I have had a 597 combo kit for four years now and it's been a great gun. I got it instead of a 10/22 because I knew a 10/22 would become a quasi-tacticool moneypit.
When I got my rifle, I bought a Remington Weaver scope base right away, since I don't care for the idea of rimfire rings clamped to the reciever and marring it.
Out of the box, it worked flawlessly and I averaged over 1,000 (two and sometimes three boxes of Fed bulk 525) rounds a weekend through it for the first summer. It got cleaned and oiled each Sunday evening.
My roomate at the time bought one too and his had almost every type of hiccup at first. It wasn't ammo, my rifle ate everything he gave me. The problem was that when Remington's people assembled his rifle, they overtightened the guide rod retaining screws at the back of the reciever. Once I loosened them and reassembled it, there were no problems at all.
Halfway through my first summer, I replaced my hammer and extractor with Volquartsen parts, and I polished all the contact points. I bought a 7/8" wood dowel and glued sandpaper to it, then I sanded the barrel channel out of the stock so it left the barrel free floating. All that work shrank my groups considerably. I think you could get away with just polishing the stock parts and opening the barrel channel.
The Bushnell rim fire scope isn't anything special, but I haven't had to rezero it in the last few years. The last time I fired my 597 was this winter in Eganville, Ont. I was shooting the golf balls strung at 100 yards and I'd hit them 80-90 percent of the time. The misses weren't the rifle's fault either.
The only issues I have are the guide rod retaining screws - way too loose is better than a little bit tight, and the rimfire scope rings.
With all the gophers here, I'm revitalizing my rifle. I just stippled and painted my Rem 597 and now I'm looking for a heavier barrel and a BSA Sweet 22 to put on top.
but I think a stock 597 is better value than a stock 10/22.
