Remington 341 - A Classic Old Rifle

[Snakedriver]

Here's one you don't see very often. When I was home at Thanksgiving I dug through my Dad's old gun collection and found an old .22 rifle that I regard as a classic. It's an old Remington 341 Sportmaster. These guns were only made from 1936 to 1940 and there were 131,064 sold. It's a standard model with only the simple iron sights, but boy is it accurate. They went for around $14 when new. This one is marked "AF" indicating a manufacture date of March 1937.

Here's a few pictures I took:

[Snakedriver]

........and finally a couple more pic's.:

[JLA]

I wouldnt mine having one of them...

[todd51]

Thanks Snakedriver for sharing those photos with us. I really love the guns of that era and so appreciate the workmanship and craft that went into them. Those prices shock us today but in 1939 my dad paid a carpenter $2.00 a day and provided his lunch to build dad a home.

[Zane71464]

That's a NICE Remingon 341 Snakedriver! And in awesome "shape". Your right, dont see many of those these days. The last one I seen was my uncle's when I was around 15yrs old and he was wanting to trade it off. I didnt at the time have anything he wanted or was interested in....would love to come across another one.
Thanks for sharing, awesome rifle!

[Snakedriver]

Thanks Zane, my Dad told me he used to win bets when he was in High School by shooting the heads off of wooden matches with this rifle. He didn't mention at what distance though.

Funny how things have changed then vs. now. In those days having a .22 in your truck for some hunting after school, a pocket full of .22 shells and a pocket knife with you at school was the norm. Try that these days and the SWAT team will be called out on you.

I miss the old days when guns and times were much simpler.

[old semperfi]

i just sold the one i had for 250.00.i probably shouldnt have but i made 125.00 profit.i took money and bought more guns. old semperfi

[BobMcG]

Sweet rifle, wouldn't mind finding one for myself. Looks like the father to my 512 Sportmaster.

[Snakedriver]

Originally Posted by BobMcG

Sweet rifle, wouldn't mind finding one for myself. Looks like the father to my 512 Sportmaster.

Bob, I also have a Rem. 512 Sportmaster that has a Jan. 1942 DOM. IMO the 512's have a little more sophistication of design than the 341's. Both are very accurate .22 rifles though.

My 512:

[BobMcG]

Wow! I learn something new every day. I didn't realize the 512 went that far back. Thanks. Mine being an x has slightly different sights and is from '70.

You have a nice pair of .22 rifles there.

A short 512 story: In the early '70s a friend and I tacked up a target at fifty yds with the tack in the dead center of the bullseye. The idea was to pit his 10/22 against my 512x as to which was the "tack-driver". He shot first and struck just to the right by about a half inch. With my shot the target drifted to the ground. Upon inspection the tack had been "tacked". Game over.

BTW: Both shots fired off-hand from kneeling position.

[BobMcG]

My Sportmaster. The scope on it in this picture wasn't on it in the '70s though. Back then it wore a 2-7x20 Westernfield. (Which I still have.)

[Snakedriver]

Yep, they're beautiful old classics Following the 341 Sportmasters that were made up to 1940 the 512's Sportmasters were made from 1940 through 1967.

Mine does pretty good at 50 yards with Fed. 550 bulk ammo:



The trigger is kind of heavy and working the bolt between shots makes it hard to hold real tight groups, but it'll do.

[BobMcG]

512 production ended in '67... good to know. Just looked at my records and mine was purchased NIB in '69 so was left-over stock. Thanks for the info.

[Zane71464]

Originally Posted by Snakedriver

Yep, they're beautiful old classics Following the 341 Sportmasters that were made up to 1940 the 512's Sportmasters were made from 1940 through 1967.

Mine does pretty good at 50 yards with Fed. 550 bulk ammo:

The trigger is kind of heavy and working the bolt between shots makes it hard to hold real tight groups, but it'll do.

...nothing wrong with that group at 50yds! Real Nice!

[IJOwner99]

I have a 341-P with peep sights. The front sight is hooded and uses an insert disc which was yellow plastic with a small hole in the center. The reason for mentioning this is that I have lost the insert and can not find a replacement. Does anyone know the dimensions of the insert so I could make or have made a replacement? Of course, if anyone knows where to buy one that would be better yet.

[Mtmtnmn]

The original 41P globe sight came with two inserts. They are about 1/2" in diameter and smaller than any one else made. You can spot one easily because they were the only ones that had three "tabs" that held them in place. They are very hard to find these days. You might check at this web sight as this gentleman was making a reproduction for around $20 a while back.

http://www.distantthunderbpcr.com/DTPages/DTProduct.htm

[BETH]

i'LL take either one of them what is the stock on the 1st picture

[Snakedriver]

Originally Posted by BETH

i'LL take either one of them what is the stock on the 1st picture

Beth, I believe it's some variety of walnut.

[bwdilli]

There were actually 4 different inserts. They're all metal so the yellow plastic one wasn't original. They were a small post, large post, small lollipop, and a large lollipop.

I have 2 of the styles, a large lollipop and a small post. The large post was twice as wide as the small post. The small lollipop had a hole half the diameter as the large lollipop. Here's a few pics and dimensions if you care to try to recreate them.



http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...dilli/post.jpg

Post dimensions
(1) 0.435"
(2) 0.365"
(3) 0.035"
(4) 0.054"
(5) 0.186"
(6) 0.122"
(7) 0.120"
(8) 0.100"
(9) 0.170"



http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...lollipop-1.jpg

(1) 0.435"
(2) 0.356"
(3) 0.035"
(4) 0.090"
(5) 0.105"
(6) 0.060"
(7) 0.120"
(8) 0.100"
(9) 0.170"
(10) 0.225"
(11) 0.330"

The (9) dimension is from the very bottom of the sight to the bottom of the tabs. This is very crucial to the fit in the slot of the front sight.

The inserts were between 0.025" and 0.026" thick and are not flat. The tabs are bent a bit to make them fit into the slot of the front sight and not fall out.

I have a 41-p and a 341-p. I've actually got quite a few of the old Remmy rimfires.

Here's a pic of my 341-p.

[Snakedriver]

Very nice rifle bwdilli !

[gor in San Diego]

I have a Remington 341 Sportsmaster, which I found a few years back at a garage sale and in quite good condition, except the mauser type safety was very loose, and would not hold the firing pin assembly off of the sear. When the safety was released so went the firing pin. Not good. I removed the pin that bears on the cam surface at the back of the bolt and replaced it with the head portion of a 1 3/4 inch finishing nail. The increased diameter of the nail head took up the slack and it is now as tight as a kittens ear. This is a fine shooting rifle, vivid open sights, and has the absolutely best no fail tubular magazine cartridge feeding system.

Which brings up a more interesting story. As a young fellow in the 1950's I found a rifle barrel and action sitting in a pile of cold fire ashes in Saint Augustine Beach, Florida. The stock had been burned off and the muzzle appeared to be rusted shut with sand. Some months later, I began to disassemble it. I wire brushed the parts and found that it was a Remington Model 34. I sawed the barrel off at about 17 inches, ran a brush through it and lo and behold, the rifling was clean and sharp. I filed the barrel end square and crowned the muzzle as described in my favorite, Clyde Baker's Modern Gunsmithing, 2nd edition 1933. With a rat tail file, I cut a new dove tail into the barrel, installed the front sight and filed the rear sight down so that the front bead just sat into the notch. I sawed, carved and rasped out a Mannlicher stock out of a piece of well seasoned 2 x 8 Douglas fir. I fitted this stock to my long reach and cheek position like Clyde told me. A muzzle end barrel clamp was forged from a piece of copper tubing, and a trigger guard was fashioned from a piece of sink drain pipe. The trigger pull was lapped to a fairly firm 1 1/2 to 2 pounds and the right side thumb safety would hold it. I lapped the sides of the cartridge carrier, several inches long, on a new fine corundum stone and polished the cam surfaces. This became an extremely slick bolt action rifle, now carbine. I shot hundreds and perhaps thousands of rounds through this reclaimed piece. My buddy Jim and I shot up a lot of the old abandoned farm dumps out side of Gainesville FL, could hit a bottle pretty good on the fly. This gun came up quick. Probably shot up colloectibles but that's the way it goes. I have attemped to post a pic. Cheers, and regards, gchase1@san.rr.com

[permafrost]

Originally Posted by old semperfi

i just sold the one i had for 250.00.i probably shouldnt have but i made 125.00 profit.i took money and bought more guns. old semperfi

I do that all the time. Nice to get different ones, but sometimes I want the old one back. Oh well, this is the cross we bear for this hobby(and not being rich!) There are just too many! (Did I say that? Not possible)

[cjp]

Just been looking thru the threads here and noticed this one on the Remington 341. I was given one of these for my 16th birthday some 27 years ago with an old weaver scope mounted. It has shot hundreds of rabbits and possums down here in New Zealand. It is the best rifle I have ever owned and as it was the first I ever owned it will never be sold. My 9 year old has just started off shooting targets with it while learning gun safety and handling. It still shoots dead straight.
I just fitted a small laser to the top of the scope and will try it out on some more bunnies at the weekend. Given it's age - some 70 years and change, it just shows - you can't beat craftmanship.

[mike329]

Hello everyone. I just bought a Sportmaster 341. The stock is in good shape, no dents or deep scratches but the barrel at the muzzle end has some rust.

I'm thinking 2 things:

maybe using some emery cloth and light oil to remove the rust then "re-bluing". What are the best bluing kits out there?

also, there are no mounting holes for a scope. I have a small drill press, drills and taps so I could probably put some mounting holes in it. So where would I find the appropriate scope mounting parts so I can use them for a drilling template?

Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

[Snakedriver]

Originally Posted by mike329

Hello everyone. I just bought a Sportmaster 341. The stock is in good shape, no dents or deep scratches but the barrel at the muzzle end has some rust.

I'm thinking 2 things:

maybe using some emery cloth and light oil to remove the rust then "re-bluing". What are the best bluing kits out there?

also, there are no mounting holes for a scope. I have a small drill press, drills and taps so I could probably put some mounting holes in it. So where would I find the appropriate scope mounting parts so I can use them for a drilling template?

Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

Birchwood-Casey makes a pretty good blueing called Perma-Blu that will do a good job on your old rifle.

For mounting a scope on your 341 use two Weaver #43 mounts on the receiver. I paid my local gunsmith to drill and tap my '42 Sportmaster. It takes a little skill to do it right and I wasn't willing to take the risk myself of screwing it up. Midway USA, Brownells and others sell the mounts for about $6.50 each. Amazon has them too.

http://www.amazon.com/Weaver-Base-To...6574427&sr=1-2

I also use some Medium-Height B-Square Rings with a 1" off-set on the rear ring for bolt clearance. It all works real well on the old .22. I think I bought them on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/B-SQUARE-EXT-R...74143&sr=8-105

Here's a couple of shots of my set-up: