Remington 550-1, great old school plinker

[North Country Gal]

Here's an old school, all steel (not even a piece of aluminum) and walnut blast from the past. It's a late 40s Remington 550-1 semi auto 22 that we inherited from Bill's father.


By the mid 50s, Remington went with a grooved receiver for scope mounting, but ours is a late 40s without grooves, so no way to mount a scope. Instead, I added a Skinner barrel peep.


This is no cute little carbine, by the way. It's a full size adult rifle with a 24" barrel. The 550 ran from 1941 to 1970. The -1 indicates that it has the improved extractor that was changed a couple years after the 550 was introduced, so it's unlikely you'll find any other version.

The most notable feature of this semi-auto 22 rifle is the floating chamber. This allows the 550-1 to shoot Shorts, Longs and Long Rifles, interchangeably. Yes, a semi-auto 22 that can shoot Shorts, Longs and Long Rifles. That's really remarkable for a semi-auto 22. Came in handy back during one of the 22 ammo shortages, since we had a lot of 22 Shorts in our ammo inventory. The Remington shot them great.


But would it shoot 22 Short CBs? That's asking a lot even for a 550-1. Sure would be handy, though, since I've been using CBs for my plinking, recently. Stepped out on the deck and loaded 5 CB Shorts and gave it a try.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! Talk about fun! Yup, the 550-1 can even cycle CB Shorts. Trigger pull is actually pretty decent, too.

There was a time when you could snag these 550-1s for about $150, but fans of these old school, all steel and walnut 22s have been buying them up, so you'll have to spend a bit more, now. If you can find one in good shape with a grooved receiver, might want to grab it before I do.

[bandit1250]

Nice all steel and walnut full size rifle from Remington. I looked for a really clean one for a while but it was not real easy to find like years ago when they were seen for sale at some shows and gun shops. Strange that when they were seen quite often I didn't want one. OWW is July, 1950. bandit

[North Country Gal]

You'd know, given your expertise on Remingtons, bandit. I've always admired the construction quality pf Remingtons from that era. Yeah, those Winchester collectors go nutty about pre-64 Winchesters, but I've always thought Remingtons from the same era were built just as good.

[Sir Henry]

I love old rifles like that. I had a book called Walnut and Steel by Bill Ward and it listed a lot of rifles like that.

[Headhog]

I have the same rifle. I bought it from a friend in college some time in 1968 and put a lot of rounds through it over the years. My 3 kids learned to shoot with it and it still sits in my safe. It gets used every so often just for the memories and fun.

Paul

[North Country Gal]

Yup, these old walnut and steel 22s just keep shooting and shooting. They really were made to last a lifetime.

[Travlin]

My late friend had two Fort Knox safes full of quality guns and one of these was one of them. His widow gave me several truck loads of firearms to sell. The Remnington 550 is one of the ones that I said she should keep.

[North Country Gal]

Good recommendation. The 550-1 has a great record of reliability as long as you keep that floating chamber clean, but it does take a lot of shooting to gum it up.

The 550-1 out of the box came with a recoil shield \to keep empties from flying into orbit, but these tend to get lost. I've rarely seen one on a gun rack that still has it. The 552 semi-auto that replaced the 550-1 also has one, though the 552 is a totally different gun.

[North Country Gal]

Not regulation, but I added an old Tasco 1.5-4x pistol scope to the 550-1 using the Skinner dovetail rear sight mount. The Skinner is really designed for a small red dot, though, and only has a single cross notch. That limited me to using only one ring to mount the scope. This is a 22 rifle, not a 45-70, so no issues with recoil. So here it is, my 550-1 scout scope set up.


After getting it sighted in, I went through over 20 rounds very quickly, thanks to this being an autoloader. No hiccups or failures to fire of any kind, but this CB 22 Short plinker is not quite as accurate as the Browning BL-22. Not a problem, because all of my 25 yard 22 rimfire rated steel targets are generously large.

I was a bit frustrated and didn't want to end the session with just plinking grade accuracy, so I exchanged the old 550-1 for my HW50 20 cal springer airgun. It wears a factory HW moderator. It does help to quiet the HW50, but mostly that added length to the barrel makes the gun easier to cock.


Of course, this HW 50 is capable of much better than plinking grade accuracy, not to mention the very light trigger pull is world's apart from the Remington. Did the trick, though. Gave me the accuracy fix I craved.

[Cofisher]

NCG, thanks for a pleasurable time with the 550-1. You may remember mine, I introduced it several years back. You caught my interest with the dating. I went to Remington online. I learned mine is of Sept 1955 vintage. With the grooved receiver, it came with a Weaver 4x. Unfortunately, the glass was partially obscured. I have saved it hoping to have it rebuilt. Don't know who does that.

I put a Bushnell 1.75 to 4 on it. Not pretty, but quite functional. You are right about the ammo variety. Good to know.

Thanks for another interesting review. I appreciate the education. This rifle has been through 4 kids and a half dozen grandchildren.

Jim

[North Country Gal]

Jim, I do remember and glad you enjoyed the post. Love how your 550-1 is being passed down generation to generation. Can't put a value on that.