Remington 552: expert needed

[oldhenry]

A son-in-law inherited a Remington 552. It looks great: no rust, no scratches, no dings on the stock. Beauty is only skin deep however: it has a feeding problem. A U-tube video showed me how to disassemble (no small feat) & I found a heavy round lead deposit @ 12:00 O'clock over the chamber. That deposit was about 3/16" in diameter & difficult to reach. The only way to reach & remove the lead was with a pick (a slow process). With about 80% removed I got down to a harder metal roughly a rectangle in shape. That harder metal is the substance of this post.

Has anyone out there ever noticed such a deposit over the chamber of a 552 ? I don't want to remove something that is supposed to be there.

I have posed the same question to rimfirecentral about a week ago & have not received an answer.

Any help would be appreciated: I'm desperate.

[stubshaft]

It is a clearance slot so that the firing pin doesn't peen the chamber. It does get packed with powder/lead residue and removing it does not create any problems.

[oldhenry]

It is a clearance slot so that the firing pin doesn't peen the chamber. It does get packed with powder/lead residue and removing it does not create any problems.

Thanks for your response. My wife thanks you for your response also.

Since you obviously have tackled this problem before: is there a better method of removal than with a pick (a little bit at a time).

I was thinking of soaking with Kroil or Shooters Choice Lead Remover.

You have made my day.
Henry

[murf205]

Thanks for your response. My wife thanks you for your response also.

Since you obviously have tackled this problem before: is there a better method of removal than with a pick (a little bit at a time).

I was thinking of soaking with Kroil or Shooters Choice Lead Remover.

You have made my day.
Henry

Ballistol

[stubshaft]

Thanks for your response. My wife thanks you for your response also.

Since you obviously have tackled this problem before: is there a better method of removal than with a pick (a little bit at a time).

I was thinking of soaking with Kroil or Shooters Choice Lead Remover.

You have made my day.
Henry

I've had better luck with Brakleen, just keep it off of the stock. My second choice would be Kroil (love the stuff).

[oldhenry]

Ballistol

Thanks for the tip

[oldhenry]

I've had better luck with Brakleen, just keep it off of the stock. My second choice would be Kroil (love the stuff).

It's been soaking with Kroil all day & I plan to give Kroil another day. I have some brake parts cleaner. It's a store brand from O'Reilly's. Is Brakleen a brand?

I've detail stripped the gun, so no danger of damaging the stock.

Thanks again.
Henry

[Prodigal Son]

Hmmmmm!

[murf205]

I learned about Ballistol from a friend who had a Winchester '86 in 33 Win. The gun was about as clean as it could be but the bore had VERY faint rifling. After running a borescope through it he found that it was lead. He soaked it with Ballistol overnight and started brushing with a Montana Extreme nylon brush. It took 2 sessions but it looks like a new one now. Kroil is no slouch either. Never heard anyone bad mouth it.

[oldhenry]

For those that are not familiar with the 552 I'm attaching 2 photos of the bolt. Only the slim .280"part slides up & down in the barrel extension. The large cylindrical part protrudes back unto the streamlined receiver.

Progress has come to a point where I'm just rearranging the lead deposits & this is because of:1. access to the deposit is limited 2. the lead deposits are like they were tinned to the steel (as in soldering).

I have a very slim long screwdriver, a mechanical pick & an ice pick to work with (not enough room for anything else). I find myself wishing for one of those SS bore brushes that I never was interested in. I figure one of those in .338 would move that lead. I have an old uncoated Dewey SS rod that I never use since I switched over to coated rods. I could cut that rod to a 6-7" length& rotate it with my hand drill. I tried a .38/9mm brush that would be tight. A .30 cal. is snug, but considering that I need something very aggressive, the .338 seems about right.

Midway no longer shows any SS brushes but they show a Real Avid brush that is advertised to have twice the bristles & the photo backup that claim.

The .338 size would eliminate any possibility of the brush entering the chamber & would be oversized enough to be aggressive.

What do you guys think. I'm grasping at straws. BTW Ballistol is not available locally, but I could get some from Midway with the brush order (it's positioned @ an angle now with a pool of Kroil covering the lead deposit).

Henry

[rockshooter]

could you hit it with a torch- kinda unsolder it?
Loren

[oldhenry]

could you hit it with a torch- kinda unsolder it?
Loren

I've considered that. I have a small oxy/acet. aircraft type torch with several small tips. I may try it as a last resort. The advantage would be that I could direct the heat to a small area very quickly. There are 2 side slots (ejection & magazine feed) that should allow me access. I'll check tomorrow just to see if the limited access would do the trick. I could use wet shop rags to localize the heat.

I think I'll try my sectioned Dewey rod idea & various size bronze cleaning brushes that I have on hand first.

I really appreciate you giving serious thought to my problem.

Henry

[Tazman1602]

IF it’s lead, Ballistol and a few strands from chore boy brand bronze dish scrubbers wrapped around it a cleaning brush will peel most lead right out.

Only real leading problems I’ve seen were my fault from stuffing undersized bullets down an otherwise clean bore.

Art

[oldhenry]

IF it’s lead, Ballistol and a few strands from chore boy brand bronze dish scrubbers wrapped around it a cleaning brush will peel most lead right out.

Only real leading problems I’ve seen were my fault from stuffing undersized bullets down an otherwise clean bore.

Art

I appreciate your input. There is no lead in the bore or chamber: they are bright & squeaky clean.

I'm dealing with a buildup of lead @ the approach to the chamber from the magazine. This requires something that can aggressively attack this lead buildup @ the edge of the approach (not at or in the chamber). There is a sharp edge in Remington's design that peels lead off the rounds as they are on their final journey to the chamber.

This is not my gun & probably has never been cleaned before it was given to me to solve the feeding problem.

I'm willing to try anything & will try to get Ballistol & Chore Boy dish scrubbers.

Thanks,
Henry

[c0wb0y84]

Are you sure that is what's causing your feeding problem? I ask bc if its been shot a lot the dimple/depression on the bottom of the bolt could be worn to the point that it doesn't grab the rim to tilt the round up prior to feeding into the chamber. Solution is to replace with new bolt. This may not be identifiable cycling by hand.

[oldhenry]

Are you sure that is what's causing your feeding problem? I ask bc if its been shot a lot the dimple/depression on the bottom of the bolt could be worn to the point that it doesn't grab the rim to tilt the round up prior to feeding into the chamber. Solution is to replace with new bolt. This may not be identifiable cycling by hand.

Thanks for the response. I'm attaching photos of the bolt bottom. I don't see any evidence of wear or extreme use.

I have noted nose deformation (some slight & some more so). With the Remington ammo I've noted that some of them that make the trip into the chamber will not allow the bolt to close enough to fire. These are almost impossible to extract in spite of a clean chamber. When examining the extracted round the bullet is slightly bent in relationship to the case (I realize that Remington rf ammo is known to have "loose" bullet fit)

I took the bbl. to a local gun shop owned by a close friend yesterday. He had a better vise, light & pick assortment. I made some progress but did not remove all leading. I plan to try my cleaning rod section with the stiffest .38/9mm brush that I have propelled by my hand drill..

[c0wb0y84]

Checking in to see if you made any more progress? Its kinda hard to tell from the first picture of the bottom of the bolt but where the small round hole/depression is about 1/4" down from the face should have sharp or crisp edges all around.

295127

This is the one that had to be replaced bc it was too worn. This gun had been shot a lot with little more cleaning than running a soaked patch down the bore followed by a dry one. It came to me with a box of 22 shorts that it fed and fired fine but would never fire LRs. For a while I just accepted that this was just how the rifle was and that was it. After several years though I decided that I wanted the rifle to operate how it was suppose to from the factory. After tearing it down and cleaning out a bunch of caked up carbon and replacing the springs nothing changed. After really looking at it and understanding how it operated I got closer to finding the problem and narrowed it down to the bolt. Replacing with a new bolt solved the problem and gave the gun new life.

If this is not the problem then hopefully you've had success getting the deposits out by now.

[oldhenry]

Checking in to see if you made any more progress? Its kinda hard to tell from the first picture of the bottom of the bolt but where the small round hole/depression is about 1/4" down from the face should have sharp or crisp edges all around.

295127

This is the one that had to be replaced bc it was too worn. This gun had been shot a lot with little more cleaning than running a soaked patch down the bore followed by a dry one. It came to me with a box of 22 shorts that it fed and fired fine but would never fire LRs. For a while I just accepted that this was just how the rifle was and that was it. After several years though I decided that I wanted the rifle to operate how it was suppose to from the factory. After tearing it down and cleaning out a bunch of caked up carbon and replacing the springs nothing changed. After really looking at it and understanding how it operated I got closer to finding the problem and narrowed it down to the bolt. Replacing with a new bolt solved the problem and gave the gun new life.

If this is not the problem then hopefully you've had success getting the deposits out by now.

Thanks for sticking with me. Your experience with the 552 is invaluable. My impression with this gun is that it has been shot very little & never cleaned. The family that owned the gun were not gun nuts like us.

I made different photos of the area you outlined & in my opinion the edges of this hole (that holds the pin that secures the extractor) are relatively sharp & not tapered like the one in your photo.

I finally secured some Ballistol & have been trying to keep the lead deposit wet but it evaporates fairly quick (unlike Kroil).

My plan:
1.Give it one last try @ removing as much lead as I can with the Ballistol & pick
2. Do the pinpointed oxy/acet. treatment. I'll do this with the help of my son. I have the 6" cleaning rod that I'll chuck up in my hand drill with a .357/9mm rush. I'll pre-position this above the lead area a few inches. I'll do the pointed heat application. withdraw the heat & my son will lower the rotating brush.

If that doesn't do the trick, I'll reassemble. The amount of lead I've already removed may be enough to return better function

[c0wb0y84]

So I finally got a look at the one I have and there is a build of lead in the same spot. It doesn't affect feeding on this rifle during fire or cycling by hand. I believe I recall polishing the groove on the bottom of the barrel that the bullet rides on as it feeds out of the magazine tube as well prior to purchasing the new bolt.

My question now would be what exactly is the feeding problem? Is the nose of the bullet ramming into the bottom of the barrel where it clears the mag tube? Or the opposite hitting the top? Does it happen while cycling by hand, during fire or both? What type of ammo was being used? Were different types of ammo used? Lead or copper? Was it just LR or were any shorts tried? I guess I should've probably started with these questions to begin with.

[oldhenry]

So I finally got a look at the one I have and there is a build of lead in the same spot. It doesn't affect feeding on this rifle during fire or cycling by hand. I believe I recall polishing the groove on the bottom of the barrel that the bullet rides on as it feeds out of the magazine tube as well prior to purchasing the new bolt.

My question now would be what exactly is the feeding problem? Is the nose of the bullet ramming into the bottom of the barrel where it clears the mag tube? Or the opposite hitting the top? Does it happen while cycling by hand, during fire or both? What type of ammo was being used? Were different types of ammo used? Lead or copper? Was it just LR or were any shorts tried? I guess I should've probably started with these questions to begin with.

Good questions. I should have checked the areas you outlined before disassembly. My guess is the nose of the bullet was hitting the top of the chamber. Ejecting the problem bullets show a hit on the nose & a crooked bullet @ junction to case. I only used Remington Gold bullets, CCI AR Tactical & Federal bulk pack.

I think I'll polish the feed groove on the bottom of the bbl. just to make sure. No problem hand operating the bolt, but clearing a jam by hand is next to impossible & required disassembly due bolt being locked-up.

Once again: your expertise is appreciated big time. The lead build-up in the same place on your gun gives me hope.

[oldhenry]

cOwbOy
I've only used long rifle ammo. All coated except Federals (lead).

[oldhenry]

I had to resort to the oxy-acet. treatment which yielded slight improvement. That treatment & additional work with the pick & I ended up with 90% lead removal. However, that cleaning did not solve the problem.

Loading 1 or 2 rounds at a time it would fire about 75% of the time. Loading 1 round with a very aggressive charge handle operation yielded a 90% success. On the failure to fire rounds extraction was extremely difficult (Rem & CCI).This makes me think the chamber has a defect or is fouled. I can't see any dry fire damage, but the design prevents a good view of the chamber face. To address this possibility, I did the following:
1. With a piece of worn 1200 git emery paper around a small diameter wood dowel I polished the chamber rotating with my hand drill
2. I followed up with a small piece of cleaning patch loaded with Autosol (similar to Flitz) on a cleaning rod rotated with my hand drill.

I had high hopes, but the test fire only shows slight improvement. I added some Federal ammo & it performed better, but not satisfactorily. I also noted that on the failure to fire cases the firing pin strikes sounded very slight & barely showed up on the unfired round. This made me think the round was not seated all the way into the chamber & the hammer fall moved the round further into the chamber & didn't deliver the entire energy onto the rim.

Tandemkross & Midway has a .22 rf chamber iron that will help unify the chamber feed edges. I'm ordering one from Midway. Ideally, a reamer would definitely do the job.

Other observations:
1. Hammer hinge hole seems very loose (some side to side movement). I don't know if this is normal on the 552
2. Main action spring has a small kink, I think I can correct that: of not, GPC has a replacement available.
3. Extractor seems OK. On the hard to extract cases (some requiring a few taps on the operating handle with a wood mallet) it has a good grip.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Henry

[Walks]

I've been following this thread since it started. As I have an older M552 that I got used and obviously never cleaned. I cleaned it's chamber and bbl. Have fired about 5,000rds, cheap Thunderbolt & Wildcat. And better CCI Mini-Mags & Fed 710's. Never encountered your problem. Now I'll go on you-tube and look for that disassembly video. Maybe look at My rifles chamber/feed surfaces.
This is a fascinating journey your on.

[oldhenry]

I've been following this thread since it started. As I have an older M552 that I got used and obviously never cleaned. I cleaned it's chamber and bbl. Have fired about 5,000rds, cheap Thunderbolt & Wildcat. And better CCI Mini-Mags & Fed 710's. Never encountered your problem. Now I'll go on you-tube and look for that disassembly video. Maybe look at My rifles chamber/feed surfaces.
This is a fascinating journey your on.

The U-tube video that I watched (there are more than one) really helped. I've disassembled & reassembled so many times now that I can do it now without thinking. When you disassemble yours, please check for excess side play in the hammer hinge point. I really appreciate any assistance you can give.

[Rusty Goose]

Inquiring minds want to know... How did this little drama work out? I have a 552 that'll digest any ammo I offer it. If the one your working on is that finicky there has to be another issue not yet discovered.

[oldhenry]

I solved the problem the coward's route.

I gave the 552 back to my son-in-law & with it went a 512.The 512 is scary accurate & has never failed to feed. He's happy & I never want to see a 552 again.

Henry

[Rusty Goose]

:-) Hahaha, nice!

[smkummer]

I was following this and hoping for a good outcome. I am guessing some serious neglect or damage from attempted cleaning in its previous life. Like others here, I have seen these guns feed just about everything if occasional takedown and cleaning is performed.
Anyway, I recall a friend that wasn’t really a gun person had one of these and described occasional malfunctions. I asked if he ever cleaned it, he said no. Who knows how many rounds were fired through it before we took it apart. The trigger group was clogged with powder residue, unburned powder, lint and who knows what else. I still remember his reaction seeing it as it was so covered with crud that upon spraying it off with a spray cleaner, the trigger group then looked like a trigger group. We cleaned everything up including the bolt and bolt face along with some light oiling and his 552 was about 100% cycling about everything we put through it. He bought another used 552 for his son. He is now a gun guy along with cleaning his berreta 300 series semi shotgun that has to be kept clean to function.

[beemer]

I have never owned a 552 but have shot, worked on and cleaned up more than several of them. A good friend had one that had been shot a lot but worked well. He decided to clean it, dirty isn't even close to what we found. It never went a tube full without jamming again. Never been a fan but think the biggest problem is most people don't want to take then apart to clean. They give it a shot of oil and call it good. The oil and powder residue just turn into a grimey mess.

[schutzen-jager]

if you have access to it 1 drop of mercury will dissolve it completely - be careful + observe all safety precautions - the lead is only harmful if inhaled or ingested + has been used by shooters for centuries - i know this will generate many responses + warning but it does work if done carefully + using common sense -

yes rimfire central is not what it used to be - i gave up posting there after 16 plus years -