Yet another old model 10

kentop · Post by **kentop** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:35 pm

For a gun they only made 200,000 of, there sure seem to be a lot of them collecting dust around the country. I picked one up at a recent gun show in Tucson, Az. It's a standard model 10 with the tootsie roll for-end. The serial number is 176***, which, after looking online for serial numbers, seems to have been made in December of 1919. It's beat up on the outside but there's no rust, no wobble in the barrel, the inside is clean as a whistle and the inside of the barrel is very nice looking. Very nice, crisp action, trigger and action bar safety both work fine. There are no cracks in the stock and it has the Remington rubber pad on it instead of the plastic buttplate. Feeds ammo beautifully. Very nice, natural sight and balanced but heavy with a 30" barrel. The serial number is engraved on the barrel as well and it matches the serial on the gun. There is an "S" on the left side of the barrel torwards the breech and a double struck "R.M.P." inside an elongated circle on the opposite side (right side) Anybody know what they mean? Anybody know when the model 10 became the 10-A, or at least started being stamped that way? This one looks like a shooter (which is why I bought it) and it cost me $150.00 out the door, which I feel is about ballpark for this weapon. At first I was hesitant because the barrel lug had been welded on (I've seen worse welding jobs) but all in all, I should be able to have some fun with it. I understand that the model 29 was the same gun reintroduced with modifications. Is this true? If it is, are any of the parts interchangeable? I completely stripped this weapon down and everything has very little wear. I am going to test fire it this Thursday with some cheap Winchester #8 bird shot.
Thanks for any answers you guys can give me.