Thread: Tuning 22's- This time a classic Remmy 541-T

Some time ago (actually ages ago) I was lucky enough to be offered a classic 22 by a forum member - a minty Remmy 541-T. I was hopeful of getting this rifle ready for a crack at the vintage section of @rambo-6mmrem 's rimfire challenge, but early signs were not promising

I shot the rifle a few times but is was very ammo picky (in my experience this is not a good sign, my best 22's reflect pretty much the quality of the ammo they are fed, feed them better more expensive stuff and they'll shoot better) and I put it aside to ponder a little. Groups ran about in the 0.8's @50M with its best ammo, SK rifle match - nothing to write home about.

The example I received only had one action screw, and it seems from a bit of study that they usually but not always responded well to the installation of a second action screw. To keep the rifle as authentic as possible i used a #8/36 screw done in the same way as the factory did them - still a very big cringe to alter one of these, its possible I halved its value - but rifles that don't shoot are not interesting! It took ages to get the right tap and the screws fell into my lap by a miracle, Blacks fasteners were open Christmas eve, I went in and asked for a 1.5" #8x36 screw and the guy behind the counter just smirked. However another bloke behind his piped up and said - "I'll look after this" and bless him, he came back with 2 socket screws the right thread and 2" long - halle bloody helluah.

Over the break I fitted the screw and reshot the rifle. Groups improved a bit, into the 0.6's sort of class . . . . . and the rifle finally looked like it was "trying" to shoot well - some tight groups with just a wee flier.

Tonight I got a break in the weather and work and reviewed progress. I realized I'd forgotten a step with this rifle - a really deep clean to find any carbon. Gasp - I use CLR, all sorts of old wives tales about this stuff and rifles but it works for me. And despite looking clean before I started, a lot of carbon came out.

So I shot it again, light was fading a bit and if you have look at the groups, you'll see why I also " got the wind up" and decided to quit while I was ahead - 1st group as expected pretty mediocre until bore seasons, second group showing some promise but looking like there is a wee bedding issue - so I altered the front screw torque. 3rd and 4th groups speak for themselves - into the 0.5" at 50 class.

So tomorrow or when conditions are suitable I'll try a NZHS forum rimfire challenge target for the Vintage class - this is a 1991 rifle!

I see a few changes from how it was when you got it

Shooting at home ?

Oh the adapter works fine but best to reduce the "variables" for the initial stages . . .

Originally Posted by Tentman

Oh the adapter works fine but best to reduce the "variables" for the initial stages . . .

I thought it might have thrown the harmonics out the door

You tell me about "variables".
Try shooting a full noise Whitworth with at least 6 variables to work through and it kicks considerably more than a .22 LR
550 grain hex bullet and 80 grains FFG

Yup. From the new house platform!

My brother has one of these that was a bit up & down too.
Gave it a bedding job & fully floated the barrel & it was away.
Made a big difference for competition silhouette shooting as it is consistent now.
Might be worth a look with that one as you may be able to get a bit better than .5 @ 50m with it.
Cheers

The barrel on mine is free floated but I hate messing with epoxy so glass bedding is a last resort for me. The silhouette boys know what shoots so I expect your brother's is a hummer.

I just shot this target with mine
I think the rifle will do better if I can get it to run with one of my better lots of ammo.



Note the classic "cold bore flier" - yuk!

@Tentman Reading this puts a new face on an old friend as it seems you have fired more ammo through this rifle in a week than I did in nearly 20 years.I have a 1984 Brno that has probably had 1-2 boxes of ammo through it so maybe I need to test this one.

Hey Ted, I was hoping you'd chip in. Everyone has different bents, and mine is to wring as much as can be had from nice rifles. Just having them for the pleasure is just as valid a reason!

I'm picking tentman's neighbors are away on holiday and the magpies have wised up
So he's making a hell of a racket until the neighbors get back

So that classic best group is under threat again

Nearly shoots as well as my 10/22 @50mtrs

Haha - @viper you are a tease! Now show us 5 consecutive groups at 50!

Beware of single groups but.. They never tell a rifle's story. Have shot groups down to less than 0.1" with 22LR at 50m, but its the next four or five groups that tell the shooter's and the rifle's story. A single group mcan on rare occasions win a shoot-off for us, but it'll never get you through the qualifying rounds of a championship. Good to keep a few though.. Apparently Ruger did outsource for their barrels in earlier years - which means occasionally they might have bought batches of Shilens etc. Meant some 10/22s could shoot very well - but most did not. My 5-6 stock 22s very poor prior to modification.

Remmy coming along nicely Tentman. Keep up the practice - it seriously helps - and keep up the ammo experimentation. Gunsmith mate and I both experimented with floating and or bedding sporter 22s. Results quite variable. At times after floating we'd have to recreate barrel pressures in channel to restore accuracy. And we found bedding could help some rifles, but not with others. Sporters only..