I've read about the Savage redesign. I'm a bit curious as to whether Remington determined that it would end up classified as a firearm or if the Feds heard about it, decided to investigate, and then declared it so.
I'd be willing to bet they knew full well what they were doing. That's a big company with a large legal department, but I don't think they'd try to "slip one under the rug" and risk a battle with the BATF. With the vacating of the market by Savage they were probably just trying to fill the slot as fast and cheap as possible, albeit not smokeless. The gun required very little design work and related costs on Remingtons part. Use a standard off the shelf 700 short action, screw on a .50 barrel and borrow/buy/rent a breech plug design from from someone else (Johnston), and there you have it. I am surprised though that they brought it out before it was proven with BH209. Another cost savings for Remington I guess, Western is doing it for them.
