Ahhhhh!!! The lovely Remington 8/81 rifles!!! I have a love affair with them as I do the Savage 99. My 'kid' memories with the 8/81 are similar as to why I love the 99. AS a kid in the late fifties and teen years in the 60's, all the outdoor, hunting, and gun magazines always displayed full page ads of the 8/81's and showed deer camp pictures with guys holding 99's, 8/81's, and Win 94's. Always dreamed of being one of those guys. The ads intrigued me. Didn't buy a 81 until around five years or so ago, same with a 99. Never did have a Win 94 lever gun, but have two Marlin 94's and a Uberti Model 66 (Yellowboy). If deer were allowed to be hunted in Iowa with bottle neck cartridges, I'd probably have bought a 99 or 8/81 sooner, but what is, Is, and I enjoy just being able to paper punch and shoot milk jugs full of water.
Regarding to what was posted earlier, the Model 81 isn't a cheaper Model 8. In 1936 Remington wanted to 'modernize' the Model 8, so they gave the stock a pistol grip and did a few things back and forth with the forearm. Basically the 81 is nothing but a 8 with a pistol grip stock, which actually makes for a stronger stock. Most everything between the two models is interchangeable as far as parts. The 25 Remington caliber was dropped in 1936 when the 81 was introduced and the 300 Savage was introduced. Most popular caliber for the 8 was the 35 Remington and for the Model 81 it is the 35 Rem and 300 Savage, although I see alot more 300 Savages for sale on GunBroker and Guns International. The 30 and 32 Remington's lasted for a while after the 81 came out, but they to were dropped after WW2 I believe. Remington just prior to WW2 was considering a Model 82, a advanced version of the 81 with a crossbolt safety and a few other refinements, but it dropped for lack of a second and WW2. A few rare Remington 81's in 25 Rem caliber are around that were produced in and a bit after 1936, but they are very rare.
The stampings on the barrel/receiver, and trigger assembly as indicated are fitters and assemblers marks. If you see duplicate stampings say on the receiver and trigger assembly, those are fitters stamps. Single ones are assemblers. Out of sequence stampings on the barrel jacket and/or the barrel jacket housing are usually from the rifle being sent back to Remington for work and stamped by gunsmiths at the plant. There is a whole list of marks depending on the employee and year of production. A great book on the 8/81 rifles is John Henwoods "The Great Remington 8 and Model 81 Autoloading Rifles". Out of print, can be pricey, but at times I see them reasonable. I paid around $65 and I thought it was pricey, but I've seen them push $200 here and there. Great informative book, just like Davids 99 book giving history, details and such. Not forgetting your book Rory, I did see that 81 you bought on GB with the Krieger mag capability. Those models usually are highly sot after and the Krieger magazines are much sot after also if they can be found for sale. I too bid on a firearm once, bidding what I thought was a soft bid that would be out bided. No one else bid and I bought the gun. Glad it turned out that way, the gun is a favorite now and worth more than I bid. Did learn my lesson there.
I have two post WW2 81's, both in 300 Savage and this spring I found a really nice, great shape 81 in 35 Remington. I've had great results reloading Varget, 3031, IMR and H4895, and have done some with IMR 4064 in the 300 Savages. Didn't have as good of results with Win 748. Varget and 3031 are my favorites for the 300 Savage. Can't get 1" MOA with the guns, but anywhere from 40-100 yards I can cover 5 shoots with the palm of one hand, some of the shots touching. Good enough if I were deer hunting. I'm just getting into cast bullet loading with Lee's 30 caliber 150 FT and 160 grain RN. Most of my bullet use has been Speers 150 grain 30 cal Hot Cores, both Spitzer and Flat Point's. Great accuracy. Using the info from load manuals, I'm confident of the fps and the ability if used for huntin, they'd drop a deer. One thing that is needed with the 'Pogo Sticks' recoil operated 8/81's is enough energy to operate the rifle, so downloading can be finicky if a person wanted to reload for just target without the recoil. Not having any 35 Reminton pior to getting the 1938 DOB 81 Rem, I'm just in the process of casting 200 grain bullets for it and had to replace the magazine spring. Some former owner replaced the original with some other zip-zag spring and I had a dickens of a time getting one. One of the hazards of online gun buying.
The recoil of my two 300 Savage 81's isn't bad, but I read and am a member of the Remington 8/81 forum and a 8/81 shooter there put me on to 'Limbsaver' brand slip on recoil pads. These things are a wonder. I bought two at a local store (a medium and large sizes) and tried them. The medium works best as far as fit on my 81's. In fact that size works great on my M1 Garands, collection of WW1/2 military bolt guns from four countries). Took the large size back and exchanged it for another medium. I'm no 'weany' when it comes to recoil, but don't enjoy it either. The Limbsaver really took the bite out of the 300 Savage as it did out of my military collection. The Russian WW2 Mosin/Nagant 7.62x54 is probably the biggest 'mule kicker' I have and a LimbSaver really tamed that beast down. The Limbsaver is around $30 retail and worth every dollar. Their 'AirTec' model is better than the 'Classic' model. Nice thing about the slip-on's is that they don't detract from original lines and lessen value vs adding a permanent recoil pad.
Enjoy the nostalgia of the Remington's as I do my three Savage 99's. I even donned my red/black wool jacket at times and take a 99 or 81 for an afternoon stroll along a river and/or timbers playing a hunter from yesteryear plinking at targets of opportunity. Enjoyable outings. Wish deer hunting was allowed with my 99's and 81's. I don't know how this post got so long, but gives ya all some reading time. All take care.
