Remington Model 1871 Argentine

During the Civil War, Joseph Rider, a superintendent of the Remington factory and firearms inventor, experimented with several breech loading weapon designs, essentially a round is loaded from the rear of the gun instead of the front. In 1865, he was issued the first patent for the Remington rolling block action, where the sealing of the breech is done with a specially shaped breechblock able to rotate on a pin. From 1867 to 1869, the U.S. Navy Ordnance Department became interested in the rolling block action rifles, and purchased several different models of rifles for field trials that yielded mostly positive results in which an order of 10,000 of the new Remington Model 1870 rifles were placed. After the rifles were produced however, Navy inspectors realized that the rear sights of the gun had been positioned incorrectly, and were dangerously close to the chamber, making the weapon unsafe for use. All 10,000 rifles were rejected, and were subsequently sold to France for use in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.

In 1871, the governor of New York, John Thompson Hoffman, ordered 15,000 Remington rolling block rifles and bayonets for his state's militia. These rifles were the Springfield model 1871 manufactured by Springfield Armory under a royalty argument with Remington, which was similar to the Remington model 1870 but had better improvements such as a locking bolt in the breech mechanism. However, the U.S. Army did not greet the Remingtons with much enthusiasm, despite its superiority to the standard issued Remington model 1870, however foreign sales of the weapon were much more successful with Denmark, Spain, France, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Greece, and Puerto Rico purchasing this rifle. The Springfield Model 1871 rifle on display here is the Remington Rolling Back Model 1871 Argentine, a variant of the Springfield model 1871. The key difference between the guns was the Springfield Model 1871 was chambered in .50 Caliber while the Argentine was chambered in .43 Spanish, a powerful round that was suitable for moderate ranges.