I had one of these when they first came out as well as the 17HMR version. Remington hyped the 22lr version as the gun that would replace the Ruger 10-22 and would just about never need cleaning. Based on my experiences with the two that I had they are complete junk. The 17 HMR never fired a complete mag without something going wrong. The 22LR had various feeding problems that were all magazine related. Remington came out with a new magazine to replace the original plastic one and then came out with yet another to replace the second one. I think that the latest magazines solved most of the feeding problems.
If you go over to rimfirecentral.com there is a forum dedicated to the 597. You should be able to find all the info you would ever need. From what I understand, the newer guns are better and can be made to shoot pretty well with a few mods.
Good luck with your venture.
Charlie