Remington was on the cutting edge of firearm development when the Model 8 was introduced in 1906. For more than a century now, Remington has sought to deliver power, performance and ergonomics to America’s sportsmen with its semi-automatic rifles.
BY GLENN M. GILBERT, Shooting Editor
Remington was not the first American manufacturer to introduce a center-fire semi-automatic rifle. Truth be told, Winchester’s Model 1905 came first, but its potential was limited by its direct blowback action. The gun’s hollow fore-end contained an inertia block, an admittedly creative solution that kept the receiver compact and streamlined, but made the gun unbalanced. The .32 Winchester Self Loading and the .35 Winchester Self Loading cartridges for which it was chambered were an even greater handicap. They lacked the power to reliably anchor medium-size game and, even for small game, they were of limited value. These limitations kept the Winchester Model 1905 from catching on as anything more than an expensive novelty.
In contrast, the gun that became the Remington Model 8 was a fully realized semi-automatic rifle capable of reliably cycling powerful center-fire cartridges. Originally introduced as the Remington Autoloading Rifle in 1906, the name was changed to the Remington Model 8 in 1911, even though the rifle itself was essentially unchanged.
Designed by John Moses Browning while he was working on his first semi-automatic shotgun, the Browning Auto-5, the new rifle used the same long-stroke recoil operating system as his new shotgun. The gun’s lightweight barrel and its buffer and recoil springs reciprocate within a large diameter barrel jacket made of thin-walled steel. The twin-lugged bolt locks into a barrel extension. A five-round fixed box magazine that could be filled by means of five-round stripper clips fed the action. Additionally, four unique chamberings—.25 Rem., .30 Rem, .32 Rem. and .35 Rem.—were developed for the Remington Model 8.
It was the first mass-produced semi-automatic rifle chambered for a round more powerful than the most popular deer cartridge of its day, the .30-30 Win. Remington was not shy about using the unique power of its semi-automatic rifle as a selling point. Remington ads from 1907 touted the ability of a Remington Autoloading Rifle in .35 Rem. to pierce a 5/16" steel plate. Promotional artwork portrayed outdoorsmen face to face with bear, wolves and other dangerous animals. Remington’s message was clear, the Model 8 is a gun you can rely on in close-quarters life or death situations.