Man, that was awesome. The pride, the careful craftsmanship, the beauty. Just amazing. Somebody send this to Remington and remind them of what they once were...
@@AmericanRebel.Crusader Damn straight. Anyway, even if Remington really can't make a gun anymore we do still make guns in America, not too shabby ones either.
My 1959 870 Wingmaster is this type of quality. Wish I could buy one today and get the same quality. Makes my heart hurt thinking about how great American gun companies used to be, and how many are today.
Im glad I grew up in those days and not now! I bought 3- 1100's back in high school in Jersey in the late 70's and they are all still spotless. after 44 years.
My mother worked in the Drafting Ops department right after this was filmed, from 1970-1983. She was one of the few black people that worked there, and she loved it. She got along with all of her team, but she had friction with management, who thought that there was no skill needed to draft. One actually told her, "We could train a monkey to do your job, as you can plainly see." She said "So you're calling me a monkey?" and he just shrugged. People today have no idea what REAL racism is, because they've never experienced it like that. But for people of my mother's generation, it was an everyday thing. Her job got phased out when they went to CNC and they cut Drafters down to two per shift. She went to go work in the warehouse and she hated it, and quit. But the years she spent as a drafter are some of her best memories.
And now if you put a standard Remington out in the weather for a day and didn’t immediately wipe it down it’ll look like a 1970s Datsun after a decade in Michigan.
look at all the people here who love their remingtons! i have 6 wingmasters from the 50's and 60's, 2 1100's from the 70's . and 2 58s and a 48. i couldnt be happier, love em all. sadly, a time gone by. i remember when my dad bought me my 1st 1100 in 1979, i was 17. what memories.
Wow! My Dad bought an 1100 brand new in '78, and I think it was either $280 or $310, I just saw the original receipt a few months back. It's still nice after all these years. He'd let me use it back then for hunting, occasionally.
Great video. Brings back a lot of memories of my hometown. When I was a little kid it seemed everyone worked at the "Arms". My grandfather worked for 50 years in the barrel shop. My grandmother was one of the last hand checker ladies - she did 36 years there. The guns I love the best are my older Remington models - 870's and 742's.
Coolest video ever! I was looking for a video on how to disassemble my Grandpa's old Remington 511 .22 bolt and thought this might be interesting. At 15:30, that's my Grandpa! He was a gunsmith at the end of his career and worked for over 35 years at Remington. All the guns I have were made by him, except my Glock. :-)
Ask your grandfather if he remembers a Luwanda Smith in the Drafting Department. She worked there from 1970-1983. Black lady with a Marge Simpson beehive. That's my mom.
For the time, Remington's computer operations were probably the most advanced in the world in any firearms factory. Quite impressive for 1969. And the 870 shotgun and 700 rifle really haven't changed one bit. Why change perfection?
Loved the video, I am a professional gunsmith of 32 years and this makes me proud to be one. Also makes me long for those years gone by.... I still remember looking at the Remingtons as a kid in the 60's just dreaming of when I could own one!
I have a beautiful 1968 Remington 12g. Wingmaster Magnum, and seeing this video of where it was made, and how it was made is eye opening. I love the fact that just maybe, some of the people in this film may have worked on what has become my gun. I'll say this, all these many years later the 870 functions flawlessly, and is a delight to shoot... literally, they don't make them like this any more.
Wow all the negative comments.. I live down the street from the factory in ilion. I used to braze the action bars to the fore end tubes on shotguns. I took pride in my work. I know the majority of the people that work there and some of them are the "eh, its a Friday" type.
I've probably got 15 Remington hunting shotguns and rifles, all with the Ilion stamp on the barrels. Hope the factory and jobs survive and Remington goes back to what made it great, hunting guns that set the standard and lasted generations.
That was cool. As a shooter, and someone interested in how things are made, I enjoyed it on two levels. The big machines cutting parts from data on tape is something I've never seen before.
Remington used to be the only choice for me whether a nice 700 BDL, 870 or 760/7600. Now, I wouldn't spend ten cents on anything with "Remington" written on it. REMINGTON - TAKE NOTICE!!! We want the quality back!
Dear God. Please let me go back to 1969 and pick just one each of the 760, 742, 700, 870, and 1100 models. I'll decide what calibers and gauges I want by the time I get there.
Just added a Remington 721 to my collection. Takes about 2 seconds to realize the massive gap between then and current rifles made older guns had Soul.
Sir, I wanna THANK YOU (!) for uploading this video. Amazing, simply amazing! :] Thanks! If you got more videos like this, please, do NOT hesitate to upload them! :]
Awesome video, i only wish Remington would go back to that era in their quality and crafmanship. Sure some new Remingtons are good but the majority are nowhere near the quality of that time!
I sure enjoyed this video! I am sure modern machining methods are much more accurate, but the pride in craftsmanship can't be the same if a machine is doing most or all of the work in making the parts, instead of a person. I am sure the video show the best precision available to make the rifles and shotguns at the time. But as the video shows, some of the machines were computer tape program controlled, so these machines were really actually early CNC.
I love my classic Remington Shotguns. Just love holding them. The wood stocks are a thing of beauty. I picked up a new 700BDL in .270 and it’s really well made; I’ll cry when the high gloss finish gets its first scratch.
Great rifle I own one - same model and caliber. built in 1993 , when they still had good workmanship. My new 552 - the finish is coming off the loading tube , and only 6 months old.
Fascinating video. My dad had model 11-48 16 gauge with two barrels back in the early and mid 1960's. Unfortunately he traded it off for a light weight over/under 12 gauge. I hope to find that 16 some day. In the meantime I collect and shoot Remington Model 11's including a 1930 first year production 20 gauge, early Wing Master ADL Deluxe models, 11-48's and 1100's. I like them all. Whichever I have in my hands is my favorite. One thing I'll say is that all those guys test shooting in the factory and at the range most certainly ended their careers like old railroad engineers. Deaf as the proverbial post.
I've got a .410 11-48 my dad bought new in like '68. Cool that we may be watching the very people that built our guns. Maybe that lady checkered my stock.
I loved watching this video and actually seeing my father's 870 wing master. 20gauge 26 inch vent rib barrel checkerd pistol grip and pump the gun still looks and shoots as if it was brannew sad that can't be said now today's Remington is a shell of what it once was
Love the video, I only have one problem with it. "A computer which can reach a quality no human can" I hate hearing that because it is so wrong, a good craftsmen CAN and DOES have as good a quality work he just can not do it as fast as a computer (CNC).
Just think...ALL that old equipment, forging patterns and especially the Barrell processes would be absolutely priceless today. If you were able to remake these Remingtons the old way you could sell for 1 $5k a piece and people would buy them... Just absolutely superior mechanically...it's a shame all of they're pattens have been bought up by other gun companies
Standards may have changed but I am Very Pleased with my Model 700 7mmRUM it is accurate as a laser and it shoots very well . I would like to see Remington go back to making them like they did years ago . I have only seen one or two of the old Remington's and only in pictures , people don't let the old ones go .
Laughing my A55 off at all the people in the comments talking about how they wish things were still made this way. Things are, you just don’t want to pay for it. You can still buy hand made furniture but you’d rather buy cheap imported junk, you can buy forged and hand finished guns, but you complain about the price and buy the cheaper model then tell yourself, “it’s the exact same”. Hilarious.
Yup people work crappy jobs to buy Chinese stuff off Amazon. America doesn't make anything good anymore! Yeah we do but corporations offshored labor to third world countries and we forgot how to do it for ourselves. Doesn't just apply to guns but pretty much everything. Like how many people do you know that makes shoes? What are we going to do during the zombie apocalypse when we can no longer get shoes from China?
I have 3 Remingtons; an 1100 built in 1970, a 700 built the same year, and a 742 with a 5 digit serial number. Wouldn't trade any of them, just like I wouldn't give a grain of rice for a new one.
Would be great if gunmakers function tested their guns today. Almost every brand ships their guns out and expects you to consume 200 rounds of ammo breaking them in.
