Over Christmas I came into both a Remington 511 and a Mossberg No 42...both obviously went through the 60's cowboy era and must have been given to a kid; both had all kinds of feathers and other ornamentation tacked/nailed to their stocks, or hot-glued onto the stocks And both had been put away with fingerprints all over the barrels which of course rusted/corroded over the decades they had been put away I won't even get into the Remington Model 4 Rolling Block Takedown in 32rimfire that whomever had it gave the same treatment to

The Mossberg is missing it's buttplate and the butt of the stock looks like it was stored in a closet or something that occasionally had water on the floor...those of you who've picked up Swiss K-31 rifles that had discolored buttstocks from where they were put down in a closet with wet boots? Same thing; the very bottom of the buttstock is discolored.

The Remington is grooved for a scope mount and has a Simmons of some kind mounted too it. The bores on both look really good, actually...a bit dirty but they look like they would scrub clean. Obviously one of my projects is to clean these things up; the 511 looks to be in better shape than the Mossberg with regards to how messed up the exterior of the barrel is...

But...beyond that I don't know a thing about them? I don't really collect or go for 22lr rifles Any collector interest in them? Are they any good as plinkers/shooters? FWIW I don't know if in the stuff that came with all of this if there's any more spare mags for the Mossberg (there's one in the action), but there's 3 mags in total for the 511 in what I've been given with all of this stuff so far...

Dangerous and useless. Send them to me for disposal.

Perfect, just what I wanted to hear!

I'll send them both to Adco to have their barrels chopped to 16" and threaded for a can.

Maybe I'll have the Mossberg rebarreled as an integrally suppressed rifle instead, hmm.

Can't say much about the Mossberg, except that all old .22's are generally better built than newer ones. The go-to site for them is run by damguy(?) Unnofficial Mossberg Smallbore.  For parts, Havlin Sales

The Remington 51X (510, 511, 512, 513) series was very successful.  Same bolt (beehive), barrels, and basic action. 510 was the single shot, 511 repeater with box mag, 512 repeater with tube mag, 513 target model.  They also made a 514, which was a completely different design and very simple (those are the ones I collect).  Variations include "P" for peep sight, "SB" or "Routledge" for the smoothbore (small bead front sight and VERY collectible), and "BR for the boy's rifle.

The Arf of those critters is Rimfirecentral.com

To date the Remington's, find the stamps on the left side of the barrel just in front of the receiver and go to Remington Barrel Date Code

As for the condition, I would hit the metal with oil and 0000 steel wool *very* lightly to address the rust.  As for the stock "decorations?"  Post pics and we'll let you know. :)

Already removed the faux leather, moldy bird feathers, and all the push pins and trim nails from the stocks...there's just the hot glue left behind (and the backing from the faux leather, stuck to the glue). I need to check the firing pins and chambers...I have a suspicion they were used to play cowboys & indians more than they were shot, and I fear both were dry-fired to the point of having chamber issues

Fortunately the 511 still has the buttplate (oh yeah, the previous owner/s had wrapped the buttplate in faux leather and hot glued that on, and then screwed it back into the stock...that was another mess).

I need to clear off a workbench and start dressing these down and cleaning them up...

They both sound like fun projects. I'd also recommend www.rimfirecentral.com as an excellent resource. Post some progress pictures if you can.

Go read up on rimfirecentral, The 511 Remingtons are known to be good shooters and if I am not mistaken the grooved receivers are more rare.

I have a 511P and it shoots. Not up on Mossbergs.

The remington 511 stocks are easily found on Ebay if you want a decent replacement...The mossberg's are there also...use brass wool to scour the rust, as it won't affect the blueing or cause scratches to the metal. Both should be fine shooters...my friend's 513 easily shoots one inch, 5 shot groups at 100 yards, but I have seen other 510 series rifles do the same.