The Remington Model 14 sparked a century-long run of slide-action rifles for Big Green (Photo: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
CLASSIC REMINGTON MODEL 14 FROM $699
In 1912, Remington introduced a repeating take-down sporting rifle that shared some attributes of a shotgun, namely the pump-action.
This new rifle was designed by John Pedersen, the same noted firearms engineer that produced the Model 51 pistol, the “Pedersen device” of Great War fame, and a host of early slide-action shotguns. The latter, to include the Model 10 and 17– a gun that went on to be the base for such popular scatterguns as the “bottom feeder” Ithaca 37 and Browning BPS— are perhaps his most enduring contributions to gun culture.
Pedersen’s new Model 14 was developed to use the same closely-related quartet of in-house auto-loading rimless cartridges that Remington had introduced for the Model 8 rifle, a semi-auto that was designed by John Browning in the early 1900s. These included .25 Rem, .30 Rem, .32 Rem, and .35 Rem, which were described in company literature at the time as “high power” cartridges. For those who wanted to shoot older rimmed “low power” rounds popular in lever guns and single-action revolvers, the Model 14 1/2 was also produced, chambered in .38-40 and .44-40.
The guns and the calibers they used were seen at the time as ideal for harvesting deer and black bear. This particular example is chambered in .32 Rem. (Photo: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
Fed through a bottom-oriented opening in the five-round magazine tube Pedersen’s Model 14 rifle was made in both a standard format with a 22-inch barrel and a carbine with an 18-inch barrel. The shorter example was pitched as a “suitable arm for saddle use.”
The tube was fed, and spent brass ejected from, a gate in the bottom just forward of the receiver. (Photo: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
As for the magazine tube itself, it is very interesting as it has a spiral pattern, which was presumably designed to allow for the use of pointed or “spitzer” bullets, although most of the loads the Model 14 was chambered for used round noses. This makes Model 14s, 14 1/2s, and its final version, the Model 141 Gamemaster, easy to spot from a distance.
Another interesting aspect of the design was that it had a bolt release button located inside a dimple on the bolt itself.
So if you can’t figure out how to release the bolt of a Model 14 series rifle, press this thing…
Coming in at a handy 6-pounds, the Remington Model 14 slide-action was a hit with early 20th Century sportsmen and the rifle remained in production until the eve of World War II, with the follow-on Model 141 lingering around into the 1950s.
This photo shows a deer hunter in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania in Dec 1937. Note the Remington Model 14 rifle with its distinctive spiral magazine tube. (Photo: Library of Congress)
This example, in the Guns.com Vault of Certified Used Guns, is complete with a period-correct aftermarket flip up tang sight, has a serial number that dates it to about 1931. Remington specifically adapted tapped the tang of these rifles for the use of such sights, which were popular at the time. (Photo: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
This specimen, late in Remington’s production run of the series, boasts several generational improvements not seen on earlier examples such as the “thumbnail” safety and larger loading port. There is a light freckling of rust and a general patina on metal surfaces, as commonly seen with rifles that have honest field use. (Photo: Richard Taylor/Guns.com)
Remington’s pump-action rifles proved popular enough on the consumer market that the more modern Model 760 took the place of the 14/141 in the company’s catalog around 1956 and the second generation of that gun, the Model 7600, remains in production. The more things change…
CLASSIC REMINGTON MODEL 14 FROM $699
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