Newbie from Calgary Alberta

[Blastattack]

Hey all. My name is Keenan, and I have an addiction. An addiction to JMB and his incredible creations, that is!

Just got my first Model 8, and I am super excited for her! She's a late 1917 Model 8-A in .30 Remington. Metal is in great shape, no pitting or rust, though the finish is mostly gone, and the bore looks half-decent. She sports a straight stock and a Schnabel fore-end (less the Schnabel, unfortunately) and shows evidence of cheeks. The stock was refinished at some point, and done rather poorly. One of the previous owners did the refinishing without removing the stock and applied the finish at the same time. I managed to get the majority of the varnish off the barrel assembly, but have yet to tackle the receiver and the tang, where the most varnish.lacquer is present.

Other than that, she's a beauty! Loaded up some rounds last weekend; 150gr Norma RNSP on top of 32.8gr of Varget, R-P brass and CCI BR-2 Primers, pushing 2245fps. My groups were nothing to brag about, though operator error is primarily to blame.

Here's some pics of my new baby:







Cheers all!

[imfuncity]

Welcome aboard. Thanks for the pics. And, not to worry these were intended to shoot minute of deer vs. one hole groups - just enjoy her.

[Western]

I like your rifle.

I got to shoot the other day with three other Model 8 owners (along with the owner of several French automatic rifles, including one that works just like a Model 8) who live in town and made an interesting discovery. My friend with a 32 and original sights shot worst. My 35 with peeps shot better (mine was the only one shooting factory loads), and the owner of a pair of 25s with peeps beat the pants off of everyone.

Unless the 25 Rem is just crazy accurate, I think that the peeps are just easier to shoot.

[Sarge756]

Welcome Keenan. Nice rifle and a good start to your collection. Of the different chamberings I have I like the 30 Rem because of the softer recoil.I have one similar to yours that I installed a Williams peep and a firesight front sight.Great carry rifle in the swamps when we go after feral hogs. One day I`m going to add a 25 Rem to the safe and see if that accuracy business I keep hearing about is true. Imfuncity, has posted some targets to be proud of.Albeit they were with a mod 14 the Model 8 should be in the running too with that chambering. I imagine that it would be even softer to shoot. Thanks for the load data. I have loaded 150`s also but use core-lokt psp`s. Ended up with several hundred through trades so load most of my 30 cal stuff with them.The psp might give you a little tighter group.
Joe

[jack1653]

Hey Keenan,

Welcome to the forum. You are among friends and we will encourage to keep on buying! If you are a fan of JMB, you are going to feel right at home. I hope that the dreaded "jackitis" treats you kindly.

Regards,

jack1653

[81police]

Great looking Model 8 Keenan! It's getting more uncommon nowadays to find ones like yours with just honest wear and not abused. Thanks for sharing the photos with us

[ctgodog]

Hi Keenan,

Nice looking 30....I have two model 8's manufactured in 1907 and 1911. The 1911 30 Rem was my Grandfathers' that he hunted with for most of his life. The 1907 is one that I stumbled on at my local gun shop. Love to shoot both of them. I also have a 1949 Model 81 that I purchased on Gunbroker that has a scope and a Krieger conversion. They are a kick to shoot and hunt with.

Welcome to the forum. The guys here are great sources for information and advice. Enjoy the new rifle and your addiction.

Clint

[Blastattack]

Thanks for all the love guys! JMB is one of my heroes, and a masterfully artistic mechanical genius. The guts of a Browning design raise firearms design into an artform, it's incredible! So far my collection consists of a 1952 FN Auto-5 (with a whopping five barrels ) and am looking forward to acquiring a 1911 and a Hi-Power in the future, perhaps sooner or later than some of his less-legendary designs.

She's definitely a working rifle, and is certainly "minute of deer", for which she will most likely be used. Good thing though is that in her current condition, I won't be ruining anything by installing some sling studs. I also bought myself a Lyman Tang Sight off Ebay, and hope to have it installed for this weekend. And, more loading! Got one hundred brand-spanking-new R-P cases, one hundred 160gr Hornady FTXs, and a pound of RL-15. Hopefully I'll tighten my group and push the bullet to 2250-2350fps. Should be some fun.

Not entirely sure what "jackitis" is (though i've seen it mentioned numerous times here) but I'm sure it's not too bad a thing to get Thanks for the warm welcome all! I think I'll like it here


P.S.: how "tight" should the safety be? When flipped to SAFE, it seems pretty loose, and the lever feels pretty sloppy. Is it supposed to be loose, or should it have a nice solid, positive click and lock up like the safety on a modern rifle?

[Sarge756]

Ahh.... which question to answer first.............'Jackitus'...... Your assumption that it is not a bad thing to get depends on how deep your pockets are and how many guns your safe/safes will hold. Our friend and member Jack1653 was the inspiration. Invite you to review his posts.You will learn quite a bit and also quickly understand the meaning of Jackitus.Many of us here have caught a case of it from time to time. So many guns and so little time.I gave up trying to make room for one more in the safe and bought another safe.
The safety on your 8 appears to have been worked on with a punch.The only reason I suspect would be to tighten the handle on the shaft. The looseness you are experiencing should not be there.It should be tight when engaged and when off safety.The handle is most likely rotating on the shaft. I have seen some 8`s and 81`s that had a screw holding the handle on the shaft.Perhaps Cam, or someone else can advise if that was from the factory or gunsmith work on a loose handle. In your case this might be the fix for your Mod 8 and also would look much better than the punch marks. Drilled and tapped for 6-48 screw with a large flat head and some loctite should solve the problem.
Joe

[Sarge756]

Sending this back to the top. Does anyone know about a screw holding the safety lever on? Cam? Where are you ?

[Blastattack]

Thanks for the BTT. I am just about to post something about this in the Maintenance section, showing some in depth pictures of the damage. It appears this rifle fired while the lever was in the safe position, and the bolt handle came back and damaged the lever. The topic/post will be up shortly, just need to upload my images to the web first.

[Blastattack]

Detailed pics can be found here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2298

[Sarge756]

Keenan,
Best bet for parts is our friend remcrazy here. You can find his listings on GB under Robert the Bruce, Jack1653 also may be able to help. You can also contact Robert at circlebranch@cox.net If you have no luck finding a replacement your part looks to be salvageable. As last resort you can send it to me and I will give it a go.
Joe

[jack1653]

Hey Sarge,

Regarding your question about the screw on the safety lever, I will offer this. To the best of my knowledge, there are two types of this lever with a screw. I have rifles with both types. One lever has what appears to be a screw but it is for "decoration" and does not come off of the lever. The second style is a removable screw but that is all it is. It does not hold the lever on and I don't know why Remington did it. I had asked 81police about it sometime ago and I don't recall him giving me an explanation other than to say it does not hold the lever to the cam. I hope this helps and maybe 81police can give us more information.

Regards,

jack1653

[sighthound]

I posted this on other thread also because it is a serious safety issue.
This same malfunction had occured with a 8 I bought off GunBroker, no return sale, damage not disclosed, I did not pick up on how it could have happened, was not able to fix safety to my satisfaction, bought a new one and installed and it works fine. This is a serious defect and could get someone killed. If this was current production Remington would issue recall. We all should inspect our rifles and make doubly sure the safetys are OK. Thank you Kennan for calling this to our attention. Jerry

[Blastattack]

I posted this on other thread also because it is a serious safety issue.
This same malfunction had occured with a 8 I bought off GunBroker, no return sale, damage not disclosed, I did not pick up on how it could have happened, was not able to fix safety to my satisfaction, bought a new one and installed and it works fine. This is a serious defect and could get someone killed. If this was current production Remington would issue recall. We all should inspect our rifles and make doubly sure the safetys are OK. Thank you Kennan for calling this to our attention. Jerry

It is definitely something to check. I do not know precisely how this happened, as it more then likely happened long before my rime (she is 75 years older than I!). However, through the evidence present, it is apparent to me what happened. My guess is that the lever separated itself from the safety bar and barrel, and when the outside lever was moved to safe, the inside lever remained in firing position. This is the only scenario that explains the damage to the safety lever, as the safety arm would have prevented the bolt from moving rearward had the discharge occurred while the rifle was properly safetied. At some point the hammer swung and discharged a round, sending the bolt and barrel back and smashing into the safety lever. This also explains why the safety lever is warped and needed to be re-attached to the safety barrel. I imagine that Remington added the screw on later versions to help prevent this scenario from repeating itself. That's my best guess at what exactly happened.

[Roger]

I've loaded @ shot,with my m-8's many different 30rem. Loadings.I shoot 3/4times a month. I've made some interesting observations. Every m-8 seems to have a favorite load or 2. They also seem to like slower burning powders. Here are a few. Loads you might want to try.30.5 grains of 4064 I Mr w/speer 170 gr.JSP-2.540_o.c.l. ; 34.5gr. Win.760-w/hornady 170gr.#3060-JSP-same 2.540 o.c.l.; 34gr. Win.760- w/speer 150gr.-#2011. I've shot great groups w/ those loads. Keep experimenting. Good luck! Roger