Remington 580

My first .22 LR rifle was a Marlin/Glenfield bolt action repeater that I bought at a discount department store in Miami, Florida. I was in my late teens and had only fired my Dad's Savage Model 24 once prior at the age of 11. Heading to the range, I had visions of small groups at long distances...yeah, right. I was getting on the paper, but the cases were sticking and the stamped metal extractor was not extracting. This was after about 10 shots.

I returned the gun and the friend I'd gone shooting with accompanied me to the Tamiami Gun store. What a place! I'd never seen so many guns before. Within these walls, my friend began my education on what to look for in a firearm. He showed me the difference between stamped and milled extractors. It was in this store that I began to see the great variety of trigger pulls that these many rifles had. With partially paralyzed hands, this became and has remained a major consideration for me when acquiring a firearm. After having handled quite a few .22's, I opted for a single shot Remington 580. I thought about the 581 and 582 (clip feed and tube feed, respectively) but went for the single shot because it was so easy to load. Just lay the bullet in and close the bolt.

Remington started manufacturing the Model 580 in 1967 and ceased in 1987 with approximately 60,000 made according to their web site. I didn't have to fill out the yellow form, so it must've been in '67 when I bought it. It was chambered for .22 short, long and long rifle. The rifle featured a rear-locking bolt that used 6 lugs (2 sets of 3) to keep things contained. The Model 788, which was introduced in the same year, used 9 (3 sets of 3) beefier locking lugs to achieve lock-up. The 24" barrel had a bead front sight that was adjustable for windage via dovetail and a rear sight adjustable for elevation with a lock screw. The stock was a finished hardwood (beech, I think). The trigger pull was nothing to rave about. It was probably between 4 and 5 pounds, and I don't recall any creep. I learned how to shoot with that rifle. Thousands of rounds were fed through it one at a time. I never did scope it as I was a plinker. My eyes were young and I could see those sights quite well. Even at the range, shooting was predominantly at 25 yard targets. My buddy Jim was refinishing the stock on his Marlin 336C. Getting into the spirit of things, I decided the Remington needed a facelift. Coached by Jim, I sanded it down and then gave it the Birchwood-Casey treatment. While it lacked the bas relief grape vine that my friend did on his Marlin, the 580 came out quite well, if I do say so myself.

I didn't know about trigger jobs in those days or I would've had one done on my 580. If I had, I never would've sold it. As it was, the rifle got sold for much less than the value it gave. From the Florida Everglades to the Sonoran Desert, that rifle was my tutor and my shooting companion. For ten years, that rifle had been my primary firearm. It was in a moment of weakness that I let it go for mere money.