'm not. Except for one Remington BE grade 1894, my experience is limited to the 1900 K grades and 1894 A grades.
I was comparing my K grade Remingtons to my Parker Trojans and my A grade Remingtons to my VH Parkers. While the Remingtons were very good guns, I feel that the Parkers were built better in the lower grades. There was almost no engraving on those models, so there was nothing to compare in that respect.

[jeffery c]

Thanks, Jack! I've had a AE 1894 in hand but I returned it due to a oval/dented muzzle so I never got to look inside it. Parkers are Parkers and always have smooth triggers and nicely fitted parts, inside and out.

[Researcher]

The Remington Hammerless Doubles had three styles of barrel lugs over time. Some of the early guns had the typical Purdey double under-bolts as my 1895 vintage BE-Grade --

101315 BE-Grade 12-ga 07.jpg

Charles Semmer in his book Remington Double Shotguns called these "bridge frame guns."

Most had the web between the lugs making the forward bite into two smaller bites --

112429 01 EEO-Grade, 16-gauge, 30-inch.jpg

Some of the late K-quality guns eliminated the forward bite altogether. My 1909 vintage KE-Grade 16-gauge --

Q380786 05 single barrel lug.jpg

I have recorded an 1898 vintage 10-gauge with this style lug and Remington Steel barrels, making it an AER-grade, which I suspect was rebarreled at some point in time.

[Researcher]

Here are the List Prices from the second 1901 Remington Arms Co. catalog --

K - $35.00
KED - $45.00
A - & AR - $45.00
AE - & AER- $50.00
AO - $60.00
AEO - $65.00
B - $60.00
BO - $75.00
BE - $65.00
BEO - $80.00
C - & CO - $90.00
CE - & CEO - $95.00
D - & DO - $150.00
DE - & DEO - $155.00
E - & EO - $225.00
EE - & EEO - $230.00

In 1902 Remington Arms Co. added their Remington Special at $750.00

In the 1901 Parker Bros. catalog that introduces ejectors (which Remington had from 1894 ) the list prices are --

VH - $50.00
VHE - $75.00
PH - $65.00
PHE - $90.00
GH - $80.00
GHE - $105.00
DH - $100.00
DHE - $125.00
CH - $150.00
CHE - $175.00
BH - $200.00
BHE - $225.00
AH - $300.00
AHE - $325.00
AAH - $400.00
AAHE - $425.00
A1 Special - $500
A1 Special Ejector - $525

Parker Bros. ejectors cost five times more than Remington ejectors!

[jeffery c]

Interesting! It looks like the upgrade to ejectors was $25 for Parker and $5 for Remington. Anyone have thoughts as to why Parker ejectors cost so much more? It seems like in the middle grades a CEO was close to a GHE in price. It sure seems like middle grade Remingtons are scarcer on the online sites compared to Parkers. I see a lot more GH/GHEs offered for sale than CE/CEOs. By the way, is that an EEO in the middle picture of your previous post?

[Researcher]

There were some differences in the lines. Remington never offered one of their Remington Hammerless Doubles with Twist barrels. From the lowest grade they started with two-stripe Damascus barrels. Remington also didn't go in for the variety of fanciful names for their steel barrels. Remington only made some 41194 of their "graded guns" A- to EEO-Grade (aka Model 1894) but they made 98508 of their K-quality guns (aka Model 1900), their Trojan equivalent, and it was offered with ejectors and a choice of barrel material. In the first three years of production the Remington ejector guns were much more expensive, $22.50 extra. By 1897 Remington must have devised the right jigs and fixtures to drop the price of ejectors to $5 extra. 1897 was a pivotal year, by the April catalog Remington introduced their steel barrels and by the October catalog they added the 16-gauge to the previously offered 10- and 12-gauges.

When Parker Bros. introduced their hammerless double, the lowest grade it was offered in was Grade 2, the $80 Quality GH or $85 Quality EH in 10-gauge. Remington didn't charge extra for a 10-gauge in their lower grades as the Brothers P did.

In their 17 years of hammerless double gun production Remington Arms Co. produced 139702 hammerless doubles and during that time they also produced 105382 hammer doubles, or more guns than Parker produced from 1866 to 1942.

The gun in the middle picture above is an EEO-Grade, not mine sad to say.

[Craig Larter]

The RAS/Model 11 must have been the death knoll for the Remington SxS's.

[Researcher]

That is certainly the truth Craig. Remington was on a roll in 1907, while our man Ansley was struggling to get the A.H. Fox Gun Co. going in their new digs on North 18th Street at Windrim Avenue. For the first part of the year Remington flooded the sporting press with ads hailing their pro William Heer's high average for 1906 with a pair of their hammerless doubles --

The Gun Behind the Man, The American Field, Mar. 2, 1907.jpg

Then in June, J.J. Blanks won the big one with the Remington Autoloading Shotgun --

1907 GAH Winner The American Field, June 29, 1907.jpg

1907 GAH Winner, J.J. Blanks, The American Field, June 29, 1907.jpeg

Then Fred Harlow did it again with the RAS in 1908.

In February 1910 Remington closed a deal with Norvell Shapliegh Hardware Co. of St Louis to sell them their entire inventory of break-action guns and Remington went into the future with their John M. Browning designed autoloader and their John D. Pedersen designed pump which W.E. Phillips used to win the 1912 GAH.

[Craig Larter]

The early RAS guns in grade 5 and 6 were beautifully engraved, but they get little respect from the collector community. I hate to admit it but from a marketing standpoint Remington made the correct choice, Fox, Parker, Lefever and Smith were all destined for the dustpan of history after JM Browning designed the RAS.

[B. Dudley]

Many of the Remington 1894s and even 1900s you will find are fitted with ejectors. The low price adder explains it.