Another military-marked shotgun in my very limited collection is this somewhat puzzling Remington riot gun.
The Remington Model 11, produced since 1911, had always been produced in very limited numbers in the riot gun configuration, with the short 20-inch barrel. The Model 11 was produced by Remington under license from Fabrique National, where it was called the Auto-5 or A-5. There was also a three-shot version (FN A-3, Remington "The Sportsman") for waterfowl shooting. The only difference between the two models were some magazine parts, and the foreend.
Three shots made sense when hunting waterfowl, but not when you could have five when using the shotgun for police or military work. After Pearl Harbor, the government not only grabbed all shotgun production for itself, it sent agents to firearms distributors and large dealers to buy Remington, Winchester, Stevens, and Ithaca shotguns off the shelf.
This "The Sportsman" comes from the same very early serial number range as the first Model 11s made specifically for the military. All of these shotguns were built with the same commercial features as the civilian models. Checkered, varnish-finished walnut, roll engraving, and beautiful slow-rust bluing. The only difference is the military marking on the barrel, receiver, and stock.
My "The Sportsman" is a bit of a puzzle because it came from the same range of serial numbers issued to GI Model 11 riot guns. Five shots makes sense for a riot gun, but this one is the three-shot model. The barrel and receiver serials match, the markings are in the correct range, it's just not logical to build a riot gun like this.
Unless the government was so desperate for riot guns, it accepted the three-shot versions just to get the guns out the door and into the hands of troops and security guards. There was a later block of serial numbers that were mostly Sportsmen, but most of those were with 30-inch "sporting" barrels. A lot of shotguns from all manufacturers were military-marked, but otherwise identical to grandpa's hunting gun. They were intended for skeet shooting, which was part of the training of fighter pilots, and aircraft gunners. Some were used for recreational shooting at larger troop R&R facilities.
As a side note, when Remington finally got around to making shotguns to the original military spec of uncheckered stocks with linseed oil finish and parkerized metal, Remington added an extra marking to the receiver. This was done to assure GIs that the finish they saw was because of government specs, and their future Remington purchase would have the fine commercial finish that customers came to expect.
