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Remington Model 241

The Model 241 ‘Speedmaster’ was introduced by Remington in 1935 to replace the Model 16. Based on the earlier John Browning-designed Model 24, it remained in production for around fifteen years. 

In the early 1930s, Crawford C. Loomis set about improving the Model 24. He introduced a tilting cartridge guide, an improved extractor and a slightly different take down system - moving the take-down catch from the bottom to the left side of the receiver.

The Speedmaster had a longer 23.5-inch barrel and was heavier, weighing 6 lbs. most importantly it chambered the popular .22LR cartridge rather than the Model 24′s original .22 Short chambering. As such some of the Model 241′s internal parts had to be strengthened to accommodate the higher velocity ammunition.

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Remington Model 24 and Model 241 (source)

Available in either .22 Short or .22LR, but not interchangeably, a new basic Model 241 could be bought for around $29.95, in 1935, with premier grade rifles available for $142. The Speedmaster had a longer, simpler forend and a slightly longer length of pull. 

the Model 241 also saw some service during World War Two as a training rifle. With Remington selling the US Government a total of 7,658 rifles between 1942 and 1945. Remington designer Charles H. Barnes, designer of the earlier Remington Model 16, reportedly developed a sheet metal receiver for the Model 241, to allow it to be made more cheaply but this was not put into production. 

Around 100,000 Model 241s were made before Remington ended production in 1949 and sales of the rifle ended in 1951. The Speedmaster was superseded by the less elegant Remington Model 550, introduced in 1940. 

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3

‘Remington Model 241 Autoloading Rifles’, Remington Society Journal, (2) 2010, J. Gyde & R. Marcot (source)

‘Firearm’, US Patent #1,889,099, C.C. Loomis, 29/11/1932, (source)


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In Action: Lewis Guns

In this photograph we see three British Lewis gunners stood too manning a barricade at a canal bridge at a small French town called Marquois. The photograph was taken on the 13th April, 1918 during the Battle of Lys, fought around the defensive line established along the Lys river. 

The battle was part of the larger German 1918 Spring Offensive which had broken through the British line and forced the British Second Army under General Herbert Plumer to fall back and establish new lines. 

In this photograph we see three men with Lewis Guns defend a river crossing. The British Army had adopted the Lewis at the beginning of the war and had issued two guns per company by the summer of 1916 and at least one per platoon by 1917. Feeding from a 47-round pan magazine, the Lewis was used by a number of nations during the Great War and while weighty, weighing in at 28lbs, proved to be one of the best light machine guns of the war. 

The men appear to be surrounded by equipment including a spade, sandbags and various Lewis Gun kit including what appear to be ammunition boxes, a cleaning kit and a canvas receiver cover (both on the floor by their feet).

The 22 day long Battle of Lys eventually succeeded in slowing and halting the German Sixth Army’s advance and by the summer the German Spring Offensive had lost its momentum. 

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3 


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