Originally Posted By: Zastava223remOriginally Posted By: K22Originally Posted By: 6mm06
I have the 541-S. Like you mentioned, it’s a beautiful rifle with great accuracy, but a cheap, plastic magazine. Then Remington stopped production of the magazine. Used to get them for under $10. Now they are scarce and fetch outrageous prices for the 5 round one. With 3-D printing nowadays, would be nice if someone would design an aftermarket one.
There are 2 guys making magazines for the 541/581 series. One fella makes steel magazines and the other guy makes a 3D nylon mag. I have both and both of them work really well. They are flush mount also.
I've owned a 541S, 4 541T's, and 1 541THB. Not a one of them had the cold barrel flyer issue. The one I have now is a 581S that I customed. I call it my "wannabe" as it is fitted with many 541 parts.
My intentions was to make the ultimate Squirrel rifle. The barrel is from a 541T. The receiver was squared then threaded. The barrel was threaded into the receiver, cut to 21" with a 11 degree crown and a Win. 52D reamer was used for the chamber. A second action screw was added and the lugs were lapped. Then a 3 screw 541 trigger was installed and set at 9 oz. I had an old Bishop stock inletted for the 541's so I finished it out then pillarbedded it.
On any day it will shoot several types of rimfire ammo into very small groups. It is not ammo picky.
I had 45 rounds of RWS Subsonic left in an open box so I decided to shoot all 45 at the same bullseye. Below is the result.
Here it is in all its glory.
And what a normal 5 shot group looks like.
The right side targets is the "wannabe" and the left side is a Sako Quad.
So, yes, those 541 will shoot. Sometimes you have to help them a little with adding a 2nd action screw and bedding them.
One of the things I wished I would have done when building mine was to have a longer bolt handle welded on. With the Win. 52D chamber I have in mine, extracting a fired round can be difficult. They like to stick in that tight chamber.
You make me jealous every time you post a picture of one of your custom rigs lol. Beautiful rifle. That is sorta what I am going for, the nicest .22 I have owned up til now was a 10/22 Deluxe from the 70's which I mistakenly sold. I figured this 541T would fullfil my itch for a nice remington rimfire and go well with the BDL's I have. I hope to do some squirrel hunting and maybe shoot some groundhogs with it
Thank you for the kind words. As you can notice, I got lazy after I put all of it together and never checkered the stock. I think this Summer I'm going to checker it and do something about the bolt handle.
I believe the 541 platform is a good one to start with, especially if you are looking for a great Squirrel rifle and all around plinker.
The first thing I would do is add a second action screw. Use the rear trigger guard screw area. I know that it goes into the lug area in the receiver but don't worry about it, it will be fine. Next would be to bed it. Either a straight bed or pillar it then bed it, either way will be good. Bedding without the second action screw will improve the accuracy, but the second action screw is a must.
If you need an awesome 541 gunsmith then Brian Voelker is the man.
The Timney trigger for the 788 Rem will work in the 541 with a few adjustments. The bolt stop will need to be narrowed and the safety lever reworked. A vice, a torch, and a pair of plyers is all you need to change the safety lever angle.