Hi,
I recently got a Remington New Model Army .44 percussion cap.
It's a really nice gun that feels great in the hand.
This model was very popular during the Civil War.
For the legend:
"One of the masterpieces of world gunmaking. This weapon is universally hailed as one of the finest single-action percussion revolvers ever produced." Description taken from Didier Bianchi's book: Remington, the Story of a Legend.
I'm looking for information on it.
The inspector's stamp appears to be JWK.
It could be John W. Keene or John W. Kelly.
Its serial number: 141364.
With this information, is it possible to:
- know the date of manufacture
- know the regiment it was sent to
- know if it was sent to France for the War of 1870?
Thank you for your feedback.
Olivier.
Remington New Model Army
Remington New Model Army
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Re: Remington New Model Army
Hi Oliver,
Your NMA was made in March of 1865, one of the last 7,000 made, and would have been put into stores, and never issued during the Civil War.
The pistol could have been sent after the war, to a unit in the west, or it could have stayed in stores until it was declared obsolete and sold to a reseller. It wasn't one of the NMAs that were returned to Remington as partial payment for the Rolling Block pistols that the Army bought from Remington, because those pistols were converted to cartridge use.
As of the publication of Don Ware's book on Remington revolvers in 2007, the JWK inspector is unknown.
It's unknown what pistols were sent to France in 1870. The French striped the bluing off of the pistols issued to the troops, but not those issued to officers.
Supposedly this was done so that the Sgts. could tell which pistols weren't being properly maintained.
Daniel
Your NMA was made in March of 1865, one of the last 7,000 made, and would have been put into stores, and never issued during the Civil War.
The pistol could have been sent after the war, to a unit in the west, or it could have stayed in stores until it was declared obsolete and sold to a reseller. It wasn't one of the NMAs that were returned to Remington as partial payment for the Rolling Block pistols that the Army bought from Remington, because those pistols were converted to cartridge use.
As of the publication of Don Ware's book on Remington revolvers in 2007, the JWK inspector is unknown.
It's unknown what pistols were sent to France in 1870. The French striped the bluing off of the pistols issued to the troops, but not those issued to officers.
Supposedly this was done so that the Sgts. could tell which pistols weren't being properly maintained.
Daniel
Re: Remington New Model Army
Hi Oliver, In the book, U.S.Military Arms Inspector Marks, Daum and Pate state the JWK cartouche is that of John W Keene. They reference two Remington New Model Army revolvers serial numbers 139807 and 140438 that Keene inspected. They go on to say John W Keely was a Navy Lieutenant and his service record has no indication he was ever an ordnance inspector. Lieutenant Kelly was killed in the sinking of the monitor Tecumseh at the battle of Mobile Bay on August 5th, 1864. The high serial numbered revolvers over 132000 were inspected in February and March of 1865 so Lt Kelly was dead at the time the high serial numbered New Model Armies were inspected.
Bill
Bill