Help replacing Remington 597 extractor plunger and spring

[jcruzin562]

My extractor, plunger, and spring flew off. Apparently this happens and is a flaw in the design. Sadly, although the extractor is easy to find, the spring and plunger are not. I couldn't find anything on the net. Any ideas on how to replace them?

I paid $200 for the rifle so I'm not sure I'm willing to spend too much to figure it out.

Thanks in advance.

[MajorSideburns]

I just took a look on my usual parts sellers online and you are right, nothing there. You might have to email Remington and hope they have something. If you know someone with a 3D printer you might be able to have them make the plunger. I can give you measurements of both the spring and plunger if that helps you jerry rig something. Off the top of my head I wonder how close in size the plunger and spring are to some AR15 lower parts, if you have any of those springs and brass plungers that go into the lower you might give those a try. You can always clip a spring down to appropriate length

[bigbossman]

Gun Parts Corp?

[jcruzin562]

Originally Posted by MajorSideburns

I just took a look on my usual parts sellers online and you are right, nothing there. You might have to email Remington and hope they have something. If you know someone with a 3D printer you might be able to have them make the plunger. I can give you measurements of both the spring and plunger if that helps you jerry rig something. Off the top of my head I wonder how close in size the plunger and spring are to some AR15 lower parts, if you have any of those springs and brass plungers that go into the lower you might give those a try. You can always clip a spring down to appropriate length

I might have to go down this route. I'll PM you if I'm unable to pull the dimensions somewhere. I'll try Remington 1st.

[ganzo]

I bought a kit from eBay made by Volquartsen like 13 years ago that replaced the extractor, charging handle, and the firing pin I believe. I got it for my Remington 597 VTR.

[ar15barrels]

Originally Posted by MajorSideburns

I can give you measurements of both the spring and plunger if that helps you jerry rig something.
Off the top of my head I wonder how close in size the plunger and spring are to some AR15 lower parts,
if you have any of those springs and brass plungers that go into the lower you might give those a try.
You can always clip a spring down to appropriate length

What's the diameter of the 597 spring and plunger?

Common AR-15 pin and spring dimensions are here to compare:
http://www.biggerhammer.net/ar15/pins.html

[MajorSideburns]

Originally Posted by ar15barrels

What's the diameter of the 597 spring and plunger?

Common AR-15 pin and spring dimensions are here to compare:
http://www.biggerhammer.net/ar15/pins.html

Alright I just found the motivation to take this thing apart, I hope he appreciates this because taking the extractor out (and putting it back in) on this rifle is definitely a pain!

So for the extractor spring, I am measuring .118" diameter and approximately 1.050" long.

For the plunger, I am measuring .120 diameter for the wide part, and for the tiny stem on the bottom that rests inside the spring a diameter of .062". Although for a jerry rigged item this stem is probably not 100% critical because most of the plunger seems to ride inside the covered channel in the bolt, although this stem certainly aids with reinstallment to keep the plunger and spring aligned when compressing them to put the extractor in. The entire plunger is .401" long, with the wide part that holds up the extractor being .301" long and the little stem that rests inside the spring being .100" long.

I hope this helps! I am a bit confused looking at the springs on Randall's chart. I don't know what the difference is between diameter and outside dimension. If outside dimension is the diameter of the spring, then it looks like the front sight detent and A1 sigh detent springs should be a close fit for the Remington bolt. I don't see length listed so you might have to stack a few if they are short or clip sections to get a good fit. Even skinner springs like the takedown spring might fit. The compression strengths might not be right for the extractor to work though so you might have to play around with cutting and stretching out the springs. For the detent, I don't see diameter listed on the chart of AR15 detents but the selector detent says .395" long which is close enough to the .401" length of the Remington.

OK scratch what I said, I just dug up some spare lower parts springs and detents and the takedown pin spring should work just fine. I tried it and though a bit skinny it has a pretty similar thickness of the wire and springiness as the stock Remington spring. The safety selector spring was way too tough. I installed the AR takedown spring in my Remington's bolt with one of the AR brass take down detents and although it would allow installation of the extractor, the smaller diameter and shape of the brass detent allows the extractor to lift out of its channel just enough to where it gets jammed in place and is unable to flex back and forth because the direction of travel of the plunger is skewed and not straight up and down in the channel. With a rimfire this could be very bad. The safety selector detent seems like it would work with some modification, it is a tiny bit wider than the stock detent but fits in the channel just fine except the "tail" base part of it which normally rests against the spring in the AR rifle is wider than the rest of the detent, and is too wide to fit in the Remington channel. If you were to shave this base off with a dremel I think you would rig yourself a working replacement. But that is more than I want to experiment with tonight. Hope that helps, good luck

[ar15barrels]

Originally Posted by MajorSideburns

I hope this helps! I am a bit confused looking at the springs on Randall's chart.
I don't know what the difference is between diameter and outside dimension.

I asked them to fix the column headers in that spring chart 20+ years ago and they never did.

Diameter should read "length".
Outside dimension should read "Diameter" or "Outside Diameter"

[Insertusernamehere]

Originally Posted by MajorSideburns

Alright I just found the motivation to take this thing apart, I hope he appreciates this because taking the extractor out (and putting it back in) on this rifle is definitely a pain!

So for the extractor spring, I am measuring .118" diameter and approximately 1.050" long.

For the plunger, I am measuring .120 diameter for the wide part, and for the tiny stem on the bottom that rests inside the spring a diameter of .062". Although for a jerry rigged item this stem is probably not 100% critical because most of the plunger seems to ride inside the covered channel in the bolt, although this stem certainly aids with reinstallment to keep the plunger and spring aligned when compressing them to put the extractor in. The entire plunger is .401" long, with the wide part that holds up the extractor being .301" long and the little stem that rests inside the spring being .100" long.

I hope this helps! I am a bit confused looking at the springs on Randall's chart. I don't know what the difference is between diameter and outside dimension. If outside dimension is the diameter of the spring, then it looks like the front sight detent and A1 sigh detent springs should be a close fit for the Remington bolt. I don't see length listed so you might have to stack a few if they are short or clip sections to get a good fit. Even skinner springs like the takedown spring might fit. The compression strengths might not be right for the extractor to work though so you might have to play around with cutting and stretching out the springs. For the detent, I don't see diameter listed on the chart of AR15 detents but the selector detent says .395" long which is close enough to the .401" length of the Remington.

OK scratch what I said, I just dug up some spare lower parts springs and detents and the takedown pin spring should work just fine. I tried it and though a bit skinny it has a pretty similar thickness of the wire and springiness as the stock Remington spring. The safety selector spring was way too tough. I installed the AR takedown spring in my Remington's bolt with one of the AR brass take down detents and although it would allow installation of the extractor, the smaller diameter and shape of the brass detent allows the extractor to lift out of its channel just enough to where it gets jammed in place and is unable to flex back and forth because the direction of travel of the plunger is skewed and not straight up and down in the channel. With a rimfire this could be very bad. The safety selector detent seems like it would work with some modification, it is a tiny bit wider than the stock detent but fits in the channel just fine except the "tail" base part of it which normally rests against the spring in the AR rifle is wider than the rest of the detent, and is too wide to fit in the Remington channel. If you were to shave this base off with a dremel I think you would rig yourself a working replacement. But that is more than I want to experiment with tonight. Hope that helps, good luck

Signed up from here in the UK with the single purpose of saying THANK YOU
Parts are impossible to find this side of the pond, thankfully Volquartsen ship directly but I could not find the plunger.
With your dimensions, I was able to print one (after a couple of attempts to find the best way to print it) and it takes a whole 6mins and works perfectly.

For future generations that come across this thread, I published it here along with the dimensions

https://www.printables.com/model/379...ractor-plunger

[ar15barrels]

Originally Posted by Insertusernamehere

Signed up from here in the UK with the single purpose of saying THANK YOU
Parts are impossible to find this side of the pond, thankfully Volquartsen ship directly but I could not find the plunger.
With your dimensions, I was able to print one (after a couple of attempts to find the best way to print it) and it takes a whole 6mins and works perfectly.

For future generations that come across this thread, I published it here along with the dimensions

https://www.printables.com/model/379...ractor-plunger

I would think that such a simple steel plunger would be easy enough to make with a nail, a hacksaw, a file and a power drill that resorting to a plastic part should not be necessary.
Use the power drill to turn the nail like a lathe.
First cut off the head so you have a straight piece of metal of the correct diameter.
You can use the file to reduce the diameter if you don't have a nail just the right size that you want.
Now round the end of the cut off nail with the file.
Then cut the detent to final length with the hacksaw.
Now hold the cut off detent in the drill and file the reduced diameter part where the spring slips in place.