The Remington Model 8 was bad medicine for bad guys. Former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer used one in the bloody ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.
John Maddox Roberts nailed me on a bit of sloppy writing in my “Random Musings” a couple of posts back. Talking about Black Rifle Mania, I waxed “old-fashioned” about walnut and steel and revolvers.
JMR wrote:
Jim, I can’t believe you’re so old-fashioned that you have only revolvers. My pet is an up-to-date 1911 semi-auto, a mere 102 years old. And my assault rifle is an 8mm ’98 Mauser. That’s not counting my ’97 pump 12 gauge. All modern arms, none of that sentimental old-fashioned stuff for me.
Take down! Didn’t even see it coming.
Ok, ok, — ain’t nothing newfangled about autoloaders and mil-spec rifles. So, by way of atonement for my sins, I give you the Remington Model 8 — Hamer’s Hammer. Frank Hamer was the former Texas Ranger who helped track down Bonnie and Clyde and end their sordid little criminal career in a hail of bullets. His rifle of choice was a customized .35 Remington Model 8 with an extended magazine.
The rifle was designed by the great John Moses Browning (Armorer of Valhalla) and introduced in 1906. The autoloader was fast-shooting, hard-hitting and popular among lawmen in the still-wild Texas-Oklahoma region.
John Maddox Roberts says
No matter what generation of firearm, whether made of steel and wood or polymer and alloy, they all shoot 19th century ammunition. The last major improvement in ammo was the changeover to smokeless powder in the 1890s. That and nickel steel made the high-velocity weapon possible. Otherwise, the central fire cartridge with bullet, powder and primer in the base, all held together by a brass case, dates from the early 1870s. We’ve just been futzing around with materials and design ever since.
Jack Badelaire says
Amazing how somethings have changed but others have stayed essentially the same. The USMC has taken back the old 1911 as their “close quarters battle pistol” with the M45A1, and there are those in the spec ops world who love and still carry the M14 platform, which isn’t that far evolved beyond the M1, a design which has its origins in the 1920s. And I bet you could still rock n’ roll with an MP-18 right along side the latest 9mm SMGs without much difference down range.
Oh, and if this John Maddox Roberts is the JMR who wrote a number of Conan pastiches back in the day – thank you for many hours of enjoyable reading during my high school and college years!
JimC says
Jack:
JMR is indeed that very man.Honored to have him hanging around here. Still waiting for his “Falcon” novels (under Mark Ramsay) to be released on e-book.You’d dig em if you haven’t read em. Short, pulpy medieval adventures. Reminiscent of Conan, but also of some of those pulp Western/adventure stories we both enjoy.
7.62 and .45 = “enough gun.”
Jim
Jack Badelaire says
I will keep my eyes peeled!