Remington Offers AR-Styled 597 VTR Rimfire
Capitalizing on the strong consumer interest in AR15-style rifles, Remington Arms recently introduced its 597-VTR, a semi-automatic 22LR with AR-style ergonomics. Inside the matte black, slab-sided “upper” is the venerable Remington 597 receiver, updated with a nickel-Teflon® plated bolt, hammer and sear. On the outside, the 597-VTR features a AR-15 pistol grip, and AR collapsible stock, and a round AR-style float tube/handguard. On top of the receiver is a 1913 Picatinny-spec scope rail. Street price for the new rifle is about $450.00, complete with compact 10-round magazine. A standard Remington 597, without the tactical goodies and black paint, costs under $200.00.
Good for 3-Gun Cross-Training and Tactical Rimfire
While we snicker a bit at an older rimfire design tarted up in new tactical clothing, the 597-VTR makes sense for some users. Three-gun competitors should like this rifle. Most multi-gun match shooters use ARs for the rifle stages. With the 597-VTR, they can cross-train using inexpensive 22LR ammo, while maintaining the same basic ergonomics. For 3-gun shooters, who engage targets from a wide variety of shooting positions (often behind barriers), the collapsible stock has utility. It will allow the shooter to make his rifle more compact when practicing CQB or house-clearing stages.
With mods, the 597-VTR should also work well for the tactical rimfire discipline. The Picatinny rail makes it easy to swap over good optics from your centerfire gun. The tubular forearm should provide a strong mount for a bipod. However, for the tactical rimfire game, which is shot mostly prone, we don’t like the collapsible stock at all. Junk it. The LOP is too short, the bottom of the stock is terrible with sandbags, and the cheek weld is wrong. Tactical rimfire shooters would be wise to replace the collapsible stock with an upgraded design with longer length of pull and a proper cheekpiece. (The 597-VTR will accept most AR15 stocks). And, in reality, with a bedding job, a basic 597 in a laminated stock (see below) would probably work just as well.
Well, it won’t win any awards for “best looking gun.”
Great looking gun. Wish they made a better magazine.
I guess it’s polarizing! To me, it looks like an electrical junction box with a trigger.
597 30-round mags will fit it. You’ll find those at cheaperthandirt.com
Stansikorski, your wicked dude, thanks for the heads up, that was my next question!!! Looks like a perfect practice gun for IPSC!
The Archangel 597 stock looks way better than this, and with more features too. A day late and a dollar short Remington….
Got one and I love it. Is accurate and reliable right out of the box. Highly recommend
so i put a deposit on one of these … its between the 597 vtr or the ruger sr22 … can anyone that has this gun tell me what its like i would hate to buy a lemon on youtube the only thing about this gun is a guy that shoots it and it keeps jamming makes me wonder if its any good
I have the .22 WMR and I’ve been shooting it since it came out. Good gun, jams occasionally, due to the magazine, not the gun, and they refuse to make a 30 round clip equivalent for the .22 mag. Very frustrating for those of use who done want 4-8 8 rounds clips at $10-$20 a pop. My suggestion if you’re thinking about this gun, get the 22LR because you’ll have more options, and cheaper ammo. The Mag isn’t worth it until they release (or aftermarket releases) an extended mag.
I have one of these …looking for a steel magazine..hoping this cures the jamming problem!
Out of the box for shooting straight I’d say the Remington, I have a standard Rem 597 (looking to fit an aftermarket AR style kit), shoots straight all day long.
The mags in the old ones are crap at best, I got a 30 round banana one, I also fitted a volquartsen extractor.
For aftermarket accessories, you’d be hard pushed to beat the 10/22, and a lot of the guys here in the UK are happy with them.
I got the Rem597 second hand, as there is a general feeling that the 10/22 needs a lot of attention and parts to get it to shoot as good as the 597 out of the box.
if you want some good background reading, join this site: http://www.airgunbbs.com, and look under the firearms section.
Just got one and it’s GREAT! Shot 200 straight rounds and not one hang-up! Used both the 10 round mag and a Remington 30 rounder both never missed a beat! I used Remington Golden Bullets, and Viper bullets. HIGHLY RECOMENDED!
I got one of these a few weeks ago and finally had the chance to take it out of the safe and shoot it..
It has zero issues really. it’s heavier than i thought it was going to be and it’s quite accurate. I have the stock 10 round magazine that came with it and bought a 30 round remington mag for it. they fit PERFECTLY and work great together. I did have more fte than i would have liked but this was ONLY when i used the bulk box 333 round of winchester garbage. i tried out winchester super x, remington game load, cci stingers and some others. they all worked, but the winchester bulk packs like i said are terrible. they have the firing pin marks on them and never went off…a fair amount. this is not the guns fault as all other ammos worked. all in all, quite happy with it, no complaints. i’ve heard guys talking about mags not fitting the remington 30 round are superb! well worth the 13.00 candian i paid. I’m in canada btw. i also mounted a bushnell trophy xlt milldot scope 3-9×40 to it.
The Remington 597 vtr is a great gun for the price and right out of the box a great shooting gun, fun and easy to use and dead balls on! I have red some bad reviews of jamming or miss fire, I had None of these problems at all and I shot a little over 500 rounds today the gun was bran new right out of the box and it worked great and not one bad thing to say about the gun. I did buy some of the 30 round magazine and I noticed that if you put all 30 rounds in the magazine then the bullets would not feed so I put only 20 rounds in the magazine and it worked like a dream , for the people who gave a bad review that claimed they had jamming and miss firing , try paying attention to what’s going on and not just give a bad review if you don’t know what the cause of the problem is , I noticed the rounds wouldn’t feed with 30 bullets in the magazine so I made an adjustment and only put 20 rounds in the magazine and had not one problem . I picked up my Remington 597 vtr for 289.00 plus tax and bought a B.S.A. 22 scope for 39.00 and it worked great together and I think is a great gun for the money and is very accurate right out of the box and look forward getting back to the range and shoot it some more.
Guys, I am about to buy a Rem 597 VTR, feels good, solid in the store. But I read the manual and feel kind of scared to disassamble / reassamble the gun, looks like you have to be an engineer to do it! If anyone has ever did it ? I would appreciate your honest opinion and advise. Thanks.