Remington

Note: Item is in overall Very Good condition Minor hairline crack in stock behind the tang (See Photos) 

Based on the SN 4242 We believe it to be a 2nd year (1937) production 

(1st year SN ended in with 1675 / 2nd year 4895)

The Remington Model 8 is a semi-automatic rifle designed by John Browning and produced by Remington Arms, introduced as the Remington Autoloading Rifle in 1905, though the name was changed to the Remington Model 8 in 1911.

The primary market for the Model 8 was sport hunting. The Model 8 was used as a police gun, modified to use detachable extended capacity magazines, among other changes. In World War I, it was used by the French Aéronautique Militaire in very small numbers. It is noted as the rifle of choice of famed Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Hamer's rifle was a customized .35 Remington Model 8 with a special-order 15-round magazine from Petmeckey's Sporting Goods store in Austin, Texas. He was shipped serial number 10045, and this was just one of at least two Model 8s used in the ambush of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The rifle was modified to accept a "police only" 20-round magazine obtained through the Peace Officers Equipment Company in St. Joseph, Missouri.

In 1936, Remington dropped the Model 8 name and introduced the Model 81 Woodsmaster with improvements by C.C. Loomis. The Federal Bureau of Investigation acquired some Model 81 rifles chambered for .30 Remington and .35 Remington in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre. Production of the Model 81 ceased in 1950.

The Remington Model 8 / 81 rifle was the first commercially successful semiautomatic rifle offered for civilian sale in the United States.

It is long recoil-operated and uses a rotating bolt head. After firing, the barrel and bolt, still locked together, move rearward inside the receiver and compress two recoil springs. Then the bolt is held back while the barrel is returned forward by one of the springs permitting extraction and ejection. Once the barrel is returned, the bolt is returned forward by the second spring; in so doing it picks up a fresh cartridge from the magazine and chambers it. The Remington Model 8 has a  5-shot magazine and bolt hold-open device which engages after the magazine is empty.