POTD: Too Little Too Late – Remington 1890 Single Action Revolver
Sam.S 08.12.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a gun that missed its window by almost 20 years and would become Remington’s last revolver. This is the Remington 1890 single-action revolver. It is sometimes referred to as the Remington 1890 Police since it was widely used by police forces more so than by civilians. This is mainly to do with the obvious. Colt did it first and they did it 17 years before in 1873 with their Single Action Army.
By the time the Remington 1890 single action came out, it was terribly outdated but not a bad quality gun. It looked very similar to the Single Action Army but with a few small modern features. Besides Colt already having a ton of revolvers out in the wild by this point, the Remington 1890 was being surpassed by everyone else in the revolver industry moving into double actions and triple actions. Colt already had a swing-out 38 caliber revolver in the form of the Colt 1889 and Smith and Wesson was not far behind with their Smith and Wesson 1896. As I said, the Model 1890 was not a bad revolver. If it had come out in 1875 or something near the Single Action Army it would have been a worthy adversary.
“Remington reportedly manufactured 2,000 of these Model 1890 Single Action Army revolvers in 1891-94. The Model 1890 was the successor to the Model 1875 and 1888 and was also intended to be the competitor of the Colt Single Action Army like its predecessors. This model is one of the most sought after of all of the Remington produced handguns. The top of the barrel is marked “REMINGTON ARMS CO. ILION, N.Y.,” and “44 C.F.W” is marked on the left side of the frame just below the cylinder. The matching serial number is marked on the lower left side of the frame under the grip and loading gate. The revolver has blade front and frame notch rear sights, lanyard stud and ring mounted on the butt and checkered hard rubber grips with the “RA” monogram at the tops. Provenance: The Milan J. Turk Collection”
Lot 3238: Remington Model 1890 Single Action Army Revolver – Desirable Remington Model 1890 Single Action Army Revolver. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/84/3238.
