New 597 problems

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brindle

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Hey folks need some input from recent Remington 597 buyers.
I bought a heavy barrel version three weeks ago and the thing fails to fire constantly. It depends on the ammunition but all brands fail to fire at least three out of ten. The cartridges I eject have a decent looking strike to the case but no bang happens when trigger is pulled. I assumed I needed to break it in but after at least three hundred rounds of different brands of semi-auto specific ammo I have a pile of misfired cartridges and sadness. So much for finding ammunition it prefers.
The internet doesn't have any current 597 info, most of it is from a few years ago when this rifle seemed to have a lot of problems. I followed some of the advice anyway: checking guide rails for too much grease or warping from over tightening, making sure springs were not binding, oil but not too much etc, loosen set screws 1/2 turn. I even bought another magazine to try, no luck there.
I'm a little leery of tearing down past the recommendation in the manual, and upgrading the hammer or extractor seems a little extreme for a BNIB just to get it to function. I just sold my gen 1 ISSC MK22 Jam-o-matic but now I feel like I might be back in light primer strike territory! I don't need another picky, temperamental semi.
My question is this: has anyone bought a 597 recently and are you happy with it? Are there any light strike/mis fire issues? I searched rimfire threads and did not hit anything recent but I'll keep looking.
I think this forum has a lot of great experience and insight, I could use some right now!
I will likely return this rifle but your experiences will inform my decision as to whether I exchange it for another identical one or return it for a refund.
Thanks in advance
 
I have one and I've been very happy with it. Shoots very reliable with federal,winchester, remington and cci bulk packs. It is also more accurate than the 1022 I had.
Oh... and the one I have is just the regular contour barrel.
But I would contact the seller and see what they have to say before you start changing parts or tear it apart any further.
 
Mine is only a few months old and no issues from CCI, Wnchester bulk, Rem thunderbolts or yellow jackets.
Mine is the TVP and its my favourite 22 now.
Could be a spring , if no satisfaction from the retailer, look at ordering the upgrade kit.
 
Galt said:
Mine is only a few months old and no issues from CCI, Wnchester bulk, Rem thunderbolts or yellow jackets.
Mine is the TVP and its my favourite 22 now.
Could be a spring , if no satisfaction from the retailer, look at ordering the upgrade kit.
Click to expand...

Thats pretty much the way to go.
Warranty and failing that either flog it or attempt the upgrade kits Galt mentions.
Rob
 
I've had a 597 for 18 years, and bought a used one last year to replace some parts in mine. Any Fail to Fire issues have always been because of the ammo for me, usually re-loading the round but chambered 180 degrees opposite the original hit will do the trick. Years ago I had several bricks of Thunderbolt that was plagued by duds, nearly every magazine would have one in it, so frustrating. Try some better ammo like Aguila, Eley, SK or RWS and see if the issue continues, these brands nearly always prime their rounds very reliably.

Do you feel comfortable removing the trigger group from the receiver? It's just a matter of poking out the retaining pin and lifting the trigger group away. Then have a look on the bottom of the hammer that rides the sear, look for any roughness or gouging. Try dry firing in this manner: hold your thumb firmly over the hammer, pull the trigger, *control* the hammer movement through it's range of motion. *Feel* if the hammer rides smoothly with little resistance over the sear, or for any roughness/grittiness. Changing hammer's is unlikely to resolve your specific issue, this is done to lighten the trigger pull.

Last possibility I can think of, some excessive headspace coupled with a minimum spec length firing pin (tolerance stacking). Checking this yourself is a little more involved as you'll need some precision measurement tools. Some pics of the strike on those duds you have piled up? Try shooting them again, with the "dud" strike at 6 o'clock in the chamber, might just be some poorly primed ammo.
 
Had similar thing happen to the 597 I bought. Showed up took it apart cleaned/lubed and put back together to the specs remington lists and like you an easy 3 or so per mag would FTF even with what seemed like decent primer strikes.

Ended up taking it back apart cleaning/ lubing and just tightening the set screws to 5 lbs instead of 7 and it's ran great since.
 
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Re tried each failed cartridge during last outing. No go. It might be bad ammo though; even though I have a wide variety of good quality .22lr ammunition it's all been stored for over two years. I haven't used it since I benched my lemon MK22. I ran through a lot of premium brands trying to find one the ISSC would run on.
I bought some fresh cci this morning, I'll give it another go tomorrow. I might get lucky.
I will also try the hammer test, I'm pretty comfortable checking that out. The tolerance stacking thing might be a little out of my league. All my precision measuring tools are 30' tape measures.
 
Had one of the heavy barreled AAC models, it ran great and was accurate, I regret selling it. Sounds to me like you have some old grease or crap from the factory in the firing pin's channel. Have you tried hitting the bolt with some brake cleaner? That might loosen what ever is holding your firing pin back.
 
To me it sounds like a good cleaning with a light oiling. I use the Remington DriLube. Spray it on wet and it dries with a film type surface. I use it on my shotguns, rimfires, center fires, and handgun.
 
I guess I should answer another question to give some more feedback. I have experience with three, off the shelf HB versions in the last year and a bit. I got mine for Christmas 2015, summer 2016 my son sold his 10/22 to buy one because he liked mine so much. Another buddy of mine, doing some research decided on a 597, but couldn't decide between the regular and the HB. He decided on the HB forgetting that I have one too.

First day, it did pretty much exactly what you are describing. Took it back home, cleaned it up, reinstalled the guide rods with just enough tension to hold them in. Even if the screws back out so there is "no" tension on them, the screws will back out until they hit the stock and that's it. After it was cleaned and reassembled, a shot of the Rem DriLube. Once we did that we got the failures down to 1 out of 150. With an inexpensive semi, that's an acceptable ratio for me.
 
ISaidShotgun! said:
Had one of the heavy barreled AAC models, it ran great and was accurate, I regret selling it. Sounds to me like you have some old grease or crap from the factory in the firing pin's channel. Have you tried hitting the bolt with some brake cleaner? That might loosen what ever is holding your firing pin back.
Click to expand...

I will try that tonight. Thanks!
 
Same experience with my HB model. I've tried every brand and type of ammo and after 200 rounds or so it starts to fail to fire. I have to disassemble it and clean it, then it works well again. I see that a few others here are using the REM Dri lube on the guide rods, that's what I'm going to try next.
 
May be worth a try to polish the bolt and the slots in the bolt where the guide rods ride. At the very least, take a close look at those parts and see if they're nice and smooth or not.
 
Update: I went back to the vendor and exchanged the rifle for another, new 597 heavy barrel. Took the new one out with some cci and had 100 rounds through with no issues. I guess I had a 'Friday' build.
Thanks for all your input gun nutz. I can have that rifle stripped down in under a minute thanks to all the advice from you guys!
Shout out to Wanstals for a no hassle exchange even though I was past the 30 day limit. Great service, no bs.
 
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