I absolutely LOVE my 597..you could make me so jealous, I also have a Dick's SPortign Goods special edition 597, OD Green synthetic stock, regular barrel though, non threaded either, and no scope rail. I LOVE IT though and did a lot of upgrades and money dropping / TLC.
The thing is , there is two known major flaws. The Achillies Heels of the 597 are the magazines (They are fixed now but they were MAJOR PROBLEMS in the 1st and 2nd generation magazines, fixd for 3rd gen but if you have or find the earlier mags you are gonna have trouble they suck lemons and are busted. SO you want to stick to the factory magazines. The 30 rounder magazines are hit and miss, as a NJ resident I cannot use 30 rounders so of course I have never gone to PA and bought 30 rounders and I never would, BUT IF I did I would have found that I could tolerate the 30 round "REMINGTON" brand clear plastic 30 rd'ers the best, the Remington 30 round black plastic okay and not BAD , and mixed results with the generic brands, I assume this to be fact of COURSE I DO NOT KNOW because I am a good boy.
the other achillies heel and for me it was a SERIOUS problem was the extractor. Remington's 597 action is awesome but the 597 extractor is totally flawed, just garbage. My rifle would not function .. Until I spend the $20 it cost for the Volquartsen extractor, called the 'Exact Edge Extractor" and it CHANGED EVERYTHING TOTALLLLLY. I also spend $40 for the Volquartsen Target Hammer, which reduces trigger pull by 50%, eliminates all creep or just any non perfect break, and makes your shooting amazingly more accurate. The enhanced accuracy with the VQ hammer and amazing reliability of the VQ extractor are worth WAY MORE Than the 40 + 20 = $60 bucks, they shoudl be STANDARD ISSUE basically .. Rem should just do business with VQ and make them factory standard parts, *THEY ARE AMAZING>*.
After that I also changed my combo package scope to a Nikon ProStaff 4-12x40mm Nikoplex reticle, I added sling studs, 1 1/4" sling swivels, a plain Jane military-contract nylon webbing 'silent sling', a Winchester 'harris-knockoff' 9"-13" bipod, and to top it all off I spray painted that baby with a terrible 'digital camo' pattern job taht is ugly as all get out lol.
BUT THIS RIFLE LOOKS ONE WAY, it shoots and functions amazingly perfect. Yours would most likely be totally better if giving the love and affection it neeDS and deserves.
this is one bad pic next to my old AR and kind of cockeyed with the camera turned screwy,
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/840/img1543s.jpg/
This is a hi-res picture my camera makes the image look amazing and the rifle shiny lol.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/img1541d.jpg/
