Remington Timeline: 1941 – Remington Goes to War

By G&A Staff

In 1941, when the United States needed firearms for its own troops, it called upon Remington. The company responded dramatically with both rifles and ammunition, eventually increasing its workforce twenty-fold, and ultimately producing materiel with an aggregate value of over $1 billion.

However, the story actually began two years earlier in Ilion when Remington started to convert from production of commercial firearms for the sporting trade to production of military rifles. Concurrently, the Remington ammunition plant in Bridgeport was asked to make the same transition, from making sporting cartridges and shotshells to producing military ammunition. At the same time, Remington Arms Co. was selected to participate in an unprecedented effort to establish and operate five government-owned munitions plants that were nicknamed GO-CO (Government Owned, Company Operated).

On December 12, 1940, Great Britain, who was suffering from a lack of small arms, sent a letter of intent to Remington for the production of Model 1903 Springfield rifles chambered for the .303 British service cartridge. On June 30, 1941, a contract was signed that called for 500,000 rifles. However, because of pressing U.S. needs, this contract was canceled, and in its place came a cost-plus-fixed fee contract from the U.S. government on September 11, …Read the Rest

Source:: Guns and Ammo