When Was The Remington Speedmaster 552 Made

[Adam Makin]

Designedby Remington engineers L.R. Crittendon and E.W. Hailston, and first introduced in 1957, the model 552 features a self-loading, blowback action featuring a low profile left-side bolt handle that lends itself to a clean receiver appearance and slender profile.[3] The rifle is equipped with both open sights and a 3/8" (9.5 mm) dovetail rail for mounting a scope and a safety on the trigger guard.[3] The Speedmaster was manufactured from 1957 to 1988 in a standard model. In 1966 Remington offered this rifle with a special stamping of the company's 150th anniversary on the left side of the receiver.

In 1991, the walnut butt stock of the BDL Deluxe version was altered to incorporate a Monte Carlo comb to improve cheek weld when using the rifle with a telescopic sight, while the impressed checkering on the butt stock and forearm was changed to machine-cut checkering.[4] in 2017, after complaints that the Monte Carlo comb made the rifle difficult to use with open sights, Remington returned to a straight comb stock design for current production BDL rifles.[5]

Since Remington was sold and its assets divided among new owners, every Remington is now a limited edition. Remington's plant in Ilion, N.Y., closed, so there will be no new guns bearing the Ilion, N.Y., stamp. All Ilion-stamped guns are now collectible.

One year ago you could buy a used Remington 700 bolt-action rifle in any configuration for a decent price, excluding highly desirable calibers that were no longer in production. Those included 7mm-08 Rem., 22-250 Rem., 308 Win. and 280 Rem., and of course, all of the .22-caliber centerfires.

On Tuesday, a Model 700 BDL in 7mm-08 in what appeared to be about 90% condition sold on an internet gun auction site for $1,347. That gun had noticeable dings and finish marring, and it was also missing its front sight hood. The spike is apparent throughout Remington's rifle catalog, including the more spartan ADL and SPS models.

Model 1100s in 28-gauge and .410 bore have always been expensive. Now they are even more expensive. An 1100 in 16-gauge, in 90% or better condition from any era, has been practically untouchable for many years. A modern 1100 16-gauge "new in the box" on the same internet site currently sits at $2,258 with 22 bids, and with six days remaining in the auction. Compare that with an 1100 20-gauge LT model new in the box sitting at $1,300 with 16 bids and four days remaining in the auction.

This is all really funny to me because Remington seems to be universally hated on every firearms forum I visit. I also encounter it in the retail world, most recently last summer when a clerk at a big retailer scoffed, "I wouldn't own a Remington" while I held one in my hands.

The rifle was a Model 700 5-R Stainless Cerakoted in 6.5 Creedmoor with an H-S Precision stock. It's a custom rifle, and the shooting media universally gave it glowing reviews. I couldn't stand it. I told the guy that I would come back tomorrow and buy it from somebody that has some sense. And I did.

Remington-made Marlin lever-action rifles are the most curious beneficiaries of all this recent goodwill. From the moment Remington acquired Marlin, firearms forums torched the "Remlin" leverguns. The guns didn't feed right. Wood-to-metal finish was terrible. Sights were installed canted on the barrels. Internal components were prone to break. Any Marlin rifle with an MR-prefix serial number was to be avoided at all costs.

The run of Remington-produced Marlins was relatively short. Ruger acquired all of Marlin's rights in Remington's bankruptcy divestment, and now MR-prefix rifles are very limited editions. Their value has gone up quite a bit over the last few months, and an MR-prefix levergun is actually now in higher demand than the JM-stamped models that Marlin built in its New Haven, Conn., factory. That's because the number of JM rifles far exceeds the number of MR guns.

Curiously, the levergun community is excited about Ruger acquiring Marlin. The forums are optimistic that Ruger will build a high-quality product and perhaps transfer Ruger's tradition of chambering bolt-action and falling-block rifles in obscure cartridges to Marlin leverguns. I have been begging Henry Rifles to chamber its Big Boy leverguns in 375 Win. If Ruger brings back the Marlin 375, I will be thrilled.

Some people are worried Ruger has no history building lever-action rifles and does not understand the design. Like Remington, Ruger might experience some quality control issues with its initial output, but also like Remington, they'll correct them quickly. Frankly, I'm not sure those issues ever existed with the Remlins. My Model 336 in 35 Rem. wears serial number MR00009C. Only eight were built before that one, and there's not a thing wrong with mine.

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The 241 replaced the older Browning-designed Model 24 and was considered an improved variant. It also accommodated more cartridges than .22 Short. Over 100,000 rifles were produced, and this particular model was built in 1936.

The 241 is very slim and weighs a mere six pounds. Admittedly you can make a .22 LR rifle lighter, and many have, but old school cool means old school weight. Real wood and a conspicuous lack of polymer mean the gun feels very gun-like.

While it seems silly during an ammo drought to waste gun food, you only live once, and I knew my time with the Remington 241 Speedmaster would be short. I fired nearly an entire box of Federal Automatch, and the gun worked without issue.

Rebluing is not bad if you have a firearm that has little finish left or might need some serious scrubbing to remove rust or pitting. If the finish is intact it is better to maintain what is there. If you can clean it up and remove light surface rust and leave the original finish intact you are better off.

Good good comment! Reminds me of Robert Ruark and Skeeter Skelton. Remember when we would roam ALL DAY through the woods with our .22s? We were Lords of the Plains! The best days of our lives. .22s are FUN!!

If your firearm simply has superficial surface rust, you can simply remove that superficial surface rust with fine steel wool (use the finest steel wool and the lightest pressure that will remove the surface rust) and then apply a light film of oil.

If your firearm has minor pitting, I believe steel wool will still remove the rust from those pits. Once you remove the rust, you can as usual apply a light film of oil or (if you are really motivated) touch up the bare steel in those pits with cold-bluing solution and then apply a light film of oil after you are finished with the cold bluing process.

I also have one in the safe. It was the .22 my dad taught me the firearms basics with. I still remember the sharp crack of the round and the smell of the gunpowder. I will be handing it down to my grandson soon but think I may take it to the range first. Thanks dad. Great article.

I do not have any fancy firearms but the ones I have contain memories that, I hope, my kids will look fondly back at. I feel it is the times they are brought out and used and the memories invoked rather than the type or value of the firearm.

Love the article I have a rem 241 and my dad has one too. It is the best older 22 auto made period,I consistently take squrriels with head shots. The best treatment for rust on a firearm is oil and stainless steel wool pads the stainless steel wont take off the bluing like regular steel wool. Works great

The Remington Nylon .22 Rifles:

Nylon 10, 11, 12, 66, 76 and 77By Chuck Hawks

Remington Nylon 66 (top) and Nylon 77 (bottom) autoloaders.

Illustration from old Remington catalog courtesy of Remington Arms.Back in the 1960s Remington produced a line of synthetic stocked autoloading, lever action, and bolt action .22 rifles. These were, except for some civilian rifles and shotguns built by Savage Arms during WW II when stock wood was in short supply, the first successful synthetic stocked sporting rifles from a major manufacturer. Unlike those earlier Savage/Stevens guns, the Remington Nylon series of rifles used synthetic (plastic) injection molded stocks by choice, and the promotional advertising for these arms touted the advantages of their synthetic stocks.The Remington nylon stocks were made of a DuPont Nylon 66 series plastic called structural Zytel-101 that Dupont developed specifically for these rifles. (Remington Arms was then owned by DuPont.) The basic DuPont Nylon 66 polymer leant its name to the rifle. Just as with today's synthetic stocked rifles, the Remington Nylon series rifles were advertised as having lightweight, waterproof, essentially unbreakable stocks that would not warp, crack, chip, fade, or peel for the life of the rifle. Also, just like today, they carefully avoided all mention of the fact that these molded synthetic stocks were excessively flexible and resulted in a rifle that was too light, so that although intrinsic accuracy was good, practical accuracy in the field suffered.The first, most successful and best known of the series was the Nylon 66 autoloader, introduced in 1959. Produced until 1991, it became the most popular Remington .22 of all time. Like the other Nylon series rifles to follow, it was a hunting and plinking rifle. This was a blowback operated, tubular magazine fed semi-automatic rifle chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge (only). The receiver of this rifle was actually nylon, with the bolt running on "self lubricating" nylon rails. (The Owners Manual advised not to lubricate the action with gun oil.) A slipover blued sheet steel cover was used to give the receiver a more normal appearance and also concealed a pair of stock reinforcing machine screws and nuts. The 19-5/8" barrel was also blued.Its structural nylon stock was injection molded in two halves that were mated together. It was a sleek stock with very slender and attractive lines, a fluted comb, long and graceful forearm with a black plastic schnable tip and a curved pistol grip with a black cap. The buttplate was also black plastic and it was set off by a white line spacer, as were the forend tip and grip cap. Both the pistol grip and forearm wore molded-in checkering in a conventional point pattern and there were white diamond inlays in the center of the checkering pattern on both sides of the forearm that concealed another reinforcing bolt and nut.The standard stock color was a "Mohawk Brown," a walnut brown with black streaks that vaguely resembled wood grain. This was the Nylon 66 MB model, by far the most popular of any of the Remington Nylon rifles with over 721,000 sold in .22 LR. From 1978-on the Nylon 66 MB could be purchased with a rimfire scope and the previous figure includes over 46,500 so packaged.For the first few years the Nylon 66 was also available with an OD green, "Seneca green" stock that never really caught on and the green stock was discontinued in 1962. The total sales of Seneca Green Nylon 66 rifles was a little over 45,000.For those who wanted something even more unusual, in 1961 Remington introduced the Nylon 66 AB rifle with a black ("Apache Black") stock and chrome plated barrel and receiver cover. This was supposed to be the deluxe version of the Nylon 66, but most customers felt that the Mohawk brown version was actually more attractive and it was certainly a more practical hunting rifle. Never the less, Nylon 66 AB models accounted for almost 221,000 rifles sold. There was also a Gallery Special version, the Nylon 66 GS, set-up to run on .22 Short cartridges only. Less that 17,000 of these were produced.The last variation, the Nylon 66 BD, was introduced in 1978 and came with the AB's black stock mated to a black barrel and receiver cover. The diamond inlays in the forearm were also black. Some 50,600+ of these rather austere rifles were produced between 1977 and 1990The streamlined trigger guard was made of black nylon plastic, as was the trigger itself and the bolt cocking handle. The bolt was a machined steel forging and most of the internal parts were fabricated from steel stampings.Iron sights were provided. The front blade was a streamlined shark fin shape and the open rear sight was screw adjustable for windage and elevation. The steel receiver cover was grooved for tip-off scope mounts. The comb was straight and featured minimal drop at heel, allowing for something close to a common sight line for both iron sights and low mounted scope.The brass tubular magazine ran through the butt stock of the rifle, not under the barrel as is more common. It was loaded through a recess in the plastic buttplate. Magazine capacity was 14 Long Rifle cartridges. The "shotgun" type safety was a slider at the top of the pistol grip and very convenient in use. The Nylon 66 measured 38.5" in overall length and weighed only 4 pounds (empty).The list price in 1959 was $49.95 and that remained the price for about 10 years. Around 1970 it went to $54.95. My 1968 copy of the Gun Digest shows the Nylon 66 MB still priced at $49.95. For comparison, that same year Remington's Model 552A Speedmaster, a standard walnut stocked .22 autoloader, carried a list price of $59.95 and the deluxe 552 BDL version cost $69.95. (The 552 BDL is still offered!)The Nylon 66 action was a good one, very reliable in function. This was proven by Remington's extensive testing, in which over 100,000 cartridges were fired through individual rifles. It was capable of an extremely high cyclic rate of fire. I remember reading somewhere of experiments where a number of popular .22 rifles, including a Nylon 66, were converted to fully automatic fire. It was found to be the speed king of all the .22's tested, with a cyclic rate of fire that far exceeded that of any conventional machine gun in the world.A Nylon 66 was used by a Remington professional shooter Tom Frye to hit, in the air, 100,004 hand thrown wooden blocks (about 2" square, if I remember correctly) out of a total of 100,010 thrown. This was (and probably still is) the world record for breaking wooden blocks, and was used in Remington advertising copy to illustrate the reliability of the Nylon 66.I have dwelt on the Nylon 66 because it was produced for many years and sold in good numbers, unlike Remington's other nylon stocked .22s. A Nylon 66 was my first real gun, given to me by my Mon and Dad for Christmas after I had qualified for my High School ROTC rifle team in my freshman year. Before that I had only been allowed to own BB guns.A gun crazy kid, that Nylon 66 immediately became my most cherished possession. Equipped with a Weaver fixed four power .22 scope and Remington's accessory sling swivels and nylon sling, I couldn't count the number of squirrels and small varmints I took with that rifle over the next few years. This in spite of its rather creepy trigger that broke at about 5 pounds, which was typical of these rifles.The intrinsic accuracy of my Nylon 66 was good. From a bench rest it would shoot groups comparable to the best my friends' Marlin Model 60 and Winchester Model 77 .22 autoloaders could do. However, due to its ultra-light weight and (compared to wood) flexible stock, its practical accuracy in the field was probably not as good. However, it was more reliable than other autoloaders and it would feed reliably in any strange orientation, including upside down.Using the sling as a shooting aid, for example, would move the point of bullet impact a couple of inches to the side at 25 yards due to lateral stock flex. The springy Zytel stock made the Nylon 66 shoot away from any hard surface against which it might be rested against in the field (rocks and stumps, for example). This is true to some extent of all rifles, of course, but the effect was exaggerated by the nylon stock. And the rifle was so light that it was very hard to hold steady from unsupported positions.Having achieved commercial success with the revolutionary Nylon 66, Remington proceeded to expand their line of Zytel stocked .22 rifles to include bolt and lever operated rifles and a detachable magazine fed autoloader. I am familiar with these relatively obscure models because my first gun "collection" included samples of each basic type.The Nylon 76 was a lever action version of the Mohawk brown Nylon 66 dubbed the "Trail Rider." It was billed as the world's fastest lever action rifle. It retained all the features of the Nylon 66, but replaced semi-automatic operation with manual, short stroke, lever operation. There was also an Apache black/chrome version of the Nylon 76.Being a lever gun fan, this was actually my favorite of the Remington Nylon rifles, although I cannot remember ever taking my example hunting. I don't think I ever mounted a scope on it, which is probably why I didn't use it much. I do remember rumors at the time that the 76 was not as reliable as the autoloading 66, but mine worked fine.And then there were the bolt action Nylon 10 (single shot), Nylon 11 (detachable clip magazine), and Nylon 12 (under barrel tubular magazine). Unlike the Nylon 66 and 76, the bolt actions had conventional tubular steel receivers. The chromed bolt handles were of the flat Mannlicher type. I remember them as simply being synthetic stocked versions of Remington's inexpensive 581 and 582 (wood stocked) rifles, with a single locking lug at the root of the bolt handle. My examples of these Nylon bolt action rifles were no more accurate than my Nylon 66.

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