colesdav
Member
Folks...
I've seen a few posts on this forum on the old Remington Model 8 and 81... I've inhereted my grandfather's old Model 8, but have a strange problem. The barrel stamp indicates it's chambered for .300 Savage, which is an imposibility since the model 8's didn't include .300 Savage as an option. The bolt head is stamped with .35, which makes much more sense assuming that it is a caliber indicator. I've disassembled the whole gun and the confusing thing is that all serial numbers match, including the barrel sleve, although I can't find a number on the actual internal barrel itself. SO, a few questions:
1) Is the marking on the bolt head a caliber marking? Was the gun manufactured as .35?
2) Can I assume reasonably that a .300 Savage barrel was added at some point in the past? The family verbal lore is that the gun fired well and recently...
3) A .300 Savage cartridge will fit into the extractor head of the bolt... can a .35 action carry and fire a .300 Savage cartridge? Is the bolt heavy enough to handle the charge? What about headspacing? Is it even reasonable to think that you could pull a .300 barrel out and swap it so that it functions?
4) Could I simply find a .35 barrel and swap it back to return it to origional?
I know some of these questions will probably require a gunsmith... I would REALLY like to take a deer this year with my grandfather's old gun... but with the slamfire concerns with the model 8s vs the newer 81s I'm considering simply buying an intact model 81 and keeping my grandfathers gun in the safe...
Thoughts? Everything looks stock, no obviously machined parts, etc... I guess the biggest question is: does the.35 on the bolt head indicate chambered for .35?
I've seen a few posts on this forum on the old Remington Model 8 and 81... I've inhereted my grandfather's old Model 8, but have a strange problem. The barrel stamp indicates it's chambered for .300 Savage, which is an imposibility since the model 8's didn't include .300 Savage as an option. The bolt head is stamped with .35, which makes much more sense assuming that it is a caliber indicator. I've disassembled the whole gun and the confusing thing is that all serial numbers match, including the barrel sleve, although I can't find a number on the actual internal barrel itself. SO, a few questions:
1) Is the marking on the bolt head a caliber marking? Was the gun manufactured as .35?
2) Can I assume reasonably that a .300 Savage barrel was added at some point in the past? The family verbal lore is that the gun fired well and recently...
3) A .300 Savage cartridge will fit into the extractor head of the bolt... can a .35 action carry and fire a .300 Savage cartridge? Is the bolt heavy enough to handle the charge? What about headspacing? Is it even reasonable to think that you could pull a .300 barrel out and swap it so that it functions?
4) Could I simply find a .35 barrel and swap it back to return it to origional?
I know some of these questions will probably require a gunsmith... I would REALLY like to take a deer this year with my grandfather's old gun... but with the slamfire concerns with the model 8s vs the newer 81s I'm considering simply buying an intact model 81 and keeping my grandfathers gun in the safe...
Thoughts? Everything looks stock, no obviously machined parts, etc... I guess the biggest question is: does the.35 on the bolt head indicate chambered for .35?
