Ruger 10/22 vs Remington 597

I have had good success with both the 597 and the marlin 795. I have not had good reliability from the ruger. The ruger is behind in functionality too and the controls are clunky. The crescemt but plate and heavy drop on the stock are uncomfortable relics.

I would recmmend the marlin or remingtom over the ruger every time.
 
The 795 must be up there, and if you have the choice, there is no good reasons to choose a 597, got 2 597 for my grandkids and ...Well they now have 10-22, wont add more on this subject... JP.
 
While pointing towards the search engine on CGN is a bit Douche like, I suppose I'll go with it.

I am the not so proud owner of a 597 blaze orange.
I took it home and cleaned it, then set to work on TRYING to get the rifle to print a group on paper @ 25yds which it wouldn't do no matter how I adjusted the sights.
From the factory the crown had a burr on it, the sights were not screwed onto the barrel in line with one another, the stock pushed against the barrel in the 7:00 position and it had a patch of rust in the barrel and a burr on the chamber which peeled off slivers of lead causing erratic trajectories.

Later the pin on the bolt hold open catch and the mag bottom came off.

I had a friend recrown the barrel, used a sandpaper wrapped socket and a dremel to fix the stock and passed a jag loaded with polishing compound to fix the bore and just touched the chamber edge with a case deburring tool. The sights were fixed with a cheap tasco 3-9x32 scope and the mag cap and hold open pin were fixed by drilling and tapping for a 4-40 screw in the mag cap and a 6-32 screw in the bolt hold open pin.

The trigger group was also polished as was the bolt guide slots. The stock had its voids filled with epoxy putty and lead shot to stiffen and improve balance.
Sling swivels were installed and the action was bedded.
After all this I can now empty 30 rounds of bulk ammo into a 5" steel gong at 100yds.
At 50 yds it is as accurate as need be for squirrel hunting and I have practiced 50yd tree arbouring (shoot the branches off a sapling)
I am now satisfied with its preformance but would caution you on its out of the box condition.
 
Last edited:
I bought my 597 from Lebaron this fall on ale. When i took it to the range to try it out i had the same issue with the sights not being in line. I sent it to Gravel thinking they would send me a new one. I got it back a couple of weeks later with a new barrel. For the cost of the .22,i can't understand why they would replace the barrel vs replacing the entire rifle. No issues since.
 
597 = cheap plinker
10/22 = expensive plinker
Atleast the honda civic of 22s has upgrades and there are a few Canadian dealers that sell aftermarket parts.
Can't say that about the 597.
However if there wasn't the bullpup law, I might jump on the 597 since the CBRS has a starwars looking bullpup design.
 
nomad 68 said:
I bought my 597 from Lebaron this fall on ale. When i took it to the range to try it out i had the same issue with the sights not being in line. I sent it to Gravel thinking they would send me a new one. I got it back a couple of weeks later with a new barrel. For the cost of the .22,i can't understand why they would replace the barrel vs replacing the entire rifle. No issues since.
Click to expand...
I understand your thoughts however, stock, fire group,sights,recivers are not free.
It is cheaper to replace parts.
Are your recovered bullets showing any signs of stripped copper plating?
 
Oh and the "micro groove" rifling of the marlin rifles are a poor excuse for rifling. They are the next thing to a smooth bore from factory and I can not see the longevity of a marlin barrel. I can also see fouling being an issue with accuracy.
 
Most FTE,FTF,FTL problems can be fixed with 2 adjustments on the 597. One polish the lips and inside of the mag with metal polish and a felt tipped dremel tool. And loosen off the guide rod retaining screws. Over torqing them cause the bolt guide rods to bow and bind/jam. This one simple adjustment is the cause of most jamming issues with the 597.

FTE happens when there is not enough force from firing to cycle the action, so this comes down to a poorly loaded cartridge (ammo issue) or a bolt bind (bowed guide rods from being over tightened)

FTF happens when the chamber is empty (FTL) or the cartridge is a dud (ammo issue). The geometry of the 597 action prevents loading a round without cocking the action, but does allow for cocking the action without loading a round. This is remedied by either loosening the guide rods to free up a binding bolt or polishing the mag internally to aid in the free travel of ammo through the mag. Unfortunately adjusting the mag lips is impossible on a plastic or cast aluminum mag (one of the many short comings of the 597) and having a round that was picked up by the bolt but failed to make it into the chamber can be a difficult fix. Making sure the mag is fully into the mag well and the lips/inside of the mag is the best that can be done and in most cases all that is needed.
 
Last edited:
Most issues you hear about with 597's were older versions with crappy mags and folks over tightening the guide rails. I have owned 3 597's. The first one I bought about 8 years ago and was a POS. The second one I bought about 4 years ago and was better but still couldn't load 10 rounds into the mags and I needed to replace the extractor. Also accuracy was mediocre. The 3rd I bought in July and it has been awesome (16 inch HB). Still haven't had a single stoppage and accuracy is excellent. There's no need to put any additional money into it. Its great as is. I think they finally have the kinks worked out of the 10 round mags. Remingtons 30 round mag however is total and utter garbage. Haven't tried any other brand of large capacity mags.

I have also owned 2 10/22's. The 10/22 factory rotary mag is fantastic. Sits flush and is extremely reliable. Both my 10/22's started out reliable but both needed the extractors replaced. Once replaced, they were very reliable again. Accuracy was mediocre on both (fine for plinking but not too good from the bench) but I ended up dropping gm barrels into them. With they gm barrels accuracy was excellent. Both needed trigger jobs which I did myself so didn't cost me anything (the 597 trigger is pretty crappy too).

They are both good rifles with their own quirks. If you want to heavily modify, I'd go with 10/22. If you want to leave bone stock, I would now suggest 597 (wouldn't have a couple of years ago though).
 
Last edited:
I'm in agreeance with super7. The 597 has only limited after market suport where as the 10/22 can be made with 0 actual rugger parts.
The HB model 597's probably have slightly more factory QC payed to them.
 
I have a pair of 10-22's, one since the early 70's, and a pair of CZ's as well as various other rimfires. Therefore i see no need for a Rem 597. I'll leave them for the wanna be's.:nest: :D
 
I have a 597 only complaint is the mag's sometimes jam up, with my SR-22 took some breaking in and an extractor to work right they both aren't bad, 597 is allot more accurate but now the Ruger is more reliable.
 
I have has a couple of 10-22's - blued and stainless - and I have never been impressed with accuracy or QC, but they always worked. I gave up on semi auto .22's because of the mediocre accuracy and got a CZ 452 bolt and never looked back. Always works and way more accurate. I have no desire to start putting on a whole bunch of aftermarket heavy barrel and trigger parts.
 
I have an R597 HB bought last April. Very accurate. Ammo picky. Likes CCI Minimag, CCI Blazer, Win M22, Fed 525. Win 525/55 is a hit and miss. Hated Win Wildcat. No plans of trying out Rems. 30 round mag is hit and miss with LRHO. Loading 20-22 rds seems to be acceptable. Metal 10-rounder is OK but a little tight to load beyond 8-rds. Aftermarket parts are hard to come by except for the stock, VQ hammer and extractor. I installed an Archangel 556 kit, Bushnell 3-9 X 40 scope, bipod and it looked better. Cleaning is a breeze. Total teardown is not required when using Rem action cleaner. Spray, let dry and use dry lube generously. With plated ammo, barrel fouling is not an issue. I had around 500 rds in my rifle, one barrel cleaning with barely noticeable fouling. And the best thing, available almost cost-to-coast compared to a Ruger. I am not a Ruger basher. In fact I am thinking of getting a takedown version. Both are decent guns. Both needs work to run better.

Safe Shooting!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom