New Member in NC

[gsaun039]

Greetings from the Piedmont of NC

I found this forum as a result of searching for information on two Remington firearms I recently inherited.

The first one is a Remington Model 1894 SBS 12-gauge shotgun (Model B) that (according to the serial #) was produced in 1898. This shotgun was owned by my great grandfather who passed it to my grandfather, then to my father, and now to me. I remember learning how to fire the gun and all the appropriate safety measures when I was a boy and we had a 98 acre dairy farm near Chantilly, VA. I don't know when the last time it was fired, but the last time I fired it was in 1963. A bit of rust on the barrels from the way and where my dad stored it for the last 15 years. But it has cleaned up fairly well. I do have an assortment of shotgun shells from that era that my dad kept in ammo boxes.

The second one is a Remington 721 chambered for .30-06 rounds. The gun was manufactured in September 1955. My dad bought it in 1956. He sent it back to Remington in April 1957 (according to the stamp on the barrel) to have the safety "bolt lock" modified, which Remington did. I remember my dad telling me and our other hunting buddies this once I was old enough to go out on the hunt with them. There are symbols on the right side of the barrel that appear to indicate that modification. Thus, I've always been able to unload this gun with the safety engaged, unlike the original design that I've read about (and my dad talked about). I've always fired it without a scope (though we did lend it a friend for a couple of seasons and I recall he did install one of his scopes and sight it in while he used it). Though my dad or I never had any issues with it firing reliably, our friend took a shot at a buck from about 75 yards away and the buck bolted after being hit. Unfortunately, the shell casing lodged in the chamber and the extractor couldn't pull the casing out and there wasn't going to be a second shot.

The good news was the buck went less than 50 yards before he dropped. The bad news was the casing was lodged and though the other cartridges could be remover from the magazine, the lodged cartridge had to be pushed by a cleaning rod. When he brought the gun back to us and told us what happened, we took it out into the field to see what was going on (with the extractor). I cycled through ten shots (two 4+1 loads) without any difficulty. He had kept the empty cartridge after he had removed it. So, I dropped it into chamber, closed the bolt. and then opened the bolt to extract the shell...nothing. It was stuck and we had to push it out (again) from the muzzle end. Turns out he was using reloads and that casing couldn't be pulled by the extractor. Since I didn't use reloads, I didn't experience any issues.

When I went away to college, because I couldn't have a gun on campus, I left it on the gun rack in my bedroom. As far as I know, my dad didn't go deer hunting any longer and although I had hunting friends here in NC, I just never went back to get it. My dad stored this rifle away at the same time as the shotgun. As a result, it also had some rusting in limited areas on the barrel, the tang, the trigger guard, and the bolt as well as some limited damage to the finish of the walnut gun stock. It has cleaned up reasonably well with only minimal pitting in the bluing near the end of the barrel on the right side (the side facing "up" in the case it was stored in). The damages to the stock finish is on the left side (the side facing "down" in the case). I seem to have taken care of the rust issues.

I've read many helpful contributions here and I thought I'd add my story. They've also helped remind me of the experiences of my youth.

[Mainspring]

Welcome to the forum, thank you for the contribution.