doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Remington s/s with steel barrels

A question to our Remington collectors. I am considering a Remington s/s 12 ga. It has steel barrels which I have never seen on an older Remington. The dealer (cabela's) could not find a model number on the gun but they did say the underside of the barrels are marked in capital letters "FEG". If any of our readers would have any information on a Remington with steel barrels , I would appreciate your comments. Thank you!

The Remington 1889 hammer gun No. 1 had decarbonized steel and was "Guaranteed For Nitro Powders"



Bessemer/Decarbonized steel tensile strength is about 63,000 psi, similar to AISI 1018 Low Carbon (Mild) Steel.

For comparison, the average tensile strength in my study for crolle Damascus was 54,500 psi.

"Remington Steel" used on the Model 1900 was likely similar to Winchester and Marlin "(Cold) Rolled (Bessemer) Steel", with a tensile strength of 66,000 - 70,000 psi.

"Remington Ordnance Steel" was introduced in 1897 for the 1894 Hammerless Double and had a reported tensile strength of 110,000 psi.

There were no "Model Numbers" on Remington Arms Co. doubles. The common terms in use today, Model 1889, Model 1894 and Model 1900 were only used by Remington Arms Co. on parts lists. The Remington Hammerless Double Barrel Shotgun (aka Model 1894) was introduced in their October 1894 catalogue, and came with increasingly finer Damascus barrels as the grade went up from A- to EE-Grade. During 1897 Remington began to offer steel barrels on their hammerless double. They offered two qualities of steel. Remington Steel barrels were offered on the entry level A-grade guns at the same price as the regular two-stripe Damascus barrels. Ordnance Steel was offered on the A- and B-Grade guns at a $10 premium over their regular Two- and three-stripe Damascus barrels and at the same price as the Damascus barrels on the C-, D- and E-Grades. What the difference is, if any, between the Remington Steel on their hammerless doubles and the decarbonized steel on their hammer double has long been an unanswered question.

Circa 1900, Remington Arms Co. introduced a cheaper version of their hammerless double called the K-Grade (aka Model 1900). Originally they introduced the K-Grade with Remington Steel barrels and the KED-Grade with ejectors and two-stripe Damascus barrels. A few years later they added a plain extractor Damascus barrel version called the KD-Grade, and finally they added the KE-Grade with Remington Steel barrels and ejectors.

For 1906, Remington Arms Co. inserted a lower priced "Trap" Gun into their line up between the A- and the B-quality guns and called it the Grade "F.E." Trap Gun --





The Grade "F.E." Trap Gun is the only gun I've seen marked with F E G on the underside of the barrels. Mine that dates to 1906 is marked /// F E G 13. I know of another one that dates to the 1910 sell-off of break-action guns that is marked /// F E D1.

My Rem 1900 is marked like this



Mike

What is the serial number ? We could then tell you if it's a 1894 or a 1900.

Interesting. I just checked mine twice and both barrels marked ///FEC not FEG Wonder if the stamper held the die slightly off centre

1906 FE-Grade Trap Gun --



1906 CEO-Grade 12-gauge --



1905 DEO-Grade 16-gauge --



1896 AE-Grade 12-gauge --



1906 KE-Grade 12-gauge --



1909 KE-Grade 16-gauge --



And, here is my 1895 vintage BE-Grade which is marked B J E --



The B and the E could signify grade and ejectors, and the barrels are the Chain Damascus pattern which on the Remington Salesman's sample of Damascus patterns was called Chain J.

Charles Semmer showed a page of these various marks in his book RemingtonDouble Shotguns, but very likely there is no one left alive that really knows what these marks mean.

Remington heavily promoted the FE and CEO trap guns before abandoning the doubles market

The 1904 Touring UMC Squad, included T. A. Marshall, Captain; R. O. Heikes, C. W. Budd, J. L. Head. T. E Hubby, W. H. Heer, J. T. Anthony, F. C. Riehl and E. D. Fulford; assisted by Frank Butler, shot in 65 Southern Cities. The first five broke the five-man squad world's record by a score of 488X500 at Palestine, Texas.



From the March 2, 1907 "American Field"



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I have contacted the seller (Cabela s) and asked them , via phone message to give me the serial number of this gun. I like the looks of this gun but I am always very cautious about buying a gun that I can't hold and inspect before buying it. Washington State is a long way from Ohio

Are you talking the FE Trap Gun at Tulalip? The one with the rather ugly little non-original beavertail?