Difference between Junior Special 521T and TL

[nambujim]

Since I was bored out of my mind this evening I thought I would look at my old Remington catalogs, my American Rifleman Index 1953-2003, and past experiences. When we were clearing out some DCM rifles from our Junior Rifle Club back in about 1979, we had some 521's that had shorter stocks & shorter barrels, and at the time I could have cared less.

Based on what I can find from the above sources the 521T had a 25" barrel, Lyman Rear Sight, weighed in at 7#, and had an overall length of 43". The 521TL had a 27" barrel, Lyman Rear Sight, and weighed in at 9#, and the overall was length was 46". Some of the 521T rifles were marked on the barrel "Junior Special" but at the same time the 521TL was called the "Junior Special".........go figure. Its quite possible that those 521T rifles that were marked "Junior Special" had the longer barrel & longer stock. I'm just passing on what facts I could uncover here and I'm a bit out of my element.

The Lyman rear sight on both models was the 57RS and both had a simple post front without a hood in a 3/8" dovetail on the front. There was 2# difference between the rifles and doubt whether 2" of barrel & 1" of stock would have accounted for that so probably the TL had a heavier barrel as well, just an educated guess. My 1952 & 56 parts catalogs only list parts for the TL Model.

Hope this is of some help!

Jim Peterson
Charlotte, NC