Remington 597 VTR, Edit: NOW FULL AUTO!?

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Idcurrie

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See post down below for update.

I just bought a Remington 597 VTR and a Bushnell 1x Trophy Red Dot.

I was at the range today and here is my impression of them. Many of you here may know me as being very critical of poorly performing 22s, especially the Ruger 10/22. I tend to demand a lot from them and I'm very picky.

the 597 VTR is beatiful to hold. It has an all metal body. The only polymer is in the butt stock which also has a metal but plate. The entire receiver, all parts attached to it, and barrel shroud, and the pistol grip are all metal. It feels and shoulders GREAT. The pistol grip has a nice lip below your second finger which just makes it a dream to hold.

The barrel is VERY thick. It's just as thick as any target barrel I've ever seen and it's free floated. The chamber is considered a 'target chamber'.

You can buy this rifle with a telescoping stock and with rails on the barrel shroud but I opted not to as I don't need those features and as I bought it, it only cost $380.

There is a little door in the butt plate that is made of metal. In it you can store whatever you want such as a spare battery for the red-dot, compass, knife, cleaning supplies, matches, whatever.

The bolt is very sturdy looking and it has two guide rods.

The magazine is a tiny little thing that stores the 10 rounds in a staggered formation making it actually smaller than the 10/22 magazine. It's total volume is maybe half. It's constructed of metal as well. You can also buy a 30 round magazine from Remington if you prefer.

There is a picatinny rail along the top of the receiver which has plenty of room to mount a red-dot and an offset ring for a flashlight, if you wish.

I was shooting at 100 yards and was using the 1x red dot. Because of this I cannot give the normal grouping data I would be able to get with a 9x scope. Making matters worse, the pistol grip prevented my from using a full rifle rest. This means I could rest the shroud on a rest, but the rear of the gun was held against my shoulder. Because of a lack of magnification and lack of proper rest, I was not expecting anywhere near my usual accuracy.

I was pleasantly surprised what I did end up with though! It's obvious that this rifle is VERY accurate. If I can achieve those kind of results without magnification at 100 yards without a rest, It will be a tac driver with a scope and rest. As is, I was shooting around 2MOA.

I should note that the VTR has an upgraded trigger group over the regular 597. It's much lighter and crisper. I would call it an excellent trigger for a semi-22.

Now onto reliability. Before I shot this rifle, I considered the Marlin model 60 to be the epitome of semi-auto reliability. I've only ever had trouble with one particular brand of cartridge on the marlin. Other than that it shot everything else 100% reliably. Well, the Remington 597 VTR shot EVERYTHING 100% reliably including that brand the marlin had trouble with.

I shot 470+ rounds through it today of various types and here is the reliability report:
FTF: 0
FTE: 0
FTF: 0

So, absolutely outstanding reliability. I would recommend this rifle to anyone!

Feel free to ask any questions you may have an I'll try my best to answer them.



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Addendum: The breakdown and cleaning was a pain. The way the barrel shroud meets the barrel with that O-ring makes it nearly impossible to get back on correctly if you completely remove it. My attempt resulted in a scratched barrel.

F- for dissassembly, especially the damn shroud.
 
Hi there,

I mysellf has the 597 VTR just like yours. Upgraded trigger group and shoots reliably!
My only observation is that it is very picky on ammo to use.
So my question is, what ammo did you use to get the 2MOA? at 100yrds?

thank you.
 
I used 555 bulk. I used dynapoint target and I used Winchester super X.

The trigger comes pre-upgraded over the standard 597. There is no reason to upgrade it further...

That 2 MOA is done with a 1x red dot and only support on the fore end. If you can't achieve 2 moa with a good rest and a scope there's something wrong with your gun.
 
I found the "o-ring" a pain as well, but here is my solution
Find a piece of ABS pipe that just fits over the barrel and press it down against the "o-ring" you can then tap it into place with a rubber mallet or similar and save yourself the scratches/damage

Pretty sure the trigger is the same as every other 597 though
 
I had no trouble getting the O-ring on the barrel, it was getting the shroud over it that was the pain. I ended up mating them both half way at the end of the barrel with no lube on the shroud and outside of the o-ring and and lots of lube on the barrel. That worked well enough but there was a lot of trial and error involved.
 
Yeah, so I noticed twice at my first range outing that I had thought I charged the magazine with 10 rounds but only pulled the trigger 8 or 9 times.

So it turns out I wasn't crazy. This brand new rifle will fire bursts of rounds in 2, 3, or sometimes even 5 rounds. I don't know if you'd call this 'full auto' but close enough! I guess I'll be sending this probably prohibited firearm back to Remington!
 
Idcurrie said:
Yeah, so I noticed twice at my first range outing that I had thought I charged the magazine with 10 rounds but only pulled the trigger 8 or 9 times.

So it turns out I wasn't crazy. This brand new rifle will fire bursts of rounds in 2, 3, or sometimes even 5 rounds. I don't know if you'd call this 'full auto' but close enough! I guess I'll be sending this probably prohibited firearm back to Remington!
Click to expand...

Well the first thing I would check is to see if the firing pin is not stuck. I am not very familiar with the 597 platform, I shoot a SR22 :D

But it sounds like a slam fire.
 
jt_trouble said:
Well the first thing I would check is to see if the firing pin is not stuck. I am not very familiar with the 597 platform, I shoot a SR22 :D

But it sounds like a slam fire.
Click to expand...

Okay, but it did this with the second magazine I put through it. Stuck out of the factory? Weird. When I took it apart to clean it after the first range visit, everything seemed okay. The pin was well inside the bolt...
 
Just throwing this out ... could it be possible that something is stuck in the head space of the bolt. The force of the bolt closing is causing the rim to pinch and fire?

Have you checked the spent casings for pin marks?
Have you tried cleaning the bolt face itself?
 
Idcurrie said:
I used 555 bulk. I used dynapoint target and I used Winchester super X.

The trigger comes pre-upgraded over the standard 597. There is no reason to upgrade it further...

That 2 MOA is done with a 1x red dot and only support on the fore end. If you can't achieve 2 moa with a good rest and a scope there's something wrong with your gun.
Click to expand...

Who told you that ? remington dosent list that
 
jt_trouble said:
Just throwing this out ... could it be possible that something is stuck in the head space of the bolt. The force of the bolt closing is causing the rim to pinch and fire?

Have you checked the spent casings for pin marks?
Have you tried cleaning the bolt face itself?
Click to expand...

Well I cleaned it very thoroughly including brushing the bolt face and ensured the entire bolt is free of debris. I always ensure the circular area where the rear of the cartridge rests on all of my firearms is very clean and I'm careful to clean the extractor, the groove where the extractor goes and the area where the extractor slides into on the bolt face.

The problem exists before the cleaning (factory condition) and after.

Regarding the trigger: sorry guys, I read a review which I must have misunderstood as indicating it had an upgraded trigger. It was probably marketing speak which I misunderstood. I will say the trigger is excellent and in my opinion is great as is. Hell, sometimes I don't even have to touch it :p

Edit: No, I didn't think to examine the spent casings. I will be sure to do that when I bring it to the range again. It's still safe to use as long as I practice good muzzle control, obviously. I may just send it back to Remington though.
 
Glad you enjoy yours hopefully you figure out the malfunction. From my experience they have been poor at feeding ammo and very picky on what they like. The original extractor blows, and the trigger is loose. The plastic magazine well and the plastic mags are probably the reason they do not feed well. Once you replace the extractor and the trigger it is better. I have sent quit a few back for warranty work almost immediately after purchase. They are accurate though I will give them that.
 
Mine came with the second gen metal magazine. The plastic one was notorious for problems. Then they made a metal mag which was kind of okay (I gather) but the new ones come with a second gen metal mag with different dimensions and it's A-OK.

Well, mine is anyway. Super reliable. Hell, it can even fire 5 rounds full auto without hiccuping! ;)
 
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