Remington 597 - First impressions...

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CarsnGuns

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So I finally picked up my first .22 rifle on Wednesday. I've been shooting some .22 out of my Advantage Arms conversion kit for my Glock 17 but I never got around to picking up a rifle.

Decided I wanted a cheap starter rifle to get me in the swing of things and set my sights on the Remington 597 with Heavy Barrel. Picked that up on Wednesday, picked up a Tasco Pronghorn 3-9 x 40 scope on Thursday. Went to the range this morning and got it all dialed in and had some fun.

First off, the gun:

IMG_20130214_195541.jpg


I picked up 4 different types of ammo to try out and see what she likes the best:

American Eagle 38gr Copper Plated Hollow Point
Winchester Wildcat
Winchester Super X - 40gr Copper Plated
CCI Blazer Lead Round Nose

50 rounds of each, all worked great, only malfunctions I had were 4 failure to feeds with the Wildcat, rounds got stuck in the mag...needed a bit of a poke to pop up to the top of the mag.

This is my first time shooting a scoped rifle of any kind, I was shooting from a seated position at a bench without a bipod, bags or any sort of rest.

Here are two of my best groupings with the Blazer and American Eagle:
25yds - 20rds fired
IMG_20130215_120244.jpg


25yds - 30rds fired
IMG_20130215_115458.jpg


Very pleased with the rifle, it performed awesome. I blame the 4 FTF's on the ammo, the lead nose was a bit rough and I think that caused it to stick in the mag.
The scope I chose was due to price point and variable zoom up to 9x. At 25yards it was pretty clear at 9x, seemed a bit better at 7x, no complaints thus far.

Overall, HAPPY CAMPER. Hoping to get a lot more time on it and see those groupings tighten up!

Joe
 
Ive been thinking about one of these I would be interested in seeing some 3 or 5 shot groups off sturdy rest. What is the trigger like ive heard they very from model to model?
 
These guns are garbage. I had ftf all the time. Had the firing pin ignite a round with the bolt in the open position, blew the extractor out the side. Would clean the thing like crazy just to keep it half functional. After it blew up I went on the net and guess what, this happens on this gun and Remington knows it. Best to sell it if you can. There is a reason they are cheap.
 
Don't listen to pikesroad, he must have had a lemon and now thinks they are all garbage. I have two 597's (did not intent to) and love them both. My original one works flawlessly with most types of ammo but I tent to stick with the Winchester bulk 500 dynapoint gt as they consistently group the best. Most 597's need some minor tweaking to shoot their best but seeing as you are happy with yours I would suggest to leave it alone for now. Lots of info if you go to rimfire central. They have a section dedicated to the remington 597.
 
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One of the biggest problems with the Remington 597 is the Nut behind the Buttplate. This imperfect part does not believe in interaction with the Manual that comes with the rifle and functional problems arise.

One of the biggest problems with the Remington 597 is that people simply do not read the Manual. The 597 has two recoil springs that ride on two small rods on each side of the breech block. These rods are held in by two set screws at the end of the receiver. The proper way to reassemble them is to tighten the set screws lightly finger tight, then back them off about 1/2 turn. If they are tightened too much, they will put pressure on the rods and bend them slightly. This causes the breech block to rub on the rods and slows it down when recoiling, thus there are failure to feed and failure to eject.

Another problem was people not loading the magazines properly. The first generation mags were plastic, and people tried to force the rounds down through the feed lips, thus cracking and breaking them. Third Generation mags are made of die cast metal. I have a 597 that was made in the late 1990s, and it has three original plastic magazines with it, and all work perfectly. The addition of a Volquartsen aftermarket hammer will cut the trigger pull down to about half weight and is a great accessory to have. Takes about 5 minutes to install.

One of the reasons a rifle can fire out of battery, and thus have the round go off before it is fully chambered, is that the person is trying to make a machine gun out of his semi-automatic rifle. He pulls the triger as fast as he can and the breech block is not fully fully forward, either from not quite closing or from "bolt bounce" where the breech block hits the end of the barrel when closing then bounces back slightly. It has happened with the 597, but it has also happened with a lot of semi-auto rifles including the Ruger 10-22, etc. But then again, the firearm is being used in a manner that it was not intended to be used in, and the trigger is being pulled when the cartridge is not fully supported in the chamber.

As FF33 mentioned, go to Rimfire Central and take a look at the Remington 597 sub-forum.
 
Love mine!

Bought used, came with 2x10rd and 2xhi-cap. Had some issues with one of the 10 rd magazines, but tickled the follower with sand paper, and hyper extended the spring...that cured it.

The only upgrade I added was a weaver base. Not sure it was needed, but the base cost about 12 bucks (less than rings) and I had lots of weaver rings.

As [well] stated above, the guide rods are easy to over torque. This will cause all manner of issue. It's also one of the features that make this a smooth operator. The bolt is silky smooth.

One more "plus" I would add is that it's a full sized rifle.
 
I currently own a 597 with a tasco 3-9 mounted to it. I LOVE that rifle, and for a .22 it shoots great groups, I have found the bulk winchester ammo seems to be its favorite. have had a few ftf's but I blame that on ammo.
 
I bought one as my first gun over a year ago, I had problems with the 10rd mags. They only really fit 8 sometimes 9. I took them apart cleaned them all up and tried a trick I found on CGN to reverse the spring. It has been a absolutely fantastic rifle ever since.
 
With the factory flush mag, mine works flawlessly and accurately with most types of cheap bulk ammo. I love my 597. Im still using the iron sights and they are probably my favourite irons on any gun I own.
 
I own the AAC-SD model. It's never given me a problem. I did spend a few minutes with some fine steel wool cleaning and polishing the bolt where the guide rods sit and where the sear hits. Not too much just enough to smooth the finish down.

I put a muzzle brake from Dlask on the barrel just for looks, and a red dot optic. It's a fun gun.
 
LumberJack said:
Ive been thinking about one of these I would be interested in seeing some 3 or 5 shot groups off sturdy rest. What is the trigger like ive heard they very from model to model?
Click to expand...

I probably won't be posting small shot groups because my range doesn't really cater to this type of shooting. I would need to invest in a bipod first to acheive a sturdy rest. And I'm no great shot yet so it might still look bad! lol

The trigger on mine is pretty heavy, it is honestly a fairly crisp break but it could use some lightening up. Mind you I shoot a Glock and Norinco AR so I am familiar with less than pristine triggers haha

As to what pikesroad said. I have read lots about them being nightmares. But I knew they have made minor changes over the years to fix some of the problems. I would say only 4 FTF out of 200 rounds on my first outing with the gun isn't bad. And I blame that on the ammo to be honest.

I've already been over to rimfire central, lots of neat tricks the guys over there have come up with for making her run a bit better. Interested in the hammer upgrade and maybe some polishing to smooth it out.

ISaidShotgun! said:
I own the AAC-SD model. It's never given me a problem. I did spend a few minutes with some fine steel wool cleaning and polishing the bolt where the guide rods sit and where the sear hits. Not too much just enough to smooth the finish down.

I put a muzzle brake from Dlask on the barrel just for looks, and a red dot optic. It's a fun gun.
Click to expand...

I bet that looks awesome! If we could have functional suppressors up here I would have probably got a a model with a threaded barrel.
 
buffdog said:
.
One of the biggest problems with the Remington 597 is the Nut behind the Buttplate. This imperfect part does not believe in interaction with the Manual that comes with the rifle and functional problems arise.

One of the reasons a rifle can fire out of battery, and thus have the round go off before it is fully chambered, is that the person is trying to make a machine gun out of his semi-automatic rifle. He pulls the triger as fast as he can and the breech block is not fully fully forward, either from not quite closing or from "bolt bounce" where the breech block hits the end of the barrel when closing then bounces back slightly. It has happened with the 597, but it has also happened with a lot of semi-auto rifles including the Ruger 10-22, etc. But then again, the firearm is being used in a manner that it was not intended to be used in, and the trigger is being pulled when the cartridge is not fully supported in the chamber.

As FF33 mentioned, go to Rimfire Central and take a look at the Remington 597 sub-forum.
Click to expand...

Actually, this happened to me with mine as well and I was not "rapid firing" it when it happened. There is some speculation it is most often caused by case head separation which seems to be getting more common with bulk ammunition. Apparently it can be caused also by denting the rounds in the magazine with the rim of the next rounds you are loading. Obviously if your supposed 10rd magazine won't load a full 10 this is a potentially serious issue. It is a known problem with them and is a major flaw imo. The extractor and plunger are a real pita to locate in Canada as well. It's unfortunate, because my bone stock (now useless) 597 is more accurate out of the box than my 10/22 with a 16" Green Mountain bull barrel.
 
Buy Canadian, I bought the Volquartsen target hammer and exact edge extractor from Sylvestre Source For Sports 4808-50 Ave, Box 5097
Bonnyville Alberta, Canada
T9N 2G3
780-826-4458
 
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