Whatever Happened to Remington Electronic Firing?

[bergmen]

I remember some time ago, Remington was all excited about it's new firing system that used an electrically fired primer.

It had a trigger system that did not have to strike a conventional primer but set it off with an electrical charge. The point being it would be simple to create the ideal trigger release for accuracy.

I thought it was ridiculous since it required special primers and good batteries in the rifle to make it work.

Did these die on the vine or were they introduced to the public? I never heard anything past the advertisements.

Dan

 

[Robert]

They were sold for a brief time but then faded away fairly quickly. I believe the ammo was fairly pricy and if you wanted to reload you'd be out even more for the primers. Though I am not 100% sure you could even get the primers.

 

[rcmodel]

No, they actually sold them for 3 years. EtronX VSSF rifle (2000 – 2003)

It was a marketing failure for several reasons, and they didn't stay in the catalog very long.

Remington did still sell electronic primers for reloading, but at a very high price.
It appears they may have been discontinued now.

http://www.midwayusa.com/Find?userSearchQuery=EtronX+primers

rc

 

[DM~]

My friend bought one and did reload for it. It didn't shoot all that well when he got it, but after a trip back to Remington it shot VERY good. He shot some tiny groups with that rifle!

I don't know if he still has it or not?

DM

 

[Robert]

sold them for 3 years.

That is kinda brief...

 

[steveracer]

Why not an electronic solenoid that mechanically strikes a primer? (thinks of his paintball gear and wonders...)

 

[rcmodel]

Why complicate things with unreliable battery's & solenoids?

Firing pins and mechanical triggers have been perfected and working quite well for longer then we have been alive.

There is really no advantage to an electrically fired gun, unless it is mounted in the fuselage of a fighter plane.

rc

 

[Offfhand]

Quoted from post above: "There is really no advantage to an electrically fired gun, unless it is mounted in the fuselage of a fighter plane."

Actually, there are enormous benefits to electric ignition for sporting arms. Just think about it for a moment: To begin with, lock time is reduced to zero. Thus canceling problems that have long plagued gun designers. (How many guns can you think of that have advertised "fast lock time"?) Providing a big advantage to marksmanship, especially for offhand shooting, when the gun is never steady, plus shortening lead distance on running and flying targets. And since there are no moving parts in the firing mechanism (firing pin, springs, sears, etc) the action is vibration free throughout the ignition cycle, eliminating another well known cause of accuracy problems.
There were several reasons the Remington electronic rifle failed, but they were related to execution, not concept.

 

[jmr40]

Firing pins and mechanical triggers have been perfected and working quite well for longer then we have been alive.

Sometimes good things must end before better things can happen. If we followed your logic we would still be hunting with spears.

Most great advancements in technology are preceeded by many failures before things work out right. Just because this idea failed, does not mean that at some point someone else can't build on the idea and come up with a truly great advancement in firearms.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Why did the e-tronix fail?

Ponder this what has Remington done in the past 20 years that hasn't failed?

posted via tapatalk using android.

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

Why did the e-tronix fail?

Ponder this what has Remington done in the past 20 years that hasn't failed?

Hevi-shot. Then again, that wasn't really a Remington product. It was made by Environ-Metal, and that company stopped making it for Remington after a few years and went into business selling it themselves and screwed the product all up. Hmmm, then Remington came out with Wingmaster HD, which was a failure and is now discontinued.

I stand corrected. You're right.

 

[no.5enfield]

I looked into them when CDNN was clearancing them out a few years back. The primers were also on clearance for slightly more than conventional primers. I thought that it would make for a neat benchrest gun, but like most things I get interested in, something else came along.

 

[Coal Dragger]

Probably just as well that you didn't buy it. How would you like to be stranded (so to speak) with one of those?

 

[splithoof]

During the great primer shortage a couple of years back, I seem to remember one distributor who had nothing but Etron-X primers, and for not that much.
I don't know what it would involve to convert one of these relics back to conventional, but there must be some gunsmith or other who has done it.
Anybody around here ever tried it?

 

[workingman]

The whole idea is not dead yet. I recently seen a muzzle loader, CVA I think that was using a electric ignition system. I believe instead of a primer it just used an electric arc. Seems to me that idea may be well suited in a muzzle loader.
Workingman

 

[Offfhand]

Quoted from above post:
"I don't know what it would involve to convert one of these relics back to conventional, but there must be some gunsmith or other who has done it."

Mr. Splithoof, you make a very interesting comment, well worth considering. As a matter of fact, standard Remington M-700 short action bolts fit normally in the electric rifle action. (Lugs, locking recesses, etc. are identical) Likewise, so will a standard M-700 trigger or clones thereof. So conversion would be a simple matter of replacing the bolt (Pacific Tool has a selection.), fit trigger of your choice, check headspace and make corrections if necessary, and you're good to go. If you find one of the electric rifle at a good price-I heard of a distributor that was selling them cheap a couple years ago-do the numbers and you might have a first class rifle at a bargain price. The stocks and barrels were top quality I understand. Think I'll try doing it myself if I find a rifle at cheap price.

 

[atomchaser]

They would be good for making the ultimate suppressed rifle. No firing pin noise.
I think CDNN was selling some a few years ago at a decent price. The primers were ridiculousy expensive, however.

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

Buying, and converting seem a little silly. Buy the gun, and a few boxes of ammo. Then in 10, or 20 years you can double, or triple your investment.

 

[Offfhand]

"Buying, and converting seem a little silly. Buy the gun, and a few boxes of ammo. Then in 10, or 20 years you can double, or triple your investment."

That's true, but you could always convert back. Two ignition systems in one rifle. Best of both worlds.
__________________

 

[hipoint]

seems silly to have to worry about batteries for your gun though... hence myself not buying any red-dot optics or the like... I guess for a paper puncher it would be fine, but not for a practical gun that you would hunt with, or even look to for defense.

Some type of piezo-electric deal would probably be a little better IMO. Although makes me wonder about some other things, maybe someone can answer this...

would a good static discharge set this off? How about an electric fence? Now, is conventional ammo susceptible to this static, or possibly an electric fence??? I've wondered that out back on my farm several times, if I forget to turn the fence off, and under just the right circumstances, could the electric fence set off a round in my gun?

 

[Justin]

Why not an electronic solenoid that mechanically strikes a primer? (thinks of his paintball gear and wonders...)

There are a number of high-end target pistols made for shooting bullseye and the Olympic pistol events that use exactly such a set up.

Pardini, in particular, has had electronically-actuated free pistols and target pistols on the market for several years. Last time I bothered to check, people were having issues with them not always firing reliably.

seems silly to have to worry about batteries for your gun though... hence myself not buying any red-dot optics or the like... I guess for a paper puncher it would be fine, but not for a practical gun that you would hunt with, or even look to for defense.

High quality red dot sights can be left on literally for months before they drain the battery. Given advances in battery technology, and refinement of an electric ignition system, I see no reason why a reliable system for guns can't be developed.

 

[Oxide]

There are no benefits to electronic ignition that aren't outweighed by the
drawbacks of introducing a whole other power system into a handheld weapon.

While, conceptually, the idea of electronics removing all the variances of the
mechanical linkage works, I guess, it is statistically insignificant. I know, for me,
and for 99.5% of everyone else out there, hunter, military, peace officer, plinker,
any accuracy enhancements from such a system would most probably go unnoticed,
as the difference between an electronic ignition and a good traditional trigger is
insignificant next to the inaccuracies of other parts of the gun, the shooter, and the ammo.

Plus, there is no way an electronic system would ever be accepted in a hand held
weapon that didn't need it to being with, as it is bringing tons of failure prone stuff into
something that people depend upon with their lives.

One of the things we do in engineering is keeping stuff simple. Yes, I could use a car
battery to run a hot plate to heat water to make steam to turn a turbine to turn a
generator to charge a battery to run a light....or I could just hook the first battery
to the light.

 

[hipoint]

There are a number of high-end target pistols made for shooting bullseye and the Olympic pistol events that use exactly such a set up.

Pardini, in particular, has had electronically-actuated free pistols and target pistols on the market for several years. Last time I bothered to check, people were having issues with them not always firing reliably.





High quality red dot sights can be left on literally for months before they drain the battery. Given advances in battery technology, and refinement of an electric ignition system, I see no reason why a reliable system for guns can't be developed.

while I will plead ignorance to how long a battery will last in one, I do know my iron sights never run out of juice... Not saying that it shouldn't be researched, it's a fantastic idea, but right now any gun that I own will fire when I pull the trigger *no batteries required*

I have been tempted in the past to get a red-dot or whatever for various pieces. I am impressed by your assertion that one can last months turned on, I figured overnight or a couple days at most. I however will stick with non-electronic critters for now, until they come up with a better solution for batteries... just as I would love to have an electric car, I would max out the range on one just going to the grocery store where I live, so it just isn't practical.

for something that you weren't relying on, it would be great though, and I certainly hope they come up with something in this field, it sounds very interesting and I'm all for progressive thinking and technology, just not at the expense of my butt getting killed or my belly being empty ;D

 

[Panzercat]

Why complicate things with unreliable battery's & solenoids? There is really no advantage to an electrically fired gun, unless it is mounted in the fuselage of a fighter plane.

Metal Storm proved that you can do so quite reliably in a highly effective weapons system. Worked beautifully, just the military simply didn't want to buy vast stores of new ammunition.

 

[ojh]

>>Why not an electronic solenoid that mechanically strikes a primer?
>>(thinks of his paintball gear and wonders...)

>There are a number of high-end target pistols made for shooting bullseye
>and the Olympic pistol events that use exactly such a set up.

AFAIK target pistol electronic trigger systems do not use a solenoid to strike the primer, that would need too much energy and drain the battery fast. A solenoid is used just to release the sear.