Friday, September 2, 2011

Remington 597





I accept Stephen’s challenge and talk about my .22.  It is the second gun I’ve ever owned, and I got it a year ago this week.  It’s a Remington 597, with a scope.  It was on sale at some sporting goods store, and my wife let me get it in exchange for me buying her a new car.  My other gun is a Savage .243 with a scope. 

I’ve never owned a gun until I moved to Colorado and bought land.  I went into the Tractor Supply Store- type store and meekly told them I need a gun to shoot coyotes and other large animals threating my goats.  It’s not easy to pull that trigger for the first time in the backyard, not knowing what’s in store.  And it’s even harder to hear the coyotes in your backyard and have to arm yourself to go get your dogs inside. 

The first time I ever shot a gun was a small bolt action .22 my sister-in-law’s husband loaned me when I went rabbit hunting in south WY 3 years ago.  I liked the lightness of the rifle and it gave me time to think and plan between each loading.  I shot 22 rabbits that day, and was probably 75% accurate each time.  Doug still swears I’ve had training. 

I like the Remington because it has a 10 round magazine, and I’m ordering a couple 30 round magazines.  We have big jackrabbits around the house and sniffing around my garden.  I may have to try a rabbit gumbo after the big freeze up here.  I think with the rabbit population, the amount of brush out here, the lack of predators (thanks to my dogs), and breeding rates, I think I could shoot or trap up to 3 rabbits a day on the property and feed my family, yet not deplete the population.  I hope the .22LR will help with that. 

6 comments:

  1. I will always have a soft spot for 22's. Any time I find one at a good price I pick it up. Bolt action, pump, lever, semi auto, single shot I don't care. I bought 3 old SS rifles years ago and re-furbished them for my son's when they were small. I still remember as a kid saving 50 cents to buy a box of shells and laying on my bed and looking at bullets dreaming of the weekend. Some of best fun I ever had shooting. Duke.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome to the gun culture, my friend, Good article, and hey, rabbit makes fine grub. Fry it, remove and make gravy, slap it back in, simmer, and serve over rice....make 'ya want to slap 'ya mama...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a Remington Viper that looks exactly like that rifle. I wonder if the Remington 597 could be a follow on to the Viper. The Viper was only produced for a short while and then discontinued due to functioning difficulty.

    ReplyDelete
  4. dear friend, mudbug - i hope you don't mind the fact that i have left this exact same comment on one of stephen's posts...copying it was just easier than re-writing so here goes:

    well....we don't got a lot of weapons but i love the ones we have. we need them mainly for hunting but they serve double-duty as protection as well.

    the first is a mossberg 22 (320BA) and is approximately 30 yrs old but has been kept in mint condition.

    the second is a beautiful 20yr old marlin 444S.

    i can fire both but the marlin has a hell of a kickback! in the event of zombie attack i am grabbing the mossberg or a big, heavy stick!

    my personal fave is a 40yr old ben pearson cougar re-curve that my hubby PREFERS over the other two...and he is a wicked shot with that thing! when i see him target-practicing with that thing, like Duke, i run for the kleenex...if you saw him, you'd know exactly why. he's my baby, he's my man!

    your friend,
    stassja

    ReplyDelete
  5. Duke, the ammo for the .22 is cheap enough for me to really stock up on. I think if it came down to it, most of the food I would hunt for would be small enough for the .22 (rabbits), although I would probably use a snare. No sense letting my neighbor know that lunch has been caught.

    Stephen, everything begins with a roux. Then add holy trinity. Just like my grandmomma taught me. As much as I love the gun culture for zombie hunting, I think I will stick to the compound bow for larger game out here. It's "green"-- I can recycle the arrows.

    AH, the 597 started production in 1997, so it may be. The Remington web site has may variations on the 597, but mine was on sale at the time. I want to upgrade by adding a sling and a couple of larger magazines.

    Stassja, you are always welcome to double post here. If it is good enough for Stephen's, then it's too good to be here. I'm hoping to get the wife to shoot one day. She's a big girl, but from Texas and can throw bales all day, well after I wuss out. But scared of guns. Hoping to fix that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. mudbug - i served 10 years in the Canadian Forces and was a bit scared of weapons at first, too. it takes some time to get used to but have you shown her some female bloggers that regularly train with weapons - that might help.

    anyway - really enjoying the blog and your comments on the other blogs!

    your friend,
    stassja

    ReplyDelete