I have been helping a buddy with his 597 and we are stumped as to what is causing this problem. When the barrel is cold the first two shots string about 2.25" apart. (See # 1 and #2 in pic). Third shot was in between. So far the first couple of cold bore shots are unpredictable. No pattern seems to appear. Continuous shots will start tightening up. This target is not indicative of continuous shots. As long as you continue shooting the groups stay consistent. As soon as you let the barrel cool you start all over with 2 or 3 three shot "flyers" and then it groups again.
Barrel was fouled but cleaning the barrel helped reduce the spread but did not eliminate the problem.
When changing ammo we cleaned the barrel still stringing.
Let barrel cool and no cleaning in between strings same results.
We have tried Federal, Winchester, CCI, Wolf, Eley, and two different Remington loads. All do the same thing.
This is a scoped rifle with whatever Remington put on it. Rings are tightened and torqued properly.
What else do I need to try to figure out the problem or should it just go back to Remington?
Thanks in advance,
J

Barrel was fouled but cleaning the barrel helped reduce the spread but did not eliminate the problem.
When changing ammo we cleaned the barrel still stringing.
Let barrel cool and no cleaning in between strings same results.
We have tried Federal, Winchester, CCI, Wolf, Eley, and two different Remington loads. All do the same thing.
This is a scoped rifle with whatever Remington put on it. Rings are tightened and torqued properly.
What else do I need to try to figure out the problem or should it just go back to Remington?
Thanks in advance,
J