One of the reasons I wanted one of these very first editions of the XP is all the history. When Remington announced the XP in 1963, to say it shocked the gun world is an understatement. Revolvers were the mainstay handgun in the 60s and this new experimental single shot bolt action pistol shooting a new hot long range varmint cartridge was about as far removed from a revolver as you could get. A bolt action pistol? Yes, this new XP pistol used the Remington 40x rifle action and was the very first pistol specifically designed for long range shooting all the way out to 200 yards with the new Fireball cartridge. That was truly revolutionary in the 60s. Most of all for a specialty pistol fan like me, the original XP-100 in 221 Fireball was the very first of them all, the grandparent of all specialty pistols to come, hitting the market a full four years before the TC Contender.
And speaking of history, since the XP-100 first appeared in 1963, the year of the JFK assassination, one of the many rumors about that event is that the "actual" shooter used an XP-100.
Even the cartridge used in these very first XPs is historical. Remington originally designed the XP to shoot the 222 Remington, but the 222 wasn't too efficient in the short 10.5" XP barrel, so Remington trimmed back a 222 case to reduced powder capacity more suitable for a 10.5" barrel, creating a new cartridge they called the 221 Fireball, Fireball because of the still impressive muzzle flash.The "Fireball" monicker was originally something of a joke with the Remington designers, but the name stuck. The cartridge is anything but a joke, though. The secret behind the Fireball is the higher pressure than the 222. This allows the Fireball to shoot at almost the same velocity as the 222 out of the 10.5" barrel, but doing it with less powder. That way of improving efficiency in a pistol barrel was later used in many of the cartridges designed specifically for the TC Contender 10" barrels. Historically speaking, then, in 1963 the 221 Fireball was the fastest "designed specifically for a pistol" cartridge with velocities that could exceed 3000 fps in a rifle barrel and 2600 fps in the original 10.5" barrel.
221 Fireball next to a 7mm-08 (also loaded in later versions of the XP)
As for this particular example of a 221 Fireball XP, this 1967 vintage XP is about as mint as you will ever find. No cracks in the nylon stock or rib and it even came with the original XP soft case, itself a collector item. I'll probably add a period correct vintage scope on this one in keeping with the XPs long range pedigree.
Yeah, traditional the XP is not, unless the tradition is that of the specialty pistol class. In that case, the XP is the most traditional of them all.
