Ted: Remington produced decarbonized (Bessemer) steel barrels for North & Savage of Middletown, Connecticut and for the Ames Manufacturing Co. of Chicopee, Massachusetts, as early as 1846.
Remington, Winchester and Marlin all produced "cold rolled" decarbonized barrels until the introduction of Winchester Nickel Steel (by Bethlehem and Midvale Steel) for the Model 1894 rifle about 1896, Marlin “Special Smokeless Steel” introduced for the Model 1893 rifle in 1897, and Remington Ordnance Steel in 1897.
The other U.S. double gun makers sourced their fluid steel "rough forged tubes" from Belgium. Hunter Arms Crown steel appeared in 1893 on the Pigeon Gun.
Was there a relationship between Remington and the French steel makers?
