Although the handles are a bit light, it's not at all unusual for Remingtons, especially if they have some pocket wear. Here are a few light handled examples I just pulled off of the web with a quick search:
Seems like possibly either the mark side haft was replaced with one off of a punch blade model or a possibly broken punch blade was replaced with a blade off of the regular model which would likely have also required the matching spring. Nice knife regardless
Not a Remington devotee in any sense, but I do know a thing or two.
Not judging the OP knife, as I am not qualified to do that.
But:
Factory cutlers in that era were not the least bit interested in color matching handles front to back. Owning 350 vintage Robesons proves that point to me. In fact, they were prone to put a lesser attractive handle on the back side.
Light will fade a knife handle. Throw your favorite knife on the dash of your auto and leave it there six or eight weeks.
I fully suspect that shields, regardless of type, on Remington knives were pinned all the way through and peened to the frame on that side, so changing a handle is not a simple task.
Cutlers made mistakes. I know the ones at Robeson did and one of the most oft observed is that of miss-striking a handle pin or bringing down the spinner nib in the wrong place. I could show you a Robeson with a spinner mark that missed the pin completely and Robeson’s cutlers at that time were some of the best in the country.
People make fake or altered knives and some of them can do it quite well and they were for sure doing that about the same time that knife collecting got started because there was money to be made.
Personally like the OP knife and hope it’s legitimate.
DE OPPRESSO LIBER
"...Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons ___but they are helpless against our prayers. "
RobesonsRme.com wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 1:19 am
And this is a mite sloppily suspicious:
That's what makes me think that a punch blade was at some point switched out for the pen blade. Although it could also be the result of excessive twisting or prying.
Good points Charlie. There is enough about this OP knife that doesn't quite add up. The messed up bolster groove is hard to reconcile as being factory. Very unlikely that the knife at one time had a punch blade since I don't believe Remington ever made the R4283 five blade knife with a punch. The shield is incorrect for the knife. I don't like the fact that the handle center pins look to be so deeply spun into the handles.
The sowbelly pattern is an uncommon in any brand so parts for repairing this type of knife would be hard to find. The blades all look correct for an R4283 pattern. I think it is plausible that the knife is a knife made from Remington parts to make a complete but not quite correct R4283 knife. The Remington 5 blade sowbelly pattern could be a very lucrative knife to repair if the handles were broken or the knife was in some way compromised and needing repair. There is always a thought that knives that have been altered were altered to make a knife serviceable rather than to create a counterfeit knife. "Research not making sense" is a good title for this post.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
peanut740 wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 1:38 pm
Remington 5 blade sowbelly knife never came with a punch.The blade combination appears correct.The knife has undergone some kind of transformation.
Darn Roger, well that just shows how much I know about Remingtons LOL! I see now that the punch only came in a three blade sowbelly configuration 4263, unless there's something else I missed? Well that would seem to point back to the pile side haft being replaced at some point with one off of a 4263 perhaps? Just a guess at this point.
Regarding the missed spinner marks, that's actually a fairly common occurrence in the cutlery world, although most times (but not all) it's caught before it makes a significant mark. It's not caused by a misaligned spinner but rather by the spinner jumping when it catches a pin edge as it's being brought down on the pin. It's rather jarring as the knife is hand held during this process and causes the knife to be thrust sideways. Quite a bit of force is being used on the spinner at this point and it can be difficult to stop it before it hits and gouges the handle.
I, too, was curious, and found a knife model on ebay with a similar walnut, only with 4 blades in excellent condition. It is about 1930 and it is possible that the one from the beginning of this thread is from there.
Cuposer wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 2:14 pm
I, too, was curious, and found a knife model on ebay with a similar walnut, only with 4 blades in excellent condition. It is about 1930 and it is possible that the one from the beginning of this thread is from there.
I saw that on Ebay,It's been heavily cleaned,blades and all down and the punch is very short.
to AAPK Cup! 
