Thanks. I can't wait to get it out and see how she does. The fancy grades D, E & F are quite rare. This one is from about July 1909 looking at the serial numbers and production totals and doing a bit of math. The production totals for the model 8 were just under 70,000 made and there is talk of only a few thousand made up in these grades. They were also available in 4 different calibers. .25, .30, .32, .35 Remington. That makes a D grade in .35 pretty damn rare and maybe into the hundreds of units ever built, at the very least 1-2 thousand tops!
Oh and it is true that the internal components were hand pollished on the D, E & F grades! They shine like they are chrome plated compared to my regular model 8 from 1908.
I may have it completely, professionally restored one day to bring it back to its original beauty.
Once I get it all back together, I will have to do a posting in the sporting arms/antique arms section with good post clean-up pictures and a range report.
Cheers,
Ian