Charles and His Remington: A Gentleman's Choice from America's Gun-Makers' Row - Remington Model 1884 EE Grade

A Civil War vet, let's call him Charles (pronounced with a snobbish lilt, of course), was thoroughly smitten by the parade of high-end American-made, side-by-side, hammerless “automatic” (ejector) shotguns emerging from America's esteemed “Gun-Makers Row”— New England, New York and Pennsylvania.

- By Ernie Foster

After the war, as peace settled over the country, the gun industry, both domestic and abroad, surged with innovation. Restless, creative minds were bringing forth advanced break-open mechanisms and hammerless designs that would become the gold standard of fine sporting arms.

Pinpointing a single leader in this revolution of American breech-loading shotguns is difficult. Many of today's legendary names leapt onto the bandwagon after the Anson and Deeley boxlock design appeared in 1875. Before then, flintlock side-by-sides dominated from the late 1700s, followed by percussion ignition around 1810, the perfected percussion cap by 1820, pinfire cartridges in 1846 and centerfire by 1860. The timeline marched on: breech-loaders by 1870, hammerless guns by 1880, steel barrels soon after, smokeless powder by 1890, ejector barrels and nitro powders not long thereafter.

By the time Charles decided to reward himself for surviving the Civil War, he had a suite of celebrated manufacturers to choose from: Lefever, Parker, Remington, Winchester, A.H. Fox, L.C. Smith, Harrington & Richardson, Ithaca and others. All offered finely made, high-grade models, with custom embellishments limited only by the buyer's imagination — and wallet. For those willing to pay, no wish was too extravagant.