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Remingtons going off by touching the bolt

I am going to submit my two cents worth. I have owned at least eight Remington 700s as far back as 1979. I have fired thousands of rounds through those rifles, and I never had an negligent/ accidental discharge. I am sorry that someone was killed and my heart goes out to the family that lost a child, but there were several common safety violations that caused that child’s death. I would want to know why the rifle was loaded in a house. A Remington 700 is not designed to be a home defense firearm, so there was no reason for it to be loaded while indoors. Next, I would like to know why the rifle was not pointed in a safe direction while it was being handled when it discharged. The fact that the bullet ricocheted and then hit the child is irrelevant, the rifle was ultimately not pointed in a safe direction when it was handled. Had the rifle been brought indoors unloaded or had it been handled properly at the time of the discharge there would not have been a death. There were at least two missed opportunities to avoid this tragedy and Remington had no control over either of them.

I am a litigation attorney, and the standards needed to impose liability in a court are significantly higher than the uncontested work product that CNBC broadcasted about Remington 700 rifles. CNBC’s broadcast was crafted to present the viewer with only one conclusion; that the rifle is unsafe. CNBC is known to have an anti-gun bias and I suspect their market has more anti-gun viewers than gun owners. Thankfully Remington produced a response to the CNBC hit piece and posted it on YouTube so everyone can view it.

Lets hypothetically assume that Remington 700 rifles have a design flaw that causes negligent/accidental discharges. The user of the firearm is ultimately responsible for how the firearm is used and for any type of harm caused by negligently handling a firearm. Common sense dictates that the ultimate cause is, the person who negligently handled the firearm, but our legal system looks for deep pockets so victims can be adequately compensated. I attended a manufacturing defect legal seminar about 20 years ago, and was shocked to learn that manufacturers have to design their products with the anticipation of foreseeable misuse. In this situation I am speculating that this would include lack of proper cleaning and maintenance, using inappropriate cleaning solvents or oils, and incorrectly adjusting the trigger. This standard makes it almost impossible for a manufacturer of a firearm to escape liability when one of its products is involved in harmful act. Our society is holding manufacturers to unrealistic standards, and hence that is why the cost of firearms has so greatly increased. Our courts are imposing a wealth distribution scheme on society.
 
jonbearman said:
Wayne I wasnt making reference necessarily to your friends incident.I guess I got off course.What I really am upset about is john q public not wanting to buy an older remington due to CNBC(communist news broadcasting corp).That is no reason to hate a remington.Put a different trigger and safety in it,i'd say.They are trying to crush the firearms industry.
I know you weren't jon, I just thought I would mentioned it since it just happened,and I agree with you 100%, The commie left wing news media is trying to put a great old company out of business. A fat pig burns her mouth on coffee @ McDonalds, sues and wins ??? >:( How dare they serve HOT coffee??? I think I will sue my parents as I am sure its there fault I can't quit spending money on guns ;)
Wayne.
 
My take is a little different. I don't think the CNBC report was anti-firearm at all. They did take issue with some things Remington has done and not done. Remington could have made some quite simple and inexpensive modifications to the trigger, but failed to do it. The original designer of the trigger told them what they had to do, but they didn't listen.

Is it a big problem? Not really, but Remington is paying a big price. I'm sure if the trigger is properly cleaned and maintained, it will work well. After 45 years mine works very well. It has a nice clean crisp 2.5# pull. I've never adjusted it. I've never had any issues with unexpected fires, but the safety mechanism did seize up during years of non use. Cleaning fixed it.

Still, I think Remington has lost their way. I read a letter to Remington that someone in another forum posted. He had a recent model 700 that had a 14# trigger pull, that was not even clean. Remington is apparently unwilling or unable to fix it.

I would not recommend a Remington to anyone today, but years ago I had no hesitation at all.
 
If he has a 14# trigger pull I cant believe they wont swap out the trigger.I have talked with the warranty dept head.You have to talk to him. It is unfortunate that it is this way. But it works.
 
I dont know who he spoke with but when I called reminton I spoke to remington in illion ny and got great results.Something is way wrong here.He needs to call the freedom group who are the holding company and discuss it with them.Believe me when you go to the top they will make it right and fix the problem with remington themselves.
 
This is the email address of the CEO of the freedom group who owns remington. Send the letter to: ecarroll@thefreedomgroup.net I think he will look into the problem.
 
jonbearman said:
This is the email address of the CEO of the freedom group who owns remington. Send the letter to: ecarroll@thefreedomgroup.net I think he will look into the problem.

Good suggestion. I passed your comments on.
 
I had an accidental discharge several years ago. It was because of an amateur trigger job, not Remington's fault.
Jack Belk mentioned above, The oppositions expert, has left a great many people without rifles he took in to work on and has peoples money that was not returned to them when he disappeared. I am sure he was a talented guy, but I have no use for him or his opinions.
Butch
 
Maybe Remington could just send all of us new jewell triggers for our 700s! But I did have this happen to me along time ago when i was a teenager i had my dads 264 wm and took it off saftey and boom but luckly it didnt do anyharm to anyone . To this day nobody in that hunting group believes me that it just went off but oh well it did ! He took it apart and cleaned it up and it has never happened again . i think the previous owner had used w-d 40 for gun oil and it gummed up in there.
 

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