Reassembly problem with 597 Magnum

[TMan]

Last week I took the Remington 597 Magnum to the range. The trigger was great, but the trigger was not always resetting.

The groups at 50 yards for a windy day made me very happy. The trigger not resetting didn't.

So last night knowing that I was going to the range this morning I decided to take the rifle apart. I couldn't see anything wrong with the trigger group, but the bolt moving backwards seemed a little stiff. So I removed the rods, springs, and bolt.

After cleaning, oiling and putting the bolt back then I then tried inserting the rods with the springs. In the past I thought nothing could be worse than doing this on my 22LR 597. I was wrong. This thing has two springs with a smaller spring inside the larger one.

I've never field-stripped something and never been able to get it back together. I'm seriously thinking my record is about to be broken. I have no idea how I'm going to get this thing back together.

There are some Youtube videos of people reassembling the 22LR version and complaining about how difficult it was.

[TMan]

Finally I got it back together. What I did was to remove the bolt and insert a rod and fully put the springs on it. I then fully compressed the spring and slid the rod and spring back far enough to drop the bolt and then move the spring/rod into the bolt.

The other side wasn't so easy. However, watching a guy on Youtube keeping the spring pressed against the side of the receiver made it much more manageable.

Note that the Ruger 10/22 has only one rod and spring vs the two that are used in the 597. Actually, from an engineering standpoint, I like the 597 approach better.

What I didn't like was in their instructions they said to torque the screws that hold the rod in to 10-12 in-lbs. My Craftsman torque wrench starts at 25 in-lbs. Oh here is a torque wrench that would work: www.protorquetools.com/prod-18-1-109/cdi_501ci_ii_computorq_ii_electronic_torque_wrench_14_dr_5-50_in_lbs.htm

Seriously, I'm not paying over $1000 for a torque wrench. However, for 10 in-lbs, (not 12) this one would work: www.midwayusa.com/product/718023/wheeler-engineering-fat-firearm-accurizing-torque-torque-wrench-screwdriver

[MLB]

10 to 12 inch pounds eh? That's a pretty small torque. Do you think it's small enough that you could just do it by "feel"?

[TMan]

MLB, I saw a Youtube video where the guy tightened them down and then backed off a 1/4 turn. I backed off about 1/8 turn.

With the el cheapo 597, having not read the manual, I tightened them down and had problems. Apparently, having them too tight causes binding.

However, I think the problem I was experiencing was with the trigger group. If the bolt went back far enough to eject and load the next round, but the trigger wasn't reset, it had to be that the hammer followed the bolt.

I thought it was factory trigger until I read one of my posts made in 2006 where I'd replaced the innards. handgunforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=discussions&action=display&thread=1976

["DoubleAction"]

....I don't know if this will help :

[TMan]

DA, that was the video that I was referring to with the 1/4 turn.

You will notice the difficulty he had putting the spring on and that was with the 22LR version the 22 Magnum version I have is much worse.

I hadn't seen any videos that did the first rod the way that I did, which was extremely easy.

The second one, which I never thought I'd get back on, I did the way the guy in this video did it by putting part of the spring into the bolt.

["DoubleAction"]

.......It takes some work, preparation, and time to do these youtube video postings. Many people cannot grasp hold how gunowners shares their wealth of experience, and share their knowledge to others.

...I remember when I didn't have anyone to asked about my handguns, now, The Internet loaded up with people eager to share their experiences & knowledge. The youtube videos is much better than to order gunsmith tapes or DVD Discs, at maybe $30. dollars per pop and having to wait a week or more.

....I haven't cracked a gun book in over 5 years.