I've always been partial to the Savage Strikers over the XP-100 just because of the left hand bolt on the Striker. I've seen a few XP-100s for sale over the years but just never saw one that really caught my eye. I got a call from a local gun shop the other day that changed my mind though.
They called to tell me that they just took in a used gun that would be right up my alley. She wouldn't say what it was, just that I should probably come quick and bring money.
When I got there they had zippered black leather case sitting on the counter and they told me to open it up. Inside was one of the ugliest guns I've ever seen!
Like I said, XP-100s have never really been my thing. This one caught my eye though. Looking at the case, the ammo box and just the gun overall I could tell that this was an older version. It's chambered in 221 fireball, so it is an interesting caliber (even if it is a little on the small side). For the price they were asking I planned on buying it just to use as a donor for a future project. I was already trying to decide what to do with it when I saw the serial number; 27XX! I'm not an expert on historical Remington firearms but any Remington with a 4 digit serial number is worth looking into!
I quickly paid the nice people and headed home to start digging. Based on the serial number and the barrel date codes this gun was made in February of 1962. That's only the second month of commercial XP-100 production! Needless to say this gun is not going to get converted. It will get shot though! It came out with me this morning for a quick function test and photo op. It hit about 6" high and right at 100 yards with factory 50gr ammo and the iron sights but grouped about 2" which is as good as I can hold with irons.
It's just a ton of fun to shoot! No recoil, it balances well, it's relatively quite, and it shoots well. I don't believe in collector pieces so this will get used (but not abused!) fairly often. I think it will become my new beginner pistol for folks who are new to specialty pistols. It's also going to be my new truck gun for shooting targets of opportunity while cruising the logging roads.
Andrew
They called to tell me that they just took in a used gun that would be right up my alley. She wouldn't say what it was, just that I should probably come quick and bring money.
When I got there they had zippered black leather case sitting on the counter and they told me to open it up. Inside was one of the ugliest guns I've ever seen!
Like I said, XP-100s have never really been my thing. This one caught my eye though. Looking at the case, the ammo box and just the gun overall I could tell that this was an older version. It's chambered in 221 fireball, so it is an interesting caliber (even if it is a little on the small side). For the price they were asking I planned on buying it just to use as a donor for a future project. I was already trying to decide what to do with it when I saw the serial number; 27XX! I'm not an expert on historical Remington firearms but any Remington with a 4 digit serial number is worth looking into!
I quickly paid the nice people and headed home to start digging. Based on the serial number and the barrel date codes this gun was made in February of 1962. That's only the second month of commercial XP-100 production! Needless to say this gun is not going to get converted. It will get shot though! It came out with me this morning for a quick function test and photo op. It hit about 6" high and right at 100 yards with factory 50gr ammo and the iron sights but grouped about 2" which is as good as I can hold with irons.
It's just a ton of fun to shoot! No recoil, it balances well, it's relatively quite, and it shoots well. I don't believe in collector pieces so this will get used (but not abused!) fairly often. I think it will become my new beginner pistol for folks who are new to specialty pistols. It's also going to be my new truck gun for shooting targets of opportunity while cruising the logging roads.
Andrew
