Smith & Wesson had a lucrative contract to supply Model #3s chambered in .44 Russian to the Russian government; Remington, already supplying single-shot Rolling Blocks to the Egyptian government, had a large contract to deliver the Model 1875 chambered in .44 Remington to the Egyptian government; and Colt's military contract was with the United States. What if these contracts had been switched? If Colt had gone to Russia or Egypt, would they have still become the most popular single action on the Frontier? If Smith & Wesson or Remington had acquired that United States contract would they have pushed the Colt Single Action Army to third-place?
These scenarios are interesting, but impossible to answer. I do know when I first started getting serious about shooting big-bore sixguns it was very easy to find single actions marked Colt, and almost impossible to come up with a Smith & Wesson or Remington. So my first single actions were Colts, and thus began a lifelong love affair with the Model P. Everyone knows how comfortable the Colt Single Action Army grip frame makes the shooting of standard .44s and .45s, however, at this stage of nay life I've discovered the fact the Remington grip frame is even more comfortable. This discovery has come about with the shooting of two new sixguns from an equally new company, Hartford Armory, which is producing replicas of the 1875 and 1890 Remingtons.
Remington Better?
As much as I love Colt Single Actions and the percussion revolvers preceding them, I have to admit the Remingtons where an inherently stronger design. Where Colt used three parts, mainframe, backstrap, and trigger guard bolted together, Remington used a one-piece engineering marvel incorporating the mainframe and grip frame with no screws to loosen while shooting. Unlike the open-top design of Sam Colt's percussion revolvers, the early Remingtons had a solid top strap, which the United States Military insisted upon Colt using in their Single Action Army. The first Remington cartridge firing revolvers arrived in 1874. The first few hundred where chambered in .46 Remington, however this was soon changed to .44 Remington, with approximately 16,000 being manufactured by 1878, most of which went to the Egyptian Government. All of these were 7 1/2" sixguns with a pinched post front sight and lanyard ring.
Somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 1875s were produced over the next three years with a blade front sight, mostly without the lanyard ring and chambered in .44-40 and .45 Colt. Some minor changes were made in 1881 with between 4,000 and 5,000 being manufactured before the Model 1890 arrived. The last few, less than 1,000 Model 1875s, were chambered in .44-40 with 5 3/4" barrels. In 1883 approximately 1,000 nickel-plated Model 1875s were purchased by the U.S. Government to arm the Indian Police.
E. Remington & Sons suffered a bankruptcy in 1888, the company name was changed to Remington Arms, and a few "Model 1888" single actions were produced before the arrival of the Model 1890. The last of the Remington big-bore single actions were produced in .44-40 with less than 2, 000 being manufactured before production ceased in 1896. Both barrel lengths were offered in the Model 1890, which is easily distinguished from the Model 1875 by the lack of the full-length web under the barrel.
For several decades now, Uberti has been producing Remington replicas, which have been offered by Cimarron, EMF and Navy Arms. I have considerable experience shooting both the 1875 and 1890 Models chambered in .44-40 and .45 Colt. I have never found these to be as easy to shoot as the Colt-style sixguns due to the shape of the grip, the angle of the hammer, and the heaviness of the mainspring. I simply cannot reach or cock the hammer on any of these Remington replicas as easily as I can on a Colt. In all of this time I have never had the privilege of handling, much less shooting an original Remington. Now thanks to Hartford Armory the situation has changed dramatically.
New/Old Sixguns
Hartford Armory is a new firearms company dedicated to producing the finest possible firearms, be they replicas or original designs. Their first cartridge firing effort is manufacturing high-quality Model 1875 and 1890 Remingtons on thoroughly modern, totally up-to-date machinery. They are using the finest American made 4130 and 4140 steels, with the mainframes being forged not cast. They have detracted from the original design in only one way, making the cylinder approximately 1/8" longer to allow the use of .45 Colt ammunition.
The original Remington cylinders were even shorter than those in the Colt Single Action Army, and many of the modern rounds offered in .45 Colt are deliberately made long enough to preclude their being used in Colt Single Actions or replica Remingtons. These guns simply are not strong enough to handle +P or Heavy Duty .45 Colt hunting loads. This newest offering is not only true to the original design of the Remingtons it's also strong enough to handle any factory .45 Colt ammunition currently being offered. It is in fact, strong enough to soon be offered in .44 Magnum.
I recently spent three days with the President and CEO of Hartford Armory, Larry Black, shooting three Model 1890s and one Model 1875 all chambered in .45 Colt. During this time we ran everything from 200 grain .45 Colt Cowboy loads at 700 fps all the way up to 265 grain jacketed bullets at 1,350 fps and 340 grain bullets at 1,230 fps. Yes those last two figures are correct and this Remington will handle the same loads I normally use in a .45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk. In the process of shooting these heavier loads I found out exactly how comfortable the Remington grip frame really is. Black left one of the 1890s, a 7 1/2" version, for further testing and it has continued to shoot all loads accurately and to also handle heavy loads with ease.
Italian Grip Frames
For some unknown reason when the Italians first started producing the Remington replicas they changed the grip shape and hammer angle just enough to make it harder for me to reach the hammer spur. In comparing an original Model 1875 brought along by Black to the replicas, it was easy to see more room between the back of the trigger guard and the front strap on the original. The same original dimension has been incorporated into the Hartford Armory Models 1875 and 1890 and this, combined with the original shape of the backstrap, makes all the difference when shooting heavy loads.
The grip frame of the Colt, Colt-style, and standard Ruger Blackhawk can be considered comfortable in my hand with 250 grain bullets up to the 900-1,000 fps range, maybe a little more. With the Remington the comfort ceiling is raised considerably due to the fact the backstrap is slightly straighter and also comes up higher, much like the design found on the original Colt Bisley Model, and the current Freedom Arms and Ruger Bisley. Whoever originally designed the Remington grip frame was way ahead of his time.
If you consider this new version from Hartford Armory as just another Cowboy Action Shooting sixgun, you would be making a serious mistake. It can certainly be used for CAS as it comes from the factory, however, this is only the beginning.
Tap Quality
Each of these Remington Models features a beautifully polished blue finish, with a case-hardened hammer and loading gate being used on production models, as on the originals. Cylinder lockup is absolutely T-I-G-H-T with no movement. The barrel cylinder gap on the 7 1/2" Model 1890 will not accept the smallest feeler gauge I have, which is .002". Even with its tight tolerance, this sixgun handled 25 black powder rounds before it started to bind at the front of the cylinder. For those shooters expecting to use mostly black powder loads, a special version will be offered with a larger barrel/cylinder gap and also a special grooved base pin.
Cylinder to barrel alignment is so precise the forcing cone is only two degrees! Larry Black cautioned against anyone opening this further as "A funnel is not needed when the cylinder and barrel line up properly." Tolerances on cylinder chambers are held tightly, with chamber throats being a uniform .451".
Just as with the original Remingtons, both the Model 1875 and 1890 will be provided with pinched-post front sights, which I found quite easy to see. With the strength and accuracy afforded by these new Hartford Armory sixguns they should also be very popular with handgun hunters, especially those who wish to use a traditionally-styled revolver. Is it possible to have a fixed-sighted sixgun performing both Cowboy Action Shooting and hunting chores? When testing the Model 1890 at 25 yards with several different bullet weights and muzzle velocities I found a difference of about 9" in vertical placement on the target.
