Scrolling through Facebook, avoiding political memes like land mines, deleting tempting requests from women in their underwear who want to be my friend (those are fake, folks — cruel world!) I happened upon a photograph of an Indian named Crow Dog, with an unusual rifle at a casual parade rest. I thought it looked like a .22, but that didn’t seem likely.
As is the case when Facebook is working like it oughta, one of the commenters knew just what it was — a Tribal Police Remington Keene bolt action rifle.
A what?
Seems that Remington, hoping to compete with the ubiquitous lever-action Winchester repeating rifle, came up with a bolt-action repeater in .45-70 Gov’t, with a tubular magazine, circa 1880. They sold some to the Navy, but it never really caught on.
According to Guns.com:
In 1883, Remington sold the government some 1300 nickel-plated Model 1875 revolvers and 600 of these new (but slow-selling) rifles in a package deal. These weren’t for the military, but instead for the US Interior Department, the department, overseeing what was known then as “Indian Affairs.” These firearms were then passed onto various tribal police agencies in the west.
Since military and police sales were tepid, Remington tried offering these guns in ‘Hunter’s’ and ‘Sporting’ grades in .40 and .45 caliber. The result was a rifle with a ‘too-new’ design that was more expensive than a Winchester lever gun. The outcome was predictable. There was nothing overall wrong with the gun; it was just a case of marketing a product no one wanted.
Apparently they are much more “wanted” now — they sell for big bucks at gun auctions. They also make for a cool movie rifle when something exotic is called for.
That’s Viggo Mortensen as John Poe in Young Guns II, with a scoped Remington-Keene.
A tribal policeman with his Remington-Keene.
Black Tyrone says
The Photo of Tribal Policeman is as the Irish say “GRAND”. Best Black Tyrone
Isaac Van Patten says
Your blog entries are always truley outstanding and never fail to both educate and thoroughly entertain me. Thank you.
JimC says
Thanks Isaac. Good to hear.
Hillbilly Nick says
Think about how badass those tribal police had to be. Surrounded by warriors who at best ignore you. At worst try to demonstrate their scalping technique on you.
JimC says
It had to have been a tough gig. The bad blood between Capt. Bullhead and Sitting Bull as an example…
Hillbilly Nick says
That is a good example. Just the day to day work would be dangerous. Breaking up drunken arguments would have been as potentially deadly as any Calvary battle. They didn’t have a department shrink to talk to either!
JimC says
Absolutely. It was a tis win drunk that sent everything off the rails for the Apache Kid.
J.F. Bell says
As an aside, I’ve found the Remington-Keene fascinating for a while now. Short of acquiring a serviceable original, I came up with the concept of trying to convert a Mosin-Nagant into something passably close.
…needless to say that one’s still on the drawing board.
Will B says
Hello J.F.
I have a Frontier Keene in very good condition that I may be willing to part with if you are a serious buyer willing to pay what the gun is worth. I’ll send pics if truly interested, just reply to wblood1@aol.com
Thanks,
Will