Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

[Partychief]

I am making my Christmas shopping list for my 14 and 15 year old boys. They are well experienced .22 shooters and have gone through 10's of thousands of rounds of .22 ammo by now with a couple of Marlin 982 bolt actions, a Henry lever action and a Marlin 39A lever. In other words they have never had an automatic .22 before.

I am picking between the Remington 597 and a Ruger 10-22.

Which one wins the spot at the top of my shopping list?

Also, if I decided to go for a 22 WMR or 17 HMR can you throw out some recommendations?

Thanks...

 

[hilbillee]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

Go with the 10/22. You will have alot more options as far as accessories are concerned than you would with the 597. Don't get me wrong, the 597 is a good rifle too. Just not many options as far as accessoried for it. If you go for a 22 mag or 17 hmr either the Savage or CZ would be excellent choices.

 

[Triggerhappy]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

10/22's are great rifles, I have three. I am sure the Remington's are great rifles also but there are literally thousands of accessories for the 10/22. I also believe that it is the most popular .22 made.

 

[SilverxFoX]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

Go with the 10/22, much finer base to start with. Just remember if you plan on leaving it stock get one without the barrel band as if it loosens up it tends to let the barrel move a bit. They seem to be typically less accurate than the models without the band for obvious reasons. If you plan on modifying the rifle as in barrel stock etc just get the cheapest model in either blued or stainless as you prefer. If you do end up wanting a 17 hmr I can recommend a nice little bolt action as I do not really have any experience with a semi in that caliber. Check out the Marlin 917VSF, I have one and it is very accurate.

-Dave

 

[JoeMartin]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

I cast my vote with the 10/22... No opinion on the 17's...

 

[Partychief]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

Thanks everybody for the input! I will probably go for the 10-22. I was at an Academy store yesterday and had the gun counter clerk tell me that there was a recall on all 597's in .22 mag. I am a lifelong Remington fan but that piece of info swayed me bigtime towards the 10-22.

Heck I may go for that Marlin 17v for myself...

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

I've probably built up a half dozen 10//22 target shooters in the past dozen years. Easy to do, good results.

Shot tons of bulk ammo through my Buddy's 597. It's a great plinker, fun and easy to use, can be a somewhat finicky about magazines. Stick with the .22LR for a lot of reasons, but mostly because the .22LR is more economical and more available.

If you want to build gnatwhacker, go with the 10/22. If you want to give a kid a come-as-you-are fun plinker rifle go with the 597.

WMR/HMR, Why? Why bother? .22LR is the odds on favorite for over a century. If you want more than a .22LR can do, if you feel you need a jacketed bullet, don't go halfway; get a .223 and teach the boys to handload.

Greg

 

[hilbillee]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

The gunstore clerk told you wrong. The recall isn't on 597's in .22 mag but on 597's in 17 HMR. Here is the link to the info on the Remington website.
http://www.remington.com/safety/17_HMR_Ammo_notice/default.asp

 

[eleaf]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

Get a Marlin 60!

For 17HMR get a Savage. It's not nearly as expensive as some of the others, but very accurate. I have a thumbhole in stainless and it is my favorite rifle to shoot.

 

[Rundownfid]

Re: Recommendations? Rem. 597 v. Ruger 10-22

If you want an inexpensive, but reliable and accurate .2 auto you might want to consider the Marlin 795. These are significantly less expensive than the Ruger and also a bit more accurate normally. Of course the literally hundreds of aftermarket additions can turn that around. With unfortunate open sights, like Ruger, they need either a scope or Tech Sites (my favorite) to let them demonstrate their extraordinary mix of accuracy a parsimoniousness.