The A.A. Clive Rifle was a rifle produced during the era of the American Boys Rifle (that is small calibre, single-shot rifles by popular definition) which lasted from the 1890s to the 1940s. The Clive itself was a rather unusual design in its self and was produced by Remington Arms for several years.
The A.A. Clive Rifle was rather unusual in design, largely due to its operation. The Clive lacked a conventional trigger (a factor that gave the rifle its distinctive and sleek design), instead being operated by a thumb trigger on top of the frame (behind the barrel). The Clive therefore lacked a trigger guard although it did have a system to load the rifle from the breech.
However, the Clive Rifle was otherwise a reasonably typical design for a firearm. The barrel was rifled and attached to the stock by pins. The stock itself was made from walnut and shaped to give the shooter as much support for the Clive as possible, while also being of a shape that could easily be produced by the machinery at Remington Arms. The Clive also used a sliding breech block mechanism to load the cartridge.
The Clive Rifle was chambered to fire the .22 Short cartridge, as was common for a "Boy's rifle". The .22 calibre cartridge was cheap and easy to obtain and, as the .22 Short was not a particularly powerful cartridge, did not place alot of stress on the Clive's mechanisms.
The Clive Rifle was produced by Remington Arms due to the fact that A.A. Clive (the firearm's designer) worked at Remington and successfully negotiated a contract to produce the design. The Clive entered the Remington catalogue in 1898, however a lack of sales prompted Remington to stop production in 1901.
Not much is known about Albert A. Clive. He was born in 1870 the son of a Remington factory worker Mr. Stephen Clive of Ilion New York. Albert attended local schools until about 1885 when he joined his father's department at Remington and became an expert barrel straightener and ultimately the foremen of that department .
Clive had his design patented, receiving U. S. Patent No. 592,196 on October 19, 1897. During this period, it is thought that Clive worked out a deal with his employer, the Remington Arms Company, for his rifle to be manufactured in their factory.
From 1900, Sears and Roebuck Company offered the Clive Rifle for one year, although it appeared in their 1899 & 1900 catalog (information courtesy of great volunteers at the Sears Archive).
Due to poor sales, production of the Clive rifle was stopped in early 1901, leaving Clive to continue working for Remington until 1915. After which he moved to Hartford, Connecticut and worked briefly for Colt before he became ill, returning to Ilion shortly before his death of Bright's disease in March 18, 1919.