remington 597 .17 hmr

gunn-runner

Does anyone have any experience with the semi-auto remington 17 hmr(remington 597)? I have heard that there are some problems concerning the gun jamming. Does anyone have any input?

Thanks

2brother641

Had one for about 2 weeks. All the problems you hear about them are true. Constant jamming and feeding problems. If your like me and want a 17 hmr, you have to get a bolt action to be reliable.

5mmgunguy

gunn-runner I have a Rem 597 in 17 HMR and I really like the gun. Very accurate and I have had zero problems. It seems there are some that have problems but I think it is more the 22 Mag and 22 LR than the 17 HMR or 17 Mach 2. The bottleneck case feeds better.

bsdoyle

Mine runs fine too. Love it.

Bastiani

Opened up a 597 for the first time yesterday at work. It was in 17 HMR, and the customer had already sent it back to Remington. Well....not IT exactly. They sent him a complete new rifle. Supposedly, it had been sent back for headspace issues. Funny thing, considering that the FIRST round he fired ruptured. Upon inspection, not only did the rupture correspond exactly with the ejector cutout in the bbottom of the bolt face, but the bolt also had 9 thousandths excessive headspace.
This won't prevent me from buying one. As a gunsmith, I will correct all the design flaws myself.......especially since it appears that Remington will not. Needless to say, I corrected the issues on the customer's rifle. Our shop ate the cost of the repair, since we sold him the gun. Until Remington redesigns their bolt on both the HMR and the HM2, expect to run across other ruptured case complaints.
My first impression of the 597? I believe the design of the boltreceiver assembly to be superior to the 10/22 in function and vastly smoother. The ruptured case (and 30 more nearly ruptured cases) on the 17 HMR I repaired is due to Remington hastily adapting their 22 Magnum to fire a cartridge with higher pressure levels, without modifying their bolt design to provide adequate case head support. I believe that the 22 rimfire, or the magnum will perform well, but if you're looking for a 17, don't shoot the 597 without eye protection, and perhaps gloves. Cases will continue to rupture until Remington redesigns their bolt for these hot rounds.
As for the trigger mechanism of this rifle.....It's an all plastic housing. It will eventually fail. You can argue against that statement if you wish, as it is a mere prediction. The fact is, stamped sheet steel wouldn't add more than 10-15 more dollars to the rifle, and it would be a dozen times more durable, but some cheap people out there wouldn't buy it.
The fire control system has a few flaws as well. First of which is the hammer is basically "skeletonized" there's no reason for this that I can think of, other than to save a minute amount of material in production. The same customer complained of "light primer strikes" which I corrected by filling the void in the hammer with steel, and tig welding in place. primer strikes were double the previous depth, simply from adding mass to the hammer.
THAT much I'll give you. As for correcting the ruptuing of cases..... a gunsmith must not divulge all his secrets.
The trigger itself conrols the movement of the sear through an odd elbowlike jointed linkage on the righthand side of the trigger housing. More joints/more parts = more slop = less consistency = quicker failure. Additionally, there is no GOOD reason to offset this linkage to one side, rather than to mirror the system on the left side. A symmetrical system would balance the load, and reduce torque on the linkage, and in the long run prove more reliable in wear and consistency. Expect numerous problems in the trigger system as well. (just a theory)

I hope you find this helpful and objective. All rifles have their issues. From what I've seen, I'd bet that the 22 LR and the magnum are good rifles. They're also a great price. I'd stay away from the 17's. So far nobody seems to have perfected a 100 percent safe semi-auto 17. Even heavy bolt kits eject cases with balooned rims. If you want a 17, get a bolt action, you'll be happier in the long run. If you're looking for a good LR or Mag, the 597 of the 10/22 would be great. Just keep in mind how many years Ruger has had to perfect their design in comparison. With that said, I'm still going to buy a 597 in 17 HMR.

MFI

In our 40 plus years in business I would say the Remington 597 as well as the Viper and some other pieces of junk they have come up with have been the most REPAIRED items in the shop. The 597 in 17 HMR and 22 Mag are nightmares waiting to happen . Why do you think all the companies who made one in the past has discontinued them ?

idahoducker

I have one in 22 mag. and if it wasn't so accurate I would have gotten rid of it soon after buying it. Jamming/feed problems. Two things seem to keep it to a minimum. #1: I only use CCI ammo in it and B: I never put more than 5 rounds in the magazine. If I go to six+ it will jam about 75% of the time on the first shot. CCI ammo is by far the most reliable in my gun. Winchester would almost always fail to cycle the action and Remington was barely better.

MemphisJim1

I own 597s in .22LR, .22WMR and .17HMR. The .22s are bull barrelled versions with Silhouette stocks. The .17 is a basic model bought at Bass Pro on sale last Fall. So far the only FTF issues I've had with any of them involve Remington brand ammo. I've shot hundreds of rounds of CCI, Winchester and Hornaday with no significant problems.

duckhunter

Every one I have sold has been sent back to Remington for repairs.

5mmgunguy

And did they come back working correctly

kodiak73

i see this is a old topic kinda of but i was wondering as to what kinda of clips they came with the plastic ones or the metal ones. i have a 597 in just a 22 but with the remington plastic clips it just jams all the time makes the action slide hard. but the metal clips works fine wonder if it is the same problem for the 17hmr

MemphisJim1

The magazines for all three of my 597s (.22LR; .22WMR; and .17HMR) are third generation metal and came as original equipment with the rifles. Also own three high capacity mags for the .22LR; they're all plastic (except for spring) and work fine).

kodiak73

i have 2 of the remington 30 rd plastic clips and they both jam one had actually caused my gun to missfire i do believe wuth had happened was that the action didnt close all of the way and when i touched it off it blew casing all apart. but didnt hurt the gun but was not a good deal though. so i dont use them anymore just the metal ones. but i really do love my 597 though.