Went in the local gunsmith's shop with my brother-in-law early last week when he hit repeated home runs on .44 caliber revolvers. He'd had a pair of .44s in for work, a refinish for a Smith & Wesson Model of 1926 .44 Special and a Smith & Wesson Model 58 .41 Magnum to .44 Magnum conversion. He picked up a .44 Special chambered Colt New Service from the shop's pistol case while he was collecting his other .44s.
I idly peered at the rifle rack, not really seeing much of anything that I hadn't either already seen or else would interest me when I saw enough of a .22 rifle to feel I recognized it to be one of the old 500 series Remington rifles of bygone times, sometimes referred to as the 5-teens rifles. These were produced between 1939 and 1963. The design soldiered on with some redesigned upgrades and model variants into about 1970.
It
was one, a Model 510 bolt-action single shot, otherwise known as the "Targetmaster." Was $85. It looked well used and well loved as so many of these model Remington .22 rifles are wont to do. A look down the bore though found a dirty but honest bore in good condition. The stock was grimy but sound. The action is sturdy and trouble-free. It was all there. Had to be a "deal" so I brought it home.
I had both a Model 510 and a Model 512 (the tubular magazine "Sportsmaster) available to me growing up. Later I acquired both a 510 and a 512 of my own. Then a 513T came to roost along with a budding interest in small-bore rifle competition. All slipped away, the Model 513T in trade toward a Springfield Model 1922AII that I still have, the Model 512 having a broken and repaired stock as well as being infrequently balky about feeding, the Model 510 ... I can't recall why it went away. I really enjoyed using this particular line of Remington .22 rifles. While (briefly) considering the find in the gun shop I had visions of hot summer days gunning for grasshoppers and dragonflies and popping weed heads off while sitting on the porch of our old cabin at the lake while armed with a 510 or a 512. Also endless plinking. And hunting, especially with the repeating Model 512. In those days I also had a Winchester Model 190 automatic, but the bolt-action rifles encouraged a slower, more reflective pace to one's plinking endeavors. It's sort of like a hand wind watch compared with a quartz watch. The hand wind watch makes its owner feel "needed" somehow just as the operation of these bolt-action models lends the same "needed" effect.
My childhood huntin' cousin turned up at his ranch last winter when I was deer hunting with him having the self-same Model 510 we'd both used as kids and it was grand to have a reunion with the old rifle, still having its bit of dirty braided Venetian blind cord tied fore and aft as a sort of sling since at least the late 1960s.
Brother-in-law and I adjourned from the gunsmith to the local gun club range immediately after concluding our business. After ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over all his .44 goodness I broke out the Remington Model 510 and a box of CCI standard velocity .22 Long Rifle ammunition found deep within my shooting box. The rifle was still dirty and dry from lack of lube, but it functioned like a champion for the bit of shooting I did with it. There was a piece of scrap wood lying on a berm some 50 yards distance, left by some inconsiderate member. This scrap wood was about the size of a skinny cottontail, or so I told myself. It just could not be missed with the new/old acquisition which appears perfectly sighted for the distance. These rifles have an adult-sized yet trim and graceful stock design that lends itself well to use.
I was tickled with this cheapo Model 510 acquisition and set to work scrubbing it up with a "sympathetic restoration." Cleaning grime off metal surfaces, alternately soaking and scrubbing the bore with Hoppe's No. 9 and a bronze bore brush, soaking the wood surfaces of the stock in denatured alcohol and wiping off to be followed with several applications of raw linseed oil.
Happy as a clam I was, with another addition to already too many .22 rifles on hand ... or can one have too many?
Vague thoughts ran to collecting each of the "5-teen" modes:
510 single shot "Targetmaster,"
511 "Scoremaster,
512 "Sportsmaster" with its tubular magazine, and
513T "Matchmaster" also having a box magazine. Maybe even a less common
513S which was the sporter grade of the 513T. Probably wouldn't ever stumble onto the least common of the particular design, the Model
521T "Junior Special." One could collect decent shooting examples of each for little cash outlay and most will turn up at gun shows or used gun racks of shops. Internet firearms auction sites are full of 'em.
Was wandering the Abilene Silver Spur gun show last Saturday afternoon, just as it was closing time and before I went on duty as all-night security, something I do in my retirement for promoter friends, for "fun," for gun hobby money, for contacts, and for "deals." Walked up to an exhibitor's table crowded with rifles and there among them was a really eye-popping Remington Model 512, a far better one than I'd ever seen, about the finest example of a Remington 500 series rifle as I'd ever encountered. Price wasn't bad at all, less than some more mundane 512s found on the GunBroker auction site. When the seller helpfully knocked off fifty bucks, well it had to come home too.
The Model 510, still soaking in the gun room floor.
The Remington date code on the barrel reveals it to be made in September of 1946.
The Model 512 would probably go 90-92% of original satin blue finish. Only a bit of scuffing on the right side of the butt stock and some few minuscule and shallow cuts mar a stock with a perfect original factory finish. Bet the stock suffered its slight defects being wagged to recent gun shows. Wish I could have rescued it sooner. So many of these rifles' stocks either have very degraded surface finishes, or else have been bubba'd with a thick coat of shiny, snotty-looking polyurethane.
The date code reveals this rifle to have been made in February of 1950.
Handy Remington date code chart
https://www.remingtonsociety.org/manufacture-dates/
Look at the price of these rifles in 1940 in the first link!
www.atticpaper.com/proddetail.php?prod=1940-remington-500-series-rifle-ad
Whoo! Prices had risen considerably by 1949.
www.picclickimg.com/d/w1600/pict/401417643898_/1949-Remington-Model-510-511-512-Bolt-Action.jpg
I didn't realize it until examining the Model 510 in detail upon field stripping it. Probably the weak link in the entire design is the fact that the trigger sear also acts as the bolt stop, a feature shared with the Winchester Model 54 bolt-action rifle. The Winchester Model 54 center fire rifle was famous for this feature and the revered Winchester Model 70 which replaced it in 1936 remedied that design flaw. I never personally encountered any problems with the design. It seems that perhaps the sear itself is saved from direct bolt impact which makes contact just below it. Still, if one was prone to sloppy, slam-bang operation of the bolt then his Remington 500 series rifle might come to grief sooner rather than later, giving possible trigger release issues.
These rifles are not serial numbered, being made prior to regulatory changes in 1968. The line is one of those "best-kept-secrets" of the shooting world. They were marketed as inexpensive in their day, but their quality would now be costly if produced today They have a reputation for great accuracy for what they are and the ones I've encountered in my shooting career always gave impressive accuracy. Sturdy as stumps, these will serve generations until that time when self-contained metallic cartridges become obsolete. The ones with which I've had intimate contact all had quite decent triggers, conducive to accurate shooting. They have long graceful 25-inch barrels which uniformly deliver outstanding accuracy. I think that off the bench rest they'd whip the average Ruger 10/22 or other .22 rifle du jour that is sold these days for shot-to-shot grouping capability. Even with the longer barrels the rifles are gracefully balanced yet feel full-sized and manly in the hands. Stocks were always genuine walnut, good plain grade yet serviceable. The report of .22 Long Rifle, even High-Velocity loads, is noticeably quieter and more pleasant from these rifles. Scoped up, they would likely be a treat. It's easy to find examples that have already been drilled and taped for scope mounts so no use in drilling a rifle not already so treated. A ratty Model 510 single-shot with scope and an added suppressor might make the ultimate yard gun.
Surely someone else here grew up with one of these Remington models available to him. Does anyone still have one?
