Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

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The action on this carbine is, in its entirety, a factory-correct Remington product, right down to placement of the saddle ring and staple. One feature that appears somewhat peculiar when compared to other Remington rolling block carbines is the presence of a ramrod stop at the front of the trigger guard. With this being an early Remington New Model action with rimfire breech block, it may originally have been designed as a two band, full stock, saddle ring carbine, all of which were equipped with a short cleaning rod. Regardless of its original configuration, it is a genuine first in the military rolling block collecting field.

A strong French colonial influence in this region of the world may be the reason why this carbine found its way to Southeast Asia. For many years, Siam and Vietnam treated Cambodia as a buffer state, but with France gaining more and more favoritism and becoming opportunistic with the Cambodian king, they began encroaching deeper into Siamese and Vietnamese territories. A tug of war between Siam and France ensued and slowly weakened Cambodia, eventually throwing the country into civil strife. It was at this time that France supplied Cambodia with arms and ordnance to help authorities protect the country from the scores of bandit and rebel groups that resulted from all the civil strife. Most, if not all, military and police small arms supplied to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam from 1884 on originated from France. Furthermore, most Remington rolling block rifles and carbines supplied to Cambodia’s gendarmes and military organizations were taken from the left-over, obsolescent Franco-Prussian War surplus.