I bought a new Remington 597 in .22 RF during the summer of 2003 and was happy with it, not as accurate as my CZ 452, but they are different from each other. I always clean the action and clips, especially the bolt face after shooting it.
Had some occasional jamming issues while hunting with it this year, and at the range when it was 40 degrees two weeks ago, thought it was the poorly made replacement clip I bought as an extra one.
Went to the range yesterday with both clips, temperature was around 28 degrees. Then the big problems happened!! :x . The clip springs became sluggish, I could actually see them pushing up as slow as a snail, instead of the proper quick spring back action, failure to feed happened alot, cartridges even jambed so badly in the clip, I had to use a screwdriver to pry them out. Then the trigger would jamb, it would not move despite heavy pressure from my finger, most of the time. Then the safety would not engage, I even tried to use the little green safety tool that came with it thinking that was the problem. Lots of failure to fire, hits on the cartridge primer area, but no detonation.
Even had problems getting the clips to release, it was if the clips were frozen into the receiver. I tried 2 of the best ammo brands that this rifle likes, thinking that may be a problem. The fellow next to me had a Ruger 10/22 and it worked just fine. While accuracy was good with my 597, I have never, ever experienced such multiple mechanical failings in a rifle all at once. :shock: What if I had tried to go hunting and this happened.
The rifle was put into a warm car (heated garage) and came from my bedroom, so it was not as if it had lying in the snow all day. I suspect that all that plastic does not work well in cold weather. So, this rifle will be up for sale after I clean it. At least the good news is the last 6 rounds I shot with it all functioned just fine, never the less, I need a reliable rifle for cold weather hunting, not a jambo-matic.
