Reminigton speedmaster 552 .22 cal.

Rancid Crabtree · #1 08-10-2008, 12:27 PM

I was given a few guns over the weekend and one is a Rem. Speedmaster model 552 semi auto, manufactured in 1958. It has an aluminum receiver and was was wondering if anybody knows how to go about getting the aluminum back to the black finish it once had??

skeet · #2 08-10-2008, 03:19 PM

RC if it has a clear aluminum or gold finish that is the way it came. They made them in a blue color too IIRC as well as black. If it was silver(or gold) it will probably have a beech light colored stock. Leave it alone. If it was black there is a product you can get from Brownells to get it back to original color. It will have to be stripped and baked in an oven though for a good job to be done. I have some of it to use on trigger guards made of aluminum. The gold ones in nice condition go for 4-600 bucks. I just let one go in an auction a month or so ago in the box. Sold for 575 bucks..and if you find one with a(rutledge) smooth bore..add 50%. They only made bout 50 in gold smooth bore

Rancid Crabtree · #3 12-13-2008, 10:59 PM

This gun is a Remington Speedmaster .22 cal made in 1958 and is in far worse shape than the old Mossberg I recently restored. It has a lot more rust and the stock is broken. It is also a semi-auto so there are far more pieces to deal with. Like the last gun, this one is also in throw-away condition except that the bore is clean and without rust. the receiver is aluminum and a lot of the finish is gone and there are deep scratches in the metal. Here are some pics.

It has a tubular magazine that is also pretty rusty.

The stock is broken where it meets the receiver.

As well as having a broken butt plate and missing pieces of wood.

I wonder if this is how Remington built the gun 51 years ago?

This one is going to be a real challenge but the winter nights are long and I am done bowhunting for the season.

Gil Martin · #4 12-14-2008, 05:51 AM

That rifle really needs some work. Good luck with your winter project. All the best...
Gil

Rancid Crabtree · #5 12-14-2008, 06:46 PM

I don't think this gun has ever been disassembled or cleaned and I found a lot of grit and grime impacted in all the crevices. Areas that I thought were solid metal were just hardened gunk and once I used solvents and a pick was able to get the parts clean. Only two pins hold the entire trigger mechanism in place.

the whole gun can be disassembled with a screwdriver and a pin punch.

There seems no end to the level of parts that this gun can be broken down into. The large round piece at the bottom is the safety. There was no bluing on it at all and the red (Fire) paint was gone
as well.

With a little TLC, it looks like new.

To remove the black anodizing from the aluminum, I used fine grit sandpaper and steel wool. I won't be able to remove a lot of the deep dings and scratches and I'm ok with that. It only has to be a functional working gun and not a show piece.

Here it is after the spray on gun coat was applied and baked.

And the re-assembled trigger mechanism.

The rest of the parts are steel and will need the bluing removed and then I will re-blue and oil them. As soon as I took possession of this gun, I did a search for replacement parts for the wooden stock because I knew I couldn't fix what I had. I went online to Remington's website and they had both pieces of wood (without the butt plate) for $180. I'm sure that is 3 times as much as this gun cost new and since I can buy a new .22 for that much, I looked elsewhere.

As luck would have it, I found not only both pieces of wood but also the butt plate being sold on EBay with only one day left in the auction. It was listed as a buy it now for $25 so I did. The wood was in good shape except for some scratches and the finish missing so I stripped and sanded and found that it was made from hard rock Maple.

I stained the wood with a dark American walnut stain and gave it 6 coats of spar urathane varnish (semi gloss) and then steel wooled it and applied and oil polish. It turned out nice and dark.

skeet · #6 12-14-2008, 08:40 PM

Pretty work my friend. The stock really looks good. I'm building a stock for one of my 03's right now. Hope I can make it look that pretty. It's California Claro with a bit of figure and I put a piece of reddish persimmon on the tip and grip cap with a piece of maple from some maple floor as a spacer. No plastic. If you wax the receiver it will come up to a bit more shine. I use johnsons paste wax when I do triggers etc.

What kind of blue are you going to use? Brownell's also has a rust blue that is pretty good and will work just fine on that Remmy. If you use something like their Oxpho Blue..heat the work to about 120-140 degrees. It will come out looking better.Degrease with some alcohol. Wish I were a good wood finisher.

Rancid Crabtree · #7 12-14-2008, 09:25 PM

I am using the Brownells Dicropan. I degrease with spray bottles of denatured alcohol and then again by spraying with acetone. I let the parts drip dry before bluing

Rancid Crabtree · #8 12-16-2008, 10:00 PM

Refinishing the barrel of this old gun was a chore. The rust had pitted the metal pretty deep. There's nothing really that I can do about it so I just have to deal with it. Here is the barrel after all the rust and blue was removed.

A close up shows the pitting.

Here it is after being twice blued.

With all parts refinished, it's time to reassemble this mess of parts. I hope I don't have left over items when finished.

The last thing I added to this gun was a new set of scope mounts and an old fixed 4 power scope. This will make it a good squirrel gun.

Here it is all finished and with a good rub down with orange oil

All that's left to do is sew a case out of that denim fabric the gun was sitting on. One more old gun brought back to life.

damgto1 · #9 09-16-2009, 11:17 PM

Hi Rancid,
Nice project and good work too.
I have just taken apart my own Speedmaster 552 apart for a serious cleaning for the first time in it's life. Can you tell me what you used to re-spread the hammer pin once you put yours back together? Also, can you tell me what the tool is called and where you got it from? I'd rather have the tool for myself than take the assembly to the gunsmith.
Any help you can give me would be great.

Damgto1

popplecop · #10 09-17-2009, 07:59 AM

Nice job on putting life back in to the Speedmaster.