Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Remington 597...Accurate or Not?

My son bought a new one a few weeks back. Good looking and feeling rifle with the laminated wood stock. We mounted up a new Weaver 3-9x rinfire scope and headed for the range today, armed with about 1/2 dozen kinds of ammo. Sadly, none of the ammo produced what I thought were acceptable groups at 25yds. My old and totally stock 10/22 will shoot all of them decently, with it's favorite ammo staying under 3/4" on the worst days. His new 597 couldn't keep anything under 1.5". Are these results typical? I know the trigger sucks big time, but I can't believe we couldn't at least find one or two brands/types ammo that would stay at an inch or less at 25yds!

I had one that shot badly and sent it back to Remington.They replaced the barrel and it shot very well after that.

How badly was it shooting before you sent it in? And, what size groups does it typically produce now?

At 50 yards it was shooting around 3"to 4" groups. After the new barrel it shot MUCH better, honestly can't remember what the groups measured because I sold the rifle a while ago, I'm thinking they weren't much over an inch.

Sounds about like what this one is doing!

My son's is very accurate. More accurate than any stock 10/22 I've ever seen. The trigger can be vastly improved for very little cost by replacing the hammer with a VQ target hammer. If yours won't do under 3/4" at 50yds with some ammo, I'd consider having it checked.

You guys have seen me on some others posts
Have a TVP SS and it's one hole at 50' indoor and about 1/2 to 1 at 50 yds, but thats me

Call Remington and ask them to send you a shipping box, pack it up and return it. They were very good to deal with.

Thanks everyone! I think we will give it one last try and if things don't improve I will be in contact with Remington about returning it for a new barrel.

I have one that I bought a few years ago. It was $99 at Gander Mountain on special. Its the basic one with the blueish gray synthetic stock. Its very ergonomic and feels great. I think mine shoots very accurately. Mine has taken many varmints around the farm here. Its never jammed and has been great so far. I don't have anything negative to say about mine.

Wish Ihad read this before giving it to my neighbor. It is a 22 mag, and he is happy with it. I included the Pentax gameseeker since it was mounted.
Being a handloader for over 50 years if it don't shooy moa it's not for me. I needed it to shoot 1.5 at 115 yards. He doesn't.
It grouped 4" at 115 yards.

my 597 shoots 1/4 inch at 50 yrds all day long and its stock. this spring im going to see just how small i can get them, im guessin ill be able to shoot bug holes with it at 25 yrds if not at 50. what kind of ammo are you feeding it. just so you know the 597 is a picky eater. mine likes cci mini mags and stingers.

When I got my 597, I scrubbed the barrel with solvent as I do with every new or used rifle till it's clean. You can't expect the rifle to do its best with a dirty barrel. My 597 was new and it took over an hour of soaking and scrubbing till all the "cosmoline" was out of the barrel. I then ran 400 rounds of ammo through it and cleaned it again. The end result is that the rifle is very accurate with ammo that it likes (like any rifle).

Actually, I like the 597 with the 3x9 Remington scope (Green stock/Dick's version) so much that it is now my main use 22 rifle. Feeds, functions, and shoots wonderfully. I's a keeper!

you know i never really gave the remington scope much of a chance before i put new glass on her. i was thinking of puttin it back on and see what she can do

I have two 597's, a .22LR and a .22 Magnum. The .22 Mag will flat out shoot, I mean solid sub 1" groups at 50 yards. The .22LR, on the other hand, is not as accurate. In fact, it averages around 1.5-2" with virtually every type of ammo I have tried. I've tried all the bulk brands, right on down to target stock from Eley, Wolf, Remington, Winchester, and Federal. Now, its possible the barrel needs a good cleaning, but at this point it is not what I would call a "shooter".

serious, my 597 .22 lr does atleast 1/4" groups a 50yrds using cci mini mags all day every day

for all you 597 owners if you want a 3lb trigger just pm me and i can hook you up, my 597 has a 2lb trigger