New .22 mag

[MCgunner]

I just got through tradin' a guy out of a new looking Remington M597 .22 mag rifle. I traded him a little 90cc motorcycle I've had for several years, left over from selling the things and not worth a lot. It started fine and he's happy. he really got the better of the deal, but then I couldn't sell the thing for much more than the gun's worth at this point, busted rear fender and some rust on it.

So, I figured get the thing out of my way in the old shop and get a new rifle to boot. Anyone got any opinions on this rifle? Anyone have one? It's got a Bushnell trophy scope with 1" scope on it, 3x9 with adjustable focus, and what look like Millet rings, but probably aren't 'cause I can't find "Millet" on 'em anywhere. It's all flat black finish with a plastic stock. I'll probably take it out to the range Sunday and give it a whirl. He had a couple boxes of ammo with it, CCI, and this goofy lock thing for the safety... Heck, early Christmas!!!

I've never owned a .22 mag rifle, thought of it now and then, not really much use for one. I guess I could shoot coyotes with it if nothin' else, not that I do much coyote huntin' though there's bunches of the things down on my place. It's on of those things I probably would never have bought, but trades are different. LOL!

 

[17RemFan]

Hey good luck with your newly traded Remington.I dont own one but it should be fun to shoot.Its cool to trade for things sometimes.If you find that your looking for some powerful ammo,try some Winchester Super X.The JHPs would be great for hunting .I shoot them in my automag and they seem much more powerful that other 22 mag ammo.Give your rifle a good cleaning if you havent already.Post back on how well it shoots..

 

[MCgunner]

Yeah, I read some reviews about it getting dirty pretty easily. I think a detail cleaning is due before much shooting.

I was kinda thinkin' I mighta got a little took seein' as I'd priced a 597 in .22 LR before I found my Ruger 10/22 at a gun show and it was about 150 at Wallyworld. I looked it up on Remington's site and for the magnum, MSRP is something like $440! I figure even if I could get it for 300 at Wallyworld, I got more'n what I wanted for that bike. The scope runs a hundred bucks on bass pro's site and I even got a soft case with it, LOL!

Taking it to the range. I'll brag or curse it tomorrow.

 

[rangerruck]

make sure the bolt guide rails aren't bone tight, they need a little play in them. Also get the latest generation mags for them. All steel, with bottom that has a circle with the number 10 in it.

 

[MCgunner]

Range trip successful. I'm rather impressed. The gun is 1.5 MOA accurate with CCI Maxi Mag and Winchester 45 grain HP I bought on the way to the range. I first removed the scope and sighted the irons in at 25 yards using a fine bead. Didn't try it at 50 with irons. I put the scope back on and zeroed at 25, was 2" high at 50, about a half inch low at 100 with CCI Maxi Mags, 40 grain JHP. The Winchesters hit dead zero at fifty with that sight in and about 8" low at 100 yards with that sight in. I reckon if I was going to use this thing on small game to 50 yards, the Winchesters would be my choice, but for ranges out to 100 yards, hard to beat the flat shooting Maxi Mag. Have tried nothing else to date. Ammo is a little high in that caliber.

I had, but one problem, a failure to fire one CCI round, not a big deal with rimfire, but CCI is usually the most reliable of the rimfires in my experience with .22 LR. Every round fed smoothly and ejected cleanly. The trigger is a little heavy, but very crisp. I'd say it breaks about 7 lbs just guessing. When I picked up my .308, which breaks at 3 lbs, I had to adjust to the light trigger, LOL. I've yet to figure out what to use this thing for except for range fun. It COULD be used on squirrel, but I've got .22s for that and usually take my Contender with the .22 barrel for squirrel anyway. I'd be a danged good gun for varmints inside 100 yards, coyotes, bobcat, and fox being about the only varmints down here. I don't know if it's legal for stink pigs, but it'd probably kill a Javelina easily enough out to 100 yards. I've killed two stink pigs and that was while deer hunting. I've killed a bunch of coyotes, but while hunting other game, usually deer. Once I popped one at about 20 yards in the head with my shotgun with 7 1/2 shot while I was dove hunting. That was kinda neat.

I took the opportunity to shoot my .308 M7 Remington. I fired exactly two rounds out of it, spot on and both holes touching. Good 'nuf for the season. I fired about 5 rounds out of my .30-30 barrel just to check sight in, spot on and good to go, a little under 2" for five shots. All in all, was a good range trip.

 

[gunslinger15]

You may experience that the magazine spring is failing to feed, I recomend taking apart the clip( refer to owners manuel) and shaving off just a little bit of the plastic orange guide. Thats loosend mine up and stoped all of the feeding problems. And be carful taking out the guid rails the springs are a pretty big pain to get back into the reciever !!

 

[GooseGestapo]

I've got one (m597 .22mag).

It shoots 1.5moa or better, but sometimes fails to feed with the "reduced" power Winchester 45gr DynaPoint you mentioned. It also shoots a bit lower as you experieced.

Best ammo in my rifle is the 40gr Winchester JHP. Followed closely by the Remington 33gr Ballistic Tip. I've shot a wide variety of ammo through it also, and most work well. But, the Winchester was/is most accurate and easily available, and most "flexible" in use. This bullet is not frangible, but performs like a centerfire expanding hunting bullet.

I have two of the plastic magazines, and they both work well. I don't believe I've ever seen a metal .22mag magazine. I have several metal mags for my .22lr m597 however.

I've not had any problems with the .22mag magazines.

I did replace the plastic stock with a Boyds laminated stock that significantly improved acccuracy. It was a production overrun that was "out of spec" and required bushing the action screw holes to make it work.. Got two of them, one for Magnum, and other for .22lr. total cost with rubber butt pads ran $50.00. Don't believe they have any more though.

A very useful rifle that is a "keeper".

 

[Terrierman]

Do try as many types of ammunition as your patience will allow. There is a HUGE difference in what shoots well in my .22 WMR 77/22 and what does not. I've had best luck of the off the shelf stuff with the Remington Premier, followed closely by the Winchester Supreme. Federals not so good and CCI maxi mag worst of all. Each rifle will decide for itself what it likes best! I'm using OSSI Coyote Killers right now, but that stuff is way too expensive to just play with at the range.

 

[JShirley]

597s are supposed to be quite accurate.

 

[MCgunner]

Thanks for the tips! I will buy a little of this and a little of that to try in the gun. Not unlike a .22 LR, they always have their preferences. Guess I need to find some Winchester 40 grain HP next.

Interesting, I didn't chronograph any of it, but need to. Didn't realize that Dyna Point stuff was low velocity. That explains the exterior ballistics. Might be the choice if I wanted to hunt something like squirrel with the gun, not that I don't have good squirrel rifles already in .22LR like my ancient, but deadly accurate Remington M512X. But, the gun is as accurate as my M512 which makes it one of the most accurate rimfires I own and my M512 is a bolt gun. Since I shoot left handed, autos are more user friendly for me.

Keep the comments comin' as I'm learning about this thing. Thanks for the input so far! Next range trip, I think I'm going to take the chronograph for some load testing.

 

[Terrierman]

Sure, go ahead, make me feel bad. Mention your tack driver 512X. The dumbest thing I ever did with a gun was trade the 512X that an old step uncle taught me to shoot with in his basement. Ben Houth, God Rest His soul and Bless Him for putting up with a totally worthless me. I used to shoot the barbs off barbed wire with that thing! Ahh foolish foolish youth. I would sure undo that one if I could. Hell, I don't even have the 98K that I traded for anymore either, more's the loss. Thank goodness I at least have a 512S now and its a decent one too.

 

[danurve]

Not familiar with the Remington Mag, but I sure went on a quest in search of what ammo to use for what game / varmint.

Fired into soaked phone books at 50 yards from left to right;
34gr Supremes - Seemed the most frangable or violent.
40gr psp - (rem) didn't expand, to be fair wet books arn't exactly solid either. However they are quite accurate and work great on squirrel. Verdict is still out on CCI's new gamepoint.
40gr. Win-X jhp - the 'partition' of 22wmr.

Your call.

Oh and one final slice of advice; stay clear of the 45gr dynaturd. That junk is welfare ammo.

 

[MCgunner]

Hmm, that 40 grain PSP might be the ticket for not damaging a squirrel too much. Thanks!

Sure, go ahead, make me feel bad. Mention your tack driver 512X. The dumbest thing I ever did with a gun was trade the 512X that an old step uncle taught me to shoot with in his basement. Ben Houth, God Rest His soul and Bless Him for putting up with a totally worthless me. I used to shoot the barbs off barbed wire with that thing! Ahh foolish foolish youth. I would sure undo that one if I could. Hell, I don't even have the 98K that I traded for anymore either, more's the loss. Thank goodness I at least have a 512S now and its a decent one too.

Sorry. I got mine for my 9th birthday and I turn 54 November 1 so it's what, 45 years old if my math doesn't deceive me. It's still a tack driver and has laid out many a bushy tail in its day. Amazing little rifle with too many memories to up and sell it or trade it.