Report: Remmy 597: A good shooter

[Quoheleth]

Before Christmas I did a little horse trading and came away with enough cash to pick up a new Remington 597 "combo" - a grey, synthetic stock model with a 3-9x32 scope attached - at a local Academy. After a long wait, I got it to the range today to do a little sighting in.

It took me a little bit to get the scope dialed in: out of the box, it was shooting 8" right and 4" high. When it was all said and done, at 25 yards, off of sandbags, I can literally shoot all 10 rounds out of the magazine into one ragged hole. I wish I had my camara to have taken pics - that was the best shooting I've ever done. I thought it was a fluke, so I did it again...and again...and again. I ran out of time to get out to the 50 yard marker; hopefully next time.

The trigger breaks cleanly, but it is a bit heavy IMHO. I'll break it down as best I can and see if I can't get it a bit cleaner - maybe there's some schmutz in there I missed. It could just need a little more break-in as well.

Action cycles smoothly shooting Federal's blue box. The aluminum mag provided flawless feeding and inserts smoothly into the gun and falls clear easily after depressing the mag release button.

I had a single ejection problem...somehow the empty didn't eject, the bolt picked up a fresh cartridge, and both the empty and fresh round got sideways. Quick pull of the bolt freed both, and I continued to shoot with no mishaps.

To all who wonder if this inexpensive gun will shoot, let me answer with a resounding, "Heck, yeah!" It might not be as "sexy" as a tricked out Ruger 10/22, but it'll get the job done. I'm not crazy about the plastic stock, but this is a plinker and not a show gun, so it'll do. I would have no problems recommending this to friends and fellow THR members. Need a new rimfire? Take a good look at the 597...I'm glad I did.

Q

 

[PirateRadio]

I'll agree with all of this. My 597 is my favorite rifle I own.

It's a shame it's out of service right now...

 

[kurtmax]

I've owned a 597 since they first came out (No scope, but wood stock).

It's one of my favorite rifles to shoot, but they can have some reliability problems. Remington has fixed most of the problems in the later models (in fact, replacing 'old' style parts with the 'new' Remington 597 parts on mine fixed 80% of the problems I had)

One thing you might want to get is a volquartsen extractor. It's way better than the stock Remington one. Also, check to make sure your ejector has a slight 'zig-zag' to it and it's not completely straight (It probably is a 'new' one if you just bought the rifle new).

Volquartsen also has a 'target hammer' kit to reduce the trigger weight. I haven't tried it, but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Rimfire central has some excellent info on various aspects of the rifle in the Remington section of the forums....

 

[MCgunner]

I did some horse swapping for one, a magnum 597. WOW, that thing is accurate! It's flawless, too, so far. I put the Volquartsen hammer in it and made a HUGE improvement in trigger weight, sweet shooter. I'd get a LR model, but I have 4 other rimfires. I like it a lot, though, a real keeper even if I'm not real sure what to use a .22 mag for, LOL!

I've heard bad mouthing of the LR version, not so much the magnum. Mine has plastic mags and works great. It likes CCI maximag. Winchester Dynapoint are down loaded a lot and occasionally hang on ejection from their lack of recoil impulse, the only problems I've had with it and were obviously ammo related.

 

[22_Shooter]

I got mine in .22LR and love it. Had a few problems at first, but it was completely due to crappy ammo (Rem. Thunderbolts). Now I use CCI Minimags, and it runs great. Plus, I like the feel of it as opposed to a 10/22, which feel small for me.

 

[bensdad]

Glad to see so many having positive experiences with their 597s. Mine was very problematic (frequent jams) and less accurate than I could tolerate.

Maybe I should have given it some time and attention.

 

[kurtmax]

Many of the malfunction problems in the 597 are due to the magazines. If you have the plastic magazines they aren't the latest generation.

You can salvage the old plastic mags rather cheaply. In the remington forum of rimfirecentral there is a tutorial. Basically, you can buy a magazine spring for another firearms, that, when cut in half fits perfectly into the 597 mags, but has twice the strength. My old plastic mags are actually more reliable than the new metal mags I have now. The mag spring only costs around 5usd, and works for two mags. (Shipping is a killer though if you get it through brownells)

 

[g1726]

I came into a standard model that was missing the rear sight for $80. I had always been curious since they came out and couldn't pass on it with that price.

I stripped off the front sight, added the factory mount and threw on a Tasco World Class 2-8X from Natchez. Like others have said, it puts 10 rounds of Federal 510 into one ragged hole on demand. After seeing that, I treated it and myself to a Volquartsen hammer. Groups are still the same, it's just a lot more pleasant now.

I'm not giving up my Ruger, but I'm glad to have the 597 around. And I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for another at a good price.

 

[CajunBass]

I got one a few weeks ago. It's got the plastic stock and a Bushnell 4x32 scope but I've been impressed with it so far. I haven't shot it a lot, but I've only had one malfunction and that was in the first few rounds.

I haven't had a chance to take it to the range, just fired it over a shakey rest, but it's accurate enough for me to have used it to kill a few squirrels. I'm looking forward to getting it to a decent rest to see what it will really do.

I'd heard a lot of negeative things about it in the past (probably the plastic magazine days). Good to hear better reports now.

 

[RevolverMan567]

FYI

If you ave one with magazine that are the 2 earlier generations then remingtn will swap you out for the new current ones that actually feed well.

If it doesent have an aluminum body with a 10 inside a circle on it then call them and thay will hook you up. thats the latest one, I have 4 for mine and feeds great, an it as well will shoot well within an inch at 50 yards with a cheapo simmons on it.

 

[MCgunner]

I'm not giving up my Ruger, but I'm glad to have the 597 around. And I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for another at a good price.

Yeah, the Remington is full size like a real rifle. It's great for range practice and is very accurate. My magnum model will shoot 1.5" all day long with maximag at 100 yards. But, the little Ruger is so handy to toss in the truck and go, for plinking, bummin' around, take with you when fishing, whatever. It's light and almost as easy as a handgun to tote. I kinda like taking it along anytime I'm outdoors, got that habit from my uncle, I guess. He used to tote a little Browning take down everywhere he went. The Remington is not that kind of rifle. I'm keepin' both, myself.