Getting up to speed with the Speedmaster.

by Ed Nutter

The Remington 552 Speedmaster is a blowback semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle that has been in production since 1957 with a few changes. These changes include different stock designs, checkering methods, and the addition of the J-Lock safety. According to the owner’s manual, the Model 572 shares the same basic shape but the 572 is a pump action. Both have a tubular magazine with varying capacity. This varying capacity is due to the rifle being able to fire . 22 Short, Long, and Long Rifle cartridges. According to the owner’s manual, the magazine will hold 20 Shorts, 17 Longs, or 15 Long Rifle cartridges.

Since it has a tubular magazine, it is not as fast to reload as a detachable magazine, such as used by the Ruger 10/22, for example. This can be mitigated to some extent by making a speedloader as I explained in my “Winchester .22 Speedloader” (June 2019) for the Winchester 190. These speedloaders are basically a…

Read more in the December 2019 issue.

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