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A question was raised at the range last week between two owners of 1911-A1 pistols. One gun was made by Remington and marked Illion, N.Y. and the other by Ithaca. One opinion was that both manufacturers were owned by Remington but were produced in different locations. Was there a separate contract awarded to different companies. I was under the impression that the Ithaca firm made shotguns, but then again so did Remington. Any info would clarify. J. Cooper
Today's "Remington Arms" of Ilion, NY is not the same company as the "Remington-Rand" company that produced 1911A1s for the military during WWII. "Remington Arms" started to produce their 1911 a couple of years ago, their Model 1911R1.
The Ithaca company of today is the same company that produced nearly 400,000 1911A1s for the military during WWII. Recently they also started to produce a new 1911 for commercial sales. They went for many years after WWII not producing any pistols.
The manufacturing during WWII was in Ithaca, NY. The plant location and ownership has changed/moved 3-4 times since WWII and is now located in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, not in NY.
Five companies manfactured 1911A1s for the militiary during WWII: Colt, Remington-Rand, Ithaca, Singer, and Union Switch & Signal.
Today's Remington Arms and Ithaca are totally seperate companies with no ownership connection.
Remington Arms was Remington Arms-UMC during WWI and produced 21,676 M1911 pistols that were procured by the U.S. military.
Ithaca produced about 335,000 pistols during WWII. Remington Rand in Syracuse, NY produced more than 877,000 pistols during WWII.
I suspect the pistol at the range was marked Remington Rand on the slide, and had nothing to do with Ithaca.
Even though Remington Arms and Remington-Rand are separate companies, there is a bit of historical linkage. In 1865, Remington incorporated into a stock company, and in 1873 began a new venture, producing Remington brand typewriters. Remington sold the typewriter business in 1886. The typewriter company eventually became Remington Rand, and the firearms business became Remington Arms Company.
The pistol seen at the range may have been the Remington R1 which is a copy of the 1911A1. I think it is made at the old Ilion, NY plant, as Remington is headquartered out of North Carolina now.