Sliver Bullet knife years made

[BBQDAWG]

Being somewhat new to collecting the Remington Bullet Knives, I have a question about them. What years did Remington offer not only a Bullet Knife, but also a premium Silver Bullet numbered knife.

Did the Silver Bullet begin with the 1982 model? Also, when did it end, if in fact it has ended?

[Gumshoe]

I just did a quick search of the AAPK Member Stores, and all of the Remington Silver Bullet knifes were made in the 1980's.

[Mumbleypeg]

I assume you’re aware those were all reproductions of the original Remington “bullet” knives made in the 1920s and 1930s? Which are quite valuable today if in good condition. I ask because a couple of years ago I met a collector of the 1980’s Remington Bullet series who did not know anything of the earlier knives.

Here’s a link to a post containing a link to an article about how the reproduction artwork/posters started, and a complete list of the reproductions by year. viewtopic.php?f=67&t=68941#p879741. The values in the article are for the posters, not the knives.

Ken

[Modern Slip Joints]

I think that I've read enough of Mumbleypeg's posts to safely write that he is interested in Remington made knives. I on the other hand collect modern Camillus knives. Camillus made an annual Bullet Knife reproduction from 1982 until they closed in 2006. After Camillus went bankrupt manufacture of Bullet Knife reproductions was taken over by Bear MGB who's name later changed to Bear and Sons. I do not know if any of the Chinese made Remingtons are called Bullet Knife reproductions. Camillus made fancy versions of their annual Bullet Knives with sterling silver shields and jigged brown bone from 1988 through 1995, skipped 3 years then made them again 1998 - 2000. It's worth noting that Camillus also made all of thier Bullet Knife reproductions with their own name on them rather than Remington. Some of them have the same bone sides as the sterling silver bullet Remingtons. Oddly Camillus also made Bullet Knife reproductions with red Delrin sides and carbon steel blades. I write oddly because the pink plastic looks weird on a reproduction of a pre-WW II knife. I guess the pink was chosen either to warn us to oil the blades or makes it harder to fraudulently sell the carbon steel bullet knives as originals. Bear and Sons made anniversary and other special editions but as far as I know sterling silver Bullet Knife reproductions ended with Camillus.

[Mumbleypeg]

Although my knife collecting interests do run toward older knives, I actually have more of the Camillus-made reproduction Remingtons than I do the originals. The Camillus reproductions are very well done - aside from the materials used they are faithful to the originals. They were done the right way IMHO. Wish I had more of both but what Remington originals and reproductions I have were bargains I have accumulated over the years. Unfortunately “bargain” originals are few and far between.

Ken

[Modern Slip Joints]

While I did find one bargain on a Pre-WW II Case, if bargains on nice originals were not few and far between then there would be about a zillion less reproductions. Despite the questionable taste somebody used selecting their red/yellow/pink Delrin, the 1095 in Camillus' carbon steel bullet Knife reproductions should make them very close to originals in use. That's how I rationalized buying a couple of them. Their price is easy on the wallet to. I'm happy with all my Camillus Bullet Knife reproductions.

[RalphAlsip]

In my opinion, the "Silver Bullet" repro's are a step up from the typical repro's. For example, the Silver Bullet repro's use natural (bone) covers. I have a couple of the Silver Bullets and they are very nice knives. The R4466 attached is technically incorrect because the last digit is a 6 which indicates the handle should be stag not bone. As nice as the repro Silver Bullets are, they don't come close to the originals - in my opinion. A few pictures are included for comparison purposes.

[Modern Slip Joints]

I noticed the last digit on a few years of Camillus bullet knife reproductions is not faithful to Remington's handle numbering system but, what the heck, I believe they all have design features intended to prevent them being fraudulently sold as real Remingtons.

The Remington branded knives that rub me the wrong way are the ones recently made by Buck. Their three spring Stockman is supposed to be a bullet knife reproduction.

[Phil Gibbs]

I have to agree.
Slapping a Bullet Shield onto random Buck knives does NOT make them Bullet Knives.

The real reason the Camillus made Bullet Knives are so accurate to the original Remington made ones is Mel Brewster lent me a mint one from his collection every year for me to copy!