Why did they not do it right?
Howdy!
Some of the guys on rimfirecentral.com have detailed the struggles they had in trying to get a Remington 504 to shoot. A lot of folks had serious gripes about them. To be fair, there were a smaller amount of folks that thought they did ok, and an even smaller group thought they shot well.
I wanted one for a while, they looked good, they were supposed to be a competitor against Kimber, if I remember right. Sadly, they aquired a reputation for not being shooters, at least in the stuff I read, and from the people I talked to, even including gun dealers. To get them to shoot, at a minimum, required another barrel.
I love Remingtons. Old Remingtons. I wish they would/could make rifles with the quality they used to make them. I have read a lot of complaints on this site of bad barrels, bad machining, poor attention to detail. One guy got a 700 that did not have a fully rifled barrel. I was told while in the Army, by someone who would know, that if I wanted a good rifle, get a Remington 40x. And he was emphatic, that if I wanted a really good 40x, get an old one. His was made in 1967. He said that the people making them then put more effort and attention to detail in their work. I was told this in 1991.
I know that they still put out some good stuff, I just keep seeing more discontented folks concerning quality. It bothers me to see an American gunmaking icon letting quality fall. Marketing only goes so far. At some point, the products actually have to back up the claims of the marketing.
Sadly, the Remington 504 does not seem to do that.
Greg