Remington 597 22LR

Not sure if this is the correct place for this kind of post, but here goes...

So I fired off my Remington 597 for the first time today at the shooting range, and it was also my first time ever shooting a gun. Wow. Damn I'm hooked.

I've heard that it is normal for shots/groupings to be all over the place when firing a new gun, and I'd like to confirm this as being the case. Toward the end of my practice, I was shooting straight on at a target 25 yards away and hitting where I was aiming directly at. However, earlier on it wasn't doing that at all - it was shooting a good couple inches higher than where I was aiming at. I fired off 200 rounds, and towards the end, after 160 or so, it was more or less dead on.

Would such a discrepancy be normal?

I figured that adjusting my iron sights would not be prudent at this time as I suppose the barrel needed to be "primed" or "broken in". I will clean it and see what happens at the range again.

Where you cleaning the gun between shots?. I use a sled when sighting in my guns so I remove human error. My. 338 will shoot about an 2 inches out at 200yards v a just cleaned barrel which will be dead on. Congrats on the new gun and enjoy the sport. Always remember safety first. Get good habits when starting out.

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Its not uncommon. Clean it and see what happens next time.

Welcome to the world of shooting

Sagen, you said it was your first time shooting a gun. You would not be expected to get it right the first time. I would say you did well to stick with it (firing 200 rounds) and you did better near the end so obviously you were paying more attention to lining up your sights before squeezing the trigger. I would suggest that you DO NOT adjust your sights and just keep practicing. Cleaning your gun after each shot is not necessary. Just clean it before you store it. Good luck, have fun and welcome to the forum...........Daniel

Thanks for all your advice! It is greatly appreciated.

Probably had to do with the barrel heat.
next time use a good rest and take your time with it, fire a few shots and adjust your wigs if needed, then give the barrel time to cool down

Got my 597 a few months ago. Really a nice and fun little rifle to play with.

I remembered the manual suggests cleaning a lot when it's new (something like after every shot for the first 20 shots, and every 10 shots for the first 100, etc...). So just make sure at least cleaning the barrel thoroughly after you get home.

Another point I learnt was trying to avoid soft point bullets, as they tend to jam a lot. Actually I read it somewhere they should never be used for any semi-autos. Stick with FMJs. In terms of accuracy I also had the best results on CCI mini-mag just like many others.

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Originally Posted by acb_ye

Got my 597 a few months ago. Really a nice and fun little rifle to play with.

I remembered the manual suggests cleaning a lot when it's new (something like after every shot for the first 20 shots, and every 10 shots for the first 100, etc...). So just make sure at least cleaning the barrel thoroughly after you get home.

Another point I learnt was trying to avoid soft point bullets, as they tend to jam a lot. Actually I read it somewhere they should never be used for any semi-autos. Stick with FMJs. In terms of accuracy I also had the best results on CCI mini-mag just like many others.

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Never herd this bunk before. A quality rifle should shoot all ammo consistently. I have 2 semi 22 rifles, a Browning SA22 and a buckmark rifle and they both shoot various ammo without jamming . Come to think of it neither one has seen any FMJ ammo. They both seem to prefer standard velocity cci 40 gr lead solids .

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Originally Posted by Hunter John

Never herd this bunk before. A quality rifle should shoot all ammo consistently. I have 2 semi 22 rifles, a Browning SA22 and a buckmark rifle and they both shoot various ammo without jamming . Come to think of it neither one has seen any FMJ ammo. They both seem to prefer standard velocity cci 40 gr lead solids .

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I guess I misused the term FMJ, as what I really meant was FMJ or copper plated, though the difference should not be that big.

But the soft points or any exposed lead are the ones that should be avoided in SA according to what I heard. The exposed lead point may get scraped on the top of the chamber as it is pushed out of the magazine forward into the chamber. Obviously it doesn't apply to all SAs, and I'm really glad yours can handle those no problem.

I've shot tens of thousands of .22 rounds over the last 40 years and never had trouble with lead rounds hanging up in any actions. Any jamming I've ever experienced was a problem with the gun not the ammo.