The Remington Model 14

[C.N. Double]

I had an opportunity today to load for and shoot a Model 14 in .35 Remington that was built 100 years ago. The rifle seems to have original parts, but the stock has been refinished (poorly), and I think it's been cut down. It had a replacement butt plate that didn't fit.

 

I spent 3 hours cleaning it, and I'm not done yet. It seems the previous owner(s) simply hosed it down with oil before putting it away. It's been shot a lot, but there is almost no rust on it (a little on the mag tube under the foregrip). All that oil has attracted loads of gunk build-up over the years -- I think it's been disassembled and cleaned rarely, if ever.

 

I loaded a couple of test loads as follows. Both shot well, and I think either will work for shorter range TR.

#1

5.0gn VV N320

125gn moly coated Bear Creek bullet (.358) -- yes, the very same bullet used by many cowboy shooters

Grafs brass

Winchester LR primer

2.22 oal

avg vel 996fps

max spread 27fps

 

#2

5.0gn Unique

125gn moly coated Bear Creek bullet (.358)

Grafs brass

Winchester LR primer

2.22 oal

avg vel 972fps

max spread 48fps

 

Observations:

- mag only holds 4 rounds, oops. Should it be 5? No worries, though -- it's fun to reload, but it does require finesse.

- 2 of 3 tries, the last round didn't want to chamber. It banged around inside the receiver and mucked up the brass a bit, but with a little shaking and coaxing, it chambered just fine. No issues chambering or extracting/ejecting otherwise.

- loading took a little finesse too. I couldn't get a great crimp without smooshing down the neck of the brass. I think a Lee FCD will help, but I'm not sure it needs it. I don't think the crimp is a problem.

 

All in all, I think it will be a fun and unique rifle for TR. Reloading it on the clock might be a little trippy, but it will make a fun challenge.

 

I expect to shoot it this coming weekend as a TeddyBoy (Model 14 + 1903a3), so I'm sure I'll get some more data then.