Remington Arms

19th century origin

Remington New Model Army Revolver, made 1863-1875

Remington Rolling Block Carbine 1867

The Remington company was founded in 1816. Eliphalet Remington II (1793–1861) believed he could build a better gun than he could buy. Remington began designing and building a flintlock rifle for himself. At age 23 (in late 1816), he entered a shooting match; though he finished second, his well-made gun impressed other contestants. Before Remington left the field that day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he had officially entered the gunsmithing business. By 1828, he moved his operation to nearby Ilion. This site is still used by the modern Remington firearms plant.

On March 7, 1888, ownership of E. Remington & Sons was sold by the Remington family to new owners, Marcellus Hartley and Partners. This consisted of Hartley and Graham of New York, New York, a major sporting goods chain who also owned the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport and the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, both in Connecticut. At this time the name was formally changed to the Remington Arms Company.^[6] The Bridgeport site became the home of Remington's ammunition plant.

20th century

Remington-Pedersen 51

The M24 SWS military sniper rifle, based on the Remington 700.

In 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge Company were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. In the early 21st century, Remington still produces U.M.C. brand ammunition. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and with this expansion became basically the same plant as today.

During the early years of World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers. Remington produced M1907-15 Berthier rifles for France, Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles for Britain, and Model 1891 Mosin–Nagant rifles for Imperial Russia. As the war intensified, Remington production rose to meet demand.

When the U.S. entered the war, Remington became deeply involved in the war effort.^[7] Remington developed and produced the U.S. M1917 Enfield rifle, a simplified version of the British Pattern 1914, and development of the Pedersen device.

Late in the war, the collapse of the Imperial Russian government had a severe effect on Remington finances. Russia had ordered large quantities of arms and ammunition, but ran short of money to pay for the orders. They delayed payment, arguing there were alleged defects in Remington products. When the Bolsheviks took power in the Russian Revolution, they repudiated the contract entirely.

Remington was left with huge stocks of guns and ammunition, and no prospects for payment. The U.S. government stepped up to purchase the firearms, thereby preventing Remington from absolute loss.^[8] Remington made the conscious decision to promote and emphasize their line of civilian products. They viewed hunting products as a more stable business which might help them to survive future ups and downs generated by war demands.

During the Great Depression, Remington was purchased by the DuPont Corporation, which had made its fortune with improvements to gunpowder. A year later, Remington purchased the Peters Cartridge Company; today, many of the Remington headstamps still have "R-P" on them for Remington-Peters.^[9]

In 1940, the U.S. Army became worried about its ammunition capacity and asked Remington to collaborate on a plan for national expansion. With the aid of DuPont, Remington built the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (originally named Lake City Arsenal) and Denver Ordnance ammunition plants, and three more plants later on, including the Lowell Ordnance Plant. Though the plants belonged to the U.S. government, Remington was asked to oversee their operation. Among the weapons, Remington manufactured for the government during World War II was the famous M1903A3 Springfield bolt-action rifle.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Remington branched out into other products besides guns, with the purchase of Mall Tool Company in 1956.^[10][11] One of the products was chain saws.^[12]

In 1962 Remington introduced the Model 700 bolt-action rifle. The rifle became one of Remington's most successful firearms, and quickly lent itself to developments of many sub-variants, including the Remington 700 BDL, Remington 700PSS for police and law enforcement agencies (the rifle, later renamed 700P, is very popular among law enforcement agencies) and the military M24 SWS, which was the United States Army standard sniper rifle between 1988–2010. It is still used by other armed forces around the world, such as the IDF. Other firearms companies designed and manufactured sniper rifles based on the reliable and accurate Remington Model 700 action.

In 1986, Remington closed its ammunition plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, transferring operations to a new facility in Lonoke, Arkansas. This site was chosen as the geographic center of the sporting ammunition market. A year later, Remington built a new clay targets plant in Athens, Georgia. In 1993, Remington was sold by DuPont to the investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).

21st century

In June 2007, a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, acquired Remington Arms for $370 million, including $252 million in assumed debt. Remington was millions of dollars in debt and did not report a profit during the years 2003–2005.^[13] It was renamed as the Freedom Group.

In December 2007, Remington Arms acquired rifle-maker Marlin Firearms.^[14] As of 2009, ammunition sales continued to remain high during the ongoing United States Ammunition Shortage. Chief Executive Officer Ted Torbeck said that consumer concerns over future restrictions, and taxes on ammunition and firearms by the Obama administrations, were creating a rise in demand.^[15]

In October 2009, Remington Military products acquired suppressor manufacturer Advanced Armament Corporation.^[16] In 2010, Remington introduced the fastest commercially available shotgun shell, Hypersonic Steel, with a patented wad technology that allows the shot to travel at 1,700 ft/s (520 m/s).

After a 12-year absence in the handgun market, Remington announced the Model 1911 R1. It had ceased production in 1998 of its last handgun, the Model XP-100R. Later that year, Remington introduced the Versa Max auto-loading shotgun. Its patented Versa Port system self-regulates gas pressure based on the length of the cartridge used, enabling the shotgun to shoot light 2 ³⁄₄ in (70 mm) target loads, 3 in (76 mm) hunting loads, and 3 ¹⁄₂ in (89 mm) magnum hunting loads.

In 2012, Remington won the U.S. Army contract to manufacture 24,000 M4A1 carbines at $673 per unit worth $16,163,252 total.^[17]

In 2013, Remington introduced the Model 783 bolt-action rifle.

In 2013, for the first time since 1928, Remington began to offer an air rifle, called the "Remington Express".^[18]

In 2015, the Freedom Group holding company was renamed as Remington Outdoor Company.

Beginning in late 2017, Remington began bankruptcy planning, having suffered declining sales and reputation damage, and amassed some $950 million worth of debt.^[19][20] The low sales and debt were blamed on either a reduction in "panic-buying", or diminishing quality and reputation.^[21] Remington filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.^[22] Remington exited bankruptcy on May 17, 2018, less than two months later. The company's quick exit was due to a pre-approved restructuring plan supported by 97% of its creditors, which cancelled all shares of common stock issued prior to the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings, and issuance of new shares to convert over $775 million of company debt into equity. ^[23]

Rifles

Shotguns

Handguns