Faced with this threat, lawmen like Texas Ranger Frank Hamer turned to the Remington Model 8. Hamer chose a Remington Model 8 in .30 Rem., but later switched to .35 Rem for more power. Wielding a Remington Model 8 fitted with an extended 20-round magazine purchased from the Peace Officers Equipment Company in St. Josephs, Mo., Hamer led the “Posse of Six” that ultimately ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde just outside Gibsland, La., in 1934. Recognizing Law Enforcement’s affection for its semi-automatic rifle, Remington released a “Special Police” variant. The Remington Model 81 Special Police was fitted with sling swivels and an extended 15-round magazine.

Military interest was limited. During the First World War, Gen. Pershing requested Remington Model 8s and armor-piercing .35 Rem. ammunition. It is believed these rifles were intended as stop-gap issue to aircrewmen, but it is not known what, if anything, came of this request. In 1922 the Infantry Board bought 25 Model 8s chambered in .25 Rem. The Army wanted to see how a semi-automatic rifle would affect marksmanship training, combat doctrine and logistics.
  The Remington Model 81 sold almost twice as fast as its parent, but sales were still modest by any standard. Despite its mediocre sales figures, the Remington Model 81 was cataloged up until 1950. Recognizing that there was nothing more that could be done with the Model 81, Remington started work on a new semi-automatic center-fire rifle in 1940, hence the origin of its name, the Model 740.

The new rifle was developed concurrently with Remington’s pump-action 760. Development work was assigned to two competing design teams, the first was led by L.R. Crittenden and the second by Bill Gail, Jr. One of the main performance criteria for the 740 was that it would have to be compatible with popular .30-’06 Sprg. loads. The path to the peak of that mountain is steeper and longer than it looks. The scale of the task made the 740’s development slow and the production demands of the Second World War forced Remington to suspend critical design work in its early stages. In the end, Remington did not release the Model 740 until 1955.

The Remington Model 8 and other early semi-automatic rifles used ammunition that was designed to work within the limitations of the gun. The 740, on the other hand, would have to work with a variety of commercial loads. This would make the 740 even tougher to design than a military semi-automatic.

A military rifle needs to work with just a handful of loads, ball, tracer and AP, but the 740 would have to shoot a variety of loads that produce different energy levels, use different bullet ogives and cartridge overall lengths. It would have to cycle them all reliably and deliver reasonable accuracy. No mean feat.

In many ways the Remington 740 was everything the Remington 8 wasn’t. First, it looked like a shotgun, so it was attractive. Second, being well balanced it handled like a shotgun. Third, its short-stroke gas operation mitigated recoil. Remington ads touted the 740’s semi-automatic action as “power-matic like a jet.” Fourth, it was chambered for popular hunting cartridges such as the .30-’06 Sprg.

Gen. Julian Hatcher and Elmer Keith reviewed the 740 in the February 1955 edition of The American Rifleman. They praised the 740’s excellent handling and sound ergonomics, especially the four-round detachable magazine that held the bolt open after the last shot. Keith considered the gun reasonably accurate and an ideal choice for fast-moving game. It was certainly more accurate than most other semi-automatic, lever-action or slide-action sporters, if not as accurate as most bolt-action rifles. Gen. Hatcher praised the 740’s inherent safety, particularly the tight lockup provided by the interrupted locking lugs on the rotary bolt. However, he did note some problems with disassembly. The gas system was so sensitive and complex that Remington warned users against disassembling it themselves. If cleaning with rags, brushes and sprays couldn’t restore functioning, users were told to take it to a gunsmith for disassembly. In his review, Gen. Hatcher agreed with this assessment.

More troubling was Hatcher’s discovery that removing the fore-end to clean the gas system had the potential to alter the gun’s zero, and that improper tightening of the fore-end retaining screw during reassembly could degrade accuracy. Worse yet, there was no way to tell by look or feel if something was wrong. So the user wouldn’t know there was a problem until he took it to the range. Even with these idiosyncrasies, the Remington 740 was the best center-fire, semi-automatic sporting rifle available at the time. Compact, sleek and light, it was just the ticket for hunting fast-moving game in thick brush.

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