Working on Remington’s classic .22 target rifle.

by Gary Yee

Recently, a colleague at Trinidad State Junior College asked me to reblue his old Remington 513 bolt action rifle, the target version in Remington’s line of .22 LR bolt action rifles that included the Model 510, Model 511, Model 512 (tubular magazine fed), and Model 514 (single shot). Apart from the worn bluing, this beautiful rifle was missing the magazine catch that needed replacing.

Starting with the progenitor of this line, the Model 510 was introduced in 1939 as an inexpensive, single shot, bolt action rifle. The receiver started as flat stock that was punched out, then formed and welded at the bottom. All these rifles have some slight variation in parts. As Remington’s mid-priced .22 target rifle, the 513T was between the lower-end Remington Model 521T. Remington’s top of the line Model 37 was the company’s response to the Winchester Model 52. Produced from 1940 to 1967, production was discontinued when Remington introduced its 580 series. There was an early version and a later version of the 513T. Besides the magazine lock, the later model 513s may be distinguished by the dovetail cut in the barrel for the front sight. The earlier model’s front sight base was secured by two screws. The 513 worked on here is an early model taking two machine screws for the magazine catch. Note, if you work on these you won’t find the serial numbers on the receiver since they were stamped on the bottom of the barrel and is hidden by the stock.

Read more in the March 2017 issue.

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