Remington 5mm Magnum & 5mm Craig

If you own one of these rifles you know that ammo is just about impossible to get. And if you do find some it costs upwards of $75 a box!(update 2-10-09…Ammo is again available from Aguila, the firm giving us some great .22 rimfire rounds like the
Colibri, Super Colibri and the SSS and once associated with Remington,
is bringing back the 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum. Do a search for sources)

Enter Certech International. Mike Craig the owner saw the need for the owners of these 32000 rifle to be able to shoot them. He designed a bolt face that converts the rimfire into a centerfire. You can have your bolt face converted or if you want to maintain the collector value of your gun you can purchase a complete converted bolt face. Not sure there is much collector value. I bought my gun for $99 and I’ve seen and heard about a bunch more at this price, A perfect example will bring $150. Certech turns brass on a cnc screw machine and sells the dies to reload it. The brass is just about perfect. It’s amazing what a modern CNC screw machine can turn out. The dies are made by RCBS to Certech’s specs. Certech sells bullets but there are a number of 20 caliber (5mm) bullets around lately. Berger, Calhoun, and others are supplying them now. Be cautioned though, some of the bullets designed for the Bench rest crowd are too long to fit in the magazine and feed properly. But they will all work in single shot fashion.

Note:Eagle View Research
Center Has Assumed All Operations For The 5mm Craig Cartridges From Certech,
Effective January 2, 2004. Lowell and Ardis Kenney Will Continue To Provide 5mm
Shooters With Our Renowned High Quality Service and Superior Reloading
Components.

Click on this link for pricing and ordering instructions http://www.5mmcraig.com/

Quality Cartridge out of Hollywood MD is also offering a conversion kit. I have no experience with this kit or these folks. You’re on you’re own!  http://www.qual-cart.com/5mm_Remington_Magnum.htm

Now, on to the shooting.

Reloading is a very straight forward affair. Although on a very small scale. Fat fingers need not apply! The cartridge is a true centerfire with a removable small rifle primer. Powder choices are many and Certech will send you load data with your supplies. Accurate #9, Win 296, IMR 4756, IMR 4227, Hercules 2400, and my favorite, Hodgdon H110 will all work well. Any small rifle primer will do.

My rifle is a 591. I cut the barrel back to remove the front sight. Removed the rear sight and bedded the action and free floated the barrel. I put an 11 degree target crown on the muzzle. I uses Millet Angle Lock rings to mount a Burris 4-12 Compact scope. My guns stock is a reddish stained color and with the Burris it is very handsome and extremely light weight and handy. Just about a perfect walkaround suburban gun. Very low noise but much better on crows and woodchucks than a 22RF.

For loads I’m shooting Certech 30 gr Moly coated bullets with 6grs of H110. This is set off by a CCI 450 primer. This load is good for 2050 fps out of my gun and it has shot a bunch of sub 1/2″ groups at 100 yds! BTW….most of these guns have a rather rough bore. Certech offers a Fire Lapping set that I highly recommend. Fire Lapping is where you fire a series of bullets that are coated with very fine abrasives. In effect you are lapping/smoothing the bore as you shoot it. If your gun just won’t shoot maybe it needs to be fire lapped.

I bought some Berger 20 Cal bullets but haven’t really tried them yet. The cold New England weather rolled in and that was it for shooting for awhile. Can’t shoot groups when your teeth are chattering! Not sure what I expect to gain with the Bergers. The Certechs shoot so well.

In field condition I find the wind not to be a big problem. The bullet is traveling so fast that out to 10 yards the 5mm has it all over the 22RF.

You Thompson Contender fans have another option. TC offered barrels in 5mmRemington around 1970. There are a bunch out there. I bought a like new octagon barrel in 10″ for $120. I haven’t shot it yet but it is interesting to note that the 10″ TC barrel gets just about the same velocity with AA#9 (1916 vs 1977) as the rifle. This info is gleaned from the 5mm Craig new letter. ” The slight difference in muzzle velocity (61fps) indicates that the powder has burned nearly as completely in the 10″ barrel as in the longer rifle barrel”. Guess I should cut my barrel down to 17 or 18″ and make my gun a real walk around!

If any of you are interested in getting a 591 or 592 and joining the 5mm Craig revolution E-Mail me and i’ll let you know where guns are available. In the same token, if yu happen to know where a rifle or TC barrel is available, E-mail me so I can pass it on to a potential shooter.

Click http://www.varminter.com/particles/5mmcraig.html to visit Varminter’s Caliber of the Month page with lots of info on the 5mm Craig.

Questions?…..rvb100@comcast.net.
(If any of you folks reading this article know of a Remington 591/592 or a TC barrel in 5mm that is for sale could you kindly list the item for sale along with a phone number/ E-Mail in my guest book. There are a bunch of folks asking me about the availability of these firearms. At this time I’ve exhausted all the sources I know of. Thanks!)

Eagle View Research Center
130 SE Kodiak Ridge Drive
Shelton, WA 98584
(360) 432-2339 Voice
(360)432-0094 Fax

January 2, 2004

News Release: Eagle View Research Center assumes operations for 5MM Craig Cartridges.

Eagle View Research Center has just agreed to assume operations of the 5mm Craig cartridge and supplies from Certech International. This change in operation is done to give Mike time to relax a bit and still provide services to the 5MM Craig shooters. Mike will serve on the board of Eagle View Research Center and will continue as senior manager of the 5mm Craig cartridge project.

Eagle View Research Center has a modern machine shop (Eagle View CNC), the latest design and manufacturing software, a professional design group and service staff to serve past, present, and future shooters. We hope to bring many new services to the 5mm shooters. Bolt modifications will now be done with Computer Numerical Control (CNC) precision. We are very interested in what the 5MM shooters want most and would urge you to give us your most desired product ideas to support the 5mm Craig.

Lowell Kenney, one of the principals in Eagle View Research Center has been involved with the 5mm Craig project for many years. He wrote some of the first field reports and press releases on the project. When Mike said he needed to start thinking about retiring, the common concern was how to continue to support the 5mm Craig. This resulted in moving the 5mm Craig Operations to Eagle View Research Center at Shelton, WA

One of the first things that Eagle View Research Center will do for the 5mm Craig shooters is to introduce a safe, secure and fast Internet Store to ease your purchase of cases, bullets, and supplies. Please go to WWW.5MMCraig.COM to see how easy it is to order this way. We intend to promote the reloadable 5mm Craig in this day of expanded interest in small, light cartridges.

Eagle View Research Center specializes in developing Outdoor, Military and Law Enforcement Equipment. Current products include a series of extreme fly fishing reels, a unique bullpup rifle stock, and several products that support those who have to work in harms way.

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RoyB