Need Advice: Found Remington 550-1 (S-L-LR)

A Cleaner · Aug 15, 2005

My aunt moved into an old house in Dallas and found a 550-1 in the attic. She gave it to me, as she knows I'm interested in shooting. I have no experience with a rifle like this (age, model, condition). To give a quick run-down:

A. Surface rust and some pitting along the length of the barrel. No one spot bigger than a dime.
B. Wood in fair condition, will probably refinish.
C. Sticky under-barrel loading mechanism (tube fed) like it was greased rather than oiled.
D. Have not checked the bore yet as I lack a small enough bore light for the task.

Ok, now some questions:

1. What should I look for to confirm that the gun is in working order?
2. What types of things must be fixed before I can shoot it?
3. Are there any types of ammo to avoid?
4. Is there any way to tell the age of the gun without a serial number?
5. What are some signs that this gun should NOT be shot?
6. How accurate are these .22 rifles? I've heard some say "very", some say "so-so".

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Art Eatman · Aug 15, 2005

Just give it a good cleaning. Single load for the first shot. Then put a couple of rounds in the magazine and cycle.

Unless the "innards" are very worn, odds are it will function just fine.

I had one of the original 550s, way back when, and really did enjoy it. I guess it's accurate enough; it seemed--in memory--as though I generally hit what I was shooting at.

, Art

Mike Hull · Aug 15, 2005

I would remove the forearm, and using 4/0 steel wool with gun oil, scrub the rust spots off carefully.
When done with that, spray the loading tube and barrel with B/C Gun Scrubber to blast all the grease, and any particles remaining from the steel wool, and lightly oil as you would any firearm.

Might as well blast out the receiver while you're at it, and oil that too.

Nice find, BTW.

Here's a site to find the date. Scroll down to manufacture dates on the left, and click on Remingtom. Just put the code in the box and click go.

http://armscollectors.com/

Here's another place.
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/questions/BLACKPOWDERX.htm

Those rifles would often function well with CB caps too.

A Cleaner · Aug 15, 2005

Date of Manufacture

The code says either July 1933 or July 1955, as the code B repeats itself for the years. Since the 1940's was when the first 550's were introduced, it looks like the code indicates it was manufactured in July of 1955. Wow. Thanks for the links, Mike.

Mike Hull · Aug 16, 2005

Y/W! Glad they were helpful.

45crittergitter · Aug 18, 2005

Try bronze wool instead of steel.

Brian Williams · Aug 18, 2005

Or get a copper Dish scrubber and use it.

charlesr41 · Jun 13, 2009

Remingon 550

I have 5 of these Remingon 550's (1, NIB, unfired). All except the NIB are shooters and all 4 of them are pretty accurate. I have 2 that I installed Williams Guide Receiver Sights on the rear of the receiver that incresed the sighting plane to 29". One of them is an absolute tack driver and the other is close.
I take the stock off and spray the metal down with Brownell's RP#2 (Birchwood-Casey Sheath) and let sit for 24 hours. 0000 steel wool will remove any rust and is very easy on the finish. If it has some rust left, repeat the 24 hour treatment.

Need Advice: Found Remington 550-1 (S-L-LR)

A Cleaner

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