Remington M1867

Remington M1867
Swedish rifle m/1867. Pattern (Modellexemplar), serial # 1
Type	Rolling Block rifle
Place of origin	United States Sweden Norway
Service history
In service	1867–mid-1890s (rifle) 1888–1908 (modified carbines)
Production history
Designer	Joseph Rider
Designed	1867
No. built	Remington, USA: 10,000 rifles Sweden: 237,000-257,000 rifles and carbines, including conversions of older rifles to rolling block. About 5,000 of the rifles made in Sweden were delivered to Norway while the rest of the production was for Sweden Norway: 53,450 rifles (of which 5,000 were later converted to carbines)
Variants	Sweden: Among others rifles m/1867, m/1867-68, m/1860-67, m/1864-68 and carbines m/1870 and m/1864-68-85 Norway: M1867, M1888 & 1891 Carbine conversions
Specifications
Weight	Rifle: 4,32 kg, 9.6 lb Carbine: 2.88 kg 6.3 lbs
Length	Rifle 1353 mm, 53.27 in Carbine (m/1870): 860 mm, 33.86 in
Barrel length	Rifle: 951 mm, 37.44 in Carbine (m/1870): 460 mm, 18.11 in
Cartridge	12.17×42mm RF rimfire 12.17×44mm RF rimfire 12.17×44mmR centerfire 10.15×61mmR Jarmann centerfire 8×58mmR Danish Krag centerfire
Action	Rolling block
Rate of fire	13 rounds/minute
Muzzle velocity	Original rifles and carbines in 12.17 mm Rifle: 386 m/s, 1,266 ft/s Carbine: 340 m/s, 1,115 ft/s
Effective firing range	900 m, 3000 ft
Feed system	NA
Sights	V-notch and front post

The Model 1867 Remington rolling block rifle was the first rifle using metallic cartridges to be adopted by the Swedish and Norwegian armies. Nominally it had a caliber of 4 decimal lines, but the actual caliber was 4.1 Swedish decimal lines or 3.88 Norwegian decimal lines (12.17 mm), and it fired a rimfire round with a 12.615 mm (.497 in) lead bullet. The 12.17 mm caliber was chosen because the Swedish army had approximately 30,000 new muzzle-loading Model 1860 and breech-loading Model 1864 rifles in 12.17 mm caliber in stock, rifles that were suitable for conversion to Model 1867 rolling block rifles. With the exception of the first 10,000 rifles and 20,000 actions (for conversions of older rifles), which were made by Remington in the US, all Model 1867 Remington rolling block rifles and carbines were made under license in Sweden and Norway, by Carl Gustafs stads Gevärsfaktori and Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag in Sweden and by Kongsberg Vaapenfabrik in Norway, with the two Swedish manufacturers producing about 80% of the weapons.

In the 1860s the Swedish and Norwegian armies realized that their standard rifles, both percussion lock breech-loading rifles and muzzle loaders, were rapidly becoming obsolete in the face of the new metal cartridge combining bullet, primer and propellant load. In early October 1866, a joint Swedish-Norwegian arms commission was established in order to select a suitable cartridge and rifle for the two nations.

Several different cartridges and rifles were considered by the commission. A partial list includes:

After various tests, including repeated firings, it was clear that the needle guns were not particularly well-suited. These - along with the repeating rifles - were dropped from further testing. Further testing - which included test firing by previously untrained troops - showed that both the Peabody and the Remington was suitable for issuing to the field army. In the end, the commission based their decision on price and complexity. The Remington totalled a mere 25 parts to the Peabody's 37, and it was approved for use by both the Swedish and the Norwegian armed forces, as their standard military rifle, on 22 November 1867.

About 200,000-220,000 military rifles and 7,000 military carbines using the m/1867 action were manufactured as complete weapons in Sweden, 100,000-120,000 rifles and 4,000 carbines by Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori (a government owned arsenal) and 100,000 rifles and 3,000 carbines by Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag. In addition to that 10,000 complete rifles and 20,000 actions made in the US were bought from Remington. The standard rifle received the Swedish designation "gevär m/1867" (and a version with only minor differences the designation "gevär m/1867-68"). Approximately 30,000 Swedish muzzle-loading rifles m/1860 and breech-loading rifles m/1864 (some of which had been converted from m/1860; note that the Swedish breech-loading rifle m/1864 although being referred to as a "kammarladdare" was not the same rifle as the Norwegian Kammerlader) of the same caliber, rifles that were almost new and in most cases had never been used, were also converted to M1867 Remington rolling block using actions made both by Remington and in Sweden. The Swedish designations for the converted rifles were "gevär m/1860-68", "gevär m/1864-68" and "gevär m/1860-64-68" depending on how many steps of conversion they had gone through (the two latter conversions are easily recognized by having the rear sight very far back, a result of the barrels being shortened from the breech end). About 7,000 short carbines with the Swedish designation "karbin m/1870" were also made, and in addition to that about 9,600 "gevär m/1864-68" were shortened to carbine length in 1886-87 and given the designation "karbin m/1864-68-85". Other varieties were "gevär m/1867-74" with a new rear stock design and "kammarskjutningsgevär m/1884" and "kammarskjutningskarbin m/1884" in 10,15x61R Jarmann (rifles and carbines primarily used for gallery shooting, that is short range training).