Help with a Remington 597

[bannockburn]

A couple of years ago I bought my son a Remington 597 .22LR for his birthday. I let him handle all the different models and he liked that one the best. It came with one plastic magazine and I bought four extra Remington metal body magazines. At first I thought it was just picky about the ammo; it didn't like standard velocity, hyper velocity, regular lead, and just about anything made by Remington! So I tried my favorite, CCI Mini Mags, but could only get three shots in a row before a jam with the plastic mag, and none in a row with any of the metal mags. In fact, the metal mags would not feed or chamber a single round. It was almost as if there was no spring tension in the mag itself. Are there any other manufacturer's out there making mags for the 597 rifles? My son really doesn't want to sell it because it is his first rifle, and when he's not clearing jams, he does manage to get pretty decent accuracy out of it.

 

[Technosavant]

Hmmm... I'd expect better out of the metal mags. The plastic ones are first generation, and there are two varieties of metal ones (3rd, current, gen has a "10" in a circle). 3rd gen mags are pretty good, and mine work fine.

I'd have a look at the guide rod screws. If they are too tight, the rods can bend, causing the bolt to bind. You want them JUST finger tight- no more.

 

[Princi]

I concur. I have the cheap plastic version of the 597 ($98 on sale at Academy), and I've never had a jam with it.

I've never got good groups with it, but I did get better groups with cheap ammo than I did with the high dollar stuff. In particular it hated the Wolf Match Extra - threw them all over the target.

Its reliability is the reason I never got rid of it. I later bought the 597 Magnum LS HB, and I love it.

 

[220_Swift]

Mine came with the second gen. metal mags. It wouldn't feed for nothing. I found an article on Rimfirecentral, and it told how to fix the mags. Tried it and it worked perfectly. I have now fired over a thousand rounds through my 597 without a hiccup. If you want to give it a try, you can either look it up, or drop me a PM and I wll send you the link to the thread.

 

[bannockburn]

I checked the mags; all have "Model 597 .22LR" on the bottom and nothing else. Probably all first generation. Another thing about the metal mags is that within a short period of time, they all developed some sort of rough oxidized finish to them on the outside. The followers in them also seem to stick or bind at various points when they are loaded. I will check the guide rod screws for tightness and report back. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[Lucky]

I have to fight to get 9 rounds in my 10 round magazine.

I had a problem with the rifle grabbing cartridges and bending the bullet in the case neck and thus not feeding. Stopped using Win super-x lead bullets, I think bullets that are rounded and jacketed feed better.

And adjusted the torque on the guide rails. What I read is that you loosen them both up, then tighten them both just tight enough that you turn the allen-key with the side of your finger, and stop when it resists.

Feeds much better now.

 

[rangerruck]

techno is totally down on this one, do that. If you need any more tweeks, go here, but those should do it.
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/

 

[Technosavant]

I checked the mags; all have "Model 597 .22LR" on the bottom and nothing else.

Look on the side of the mags. There will either be a "10" or a "10" in a circle. The circled 10 is the 3rd gen mags, and those should be good to go. If it's just a 10, no circle, then you might have to tweak them to get them to play nicely.

Here's a thread showing how to ID your mags. From what you say, it sounds like your metal ones are Generation 2.

Here's a thread on the mag follower.

Lots of good info over at Rimfire Central. The 597 is a great shooter, I'd try to locate at least one 3rd gen magazine (they've been out for a few years, not sure why you didn't get one) to try. Heck, if you call Remington, they might even send you one (if you send them the older ones).

 

[aka108]

Plastic mag has never caused a problem in the 597 I have. Did have one incident when the bolt failed to fully close when chambering a new round but closed enough for the rifle to be fired. Bullet made it out of the barrel but blew the mag out of the mag well and separated it into its basic components. Almost marked my shorts.

 

[ftierson]

I have two of the .22LR M597 synthetic rifles, both originally purchased with the original plastic mags. I even bought a dozen extra plastic mags...

Both rifles have been completely reliable with the plastic mags, and I haven't broken any of the mags (given the timelime, I'm assuming that the mags that I have are the second generation (if you want to call it that because I don't think that Remington does) plastic ones, because problems were reported in the press about the very earliest ones cracking on the seams)...

I also clean my rifles every time that I shoot them.

Recently, I've picked up several of the new metal mags, but I've never used any of them to date...

Forrest

 

[doubleg]

Heres a pic of mine. It came with the second generation magazines (the metal ones with the extremely weak mag springs). I just do not get this rifle. No matter what I do it jams, even with CCI ammo. The only thing it seems to be good for is making noise. The scope cant keep a center worth a damn and it isn't accurate at all. Worst investment I have even made.

 

[bannockburn]

Thanks for all the help. I've already converted 2 mags,(1 plastic and 1 metal), and both appear to be operating much more smoothly in terms of the follower moving up and down inside the mag. I have a couple more metal mags to convert; these take a lot longer because I believe the insides of the mags also have to be cleaned up as well as the outsides. Checked the guide rods and both appear to be set with the proper amount of tension, and the bolt moves freely within the receiver. I hope this does the trick as my son really likes his first rifle, and I would like to at least make it work right for him.

 

[full metal]

Remington 597

To bad you'r haveing problem's with you'r son's rem.I bought mine at a pawnshop and well it was in perty ruff shape the trigger return spring was broken, and the stock had some bad scratches,someone had painted the barrel with a black marker.Yea it was in perty bad shape.
I took it apart and boy you should see it now,wow I removed as much of the scratches as i could and painted the stock a desert tan color.
Took off the rear and front sight,painted the barrel,fixed the return spring,filed the hammer releas a bit for a nice crisp hammer releas,added a scope mount and a 3x9x40 tasco scope,and the kicker a set of folding bi-pod.
it not just look's real cool it shoot's really great and accurate.
I like it so much that I let my Wife have my rem nylon 66.
My 597 went from trash to a cool tactical plinker.
My guees is I did it all for around $140 oh yea! the resson i posted this was to tell you that my rem is very reliable.

 

[Triple S]

I purchased a 597 in .22 mag right when they were introduced and experienced the same problems. The plastic mags will not feed correctly nor hold the stated amount of ammo. Since then, I have purchased new mags and the problem went away.

 

[SANman]

I think the biggest issue is the guide rods. If you keep the rifle clean and finger tighten the guide rods it will feed great!

I also received the updated Eagle 30rnd mags and the new version feeds perfectly unlike the original release.

 

[cookekdjr]

Remington will replace your mags for free, according to a discussion I ran into on rimfirecentral.com.