Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing remington 582 not working

I am having some issues getting a remington 582 to work. I have broken down the bolt assembly and the trigger and all parts are there and in working order. I reassembled it and it will not cock/fire. There has to be something easy that I am missing. I have repeated this process several times but I am not seeing anything different I can do.

The rifle was operating fine and then it just stopped shooting. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

BTT. Has nobody here tinkered with these old guns?

I've not had one in the shop, nor am I familiar with that action..

Going ONLY by your description, it appears the trigger is not keeping the sear/firing pin back when chambering.. Look there. Either the surfaces are worn, a spring (trigger return) is missing/weak, or a combination..

With the action out of the stock, attempt to SLOWLY close the bolt and watch the trigger/sear interface..

You are correct. They are not engaging. I just can't figure out why, and also the safety is not moving the way it should, but I do not know if it only works when the gun actually cocks.

Thanks for the advice on the spring and worn parts. The gun has not seen a ton of use so I assume the parts are fine. The trigger on this is also different. It is held in the center by a roll pin and the entire assembly moves when you pull the trigger. There is a set screw on the front to adjust this as well. I assume this play is what lets the trigger release to fire. If I had a working one to look at it would probably help a lot. I will keep tinkering, thanks.

tighten the front screw enough to remove the slack from the assembly and the receiver it should not be loose . also is the sear spring still in position??

Not sure exactly what yours is doing, but this is something to look out for-

Dad's had a 582 for years, and the bolt has cost me more than 1 squirrel. What was happening on me was the firing pin (or at least what strikes the pin, gun is 100 miles away, and I'm going from memories 15 years ago) will rise up out of the top of the bolt, in effect not allowing the cartridge rim to be hit. I can't remember if the trigger actually will try to make it fire, or if nothing happens (like it isn't cocked).

The solution in the field was to just push the thin little piece of metal riding out of the top of the bolt back into the bolt body, it kind of snapped in. I'd either use the butt end of a pocket knife, the lead part of the bullet, or sometimes even my thumbnail.

Again, I doubt this is your problem, but something to be aware of that has happened with this gun in my experience.

Thanks guys.

I will check the bolt thing when I get off of work tonight.

I believe the sear spring is in the right position. I found it difficult to make sure it stayed where it needs to be when I put the trigger back on the action though. I assume it is in the groove though because when I push up and down on the sear it feels like the spring underneath is functioning as it should. And thanks for telling me to take all the slack out of the trigger assembly. I kept going back and forth in my mind how I think it should function.

That's usually the case, but again I really have no info handy on this action..

I would concentrate on that trigger mechanism first.. Just for the helluvit, have you tried holding the trigger forward with your finger and then attempt to close the bolt and see if it stay's cocked? IF so, then release your finger - does it stay cocked or not? If not, something's keeping that trigger from staying put.. Keep observing what occurs - you'll get it solved..

Somewhat off topic, my 582 cocks fine, just has the annoying habit of letting the firing pin ride up over the case rim when closing the bolt. The firing pin isn't rebounding back into the slot for some reason. I've changed pins, retainer springs, cleaned, deburred and everything else I can think of but it still remains a problem. Otherwise a very accurate rifle I've used for over 40 years.

I have worked on a couple 582s and a 581.... great little rifles that perform way out of their price range.....

The last 582 that would not operate (stay cocked or fire or allow the bolt to be removed) had tremendous gunk build up inside the trigger housing.... also had some 'freezing' of the trigger inside the housing. I was able to get the trigger appart by repeated spraying of PB Blaster (to get the gunk out.

I was able to lightly polish the sides of the trigger group housing and lightly oil everything before assembly. Has worked like a charm for almost a year.

Might I suggest checking out Rimfire Central for lots of info.

burt2506

Yep. That was it. It was nice to see a post that was exactly the issue after I just finished figuring it out. I just got done cleaning it and shooting it at the range and wanted to make a post about it.

When I first broke the trigger down I only did the top end and everything looked fine but it was the bottom that was all crud. I took the trigger out of the housing and cleaned all the parts.

And you are right, they perform way out of their price range. It hit everything I shot at. Thanks!

I just found this post and I'm glad you figured it out. On Rimfirecentral.com there is a big following for the 580 series in the Remington forum. For those unfamiliar they are the same design as the 788. We always recommend flushing out the bolt and trigger assemblies to remove dried out 40 year old gunk. Brake Cleaner is a cheap fix. Then use a light oil. There are some other tips on the other site for upgrading the triggers too. Very, very accurate rifles for a no frills sporter and gaining value quickly. Careful with the front sights as they tend to break easy.

I have the same model, about the same year, very similar situation and I'm having the identical problem described here and by others. (I was surprised to find how many posts and discussions there are about this same problem with this same model.)
I took it apart and oiled with no change, later took apart again and tried PB Blaster into all available nooks, crannies and holes in the trigger assembly but, still, the trigger remains frozen. I later tried again with a spray cleaner, oil, then brake cleaner followed by PB Blaster but still get NO movement.

Searching for info I came across this and thought, before disassembling it, it would be worth a try:



Looking into whether automatic transmission fluid was really safe to use, would effect bluing etc. I was surprised to learn that apparently automatic transmission fluid is considered superior to (and less expensive than) good quality gun oils. This was new to me, as it may be to some of you. One of the article also pointed out something else well worth knowing: WD-40 is NOT recommended for use on guns:

Anyway, it's now been soaking for about 3-4 weeks. I pull it out, try to wiggle it back and forth every few days and, though there does seem to be some slight movement now, it's still far from working so, despite the advice some offer to leave disassembling the trigger assembly to a professional gunsmith, I think that's what I'm going to have to do ...unless this is opening a can of worms better left unopened.

Is disassembling the trigger assembly something that can be managed by the average guy with some mechanical aptitude and no specialized tools?

Is it a matter of removing the pins and sliding the parts out?
Are the the small pins just pushed through? Does it matter which direction?
Can anyone please share (or direct me to somewhere that explains) how to do disassemble the trigger assembly.

Also, for any interested that might come across this post in the future, a pretty useful diagram for this model is available here.

Thanks

Actionclaw, welcome to the forum. Soaking overnight should be the most necessary. Its possible someone clamped your trigger assembly in a vice for some reason and maybe pinched the housing. They can be detail stripped, checked to see what is binding and reassembled. There were a few variations of the triggers, but all can be worked on. I have spare assemblies if you need one. PM me if it comes to that. I have all other spare parts too.