M1879 Remington Lee without magazine.

[Ridolpho]

#1oilman: Thanks for mentioning this auction but I'm pretty sure those are the later type magazine which seem to be readily available. If you look back at jmoore's earlier post in this thread you'll see the difference. And Mr. Moose- I'm not sure why I hadn't put a WTB on CGN but I'm going to do it today. In the meantime I've followed englishman.ca's lead and made myself a wooden dummy mag for display purposes. The rifle looks better after a very light oily rag cleanup and I'm going to resist any temptation to clean it aggressively. I think it's quite original. Regards.

Ridolpho

[osebud]

Have you found a lee cook mag yet? I have one that I could sell.

[Ridolpho]

osebud: Haven't found one yet. PM sent.

Ridolpho

[Ridolpho]

A final post to wrap up this thread. A very generous forum member offered me a Lee-Cook magazine body (with functioning cartridge retaining tab) for a very decent price. It fits perfectly and, based on jmoore's photos, I was able to quickly create a functional spring and follower. Turns out an SMLE mags spring resembles that in these early Rem-Lee magazines although it needs to be cut apart, each leaf ground down, and the whole lot riveted together. As shown on the attached photos the gun now looks complete! I've photographed it with the mag in the first or lower position where the cartridges do not feed. The user simply slaps it up into the second position which pushes down on the small button which retracts the tab that holds the cartridges in a loose magazine. I suspect I will succumb to the temptation to load up some BP rounds and give this a test at the range.

Ridolpho

[303 Gunner]

Gorgeous rifle! If you give in, I'd love to hear how she shoots!

[AGB-1]

Great Pictures. Now all you need is a Model 1882,1885, and a 1899 in 30/40 to complete the collection.

[Ridolpho]

Great Pictures. Now all you need is a Model 1882,1885, and a 1899 in 30/40 to complete the collection.

AGB-1: I'll be 150 years old before I see examples of those come up for sale up here! If I had to have another it would probably be the 1885 as, I believe, it was the last one available to the British before they came up with the"Magazine Lee Metford" Mk I. However, even this M'79 makes for an interesting comparison with my 1889 MLM Mk I*. Regards.

Ridolpho

[mrclark303]

Really well done on your project, what a beautiful rifle, stunning!

Its the holy grail of Enfield collecting, the godfather!

[Ridolpho]

Its the holy grail of Enfield collecting, the godfather!

The only other Rem-Lees (of any model) that I've come across were sporterized. Probably pure luck that this one escaped the saw. It came up, out of the blue, on a forum sales page up here and I bought it immediately at the asking price which was very low. It is entertaining to look at the similarities (and differences) between this and Lee Metford/ Lee Enfield Rifles. The big difference, of course, is the change to the two-piece stock- about which change very little seems to be documented. The author of the "Enfield Pattern Room Catalogue" suggests that this change was to make use of inventory of Martini-Henry butt and forend blanks. It seems rather major alteration to the basic rifle design with the former recoil lugs now essentially used to clamp the forend to the front of the butt-socket. I've not read much about the actual use of the various Remington-Lee models- did they have problems with cracking stocks? The grip area (on the Rem-Lee) does feel a bit chunky compared to any Lee-Enfield but I think anyone whose had to repair a few broken LE forends would agree they're not a perfect design either.

Ridolpho

[butlersrangers]

I have probably only seen six "model 1899" Remington-Lee, (.30-40 caliber Small Bore Smokeless Military Rifles), that were part of the contract for the State of Michigan.

Half of these rifles had cracked stocks. The damage occurred in the wrist and in the area behind the action. I have seen a number of sporting rifles and cut-down model 1899 rifles that exhibited the same stock injuries

I know that the Michigan State Troops were very unhappy with the Remington-Lee and that it had an incredibly short career.

I recently acquired a Michigan National Guard Remington-Lee. It had been used as a 'Floor Lamp' and was missing Bolt and Magazine, but, it was full-length and the stock was not broken. I was able to complete the Michigan rifle with parts from a desecrated sporting model, with excessive head-space and a damaged wrist area.

IMHO - The model 1899 design made poor provision to allow the stock to support the barreled/action and absorb recoil. The result was a lot of stocks failed with breaks and chips that carried into the wrist.

The first two photos show my Michigan .30-40 Remington-Lee. The third photo shows the typical stock break on another Remington-Lee model 1899.