have any of my fellow members tried remington's model 597? I shot one last night, and thought for the dollars spent, it was likely a good value. Not all that taken with the trigger, can it be altered.

I have a 597 in 17HMR. Very accurate. You can get a replacement hammer by Volquartsen which makes a big difference in the trigger. I also got a 22 mag barrel for mine. Very easy to swap barrels. Only problem is the magazines. Keep them clean and a little dry lube otherwise they can be a pain in the ass. The spring can be very prone to binding up.

Mike,
I have a 597 in 22mag. Can I replace the barrel to 17? easy swap out?

To swap the barrel out you need to take the action out of the stock. There is a block that sandwiches the barrel lug between the reciever and the block. You remove the one allen head bolt that holds the block. The block can be a bit stubborn to remove light tapping may be required. I usually just work the bolt a few times. The bolt hitting the breech is usually enough force to dislodge the block. When reassembling I always use a bit of antisieze. The only other thing you need to do is unseat the bolt guide rods from the barrel. This is easy. On the back of the receiver there are two small hex head screws. Remove these. Work the bolt a few times the guide rods with backout through the rear of the reciever. Don't go more than a half inch or so that is all that is needed. It you remove the rods completely have fun is all I got to say. The rods go through a spring inside of another spring that takes about twelve thumbs to get back onto the guide rods and back into the receiver. When you reassemble do not over tighten the screws that hold the guide rods in. If you over tighten the bolt can bind. One final note on the barrel. They are readily available from remington. Just one catch they will not sell them to you. You will have to have a ffl order the barrel for you. I had my gunsmith order mine. A new barrel was less than 80 bucks. You can go the route of an after market barrel. I do not know of one being made the is the same contour as the factory barrel though.

thanks for the response, not looking at barrel swapping right now, but who knows what the future might hold. like the idea, of being able to do that. hammer replacement, is not something I would have thought of.

i have a 597 LSHB that will shoot very well,about an inch at 100 yds,only down a couple inches compared to 50 yds.For some reason when it gets real cold,(-20)it jams like crazy.