Browning auto shotgun made by Remington sn 25935 How old is it?
A clarification is needed as to what you have. Is it an early
Remington shotgun made on the Browning Patent, or is it a Browning
A-5 made for Browning by Remington in the 1940's? If the latter,
then the serial number would have an alpha character before the
number; Therefore I'll assume you have a Remington Autoloading
Shotgun made from 1905 thru 1910. When John Browning sold his (
right to manufacture ) Autoloading Shotgun to Fabrique Nationale in
March of 1902, he reserved the right to sell in the United States.
FN could only sell outside of the US. In order to show his trust in
the new gun, John Browning made an agreement to purchase 10,000
guns. These guns were to be marked "BROWNING AUTOMATIC ARMS Co",
and he would distribute through the Browning Bros. Company in Ogden
Utah. Not all 10,000 guns were actually delivered due to contract
disputes later on with Remington (another story) In 1903, after
John Browning returned from Belgium, he sold the manufacturing
rights to Remington for sales in the US only. Remington started
manufacturing in 1905, it was an instant success in the US. One of
the agreements with Remington was to start the serial numbers of
these guns at 10,000. He didn't want FN guns with the same serial
numbers as the Remingtons. (Remington historians are still trying
to figure out why they started at 10K) Production continued at
Remington until 1910 when the change was made in the model number
and the gun became the Remington Model 11. The serial number in
question # 25935 was actually made in 1906. Coincidently, I have a
Remington Automatic made in 1906 with serial number 26012, made
only 77 guns after yours on the assembly lines. I would like to
discuss more with you and compare our Remingtons. Perhaps you can
go to my message board and leave contact information. Thanks