Remingtons going off by touching the bolt

[jonbearman]

Has anyone ever had a remington 700 go off by either taking off the safety or by lifting the bolt to unload it or by just touching the bolt with the safety off. The only reason I have posted this is because I dont believe it.I have owned at least 6 or more with the stock trigger in it. Cnbc didnt mention that the situation was caused by not pointing the gun in a safe direction.It makes me sick that cnbc wants to destroy remington.

 

[RonAKA]

I have never had a fire when sliding the safety off, or have a misfire, and then have it fire when touching the bolt -- as described in the CNBC show. However, I have had the safety seize up after my 700 was in storage for some time. I thoroughly cleaned it and all seemed well after that. I think this is a related issue. You may want to have a look at this thread, and in particular the post by Malm. The root cause of the problem seems to be the spring loaded trigger connector plate, becoming disengaged, most likely due to crud build up.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4514899/Remington_700_problem#Post4514899

I'm now going to do a more thorough inspection and cleaning of mine.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Never had it happen but then I only own about 30 of them. I think the real problem is when people try to make Remington triggers into 1 or 2 pound triggers.

 

[bozo699]

Never had it happen but then I only own about 30 of them. I think the real problem is when people try to make Remington triggers into 1 or 2 pound triggers.

I think JohnnyJohnson is right on the money with the 1&2 lb triggers. I have had 721s and a 700 remingtons go off when the safety was taken from on to off,they all three had there triggers modified by wannabe home spun gunsmiths,so was that remingtons fault?... of course not!!
Liberalisim runs rampent @ cnbc I take everything they say with a grain of salt..or less
Wayne.

 

[cfvickers]

The older ones made in the late 80s early 90s will do that when the trigger is adjusted too light. I have seen it in both my 300 win mag and a sendero that was made the first year they came out. 89 maybe? I had it set light enough that if it sustained a good bump with the safety on it was going to fire when you took the safety off. This is why you bang one around a minute after adjusting the trigger. But the bottom line is Yes, but not unless the trigger was "tampered" with.

 

[SS427]

A friend of mine in college had a model 700 7mm Rem magnum discharge when he released the safety to clear the gun after a deer hunt. No harm was done by the bullet, but the safety lever took a nice chuck of skin and meat out of this thumb when it recoiled. This gun was made in the 70s or early 80s. The trigger was not modified or adjusted in any way.

Pretty sure that was the only time it did it. I'd though his brother had it happen to him too, but I talked to my college buddy today after the show aired and he told me about it again.

 

[cfvickers]

On the same note, after reading the article, they state that the trrigger cannot be adjusted by the average user. For proper maintenance you have to remove the stock on ocasion, if one can remove the stock he can reach the set screws on the trigger and adjust it himself. nothing to it. With a little nail polish you can make it look lie it hasn't been touched. I have never seen a single one go off like that without adjusting the trigger pull. And I will guarantee more than one in 100 have been adjusted by either a competent smith or the user himself. That is the most ridiculous article I have read. Now, if they had checked the pull weight on those triggers and said that a gun with a 4 lbs pull would slam fire or fire when turning safety off, It would be worth reading and checking in too. Also none of the evidence they put forward even mentioned whether the trigger was tampered with, OR NOT, on the documents that mention the rifles that fail. Reason for that is because Remington has great customer service, if you send it in, they just fix it and return it. You cannot go accusing a guy who bought a gun second hand of tampering with anything, it is bad for business. What is good for business, and more costly to the company, is to just fix the problem and quickly return it to the customer. All Model 700 manuals that I have seen are very clear stating "never tamper with settings on the trigger, doing so could result in serious injury or death" or something very close to that. Problem in the lawsuits is that remington cannot prove if the user readjusted the trigger on the rifle to their benefit prior to bring suit, but the users cannot prove that the trigger has never been adjusted, so you have an impasse and neither statement can be provided as evidence, so they deal with each suit on a case by case basis. They can say though that if that trigger is set at 3.5-5lbs (or whatever it is) per factory settings that this will not happen. Then a Lawyer will ask "are you saying that an employee can never make a mistake when adjusting the trigger or that one can't slip by QA every now and then?" So there you have it. Remington is forced to settle the cases. But that does not in any way make it a poor design. Nor does it warrant a recall. I love the trigger on mine and if a recall is ever issued, I will not end it in or have it "fixed", cause I don't fix what ain't broke.

 

[Heavies]

Improper sear adjustment.

 

[cfvickers]

Improper sear adjustment.

And everybody said 'Amen!"

 

[FryeGuy]

I bought one once that did that. The guy told me up front what it was doing, and he didn't trust it anymore. It was a bad trigger job. I adjusted everything, and while it wasn't as light as it was before, at least it was safe. I think there are several things you can do to make sure one is safe, but I have seen a bunch of horrible trigger jobs out there.

 

[JFMorgan]

When I heard of the boy getting shot my first thought was why did his mother have the rifle pointed in his direction. The first rule of gun handling taught to me by my father was to NEVER point a gun at anyone. Secondly, always point the muzzle in a safe direction. Seems to me the mother should be held accountable for child endangerment. Regardless of the rifle discharging, hers was the responsibility for gun safety.

Jim

 

[dtucker]

I have and been shooting them for over 25 years and never had 1 problem. It is never ending with these blood sucking ticks wanting to control our lives.

 

[OldDoug]

Have owned at least 15 Rem 700's. I have set all triggers to 2-2.5 LB. I avoid adjusting the sear engagement if at all possible.

I will not set friends hunting trigger pull below3.5 LB. Varmint guns at 2 to 2.5 are great. After setting, I use a rubber mallet on the rear of the receiver setting the safety to off/fire and on fire. I have had one firing pin release. I then assemble the rifle and pound the butt on the floor matt.

One AD in the field was on Grandson's 22-250 while varmint hunting. He was 9 and I can't be sure he had not pulled the trigger while the gun was on safe. "He kept the muzzle in a seafe direction" and there was no harm done. We could not duplicate this AD.

This is the First Rule of Gun Safety. Muzzle control.

Saw the show last night and wanted to puke. All they needed was Michael Moore to make it more rediculous.

Old Doug

 

[bozo699]

Thats halarious.
Just the thought of having to watch micheal moore makes me want to PUKE!
Wayne.

 

[GerryM]

The remington trigger is one of the safest on the market.
The only way it will go off when you take the safety off is when you fooled with the sear engaement as said before. They lock tite them at the factory. The show was just another attack on gun ownership'

 

[hedditch]

Remington had a recall on all their early mod 700 triggers because yes, the rifle could fire when releasing the safety, touching the bolt, etc. on completely stock triggers.

The lady who shot her son went after Remington, not for money, but for them to make the trigger safe for all users.
Secondly, she did not have the rifle pointed at her son. It was the second bounce of the ricochet that got him. If you have early mod 700's and you have not had the trigger made safer by Remington then you are rolling the dice. You may get away with not having a problem and then, you may not.

 

[jonbearman]

Mr hedditch ,I too have a son but I lost him to drug abuse,he is alive but out of his mind.I am deeply saddened by your sons accident. The only point I wanted to make with all my friends in the military tell me is to always have a gun pointed away from people place's and property. I had an, ad with another brand of rifle and almost shot my best friend. It was a freak accident.I in no way wanted to insult anyone after such a tradegy. My heart and prayers go out to you and your family.If you went after remington to just get them to admit and repair a problem,then in my opinion you are a prince among men.May god bless you and your family. Jon

 

[LHSmith]

Remington had a recall on all their early mod 700 triggers because yes, the rifle could fire when releasing the safety, touching the bolt, etc. on completely stock triggers.

The lady who shot her son went after Remington, not for money, but for them to make the trigger safe for all users.
Secondly, she did not have the rifle pointed at her son. It was the second bounce of the ricochet that got him. If you have early mod 700's and you have not had the trigger made safer by Remington then you are rolling the dice. You may get away with not having a problem and then, you may not.

Remington DID have a recall on pre-87's model 700's...was this mentioned on the show? Remington also recalled the model 600 series for trigger problems.......it's not like Remington has a history of ignoring safety related recalls. For that matter numerous Ruger and Savage Models have been recalled for trigger concerns.
Any mechanical device can fail.
Concerning the shooting tragedy mentioned, if safe gun handling had been practiced....it wouldn't have happened. When I unload my rifle in the presence of others, I do it away from others, muzzle pointed to the ground ....in a direction away from others. When young children are near, I wouldn't attempt to unload unless someone mature enough to understand, had control of them...... youngsters seem to go from point A to B in the blink of an eye. Didn't see the SHOW ( still recall CBS's 60 Minutes epics, 1/ pre '88 Chev. P/U truck exploding gas tank scam, and 2/ the Gun's of Autumn) , but I am sure in all the tragedies portrayed, the muzzle was pointed where it shouldn't have been. It's a MORON problem , Not a problem with an inanimate object.

 

[eww1350]

Yes...it has happened...around 1986-87...a friend called me and ask me to look at his Remington 700 ADL 30-06..He had just came back into town from a deer hunt that ended early due to his Remy discharging when he took it off safety to remove a live round from the chamber...The problem was "oiling the trigger" and krud that had collected in the trigger housing causing every part inside to gum up and not work properly...I tested the rifle at my shop (without ammo) and it would malfunction nearly ever time I took it off safety, I dissassembled the rifle/trigger cleaned it properly and warned him to never put oil into the trigger...a Remy trigger should be flushed with lighter fluid to maintain proper function...
That is a true story of an unmodified Remy trigger...

 

[hedditch]

Jon T. Lennon: It wasn't my son who was killed. I do happen know the lady who killed her son and what she and her husband went through to get Remington to make the triggers safer so that is why I spoke up. A ricochet can go anywhere and I mean "anywhere". She had her rifle safely pointed away from her son and at the ground. It was the second bounce that reached him. I once had a 22 bullet I fired at a tgt 20 yds away land at my feet. My brother had a Mod 700 go off when he released his safety to unload the rifle.