Rem 597... any good

canadaman30

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Was looking at buying a 597 for some volume shooting. Are they worth it or not. Would like some feed back from any owners who have some first hand with these. thanks
 
Played with a brand new one today, actually. The owner bought 6-7 different types of ammo, as recommended, and we had the most FTFs from CCI stingers. Every brand had at least 1 FTF in the box of 50. Upon inspection of those, we found several had light-strike marks. The owner is already pricing VQ replacement parts because they're so highly recommended.

We also had 2 instances of double feeding early in testing. We attributed that to the stiff mag springs. Stiff enough that we could not fit all 10 rounds in the box until the 5th or 6th reload cycle. By the 3'rd reload cycle we had no more double-feeds.

I intend to pick one up as soon as my license comes in the mail. Light weight, cheap to buy and feed, zero recoil. If you don't like it, you can sell it at minimal loss. One fellow on the bench had a VTR (the tacticool 597) and sold it because it was finicky with ammo... of course that led to the discussion that most out-of-the-box .22 semi's are.
 
Mine is garbage. Had it blow up on me. Blew the extractor out the side. Fail to feed all the time on this gun. After it blew the extractor I went and got a ruger 10/22, great gun, no problems, don't waste your money on the 597.
 
Bought mine a few years back. 0 issues. All the internals are stock. About 2 yrs ago I dropped it in an Archangel kit for a cheap tacticool trip.

I use a mix of the stock mag and the large mags, rarely have any feeding issues.

The only thing i hate is the 2 small springs on the guide rods that push the bolt, a real pain to put together.
 
I've had 4 Remington 597-s so far and never had a problem with any of them. Actually, I'm thinking about buying one again at SAIL while the no tax sale is on.
The VQ hammer and extractor are good quality (and cheap!) upgrades. Not necessary but a Boyds stock is also a good improvement.
The action is silky smooth but keep it clean. Also, keep the bolt rods lubricated and make sure they're evenly tightened but not too tight.
 
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Try holding bolt back with the charging handle while cocked. Pull the trigger. Hear that click? yeah, it just tried to fire with the bolt open.

It frequently has out of battery discharges for this reason if you pull the trigger too fast.

I've had mine go wild in full auto mode for no reason.

Once the trigger would not pull for no reason and then part of the trigger assembly fell apart at a later date.

All in all, the most dangerous and least reliable firearm I've ever seen.

It's a Remington.

Pretty accurate though.....


P.S. I know what you're thinking: Poor maintenance. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the OOB and Full-auto runaway were right out of the box...
 
P.S. I know what you're thinking: Poor maintenance. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the OOB and Full-auto runaway were right out of the box...
If that was the case it should have gone right back where it came from.

I have one in 22mag that I will never ever sell ,its a great gun .I have a VTR and it functions well (see video in my sig line) and I had a HB laminated stock model and it shot good as well . For the price they are a pretty decent gun
 
I have a 597 and 3 buddies of mine have 597's and we all couldnt be happier!
I have had mine for 8 yrs or so and have probably put over 25, 000 rds through it and its still workin great! Have killed hundreds of gophers with it, shot countless cans, targets, and had many great duelling tree battles.
The only issue I have ever had was with remington ammo FTF but with anything else its great.
I would not hesitate to buy another as long as they are the same as when I bought mine.
 
Had one for about three days, had 65 out of 100 rounds each time i shot 100 FTF, FTE (stovepipe). Total of about 800 rounds through it with very repeatable events.
 
Ihave a 597vr andovet Very accurte ad hae hd no problems wthitat all. My 10/22 on the other hand...has never succesfully fired 3 shots in a row, since new. It is honestly the worst pile of sh!t firearm i have ever owned. I know a lot of guys that have older ones that are flawless but mine is now officially a prybar
 
When I bought mine I was very unimpressed with it. It shot a group like a shotgun pattern at 50 yards. I tried every kind of ammo I could get my hands on and it still shot like #### with zero consistency. After much reading I found that many people said that .22s will shoot better with dirty barrels, so I decided to give that a shot. I have over a 1000 rounds down the pipe since the last time I cleaned it, the barrel that is. I clean the action regularly. I have found that the gun shoots 100% better now, still not a tack driver by any means, but I can hit shotgun shells at 20 yards pretty consistently.

As for the rest of the gun, I very rarely have issues with it loading, firing or ejecting. I have found that the ammo does play a major part in those issues as well, for the most part I have only been shooting CCI Blazers and I never have any kind of issue with that ammo.

Would I buy another 597? No. There are far better guns from more reputable manufacturers than Remington that actually do have quality control. This is most likely the first and last Remington product I will ever own.
 
I just picked up a 597 and have yet to shoot it....but I was quite impressed with the overall feel of the gun. It's a good sized .22lr rifle, and didn't feel "toy" like.

I went into the store to get a Mossberg .22 tactical, left with the 597. From the sounds of it, it's hit or miss with them though, so I suppose I'll know whether I got a good one soon enough.
 
If that was the case it should have gone right back where it came from.

It did. These things, like all recent Remington products, seem to be hot and cold. They either work perfectly or don't work at all and are dangerous...
 
Ihave a 597vr andovet Very accurte ad hae hd no problems wthitat all. My 10/22 on the other hand...has never succesfully fired 3 shots in a row, since new. It is honestly the worst pile of sh!t firearm i have ever owned. I know a lot of guys that have older ones that are flawless but mine is now officially a prybar

I'll trade you a real prybar for it. :D
 
I picked up a couple for use in the CFSC. I retired them after a few courses as the extractors tend to fall out when novice users cause jams though incomplete/cushioned cycling of the bolt.

I'm open to offers from those who like the 597... ;)
 
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