Although Remington is renowned for the high-quality firearms it has built for sportsmen for nearly two centuries, it has also played a somewhat lesser-known role as a manufacturer of arms used by our nation's law enforcement and military communities for nearly as long.

One of the more famous examples of a Remington product's use by the uniformed professionals of this country is a seemingly unlikely one—the Model 8 autoloading rifle. This gun, designed in 1906 for the sporting market and having recently reached its 100th anniversary, was famously employed by members of the group of law enforcement officers who stopped Bonnie and Clyde in the famous shootout of May 23, 1934.

The use of Remington firearms; however, has not been limited to just the law enforcement community. Remington firearms have been employed by the U.S. military in every military action or campaign the country has been involved in since 1841. From the Model 1858 New Model Army revolver to the Model 10 World War I trench shotgun to the Vietnam-era M40 sniper rifle to the current-day M24 SWS rifle, Remington firearms have been relied upon by members of the U.S. military for more than a century and a half.

The Big Picture
To ensure that the best possible products are developed for both the law enforcement and military communities, Remington created the Remington Law Enforcement Division and subsequently the Remington Military Products Division. These two entities, grouped under Remington's Government Sales Directorate, were created to independently develop cutting-edge firearms systems, ammunition and accessories designed from the ground up for the law enforcement and military communities.

Despite the company's long history of providing arms to these communities, these divisions did not officially come about until recent times. "Remington has always had a presence in the military and law enforcement communities. However, we made the LE Division a dedicated group around 1985 with coverage into the military market," explained Rick Johnson, sales manager for the Remington Law Enforcement Division.

As he pointed out, although the division has only officially existed since the mid 1980s, Remington's connections to the law enforcement community stretch back much further. "Remington introduced the Model 870 Police Model shotgun in 1951 and it continues to be the dominant police shotgun today with over 3 million still in service," said Johnson. "We have developed many sniper systems and police shotgun variants since then and continue to look into the future for law enforcement needs," he continued.

Divided Focus
In 2003, Remington Arms decided that a dedicated division inside the LE umbrella could help Remington increase its focus on the military community. As a result, the Military Products Division was officially created. The goal of the MPD was to focus on developing military products beyond Remington's .308 Win. M24 SWS, the U.S. Army's sniper rifle since the mid-1980s.

Michael Haugen, manager of the Remington Military Products Division, pointed out at a recent writer's seminar at the Direct Action Resource Center training facility in Sherwood, Ark., that the MPD has been busily developing products for the military community since its inception in 2003. "We made sure that we had a staff of career service members who have literally ‘been there and done that'," Haugen stated. "The result of this effort is that Remington MPD has been able to leverage these resources to develop very specific products for very specific users."

This theme of specialization runs through any conversation with either Johnson or Haugen. "Here in 2008, with the Remington LE Division and Remington MPD as separate groups, we are able to really focus in our efforts on developing products for each unit's target markets," Johnson said.

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