let's hear it on the 5mm Rem rimfire mag

[bamaranger]

A post over in the hunting forum got me thinking that it might be interesting to hear from shooters who have or have had a 5mm rimfire. With Centurion/Aquila doing the ammo again, mine, a Christmas gift in about 1973-74, is back on active duty, and did a fine job recently on beaver and nutria eradication project.

Boy, was I glad to see the ammo resurface. The trigger on my rifle is miserable, but might improve with some judicious work. But the rifle itself holds a ton of memories. It now wears a 6x Leupold and shoots about as well as it always did, a tad over an inch at 100.

Sure wish that they would see fit to load some of the poly tipped bullets in the caliber now that the ammo is back in production.

[SteelChickenShooter]

I had one too. Loved it for woodchuck hunting as a teenager in the orchards & farm fields of Michigan. Fell in love with that bottle neck shell over the straight walled .22 rimfire. I recall it packed a better punch. My rifle has been gone for a long long time. Wish I still had it, but it did go out of favor and the .22 Mag is pretty darn good.

[bamaranger]

Yeah, that was what I wanted mine for, groundhogs. I was a genuine rifle loony back even then, and the little bottleneck looked cool, and provided zip over the .22 lr, and shells were about $3.50 a box!. It was the first rifle that I shot for group, understood trajectory a bit, and made hits on game past 75 yds or so.

Dad was against it, said one didn't need a "special rifle" to hunt groundhogs, but Christmas morning a note leading me around the house and eventually to the rifle in the basement was the way it went.

If a few other mfg's had made firearms for the 5mm, it may have flown, but as it was, it was 20+ yrs before its time.

[SteelChickenShooter]

Yeah, groundhogs / woodchucks I recall different names for the same critter. I remember mine was ( I think ) a Remington 591. Would have been bought about 1970 making it 40+ years before it's time. I had a small scope and can only guess maybe a Weaver 4X. Just can't say. I had an agreement with farmers. Groundhogs could and would kill cherry or peach trees with their digging down into the roots. As a kid, I roamed the farmers land hunting these critters down. And in return, I was permitted to "trespass" as well as helping myself to pick apples, cherries, peaches, grapes, pears and so on. I remember one particular orchard hunt where I put down a quite large groundhog sitting up looking at me. That 5mm mag did the job with a powerful whack of authority. And at good distance. No ordinary 22 long rifle would have done that. I left the orchard and took a short walk through the woods on my way over to the next orchard. On the way, I encountered 5 deer. I stopped, turned and raised my rifle. I put the cross hair smack dab on one deer just standing there staring at me. I said to myself "you know, I could shoot you right now if I wanted to". Of course I did not fire, just observed through the scope. The deer and I went our different ways. Maybe about age 17 at the time. I really don't recall many details about buying, shooting, then selling this rifle. The small gun shop is still there now operated by the grandson. I sold it just prior to joining the Marines. I think the buying price new may have been in the low hundred dollar figure. No specific memory of buying shells.

[PetahW]

.

I bought a Remington rifle so chambered, in the 70's.

While the rifle was "OK", the 5mm didn't do anything more/less than my .22WRM rifles did, except cost more for a resupply, so I sold it & never looked back.

I'm glad to see that someone's finally making the cartridge again, though - for the sake of all those folks who've kept their rifle all these years.

[SteelChickenShooter]

My case was different since I did not have a 22Mag at the time. I just had to have that bottle shaped cartridge. And boy did it work so much better than the simple 22LR I did have.

[bamaranger]

The rifle listed right around $80 bucks in the early '70's. Funny, but the whop of that little slug against a big pasture grizzly is one thing that I remember too.

I did not have a .22 mag either, and when the ammo supply dried up, I wish that'd been what I'd gotten. My rifle has been retired for nearly 30 years, but back in business now.

Could never part with it as gift from my Dad.

[SteelChickenShooter]

Mine has been gone for a long long time. I regret that.
There's a member here that says never sell anything.
There's probably some truth to that.
But you know when you are young.
You leave home.
Join the service.
Could use the money.
May not be thinking so far down the road.
I sold my Rem 5mm Magnum as well as my 8mm Mauser.
I gave the neighbor boy my Tonka trucks.
Wish I still had those too.

[NHSHOOTER]

I too had a 5 mm back in the early 70's and I still remember the nice size hole it put in a woodchuck at about 75 yds. Mine went the same way as some of you others, joined the Navy and needed some cash more than a little 5 mm. I too wish I had kept it. Thanks for the memory.

[Ozzieman]

Best friend had a 5mm and I had a 22 mag. His tended to do a lot more damage to the earthen piggies.
We called it making a green cloud,,, after they had been eating soybeans

[SteelChickenShooter]

I know I mentioned orchards & fields, but yes, we had soybeans as well. And the ground hogs certainly did get into them. I could sometimes just sit and watch the tops of the plants wiggle which told me there was a ground hog walking around eating the goods.

[bamaranger]

The best evening I ever had with mine (591) was 9 kills. It was the first hunt of the summer, on what I called the truck stop ridge. Strip farming was the norm, and I knew the area well. I would ease along and glass, kind of like a mailman walking a route. I had certain spots where I would sit and watch for a bit too. Had fashioned a set of shooting sticks for shooting from a seated position, but most that afternoon were shot off hand. Seems like I recall that several were small pigs of the year, and one picked off a low limb.

I have read that the trigger can be improved on the 591/2 series, there may be an aftermarket that can be used. I have also read that a rear action screw added to the rifle will improve accuracy. But mine has always shot really well. And other than exploring some type of mild trigger improvement on mine, I will not modify it further. I went through an extractor, weakened it by storing the rifle with the action closed, my take on it anyhow. The longish arm is tensioned when the bolt is closed, and the fix was a new extractor. Did 5-6 years after purchase. I since store the rifle with the bolt open.

The cartridge was ahead of the .22 mag in velocity, and no doubt flatter shooting. Had some other makers got on board, and somebody chambered a slightly higher quality (read better features) rifle (better trigger and bedding set up, slightly heavier tube) something like what Savage has done with its different models, the 5mm would have done much better commercially. I think so anyhow.

[bamaranger]

I went by Gander Mtn the other day, inquired about ammo. The young clerk said "there's no such thing." I should go back up there with a box.

[SteelChickenShooter]

Young guy in one of my local stores thought I was confused when I asked for 25-06 ammo. New generation taking over. I hope they wise up since they gotta pay my social security.