Firearm Factory of the Month: Remington-Rand

This month's firearm factory is another war-time gun maker that had been making a different product but tooled up to fill government contracts.

The Remington-Rand Company produced some 875,000 M1911A1 pistols during WWII.

There have actually been three 1911 pistols to wear the Remington name. 
Remington-UMC of Bridgeport, CT produced M1911 pistols during WWI

Remington-Rand of Syracuse, NY produced the M1911A1 during WWII and Remington Arms currently produces the R1 1911 pistol. 

All three companies share the same roots in Ilion, NY.

We will start with the Remington Arms Company. Founded as E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York in 1816.

During the post Civil-War industrial boom Remington decided to get into the typewriter business. From 1873 to 1886 Remington made typewriters based on several patents.

A side note, the Remington typewriter was the first to use the now standard "QWERTY" keyboard arrangement.

In 1886 Remington sold the typewriter business to a new company formed by former Remington employees. The new company was named: The Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company, the sale included the rights to use the Remington name.

The Standard Typewriter Manufacturing Company changed it's name in 1902 to The Remington Typewriter Company. Then in 1927 they merged with Rand Kardex (a maker of index cards). The new company was named Remington-Rand.

Remington-Rand had several factories in New England and during the depths of the Great Depression had to close some of them. One of those plants was on Dickerson Street in Syracuse.

The United States went to war on December 8th, 1941 and soon a War Production Board was established to control what products could be made for non-war use. 
On March 6th, 1942 the WPB established limits on the productions of typewriters with production to completely end by October of that year.
Ten days later (March 16th, 1942) Remington-Rand was offered a contract to produce 125,000 M1911A1 pistols. 

Remington-Rand created a new division called the "C" division and the re-opened their shuttered factory at 111 Dickerson Street in Syracuse. 
Tooling was brought in from various places and machines were reconfigured to produce pistol parts. Early on they had to purchase some parts from High Standard, Colt and others to get the pistols completed. By November of 1942 they had 255 pistols ready for inspection.

Remington-Rand M1911A1 Serial #1, a test pistol, never issued.

Workers assembling M1911A1 pistols

Throughout 1943 and 1944 Remington-Rand's contract was extended to produce more pistols. 

When production ended in March of 1945 Remington-Rand had produced 875,000 M1911A1 pistols, this was considerably more than the other two contractors (Colt & Ithaca).

Considerable efforts were made to produce the best pistol for the lowest cost. They hit home runs on both. The Remington-Rand pistols were considered the best quality of the three contractors and by the end of production they had lowered the cost to the U.S. Government to $23.92 per pistol and $.74 per magazine.




What Remains

After the war, Remington-Rand continued to focus on business machines and in 1950 they acquired the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, makers of the first electronic "computer". In 1951 they produced the UNIVAC.

In 1955 Remington-Rand was acquired by Sperry and in 1986 Sperry merged with Burroughs to form Unisys.


E. Remington and Sons have been bought and sold many times since their days of making typewriters. They still manufacture guns in Ilion and in 2010 (just in time for the 100th anniversary) they introduced a commercial M1911 pistol, dubbed the R1

The factory building at 111 Dickerson Street in Syracuse no longer exists, the factory grounds are now part of the campus of the Rescue Mission Syracuse

Sources:

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/56/3617/remingtonrand-1911a1-pistol-45-acp

https://www.guns.com/news/2019/08/15/a-pilots-best-friend-wwii-remington-rand-m1911a1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remington_Rand

http://www.coolgunsite.com/images/rem%20rands%20group/remrandstory.htm

http://sightm1911.com/lib/history/remingtons.htm

http://www.pbyrescue.com/weapons/RRand/RRand.htm

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=372582

https://kids.kiddle.co/Industry_in_Syracuse,_New_York

https://www.dot.ny.gov/i81opportunities/repository/Appendix%20E-3_1-Phase%201A%20Archaeological%20Assessment_Redacted_04-19-2019.pdf

http://sightm1911.com/search/1911/page/41/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Remington_and_Sons#Remington_Typewriter_Company

https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/lot-1161-extraordinarily-rare-remington-rand-demonstration-pistol-serial-number-1-model-1911a1-semi-auto-military-pistol-42613/