Tag Archives: remington

SUB2000s in Ukraine?

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Florida-based firearms maker KelTec made the most of a sudden surplus of 9mm carbines and donated them to Ukraine. 

Adrian Kellgren, director of industrial production at KelTec– and son of the company’s legendary founder, George Kellgren– told local media the company was recently left with a $200,000 order for SUB2000 carbines. The original order, to a longtime vendor in the Black Sea Ukrainian port city of Odesa, was unpaid for, and the vendor was unable to be contacted.

The 400 9mm carbines had been ordered last year, but by the time the red tape cleared the client was unable to accept them and Ukraine is now fighting off a Russian invasion– with enemy troops closing in on Odesa. The solution hit on by Kellgren was to donate the guns to the Ukrainian government to aid in the resistance to the invasion. 

Introduced in 2001, the KelTec SUB2000 9mm pistol-caliber carbine is now in its second generation. Lightweight at just 4-pounds while still retaining a 16.1-inch barrel, it folds in half for easy storage and transport, able to be carried in a pack.

The SUB2000, while not a frontline weapon by any means, can for example fill a role with static defense/home guard-style units posted at local infrastructure to keep an eye out for sabotage, or in guarding POWs, of which there seems to be an increasing amount.

Ruger: 1895 Stainless Big Loop will be the first Marlin in reboot

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Christopher Killoy, Ruger’s CEO and president, recently said the company will begin deliveries of the Marlin Model 1895 in December.

Killoy confirmed the vaunted 1895 lever gun, chambered in .45-70 Government, is inbound with production now underway at the company’s Mayodan, North Carolina, factory. The Ruger head said they are concentrating on center-fire lever-action models at first.

“Number one priority that you’ll see coming out – and it will probably be mid-December when we launch it and begin shipping those guns, again I gotta caution folks it will be slow to start – but we’ll focus initially on the 1895,” said Killoy. “Likely the SBL model, the Stainless Big Loop, in .45 Government.”

Famously billed as being able to take everything from bear and deer to moose and velociraptors, Remington-Marlin’s M1895SBL in 45-70 Gov’t. featured a 6-shot tubular magazine, an 18.5-inch Ballard-cut stainless steel barrel, laminated pistol grip stock with a fluted comb, and an XS Lever Rail with a Ghost ring rear sight. It is unclear how the rifle will appear in Ruger’s upcoming offering. (Photo: Marlin 2020 internet archive).

Perhaps we can set up a factory tour at Mayoden before Christmas.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Everything old is new again: Black Rifle Edition

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The ArmaLite-branded AR-10 and AR-15 disappeared from the marketplace by 1962 as the company sold its rights and patents concerning the designs to Colt’s Manufacturing Company and the limited manufacturing license with the Dutch Artillerie Inrichtingen (A.I.). firm expired. After that, Colt was the only all-up maker of completed ARs until the late 1970s when other companies started to come on line.

When I say “other companies” I am talking about now-classic black rifle makers Bushmaster, DPMS, and Olympic Arms, all of which faded out in 2020.

Well, for two out of three of those, the demise was short-lived and they are now back for 2021, under new ownership.

More in my column at Guns.com.

The Kids are Alright…

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One of the stops I did while on the road filming last month was to drop in on America’s fastest-growing school sport at the Minnesota Trap Shooting Championship in Alexandria – which for the record is the world’s largest shooting sport event – with over 6,500 student-athletes in 300 high school teams taking the field over the course of nine full days of competition.

It was pretty impressive.

Looks like the 870 may be Back in Production, After a Brief Hiatus

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Remington had been involved in shotguns for over a century, marketing various single and double-barreled models in the 19th Century before moving into the pump-action game in 1908 with the Remington Repeating Shotgun, a bottom-ejector based on two of John Browning’s “magazine gun” patents. Then came the Model 31, which clocked in for riot gun use with Uncle Sam, among others, in addition to its use by sportsmen from coast to coast.

To replace the Model 31, a team that included L. Ray Crittendon, Phillip Haskell, Ellis Hailston, and G.E. Pinckney, worked across the late 1940s to craft Remington’s new Model 870AP Wingmaster, which debuted in 1950.

An easy take-down, side-ejecting, bottom-loading pump-action shotgun with dual (rather than single) action arms on the slide, the 870 had a receiver that was machined from a solid block of steel and marketed at first in just a 2.75-inch chamber with choices of 12-, 16- and 20-gauge, retailing for $69.95 on a standard-grade and $79.95 for a more deluxe model.

Remaining in constant production for 70 years, some 11 million Model 870s were produced by Big Green, making it one of the most popular shotguns in firearms history.

Then came the big bankruptcy last year, and Remington’s flagship factory in Ilion New York was shuttered on October 26, 2020, with 585 unionized employees laid off just two months shy of Christmas– with zero benefits or severance.

Oof.

Now, with the factory acquired by a new holding group and under the RemArms banner, a deal with the union has reopened the Ilion works this week, and reportedly over 200 furloughed workers have been called back. Their first order of business: make more 870s.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Bushmaster Resurrected

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Founded in 1978 in Windham, Maine, from the remnants of the even older Gwinn Arms company (see the Arm Pistol), Bushmaster was one of the first makers of AR-style firearms outside of Colt. Its line included the lightweight Carbon-15, the massive .50-cal BA50, the seriously weird M17S Bullpup rifle, the XM-10, the XM-15 rifles, and others. Importantly, the firm was one of the first to market flattop optics-ready ARs and AR pistols, beating many of its competitors to the punch.

The BA-50, one of Bushmaster’s more interesting products

Then the Cerebrus Group/Freedom Group came along and upset the whole apple cart. They closed the Maine factory, moved operations to North Carolina and later Alabama under Remington’s umbrella, and just generally traded the company’s rep in for poorly QC’d guns without further innovation. Then, in 2019, Remington snuffed the brand out to try to exit the black rifle verse under legal pressure.

Well, Bushmaster is back, now owned by Franklin Armory, so stay tuned.

And in the biggest gun news of the year…

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Poor old Remington. The ghosts of the Freedom Group have come home to roost and you deserved better.

Founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, the company (for now) has locations in Alabama (where I did an extensive tour of their mega factory in Huntsville), Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah, South Dakota, and North Carolina. Once upon a time I even worked for Remington, doing articles for their 1816 lifestyle blog for a couple of years.

The current company grew several times between 2005 and 2007 when the Freedom Group, an offshoot of Cerberus Capital Management, aimed to buy up a ton of smaller companies under the FG umbrella, cut costs (see= mega factory), then (try to) sell the reinvented 80-foot gorilla for lots of profit.

This saw Remington gobble up AR-15 makers Panther Arms, DPMS, and Bushmaster; suppressor maker AAC, Para-Ordnance pistols, premium rifle maker Dakota Arms, accessory maker TAPCO (the horror), lever-gun icon Marlin (which came with budget shotgun/rifle brands H&R and New England Firearms), shotgun maker Parker, and precision barrel company Stormlake. They even bought innovative designs from other companies such as the Masada rifle for Magpul, which they marketed (poorly) as the Adaptive Combat Rifle, or ACR.

The thing is, somehow they ran it all incredibly poorly and filed bankruptcy three times since 2015. While the first two saw the company emerge after restructuring more or less intact, this latest go-round will not go as smoothly. 

In short, Ruger, Sig Sauer, Vista Outdoors (Federal/CCI), Palmetto State Armory, Franklin Armory, Sierra bullets, and others are all fighting over the scraps, with the courts to decide who ultimately goes home with the choicest parts of the carcass.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Guns of the U.S. Army, 1775-2020

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While you may know of today’s standard U.S. Army infantry rifles, and those of the 20th Century, how about those present at Lexington and Concord or the line of Springfield muskets from 1795 through 1865? What came after?

For all this and more, check out the easy 2,000-word primer I did for this last weekend at Guns.com.

For the 19th Century Gentleman who already had everything

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Hailing from the day in which a gentleman would be educated in the manly arts of boxing and stand ready to sally forth to tackle the occasional brigand, cane guns were offered from gunmakers in mid-19th Century Western Europe.

To update the market with a more American take on the concept, Remington began producing its own Rifle Cane just before the Civil War.

Just the ticket for curbing an attack from a rabid animal or a rapscallion along the highway, this trusty cane belongs to another era.

More in my column at Guns.com

That sweet, sweet ONG scattergun action

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Saw these out Sportsman’s Outdoors Superstore and picked up one before they went almost immediately out of stock.

They are classic 1970s/80s-era Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 gauge Police models complete with a really groovy Ohio National Guard “ONG” stamp and state overlay.

I am hoping they will get more in as they are (what I think) is a great deal. Regardless, the pics are interesting and are here for posterity.

Some even still have brass rack tags

That bayonet lug/sling swivel bracket…

Some even had Remington-stamped, likely factory-installed, overfolding stocks installed.

They were selling for $229 to 239, depending on set-up.

The folder reminds me of this shot of 1985 USMC riot gear

Marine Corps riot control gear arrayed for inspection. Among the equipment displayed are a gas mask, protective vest, M870-1 riot shotgun, .38-caliber M10 S&W M&P revolver, DETEX watchclock, and nightstick. (NARA DM-ST-86-01722)

Which of course is a lead-in for this series of NARA shots from 1989 showing the by-the-book manual of arms with an 870, USMC-style. You gotta love the clunky old 1st-Gen kevlar, M9 Beretta/UM84 Bianchi flap holster, and crisp woodland BDUs.

A Marine demonstrates a ready position with an M-870, Mark 1 12-gauge shotgun.

A Marine demonstrates a low ready position with an M-870, Mark 1 12-gauge shotgun.

A Marine demonstrates sling arms with an M-870, Mark 1 12-gauge shotgun.

A Marine demonstrates a standing firing position with an M-870, Mark 1 12-gauge shotgun.

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