October 19, 1957 Dewitt's Remington Shot Gun

In the course of reading Dewitt’s diaries, occasionally an entry will require going back to find other related items.

Today’s entry from 1957 is one case in point.

Dewitt’s entry mentions purchasing a Remington shot gun on October 14, 1927. That entry begins with the farming work completed, “We finished up corn this morning.” Dewitt then notes, “Went to Geneva this afternoon. Francis and I bought a new auto loading shotgun for $51.00.”

Two years later, on his 30^th birthday (August 13, 1929) he wrote in closing, “I shot a hawk at 110 paces with the 22 spc.”

I’m not a fire arms person, so went asking about the entry. “In 1890 Winchester and Remington developed elongated .22 cartridges in order to get more velocity out of the rimfires of the day. Since they didn't have smokeless powder, the only way to get more velocity was to extend the cartridge and put in more black powder.”

With regard to Dewitt’s ‘22 special,’ “Winchester introduced a slide (pump) action rifle called the Model 1890, and Remington had their Model 12. Remington called their cartridge ‘22 Special’.”

Over the years Dewitt would talk about hunting and game taken down from pheasants to coons to deer. While he doesn’t note in those entries which gun he used, it could well be the Remington.

Dewitt’s Diary, Saturday, October 19, 1957

Temperature 42, cloudy and rain, and cold north wind.

We painted storm windows this morning.

We emptied one corn crib this afternoon.

Cold north wind and cloudy tonight.

I got my Remington Automatic shot gun back from the factory today. It looks like new ($69.80). Bought it new on October 14, 1927. Cost new $51.00 at that time.