LITTLE ROCK — In the Sunday classifieds was an item from an attorney in Wynne seeking people who sustained hearing loss after firing Remington 597 rifles.
That did not strike us as a typical trolling expedition. We smelled a story.
Carter Dooley, of the Dooley Law Firm, placed the ad in response to a pattern of malfunctions in the Remington 597. Two of Dooley’s clients complained of hearing loss after experiencing this particular malfunction. Curiously, Remington settled both cases for $30,000 apiece, with scarcely a peep of resistance, Dooley said.
Introduced in 1997, the Remington Model 597 is a very popular semiautomatic rifle chambered to shoot the popular .22 Long Rifle, .22 Winchester Magnum and .17 Hornady Magnum Rifle. Remington introduced the .17 HMR variant in 2003 but discontinued it in 2009 because it was prone to fire before a round was fully seated in the chamber with the action closed.
The term is called “out-ofbattery discharge.” The history of such malfunctions in the .17 HMR version of the 597 is well-documented. Photographs consistently show cartridge cases compressed and blown out above the rim, with significant damage occurring inside the receiver. Shooters reported massive explosions that blew the magazines out of the rifles.
However, this is the first we’ve heard of this happening with the more established, time-tested .22-caliber variants. Dooley said the pattern is similar, except for the magazine blowouts.
“It’s something that came up with a friend of mine four or five years ago who had shot this particular gun, and he experienced severe ringing in his ear,” Dooley said. “He called Remington and they said, ‘We’ve had a lot of problems with this gun. Send it to us, please.’ Fortunately, he had the good sense not to do that.”
Instead, Dooley said some representatives from Remington inspected the firearm in his office. Dooley videotaped them as they disassembled it and examined it. Dooley said the camera seemed to unnerve them.
“They were very, very cautious,” Dooley said. “I don’t think they anticipated being on videotape disassembling the gun. I didn’t know these guys from Adam, and I did not want them in the protection of Remington to get in there and switch out a part or put in a part that would obviously cause it to malfunction and try to blame it on that.”
On both firearms, Dooley said pieces of brass cases are embedded in the receiver shroud. The tops of the magazines, he added, look as if they’ve been held over a cigarette lighter for several minutes. Dooley’s first client complained of tinnitus ever since. Remington settled that case quickly, but then Dooley said the company started demanding clinical proof that hearing loss could be linked to the firearm. It just so happened that Dooley’s second client recently had a hearing test before his 597 misfired. A subsequent hearing test showed substantial hearing loss, Dooley said. About 3 1/2 years passed between the two cases.
“I’ve been working with an attorney in Chicago who represents Remington on these cases,” Dooley said. “He asked, ‘What did we offer you on this last one?‘ He asked if it was $40,000. I said I would take that, but it was actually $30,000, and he said OK.”
Dooley said that case was settled around June 1. The check arrived June 18.
In the Remington 597 owner’s manual, there is a section called the 10 Commandments of Gun Safety. The headline of Commandment 7 says: ”Always wear eye and ear protection when shooting.” Dooley said he is surprised that Remington has not used that as a defense to argue that the hearing loss was the result of the shooters’ negligence in failing to wear hearing protection.
“The most likely thing they might say is that they weren’t using the right ammo,” Dooley said, “but the first guy used Remington ammo, and that one settled real quick.”
Semiautomatic .22-caliber rifles and pistols are notoriously finicky about feeding and ejecting certain brands of ammo, but preferences vary by gun. Firearms don’t necessarily prefer their brands’ proprietary ammo. This problem isn’t unique to the 597, either. Out-of-battery discharges have been reported recently from users of the Smith & Wesson 15-22 and the Sigarms 522, as well.
Dooley said his two clients have referred 25 other potential clients who have sustained hearing loss from firing Remington 597 rifles.
Remington did not return our phone calls seeking its side of the story.
Sports, Pages 30 on 11/22/2012