Family rifle story: Remington 510 Targetmaster

[FarmerLawyer]

When my dad's mom passed away in 1986, and the old family home in Falls City, Nebraska got cleaned out, this rifle came home with dad. He told me that he'd bought it mail order in the summer before his freshman year of high school in 1941 for $6.75 in paper route money (his memory was spot on; the date code is November 1940, and a print ad from 1943 which I found confirms the price). He spent the next four years, as he put it, terrorizing the wildlife of Richardson County with it. When he went away to the University of Nebraska on an NROTC scholarship in 1946, and so had access to armory rifles and free ammo, the old rifle went up in the attic for the next 40 years, while dad spent a career as a Marine officer.

While he remained an avid shooter and reloader until just a few years before his death in 2011, I doubt that he ever shot it again; pistols were his thing. I've had it since then, and while I've shot it once or twice, I can't call myself a shooter; I raise beef and pork on a modest basis on a small farm, and guns are for pest control, protection against predators, and home security. They're tools, and this old guy wasn't the best tool for any of those jobs.

That said, I cleaned it up yesterday, and spent a couple of hours in the back pasture figuring out how to adjust the ramped blade sights for 50 yards, and then seeing what it could do. The last image is ten shots prone at 50; I'm pretty sure that the five up in the eight ring are the shooter, and not the rifle. This one appears to live up to the reputation for accuracy which 500 series Remingtons have.

I'm glad I've got it as a connection to the old man, since his #1 M1911A1 is now with my younger son, who is an active duty Marine captain.

 

[Mn Fats]

I own a 512 Sportmaster that looks identical. I believe the only difference is the 510 is single shot and my 512 has a tubular mag. Excellent firearm. I won a competition here on THR in the open sights category with my 512. Very accurate rifles. Nice story and pics too.

 

[rust collector]

The Remington 500 series taught many of us how to make every shot count. Not much to look at, no bells and whistles, and no guarantees of accuracy. Just a good barrel, a reliable design and workable sights. When you can make one of these work well, the credit is all yours.

Yours is in better shape than most, as they spent a lot of time in barns or by the back door. A nice memory generator.

 

[hps1]

Very special memories attached to that well preserved old rifle, @FarmerLawyer.

My first firearm was a 510, given to me in 1945 by a close family friend. I was taught to shoot on that rifle; years later, mounted a Weaver B4 scope and taught my wife to shoot with it. When my son was 5 or 6 YO, I cut the stock and barrel to fit him and he learned firearms safety/marksmanship on the little rifle.

Many years later, dropped it in a surplus 513T stock, cut short and added target sights & forend stop for teaching DCM junior marksmanship club members who were too small to handle the Mossberg 144's issued by DCM.



Some 50+ years after being given the rifle, taught 2 grandkids to shoot it and passed it on to them. The 510 series is a very versatile little rifle.

Regards,
hps

 

[bearman49709]

Growing up we had a 510P that I thought was my dads, sometime in the 1980's mom told me it was her brothers and she had tried to give it back to him one time and he told her to keep it at her house.
He passed away in 1992 and mom gave it to one of my older brothers, in 2017 he gave it to me.
My uncle bought it new in 1939 making it 81 years old.

 

[Picher]

I grew up with a second-hand Remington 514, a single-shot $15 rifle with soft steel and a rotating safety at the rear end of the bolt. It was capable of Short, Long, and Long Rifle, but the barrel steel was very soft and the shorts that I put through it caused the chamber to bell and the extractor fail to extract.

I purchased the Win 69A bolt action in the attached photo about 10 years ago and it looks almost like new. It's been fun shooting it with the receiver sight and I added a globe front, so my grandson could practice for junior rifle competition. Unfortunately, I don't shoot it much, having other rifles with scopes that make it easier for a person my age to shoot well. Still, I take it out once in a while and let it make holes in stuff. I'm planning to remove the globe front and have already replaced the tiny aperture in the rear.

I got the 69A at a good price because the bolt handle wiggled around quite a bit. Locktite "Stud and Bearing Mount Liquid" and a little peening before setup, cured that completely.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Falls City must be one of those big Nebraska towns my dad's father stayed away from. Grandpa settled in a wide spot on Highway 281 a little north of Saint Paul, NE called Wolbach. A Danish immigrant who came to the USA in 1911, grandpa did his fair share of farming and livestock, but his main job was as a rural postman -- he proudly wore that postal cap of his everywhere:




Grandpa let me shoot his Western Field .22 bolt action rifle as much as I liked when I came to visit, provided I did chores in exchange for ammo. The rifle was always hung by its triggerguard in the hallway, with the box magazine locked in a drawer. There were two general retailers in Wolbach, one sold food and other sold hardware, including .22 rimfire ammo. I was last there in 1978, when dad and I helped paint grandpa's house and his next door neighbor's. I hadn't planned on this job and had to put bread wrappers over my Hush Puppies.

I sure miss both of those grand old men.