Remington New Model with 7 1/4" Barrel & No front sight???

[smd189]

Hello all: 

I was looking at an original Remington New Model with a a cut barrel.  The front sight was removed and the barrel shortened to 7 1/4 inches.  Any opinions on if this is somthing that would have been done long ago or more recent?  Would this be done to improve draw speed?  Any thoughts would be great.  Thanks.

Shawn

[St. George]

Despite what one reads in Westerns and sees on the Silver Screen - folks of the time weren't worried about draw speed.

A 'real' Old West holster carried the weapon 'deep' in the pouch - see rattenbury's 'Packing Iron' for many excellent examples.

Life in the 'real' Old West bore no resemblance to what one sees in C&WAS shooting, so folks didn't wander the cowtown streets on the prod and loaded for bear.

It's likely that the weapon may've had a damaged muzzle and was shortened - but without seeing it - there's no way to tell.

One of the common shooting techniques used during that time - especially if the owner were former Cavalry - was an instinctive 'point and shoot' method that worked quite well at closer ranges.

The Remington Army revolver was large-framed, in .44 caliber, with an 8 inch barrel length. The Remington Navy revolver was slightly smaller framed than the Army, and in .36 caliber with an 7.375 inch [Beals Navy 7.5 inch] barrel length.

Shortening it didn't take off much barrel length.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Wolfgang]

During the Civil War many Remingtons were rejected by the union army for the hole for the front sight being drilled to deep and into the barrel bore.  If it was just a little too deep but not quite into the bore the pressure in the barrel may have eventually blown out the front sight.  Then the owner would very likely cut off the end and have a shorter barrel.  May not have bothered with putting on another front sight.

How do I figur this ?   Cus it has happened to me.  I aquired a very rough '58 Remington that was probably a "kit gun".  No front sight on it.  I drilled and put in a front sight.  Had fired it a few times and then . . . . blew the front sight off.  So I cut it shorter and it has no front sight.  Is for reenactment use and so I'll not bother putting another sight on it.  It is rough enough that I don't mind it dropping in the dirt when I'm playing the loser in a gun battle. 

[smd189]

Thanks for the info.  So one would assume the alternation to the barrel was probably made during the Civil War or shortly after?  Thanks again.