Obtaining Production Year Of Remington O/U 41 RF Derringer

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victorio1sw
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Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 6:09 pm

Obtaining Production Year Of Remington O/U 41 RF Derringer

Post by victorio1sw »

My question regards a Remington O/U 41 RF Derringer which had something to do with a fencing dispute and a killing in 1911.

On Dec 27, 1911 my Grandfather’s brother, Albert Neumann, was shot to death over a fencing dispute. Albert Neumann was in Wootan Wells, Texas (now a ghost town) on that day possibly to purchase some supplies for his ranch. Earlier he had installed a new barbed wire fence across his property, and the neighboring landowner accused Albert of locating the fence line so as to “gain” some additional acreage. Apparently this argument had been escalating for some time.

My uncle Erwin, and the oldest son of my grandfather, was 8 years old in 1911. Uncle Erwin told me that his father came and said “Now they have killed your uncle Albert, and we will have to go and get him”. He said that a wagon was hitched up with horses and they made the 23 mile trip to Wootan Wells in subfreezing weather with about 6 inches of snow on the ground. He said that after Albert was loaded into the wagon the return trip was made. Albert is buried in the Perry, Texas cemetery at the old Methodist church there.

This Derringer was first seen by me at my grandfather’s home in the late 1950’s. Grandfather had died in 1956, so I asked my aunts about this gun. I was told that after the killing that my grandfather had carried this small pistol in his pocket during the subsequent murder trial. He carried the gun because, for some unknown reason, there was a fear that the murderers or their family might try to kill him too. Perhaps my grandfather had given some assistance to his brother Albert in building that fence. The trail was likely sometime in 1912, although the court records have since disappeared.

Can anyone help in determining just when this Remington 41 RF Derringer was made? I am attaching a smoke lift of the barrel address. A scale is laid alongside the italic barrel address. From the “R” in “Remington” to the last period after “N.Y.” it measures 1.875” (or 1-7/8”). Under the barrel and on the left butt (under the grip) is the number 434. No other markings were noticed on either side of the grip frame under the grips.

If I have left out anything important in trying to date this gun, please let me know. And thanks in advance for your help in determining the year of manufacture.
Attachments
Smoke lift of the barrel address.
Smoke lift of the barrel address.
RemingtonDerringerAddress3a.jpg (186.01 KiB) Viewed 1798 times
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