rem 597 is tumbling bullet

[Prophet]

My friend has 597 for sale but,he informed me that the bullet tumbles at25 yards. Is this problem easy to fix? What would cause this?

[BSlacker]

Bullet tumble in a rimfire is rare. Tumbling bullets indicate a lack of stability. Bullets gain stability by spinning. Rimfire is limited in the range of bullet weights one might encounter normally, so it is easy for the manufacturing of barrels with the correct twist rate (1 in 16). One doesn't see tumbling often in rimfire.
I would suspect that the barrel has limited rifling. Take a look down the bore can you see the rifling. Give it a good scrubing with a brass brush. Try different ammo. If it continues return the rifle to the Maker. It's not likely you can fix rimfire tumble yourself.

[caldude]

One of my friends had an old .22LR semi-auto that was doing the same thing. It turns out the rifling was caked with lead, so there was essentially no rifling to act on the bullets. I used electrolysis to remove the lead, but you can do the same thing with solvents/scrubbing. Check the barrel to see what shape it's in.

[littlejake]

Leading or a damaged barrel crown