Picked up a Remmy 597,I really like the rifle, the mags drop out nicely via a easily accessed release. The rifle seems to have a preference for copper plated ammo and shoots CCI stingers very well. Very good groups m right out of the box. The trigger is very stiff- Any suggedtions on a trigger kit to bring down the weight a little?
Volquartsen makes a replacement hammer that works well, I have one on my carbon-fiber bull barrel rifle and it works well.
The actual trigger pull is normally not bad. My other 2 597's were in the 5 1/2-4 1/2 lb range with a good break. The little narrow trigger makes the the pull feel heavy. Solved that by picking up a couple trigger shoes for a CCI Phantom (5$ea), a little file work on the shoe and a minute with the dremal buffer = 4-4 1/2lb crisp break and a better feel.
Make sure you dont over tighten the bolt guide rods, bring them up to where they just start to snug up, then back them off 1/4 turn.
The 597 is my preferred .22 rifle, in fact the three loaners I bring to shoots are all 597's.
Ammo-wise, I've had great results with CCI Blazer and CCI SV in my 597's. They shoot most ammo well enough though. CCI just gives me next to zero duds vs other brands.
In terms of the trigger, the VQ hammer I got didn't impress me. The break is kinda mushy but definitely light. Others love theirs, so maybe mine is just on the worse end of spec. I've been happy with any of the triggers from the newer guns. I have one older one that had something like a 8-9# pull so I just swapped a spare Remington hammer in and it's in the 5# range now.
Another option for lightening the trigger is a Mccarbo hammer spring. I haven't tried one, but they are liked at Rimfirecentral.
If you are finding a hard time getting the scope far enough forward in position, pick up an Evolution Gun Works scope rail. It's a bit more expensive but extends forward to just past the front of the receiver so you can get proper turkey neck.
I wish I shared your experience. I find it to be an accurate rifle but they have proved troublesome at Appleseed. Mine has been a loaner until I decided it was a poor choice because it had too many issues. I love the ease of loading the magazines. There is a lot of good there but not enough for me.
What kind of issues did you encounter?
So far the rifle seems to be more accurate than any of my stock 10/22's ( I have a couple - including a "appleseed anniversary , and a carbine I bought in the early 80's) the manual of arms is quite good,and it has been jam free in firing. I do need a rail to put the scope forward, as the stock rail has limited adjustment. I have had a couple issues loading the mags where the round ends up being caught in a offset position and are difficult to correct. This can be averted by carefully loading the mags. The stock 10rd mags are readily available at local stores and are quite a bit cheaper than stock 10 round Ruger 10/22 mags. Hopefully the rifle remains trouble free. The rifle"feels" like a "real" centrefire and so far I quite like it-( I still prefer my older 10/22 carbine which sports a SR-22 heavy barrel)
It has been off the line for a couple of years. I seem to remember it having issues with jamming and stovepipes. It may be ammo related but a loaner cannot be finicky. I have no control over what my shooters bring to the shoot for ammo. I in particular seem to recall issues with Remington Golden Bullets (in my view about the worst ammo around for .22LR) but Remington made the rifle and the ammo so I cut them no slack.
I called mine the jam master. It couldn't go more than 20 rounds without a failure to eject or a failure to feed. Didn't matter what type of ammo.
I've got it running a lot better now but had to
1. Add a Volquartsen ejector.
2. Get new mags - the old ones wouldn't feed ammo sometimes.
It is very accurate.
The VQ 597 Hammer and Ejector are good pieces, and I have them on all three of mine.
The best aftermarket accessory I've found are the "factory" magazines from keepshooting.com (currently out of stock)
http://www.keepshooting.com/remington-597-magazine-10-round.html (http://www.keepshooting.com/remington-597-magazine-10-round.html)
They're 10 round magazines, look just like the factory magazines, but they're heavier/more solid. They're tanks, man.
They let you load 10 rounds every time, and they flat work.
I picked up 8 of them, and won't run the Remington mags anymore.
They show out-of-stock, but you can sign up and get notified when they come back in.