Remington's Model 597™ LS HB Part 1

I use to enjoy drag racing. Its handicap class systems offered payout to high buck pro racers and teams, but it also accommodated serious and not so weekend racers. As a family, we worked on our car during the week, raced on the weekend, picked up a few sponsors and made a few dollars. Racers and people around the sport debated endlessly which car – drivetrain combination had the best shot at a national event class win, what engine and chassis developments were worth a tenth or two and what car led points races.

The other day I attempted to watch a televised national event and I soon found there are no longer cars racing, just drivers. The only three classes were covered were Top Fuel Dragster, Top Fuel Funny Car and Pro Stock. When they raced, the perspective left no impressions of speed, they made little noise and half of the cars didn’t make it down the track. No brands were mentioned or specialized parts were mentioned and Interviews had nothing to do with racing, but rather team gossip, sponsor gossip and what one racer thought about another. It was “racing” devoid of cars, horsepower, smoke, fumes, and the sensation of speed.

Much the same is happening in the world of firearms where fan clubs are quickly replacing knowledge. If it isn’t brand worship, it is symbolism above substance; owning a firearm to make a political statement, owning a firearm to make a personality statement, owning a firearm to make an economic statement. When someone owns a particular firearm, there can be room for no others. If someone should dare mention another model or brand, a relentless attack commences or nasty rumors are started. What is it that I am trying to say? Oh yeah… some people suck.

Remington introduced the Model 597 in 1997, chambered for the 22 long rifle and 22 Winchester Magnum cartridges. In 2001 a laminated stock option was added. In 2001 a heavy 20″ barrel, .22 Winchester Magnum version was added, the 597HB Magnum. There have been stainless hardware versions, walnut and synthetic stock versions and sporters and target versions. Between 2003 and 2007 there were 17 HMR versions 1).

A couple of notes… The Remington site list this rifle at 6 Lbs even. It actually weighs just under 7 Lbs. Heavy barrel profile and target stock should be expected to carry some weight. The Remington site lists the 22 Magnum as having the same capacity as the 22 LR, 10 rounds, but this is incorrect. Magazine capacity for the 22 WMR is 8 rounds. Overall length is noted at 40″, however, the rifle measures 38 1/2″.

Target rifle feel…

The alloy steel barrel measures 0.816″ at the muzzle and has a target crown. The laminated birch stock and hardware heft make the Model 597 hand filling… in a good way. It feels like a target or varmint rifle; thick in the pistol grip, about 1 3/8″ wide, no palm swell and tightly radiused. The forearm is 1 7/8″ wide and relatively flat forward of the magazine. The rifle feels balanced… solid, not muzzle or butt heavy, but very steady in hold.

The case of the Monday morning majorly maligned magazine…

The Remington Model 597 LS HB 22 WMR magazine holds 8 rounds. Not 10 as it indicated on the Remington web site or as repeated by people who reference the Remington web site, but rather 8… as it states within the rifles owner’s manual and in the Remington 2014 Catalog. The first 6 load easy, the last 2 not so much… sort of like trying to stuff a hippo into a wet suit.

 

Unlike the gun board parroting point, the first magazine fed and shot cleanly, as did the next 5 that followed. In fact, the rifle experienced no feed problems during the entire project. In fact some more, the rifle exhibited none of the “notorious problems” gun board wizards seem to assign to this firearm. Why the gun board parroting? Purely conjecture, but I’d advance the notion that a few people had encountered a Model 597 with a defective magazine and posted the problem. Then a lot of folks who place a need to associate and be accepted by strangers more than anything else in life, quickly piled on to build social network collateral. A few defective magazines at some point in the rifle’s production life and 10,000 people reported and continue to report a problem.

Too hard to clean? Compared to what!

One of my favorite gun board parrots is the Remington 597 is difficult to disassemble for cleaning. My suggestion would be for those folks would be to read the owner’s manual and to possibly switch from firearms to gardening. At some point it gets to be the person as the problem and not the firearm.

Bore cleaning is accomplished by pointing the muzzle in a safe direction, placing the safety in the “on” position, pulling the slide back to the locked open position, pulling the magazine, and checking the chamber for empty. Then scrub away.

More detailed receiver and trigger group cleaning can be accomplished by doing the same empty chamber safety check, then… pull the two take down screws, one fore and one aft of the trigger guard, and lift the stock off and push out the assembly pin. Scrub all of the receiver and trigger group parts until you are bored or tired or the rifle is clean. The latter is preferable. Honestly, I don’t think that a person could get through a day without the trivial skills required to accomplish this easy task.

The Model 597’s trigger pull has minimal creep, breaks cleanly and has little over travel. The pull on this subject rifle at this moment is a bit heavy. We’ll get come more ammo through it, pull the trigger assembly and clean and lube it to see if that makes a difference. Regardless, I’d rather have a clean heavy trigger than a sloppy light trigger.

There’s something happening here
What it is… is actually pretty clear

My apologies to Buffalo Springfield. When you stick a steel barrel into an aluminum receiver, whether it is an AR or a Ruger 10/22 you need a way to keep them together in a manner that promotes accuracy. In the case of the Remington 597, the barrel is flanged and plops into the receiver, then a barrel clamp slides into a recess in the front of a receiver and a fastener is tightened to make a receiver/barrel sandwich out of the assembly.

Like the 22 long rifle versions of the Model 597, the 22 WMR version’s bolt rides on two cylindrical guide rails, each sprung with a compression spring. The only difference is that the 22 WMR version also gets an inner springs at each guide rail to accommodate the more powerful 22 magnum.

Made in Mayfield, KY U.S.A.

This particular firearm is made in Remington’s relatively new Mayfield, KY plant, one that is seeing an increase in jobs and plant capacity. Of course Remington has their Alabama manufacturing facilities online and there is still the Ilion, NY facility. Lots and lots of American goods and lots of skilled American jobs.  The folks who dog Remington, ironically, are the same folks who attack Winchester for offshore production, or Ruger for having a Connecticut sales office and you start to get the feeling there is another agenda at work here. For me, I am glad Remington is here, pulling companies together into a centralized strength and keeping a supply a good firearms coming.

We’ll take a break here, get a scope mounted and wait for a range day tomorrow to wrap up this and other pending project rifle coverage. We’ve finally got a couple of days of forecasted clear weather.

1) Standard Catalog of Remington Firearms – Shideler

Remington’s Model 597™ LS HB Part 1
Remington’s Model 597™ LS HB Part 2