Recently we had a customer bring a Remington 58 into the shop for service and repair. The gun showed visible signs of rust on the 60% of the barrel and the frame was badly pitted. The customer wanted the surface rust removed and functionality restored.
If you own one of these guns, you may be aware that there is virtually no information available for take down procedures and parts are not cataloged anymore. Even though you may not know much about the 58, don’t let that intimidate you. They are closely linked to the Remington 1100 and 1187.
Remington’s website says that approximately 271,000 were made between 1956 and 1963. It was made in 12ga, 16ga and 20 ga in various models such as trap and skeet. The particular gun that we worked on was a 16 ga.
To take the gun apart you will simply remove the barrel and fore end as on the 1100 or 1187. The gas system works on a piston that is linked to the bolt with an arm extend into what you may think is the magazine tube. To remove the bolt you will need to place a screwdriver down the magazine tube to restrain the piston. Please note; the piston is under pressure and can fly off. Make sure you restrain it well and use safety glasses as always. Move the piston down with the screwdriver until the bolt arm and clear a notch in the piston tube. This will allow you to continue disassembly just like the 1100.
There is nothing difficult about cleaning this gun. The only tricky part is getting the piston and bolt arm to line up in the piston tube for reassembly. Try it a few times and you will get it.
If you have one of these guns you should be able to maintain it and continue to shoot it for a long time. If you need some parts you could try Numrich. From time to time they have parts available for obsolete guns.