What happened?

S

sks

New member
Was shooting the Remington 597 VTR today with some Remington Thunderbolt ammo and this is what happened. There was some blowback and thankfully I was wearing eye protection. This is a first for me so can someone explain to me what exactly happened? I know it wasn't good but that's about it. :) Shot about 200 more rounds after that without any problems. Didn't shoot anymore of the Thunderbolt as the gun just didn't feed them well.

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Hello, sks..glad you wern't hurt! Could have been an inclusion, or seam in that particular roll of brass those cases were made from. Brass tends to work harden..and that heading operation puts alot of stress on an already very thin brass tube. This was a much more common problem in the past..especially when the high-speed ammunition was introduced..this was one of the reasons S&W counterbored for .22 L.R. heads in their .22 revolver cylinders...and advertised it as being a safety factor. Another very good reason to ALWAYS wear eye protection..even with the "little" .22!
 
Thanks for the input. So what would make it fire out of battery? I've never had this happen before with any firearm. I assume it was a one time thing and won't happen again. The other ammo I was using was CCI target and Win Super X; both performed flawlessly. My Ruger MKII doesn't feed the Thunderbolt well either so it will be saved for the bolt action, single shot and revolver. :)

Thanks again for the input.
 
I'd say it was a defective casing. I know it looks like it was fired out of battery but from personal experiences with Remington Thunderbolts I'd point to the ammo as being at fault.

I've tried Remington brand .22lr ammo on several occasions and continue to find that the ammo is inconsistent (if there is any consistent its that it is consistently inconsistent) in the way of accuracy, loaded with lots of duds, inconsistent brass (some cartridges fit and go into battery properly some don't - on all of my .22lr rifles while Federal and Winchester ammo don't have that issue in my rifles) and I find that while .22lr is already a dirty round the Remington brand seem to be dirtier than the others - I find powder residue on and around the ejection port of my rifles whenever I shoot Remington .22lr.

Go to Wal-Mart or other equivalent store and purchase a bulk pack of Federal or Winchester .22lr ammo. I now shoot only Federal bulk pack and I've never had a problem with it in 5 yrs (and thousands and thousands of rounds).
 
I had pretty much the same thing happen with my 597. Mine was worse, it blew off the extractor. I took it to a gun smith and it costed me $40 to get it fixed. I took it out to shoot it and put 3 shots threw it and it did the exact same thing again. Luckily the place I bought it took it back and i bought a marlin bolt action.

DO NOT USE THAT AMMO, it will happen again.
 
The Remington Golden Bullet (new stuff) has also gotten a lot of bad press and particularly in a semi auto like the S&W MP15-22

My brother had problems with their 338 ammunition. They said they expected 5% failure rate (seldom had any failures let alone 5%).

They offered him a new box of ammo! Why would you take it? (well sighting in and brass maybe, sure would not hung with it)
 
So maybe the round was not in battery because it wasn't chambering smoothly? Like I said, the Thunderbolt is now relegated to plinking with the bolt actions and revolver. :D I like the CCI target and Winchester Super X and neither of them has ever given me a problem.

I really don't have that much Thunderbolt but I took a friend shooting yesterday and he brought a brick of the stuff. He left it with me as a favor. :) I'll stick to CCI, Winchester and will try Federal.

Glad I had glasses on!
 
Remington rant

Used to think Remington was all there was. Those were the good ol' days, '76-80. I bought a Mdl 700 7mag and started reloading. AT that time Remington ammunition, was comparable to all the rest, Win, Fed, ect.

My latest experiences with Rem ammo and components have been dissapointing. The last Rem bulk 22 I used maybe three years ago was lousy, several many failures to fire and feed. I never have had one split like that.

I reload also for 300WBY and 340WBY, I was browsing at Big Bear in Billings and found 20 pieces brass Rem brand 300WBY, for $8.00, real cheap compared to Norma, which was about $23 for 20 pieces the last time I bought. Again very dissappointed in my old idol.

I had a worked up a load in WBY(Norma) brass, Hornady 190gr BTJSP, rIght at 3100fps, very accurate, I could shoot 1" 100yd groups and my son could shoot .8". That's pretty good in my opinion with this cartridge. With no signs of high pressure.

I knocked a grain off of that load and loaded eight rounds. The first fired showed obvious signs of excessive pressure. The second round had no primer, it had blown. The first chrono'd at 2880, and second at 2911. I didn't shoot anymore and pulled bullets from all the rest. Lower velocity, lighter load, and signs of excessive pressure, go figure.

I have no way of knowing, but wonder, if Rem isn't buying brass from China or somewhere and putting it a green box. I lament what has happened Remington's reputation. Rant over.
 
*ALL* Remington ammo sucks, and it sucks more as you pay more.

When I bought my 597 I was a stoopit n00bie b00bie and they told me to buy Golden Bullets. When I couldn't even get a few rounds per magazine to fire, they said "you need Remington Thunderbolts!!! THATS the stuff!!!" Well that sucked even more! THen they said, Oh Thunderbolts are the high velocity ammo of Rem Rimfire, you don't want THAT you want 'xxxx-named-Remington I cant remember, " it's like -such-and-such-purpose' which ius JUST WHAT YOU
U WANT for the 597!

It sucked too and I would up throwing away 3 or 4 bricks of Remington Golden Bullets, a big box of Thunderbolts and a big box of expensive Remington rimfire. All sucked!

I wound up doing two things: Replacing the extractor and hammer with the Volquartsen Edge Extractor and Target Hammer, $20 and $40 respectively... Cannot say how much of a HUUUUUUGE DIFFERENCE this makes on the Remington 597.

Second, never ever purchase Remington rimfire ammo. EVER. I've found my 597 loves and needs only two types of Ammo, Federal (Value Bulk Packs 525 rounds, nice and cheap and 36gr HP ammo) and also the newer Federal AutoMatch 325 rd boxes of slightly upgraded 'semi-automatic' ammo , and of course CCI Ammo, I could live off that, from Blazer bricks to CCI Standard Velocity and Mini Mags and even Stingers/Velocitors when i have cause to use them.


WHen you show the 597 a little love (The two Volquartsen parts need to be just factory included, it cannot be stated enough how necessary and valuable they are) it is an amazing rifle. But it needs that love. I would have the parts installled by a gunsmith just so he can check it and see if there is a different reason for the OOB fire or if it was just that bad ammo (IMHO my opinion probably)
 
Looks like it was probably a bad reload. :p

In partial seriousness though, it's wonderfully entertaining that a REMINGTON 597 (which is a good rifle) won't even shoot REMINGTON Thunderbolts. I shot about half a brick of that crap through my Ruger Mark III last weekend because it was all that was available. Whatever lube they put on the bullets gummed up the barrel something fierce. It was so gooey at the end of the day that they were keyholing at 25 yds.
 
Whatever lube they put on the bullets gummed up the barrel something fierce. It was so gooey at the end of the day that they were keyholing at 25 yds.
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Its called leading. Remington .22lr ammo is notorious for that too!
 
It was most likely wax then. I remember reading some time back that lots of .22lr bullets were coated in wax to help with lubricity.

Even with Federal bulk packs I sometimes find a round here and there that has a waxy coating on the bullet.
 
Looks like it fired when it was out of battery
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What I was thinking. "Fired out of battery" means it fired without the bolt being completely closed, probably because the chamber was so fouled that the bolt closing spring did not have enough power to completely close the bolt.

Check your gun, put a matchstick or toothpick between the chamber and the bolt and see if it is possible to dry fire this gun with the bolt out of battery. If that's the case, make sure your chamber is always clean. Run a Bore Snake through the barrel after every 50 rounds or so of ammo.

I agree with those who say Remington rimfire ammo is crap. You can't run fast enough to give me a box of Remington .22 bullets.
 
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