M1867 Remington
A really, at the time, modern, rifle was approved for Norway & Sweden in 1867 – The Remington Rolling block in 12,17 mm bore. The rifle really is ingeniously simple compared to just everything that had been produced before.
The Remington rolling block rifle was first introduced at the Paris Exposition in 1867, so the two union countries really reacted fast by approving it the very same year.
In the beginning there was tried out a number of different sights, alternatives for fastening of the breech-block and hammer bolts, strap attachments and butt plates. The “final version” was completed in 1871 with the rear strap swivel attached to the trigger guard, the brass tipped cleaning rod, the locking plate for the bolts and a silver stripe in the front sight. The rifle on the pictures is # 37 672 from 1878 of a total produced for the Norwegian army of 58 450 by 1883. In addition there were delivered 3000 Remington rolling blocks from Sweden in 1870 and an additional 2000 in 1872 due to capacity problems at Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk. The Norwegian army thereby had a total deliverance of 63 450 rifle, making this by far the largest production on any long-gun before the Krag Jørgensen rifle.
The delivered Swedish rifles were slightly different to the Norwegian produced ones. The Norwegian rifle had a slightly curved butt from the trigger guard to the butt plate – The Swedish were straight. The Norwegian but plate was brass, the Swedish iron. The Swedish rifles were also the first to be delivered with the Krag rear sight, later used on all the Norwegian Remingtons, but never on the Swedish used in Sweden.
Just about all the Remingtons were sold off to civilians from 1906-1913. More than 30 000 rifles hit the market at extremely low prices, really hurting the private gunsmiths.
The good thing with this, is that one still can find “brand new” Remingtons with great case hardening that probably never have fired a shot after leaving the factory. The sad thing is that most of them have had their frond stock “sportenized” and many also were drilled up as shotguns.