Remington 597 won’t feed a single round

[guywithfastcar]

Howdy guys and gals,
I bought a used Remington 597 and it will not fully chamber a round into the barrel. I’ve tried other magazines as I know this is a problem with these. I took it down and discovered this “dimple” on the upper end of the chamber. It almost looks machined, but I don’t recall ever seeing something like this in any other barrel I’ve looked at before. Think this might be hanging the nose of the round up? If so, what would be a remedy for this, a new barrel?

thanks!

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I could be wrong, but it looks to me like that rifle has been extensively dry fired without an empty case or snapcap to take the firing pin impact.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Do you mean the white spot? I'll look in my wifes then too.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

 

[mcb]

Good old Remington use 1018 steel on the 597 barrels, a low carbon steel that cannot really be heat treated; its soft. And thus as other have mentioned the gun appears to have been dry fired a fair bit without a snap cap and the firing pin has damage the edge of the chamber. If you're feeling handy you could probably dress that burr with jeweler's files or similar tool. You just need to smooth that burr no more. If you're not that brave find a local gun smith that will run a 22LR chamber reamer in that chamber and clean that burr out of the chamber. You will be back in business in no time.

 

[guywithfastcar]

Wow thanks for the lightning fast responses!!!! I just ordered this from these cats: https://www.tandemkross.com/ChamberMadeChamberIroningSwage

I’ll report back after I use it. My only under-experienced question is this……will the imperfection of the chamber “face” allow for any blowback of gasses? Or does the round actually “seat” further down the chamber

 

[Slamfire]

I have had this problem with two rimfires. The first is a Winchester M75 rifle, darn expensive rifle to have extremely difficult extraction due to firing pin damage at 12 OC. It is so deep for that rifle I am going to have to give it to a gunsmith and have the breech face cut, and then need the chamber re reamed.

The second was a total mess up. I cleaned a Ruger MKII and the firing pin retention pin fell out on carpet as I was inserting the bolt in the pistol. Of all darn things, the firing pin stayed in the bolt. I was able to dry fire the pistol a number of times til I took it to the range and found I could not chamber a round. I put a tool steel Volquartsen firing pin in the pistol and without the firing pin retention pin that firing pin rebounded off the breech and dug a deep channel in the soft stainless chamber. I sent that pistol to Ruger, and they did something to the breech, gave me a new MKII bolt. I did take the thing out and it shot well. There still are scratches in the chamber. I think the gunsmiths refaced the breech, which increased the gap between the feed ramp and chamber, but it feeds and extracts.

There are "tools" that will remove the dent. It is possible a Tandemkross swager might restore a level of ignition, but ignition may not be 100% because the dent cushions the firing pin blow to the rim. However, for $29.00 it is worth trying. The problem is, is the dent deep enough to cause misfires? I saw that on a match Anschutz. The owner had dry fired the heck out of the rifle in practice. The firing pin broke in the middle and caused a 12 OC dent. He and I were at a Smallbore National Match and his rifle was misfiring sometime awful. Carl Zoos of Champion Shooters Supply Ohio (out of business now) and he had a spare firing pin. That got the rifle going bang again, I don't remember if it went bang each trigger pull. I took pictures of the rim swelling into the dent, and it was impressive.

 

[earlthegoat2]

The body of the brass expanding is really what seals the breech.

 

[mcb]

Wow thanks for the lightning fast responses!!!! I just ordered this from these cats: https://www.tandemkross.com/ChamberMadeChamberIroningSwage

I’ll report back after I use it. My only under-experienced question is this……will the imperfection of the chamber “face” allow for any blowback of gasses? Or does the round actually “seat” further down the chamber

Interesting tool. I would definitely like to hear about how well it works for you.

As for gas leak I don't think that will be a problem given how shallow into the chamber that damage is.

 

[Blue68f100]

That seams to be a major problem with some guns. The swaging tool works good. After you get it done, setup the FP so it will not hit the breach face. May not take much work with a file. I for get what the max extension should be but less than a 22 rim.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Ok i see the pin dent now. My wife's is fine. She has 1st round feed issues too, I don't when i shoot it. She needs to learn how to release the bolt right.

 

[Zarthab]

Looks like a classic case of firing peen from dry fire.
597 doesn't like that too much.
I have used a center punch to press/tap it back in and a very small half round jewels file to just touch the bur.
Always remember you cannot add metal back.
A new cartridge should pass the "plunk test", drop a unfired round in the chamber and it should easily drop in and slide out.
Have a look at the extractor to see if its still good.

 

[Kp321]

The swaging tool is the way to go. The metal needs to be pushed back into place, not removed.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I had that problem with an old original ArmaLite AR-7, bad firing pin and extractor dings into the chamber. Tapped a tapered punch into the chamber to iron out the dings.

 

[FROGO207]

I had a couple old .22 revolvers that I purchased cheap non working and ironing out the chambers brought them back to life at minimal expense. Ironing out the chamber will as said move the displaced metal back in place so your firing pin has a good backing to hit against. This will give you the best chance of a good strike on the rim.

 

[Zarthab]

I am a member at Rimfirecentral for all things rimfire, they are a great group as well.
Here is a sticky on this topic; https://www.rimfirecentral.com/thre...at-do-i-do-part-3-the-receiver-barrel.490341/

 

[guywithfastcar]

Thanks for all the help folks! I used the tandemkross swage tool on it and now it is chambering perfectly! Very easy tool to use, highly recommend!!!!