I probably got a lemon of a rifle, mine wouldn't fire through an entire magazine without a jam, nomatter what ammo I used. Ibought one o fhte earlier ones when they first came out. A lot of people these days seem to do well with them, but I feel like I got a rifle that Remington was 'beta testing' on consumers rather than working out the problems before it hit the market. My experience with it was enough to sour me on 597s and remington in general ever since.

Edit: a friend of mine just picked up a 597 as his first .22 rifle against my advice last week. He really likes its accuracy, but he also said that at least he's getting a lot of practice at clearing FTF jams.