I was in the Nampa area yesterday so I decided to drop on into RK Gunsmithing, given the rave reviews it's gotten around here. I had lent my Remmy 597 to a friend Bill the day before, and he returned it filthy, both inside and outside, and said he'd dinged the crown and it needed recrowning. So I though I'd ask about a crown job at RK.
I was tremendously embarrassed about the condition of the rifle (it was far dirtier than I ever let it get, and the I'd thrown the Tech Sights I got Saturday on with without Loctite just to see how they felt, so were loose too), but broke it out anyway for Robert to take a look at. He scraped some crud off the muzzle, and told me it didn't need recrowning, just cleaning.
Here's how dirty I got it back: the bolt had trouble riding forward after being taken back by hand. He actually made a remark along the lines of 'you know these things need lubrication, right?'
Well, I'm pretty mad at Bill right now. One, he gave me a filthy rifle back. And two, the crown thing he said was actually a cruel joke calculated to make me look like a fool. It worked. On he plus side, I made him clean it and he felt bad that his prank actually worked, so I got a six-pack of Bud-light out of it. Except I hate Bud-light. Bill knows I hate it. The gamesmanship goes on. I'll get him back somehow. I always do.
So anyway, I looked like a total ignoramus at RK gunsmithing. I am new to shooting, so I guess I am an ignoramus, but not as bad as one as I was set up to be by Bill. In retrospect, it was a pretty good setup job. We do things to each other all the time, though this one was nastier than most.
Oh well. At least I didn't do anything truly idiotic like point the rifle at someone. Small victories...
Incidentally, Robert looked at my gun and asked "What's up with this receiver?" with a kinda funny look on his face. Remington 597s have aluminum receivers, though they are painted black. That it's an aluminum receiver doesn't really matter, because the bolt rides on tool steel guide rods and doesn't actually touch the receiver. Anyway, the receiver on mine is a bare aluminum, "silver" receiver. I told Robert I thought that's how they used to come (the rifle is 11 years old; I got it last year used at Boise Gun). I was wrong. I posted over at Rimfire Central and their best guess is that the receiver is from a discontinued SS sporter model, with a newer blued sporter barrel. This makes more sense than it being a receiver stripped of paint, because it has an old-style un-painted stainless bolt, and the screws in the top of the receiver make both the color and finish of the receiver. In other words, the screws were made to match a matte "silver" receiver. That makes my rifle a real chimera in terms of its factory parts: old style bolt, "silver" receiver from discontinued SS sporter model; newer blued sporter barrel (which originally had relatively recent fiberoptic sights), and a factory laminate stock from a bull barrel model. Plus it's got a VQ target hammer, VQ extractor, Tech Sights, and a non-factory sling too.
My "chimera:"
I like the peep sight set up more than a scope. It's a good configuration for plinking, small game hunting, walkabout pest control, and conquering France. (Or is conquering France just a form of pest control?)
Anyway, I left RK totally embarrassed. Before I left I mentioned that I'm on Boiseshooters and gave him my screen name. But it was still worth it, embarrassment and all. Robert and everyone there seemed to be nice, classy fellows, worth knowing.
A note to Robert: the Remington 597 was introduced in 1997 (thus the 97 in 597 maybe?), so yes, it's been around more than 10 years
At least I was right about one thing lol.
