If your LGS has a 597 and it is priced right, I would jump on it. Don't get hung up in 10/22 vs 597 talk, because I own both and I have not had any issue from either one. If I had to do it over again, I would have saved the money I spent on my 10/22 and boght something else. I have had zero issues with my 597 and those who have seem to be variable. For an inexpensive .22LR (Cabelas: &$169.00), that is a pretty decent shooter, the 597 is not a bad gun. Everyone has an opinion and that is my 2 pennies.
JD
It's not the 10/22 vs 597 talk that put me off the 597, it was the design of the receiver.
The receiver is aluminum, and it's very thin.
I saw how the barrel is attached to the receiver and knew that I would always be worried about it.
There are photos all over the internet of the unbelievably thin 'ears' that hold the barrel with cracks in them. Some are from tightening the barrel wedge down too tight, others where the ears cracked all on their own and the first the owner knew about it was that accuracy dropped off.
Tightening the barrel wedge too much seems to be way too easy, you can crack the ears with application of too much
hand pressure.
I asked over on a rimfire forum about it, and the 597 folks responded by telling me that a new receiver is only $50 + FFL transfer so it's no big deal!
Apparently, the area at the top of the receiver where scope mounting holes are is really thin, and the threads strip very easily.
That, coupled with the reliability problems put me right off the rifle.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad for owning one, I'm sure they are just fine if you're careful with them and don't touch that barrel wedge screw, but I don't want a rifle that I have to be careful with.
I ended up getting a Savage model 64.
I looked at a Marlin model 60 too, and I had a real hard time choosing.
What it came down to was the following:
The Savage has a box magazine. I know a Marlin 795 has a box magazine too, but the store didn't have one.
The Marlin magazine looked a little flimsy in the area where the inner tube latches into the outer tube. I could see myself denting or bending the magazine.
Also, since I will be using this to teach my son and daughter, I'd worry about them covering their hand with the muzzle during loading/unloading.
The Savage has a
steel receiver. The Marlin receiver looks plenty strong enough, but I'll take steel over alloy if I have the chance. I expect this rifle will outlive me.
The Savage has steel everything else, too. No plastic (apart from the stock) whatsoever as far as I can tell, though I haven't dismantled it yet.
The Marlin felt muzzle-heavy compared to the Savage, presumably because of the tube magazine. The Savage felt better balanced and more natural to shoulder.
This would have been even more apparent with the magazine loaded.
Despite feeling better balanced and handier, the barrel on the Savage was 2" longer than the one on the Marlin. Bigger sight radius, lower noise.
The Marlin was $20 cheaper, which I spent on ammo.
For those watching ammo prices, I paid a rate of $5/50 rounds of Winchester Wildcat. The gun store guy was apologetic.
The Marlin also came with a crappy scope, but I wasn't actually aware of this until I got it home and opened the box. Probably wouldn't have affected my decision if I had known about it.
I am most definitely not knocking the Marlin model 60, it really is a nice gun.
The rifles are so similar that I really had to nitpick in order to decide which one to buy.
I had such a hard time deciding that I very nearly flipped a coin
Thanks for your help everyone, as I said, I know very little about .22 rifles so all comments I received were helpful.
I can't believe I have waited so long to get a .22 rifle, and I can't wait to go and shoot it
