The 1875 Remington

[Grapeshot]

The Remington 1875 .44 Revolver

By: Grapeshot




Way back in 1971, when I was a young Airman at Keesler AFB, Mississippi I acquired a copy of the greatest catalog I had ever laid eyes on, the DIXIE GUN WORKS catalog of black powder firearms, parts, and accoutrements. 

In this tome I found the fascinating world of the percussion revolver, rifled musket, and flintlock arms of all sorts plus the stuff that goes with them.  I was truly enthralled by the Civil War era revolvers.  But the one that stood out from them all, at that time, was the Remington 1858 Percussion Revolver in .44 caliber.  Advertised as being more robust than the 1860 Colt because of its top-strap I decided that it would be my first percussion pistol as soon as I could purchase one.

While stationed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska the next year I did purchase a copy of the Remington 1858 and still have it today, but like everything else, as I grew older I wanted a companion piece to go with it.  After about twenty years I picked up a copy of the 1875 Remington in .45 Colt with a 7.5 inch barrel.  It was a good piece and shot well enough, but just didn't seem right and I parted with it in a trade for some other firearm.

Several years would go by before I decided to add another Remington to my battery of Cowboy Action Guns.  I had been watching an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" where Chuck Norris portrayed a Texas Ranger from the 1880's.  The firearm he was using was the 1875 Remington with a 5.5 inch barrel.  Well, that was it, I needed the short barreled Remington for my collection.

It was then I started to look into the history of the 1875 to determine what caliber I wanted.  The Originals were chambered for Remington's .44 cartridge, which was similar to the Colt .44.  However the only cartridge in this time that came close was the .44 Special.  I checked all the distributors of the Remington replicas, but they only carried it in either .357, .44/40 (.44 WCF) or .45 Colt. (I can find only one reference to an original .45 caliber Remington. It was in the definitive work' A Study of the Colt Single Action Army by Ron Grahm, John A Kopec, and C Kenneth Moore, which stated that it was submitted to the Army for trials and returned with no action.  In Fact on Page 400 we find that "It was not until April 27 1877 that a board of Officers was assigned to conduct the tests.  The Report describes the new revolver to be tested:  (NA, RG156, E21, ltr. #1159 for 1877 – Report Attached):"

"This revolver differs in no respect from the Remington revolver before the Board referred to (Author's note:  Reference was being made to the Board that tested the revolver that was submitted in 1876) except that it is adapted to the service ammunition.  The cylinder is 1/16 of an inch greater in diameter owing to the increase in caliber (from 0.44 to 0.45)."

The Boards findings were:  "on the whole the Board regards this as an excellent service revolver.  It sustained all the tests to which it was submitted in a highly satisfactory manner, except a very severe rusting, which was far beyond what it would ever be likely to be called on to sustain in service, and which it is believed no revolver could have successfully withstood."

As noted, the Remington was adapted to use the service ammunition, which was the .45 S&W cartridge used in both the Colt SAA and the S&W Schofield revolvers.  It also pointed out that the cylinder was long enough to chamber the .45 Long Colt cartridge.  Despite the boards high recommendations of the Remington revolver no orders were placed for it by the US Army Ordnance Department. 

Both the .44 and .45 Remington revolvers were shipped back to E Remington & Sons on 1 September 1877.

Mike Venturino in his book, "Shooting Six-Guns of the Old West", indicated that the factory may have bored out their .44 Remington cylinders to .44/40 to satisfy the demand for that caliber.  He stated that the sample that he had in his possession had chamber mouths that measured .446 inch, which would be consistent with a chamber that had been made for the .44 Remington, as most .44 WCF have a chamber mouth of .427 - .429 inch diameters.  This information really was not helping me decide on what caliber I wanted to purchase. 

During this period of research I picked up a Navy Arms copy of S&W's Number 3 New Model .44 Russian.  Well, I needed a companion for this gun and that's when I had a stroke of genius, get the Remington in .44/40, buy a cylinder in .357 and have it bored out to .44 Special.  A Call to EMF Co. got the 5.5 inch .44/40 Remington copy and an extra cylinder in .357 Magnum. 

After ordering the Remington from EMF Co. I placed a call to Walker '47 and talked to Bob Shaw.  After outlining what I wanted done we agreed on a price and I waited for the Remington to get to the shop.  When the Remington got to the Gunshop where I work, (Gunpowder Firearms/Indoor Range, Ltd., 2137 N. Fountain Green Road, Bel Air, MD 21015, (410) 879-4880).  I checked it out to be sure that it was mechanically sound.  I then put a dozen rounds of .44/40 through it to see if it were accurate and where it printed.  Well, I was happy with the accuracy, even though it printed a little high and left, but not enough to worry about for cowboy shooting.  After cleaning it again I checked out the cylinder throats with a veneer caliper.  What a surprise, .432 inch diameter, it was amazing that I had as good a group as I got with the .427 inch diameter bullets I was using.

With that done, it was boxed up and shipped out to Bob Shaw at Walker '47.

Three weeks later I got it back.  It was fantastic.  Bob had done an excellent job on this piece.  As agreed on, he tuned the action to give me a crisp three-pound trigger pull and sent the gun back with the new cylinder in place.  I just had to try it out. 

I had made up some .44 Russian Cases out of some PMC .44 Magnum cases I had salvaged out of the brass buckets.  I had trimmed them back to .910 inch and stuck 5.5 grains of Unique and a Lee 240-grain .430 inch RN bullet on top of that.  All 50 rounds I fired hit within two inches of where I was aiming.  Of course this was off a rest and not how I would be shooting it at a match.

I was not finished with this Remington, I next fired it using .44 Colt ammo from Black Hills Ammunition, as well as a batch of .44 Colt reloaded with 5.5 grains of Unique and a 215 grain .430 inch RN bullet from a Lee mould.  Again I had excellent accuracy with both loads.  I then loaded up a batch of .44 Special with Lymans Silver Star Cowboy Bullets and Starline Brass.  I had chosen the same bullet and load combination I was using with my .44 Special, M1866 Yellowboy Rifle, 6 grains of Unique, and a 240 grain RNFP bullet.  As to be expected my accuracy was as good as the lighter loads in the .44 colt and .44 Russian.

When I took this pistol out to one of the Cowboy Matches at Westshore Sportsmen's Association in Pennsylvania one of my fellow competitors commented that it must feel odd shooting two guns that had different grips.  Since I was shooting both the Remington and the S&W #3 New Model Russian.  I told him that really never occurred to me.  I practice with these guns dry as well as shoot live ammo out of them and it's just a matter of finding the sights and lining them up with the target.  I never experienced a problem with the different grip shapes and I hit more often than miss.   From where I stand it's practice that makes the difference. 

So, I now have a gun that shoots three different cowboy calibers from one cylinder and a fourth one from the original cylinder.

During the past two years I've taken this firearm out to several matches and have found it a pleasant firearm to shoot with .44 Russian ammunition in it.  The recoil can be compared to a .38 Special and it is quick to get back on target.  I stick with the .44 Lee 240 grain RN bullet as it is the closest I have to the original 246 grain RN bullet that was loaded in the .44 Russian for years.  I have tried National Bullet Company's 205 grain RNFP sized to .430/. 429 inch.  With the light loads that I fire they are even more pleasant to shoot than .38 Special.  These, along with Lee's 215 grain RN bullet shoot most pleasantly and are right on target.

On the down side of this I found that the hard cast NBC Bullets lead up the cylinder and barrel badly.  I spent almost an hour scrubbing the cylinder and bore with a tornado and bronze bristle bore brushes before turning to a Lewis Lead Remover to scrape out the lead.  I still didn't get it all out, so I think it's time to practice with some jacketed bullets to see if that will clean out the fouling.

This is in no way to cast aspersions on NBC's bullets.  They are great for Magnum loads where pressures are higher and the sharp kick in the rear of the bullets make them obturate.  I feel that the light loads fail to obtuate the bullet and allows hot gasses to erode the base of the bullet and leave lead deposits in the cylinder and bore.

I contacted R&D Gunshop to see about acquiring a conversion of the 1858 Remington Revolver in .44 Colt as they had been advertised as converting cap and ball revolvers to cartridge arms.  I was told then that they would be marketing newly made "conversions" in .45 Colt and .44 Special complete with loading gate and ejector rods.  I'll be calling up in June to see if that project got off the ground and order a .44 Remington Conversion.  That will be a great companion piece to both my Cap & Ball 1858 and 1875 Remingtons
//

[Dusty Morningwood]

Well dang, Grapeshot.  Now I have even more options to consider    And I do already shoot .44 Special and Russian.  But to match up with a 73 rifle, then I break my own rule of trying to get as close as I can to originals and there weren't no such critter as a .44 Special 73, though there is one now.

[Curley Cole]

Grapeshot

Me and Old Top both have 75 Remingtons...(btw where are the pictures?) anyways, we use BearCreek bullets in all our guns and the fouling is almost nil....If not familar with BC, they are moly coated and custom cast...They cost a little more but worth every cent. (and If you order directly from them and get $70 or more you get free shipping...

Good shootin
curley

[Marshal Will Wingam]

FWIW, a friend of mine has an original 1875 in .45lc. Obviously they made some or he wouldn't have one. 45 is easily matched up to a '73 in the same caliber.

[Dusty Morningwood]

FWIW, a friend of mine has an original 1875 in .45lc. Obviously they made some or he wouldn't have one. 45 is easily matched up to a '73 in the same caliber.

Yep, but I am looking at 73s in .44-40.  Weren't no original .45 Colt 73s.    But this is just my personal rule.

[Grapeshot]

Put another pic in the original Post.