Letter to Rifleshooter Magazine

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Picher

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I got my latest "Rifleshooter" magazine (May-June) in the mail yesterday and was reading it, when, skimming through the Letters, I ran across this letter about a guy who had the same kind of .22 rifles that I have. I got about half-way through the first column when it seemed quite familiar. I'd forgotten about the e-mail I'd submitted, even which magazine it went to, so was floored when I realized it was MY response to a request for comments on a previous article about rimfire rifles.

I was going to post a photo of the actual article, but thought about the copyright and deleted it. I discussed buying a used Winchester 69 A that had a loose bolt handle, which I fixed, and about my beautiful low-serial number Rem 504, purchased at a Salvage store. It's the first letter I've written to any gun magazine, so was quite surprised that it was published. 504e.JPG

IMG_2787.JPG
 
I didn't send the above pictures to the magazine.

Correction 3/9/2019: I saw that they had the pictures, just didn't publish them.
 
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I didn't want to post a photocopy of the article, due to the magazine copyright, but after the comment from 1KPerDay above, found the original text, so here it is:

By: J.Picher, Vassalboro, Maine

A couple of my favorite .22LR rifles are a Winchester Model 69 and a Remington 504. The 69A was purchased used at Kittery, ME Trading post and I got it for $230 because the bolt handle was loose. After putting some Locktite Stud and Bearing Mount liquid in the joint and peening around the joint, it's been a fantastic rifle. A while ago, I installed a globe front sight and target aperture in the rear receiver sight so my grandson could use it for practice shooting on the rifle team.

The 504 was purchased from Marden's salvage company in Waterville about 20 years ago. The company had purchased the entire stock of a gun shop that went out of business and I was fortunate to spot the rifle in the rack within the first hour of sales and grabbed it. I think it cost me about $250 at the time.

(The magazine edited it to eliminate the name of Marden's salvage company and Kittery Trading Post. I also submitted some photos, but they didn't publish any.)
 
It’s pretty cool to see your response or letter published. I sent one in last year to one of the mags (May have been Rifle shooter?) correcting an article that stated the .338 Federal was the first cartridge to bear the Federal name. The first was the 9mm Federal revolver cartridge.

Like you, I was pleasantly surprised to see it actually made print :thumbup:.

Stay safe.
 
my beautiful low-serial number Rem 504, purchased at a Salvage store.

What has been your experience with the Model 504? If you spend much time perusing some of the reviews on this rifle, there's a lot of negative feedback, especially in terms of accuracy. I've had one for several years and mine, topped with a Nikon "ProStaff" 4x scope (I like my scopes to be as small and compact as possible and practical on any rifle used for hunting), has been very accurate @ fifty yards.
 
That is pretty cool.

By the way, how did you repair the loose bolt handle on your 69A?

Picher may be able to elaborate more but the basics he stated were "After putting some Locktite Stud and Bearing Mount liquid in the joint and peening around the joint."
 
Sad state of affairs when a submitter of information has to worry about his own submissions, but I guess that’s where we are...nice looking rifles.
 
Funny that it caught you by surprise! Got some nice rifles Down East. I was perusing Poulin's Spring Auction catalogue this morning. Missed another Winter Romp up in Waterville this year. No Big G's for me :(

I've had a few pieces published in the On-line hunting "press" but having flogged quite a bit of verbose, loosely strung together nonsense to the automotive rags over the years, I was surprised to find the Hook & Bullet eds far from starved for content and rather picky!
 
Picher may be able to elaborate more but the basics he stated were "After putting some Locktite Stud and Bearing Mount liquid in the joint and peening around the joint."
It's been quite a while since I did that work on the 69A. I may have introduced some degreaser before placing the High-Strength Locktite in the joint. I often use denatured alcohol to do that, but don't recall whether I did it. Loctite is somewhat viscus and wiggling the bolt handle helps to draw it into the joint. Immediately after placing the Locktite, I peened the joint with a hammer and large pin punch, but there is no visible distortion of the bolt surface. It remains tight to this day.
 
What has been your experience with the Model 504? If you spend much time perusing some of the reviews on this rifle, there's a lot of negative feedback, especially in terms of accuracy. I've had one for several years and mine, topped with a Nikon "ProStaff" 4x scope (I like my scopes to be as small and compact as possible and practical on any rifle used for hunting), has been very accurate @ fifty yards.
My 504 has been surprisingly accurate, otherwise it would have gone down the road.

From my text on accurizing the Rem 504 written shortly after accurizing:
"I shot the rifle from the bench at 50 yards under pretty good conditions. Temp was about 45* and wind was under 4 mph and variable. Mirage was pretty bad, though, causing some groups to open up. Average of 10 5-shot groups, using several types of ammo, was .368”. The smallest groups were 0.154” and 0.162”. The average group size for five groups of Lapua ammo was 0.252”, exceeding my goal of .300” average."
 
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Funny that it caught you by surprise! Got some nice rifles Down East. I was perusing Poulin's Spring Auction catalogue this morning. Missed another Winter Romp up in Waterville this year. No Big G's for me :(

I've had a few pieces published in the On-line hunting "press" but having flogged quite a bit of verbose, loosely strung together nonsense to the automotive rags over the years, I was surprised to find the Hook & Bullet eds far from starved for content and rather picky!

So you're living in Maine? Along the coast? I belong to Cap City and shoot there when I can't get down back to my blueberry field range. I also perused the Poulin's catalog, but the prices at the auction are usually out of sight. I brought my B.I.L.'s collection to them and was somewhat disappointed in what we got for many of his guns, especially after their fees. I wasn't in a position to sell them individually, since I was still working at the time.
 
So you're living in Maine? Along the coast? I belong to Cap City and shoot there when I can't get down back to my blueberry field range. I also perused the Poulin's catalog, but the prices at the auction are usually out of sight. I brought my B.I.L.'s collection to them and was somewhat disappointed in what we got for many of his guns, especially after their fees. I wasn't in a position to sell them individually, since I was still working at the time.

No, not a Mainiac myself, but have family there and have spent a lot of time there. Every year, Presidents Day Weekend, a chap named Bruce Fowler in Benton runs one of the largest Land Rover events in the country: Winter Romp.
 
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