Rem 700 trigger

[270man]

I just finished watching a TV program titled "Remington Under Fire" and the subject was the Rem 700's defective trigger. This was probably a program that has been around for a while but was my fist time to view it. I had mixed emotions. The narrator stated what I had heard years ago: that the Walker trigger had problems and the inventor himself suggested a 5-cent fix that was rejected by management. There are some class-action lawsuits in progress that will attempt to have Big Green recall all 700s. Obviously, this would bankrupt the company. The Rem 700s now have a new trigger but I know nothing about it -- concerning either the safety or the feel.

The program featured one guy who shot his son and claimed that he did not have his finger on the trigger. Another guy shot his foot off. Both said that their 700s went off "accidentally' and cited evidence of a company cover-up.

I once had a Model 600 that got some bad publicity for accidental discharges. It was sent in to the factory and returned with some "fix" installed. I couldn't duplicate the failure either before or after they worked on it. I still own a number of Model 700s and have never had one go off "accidentally".

While I can understand the sorrow of the man who lost his son, I was a bit miffed that not once was anything said about the cardinal rules of firearms safety. Why were these guns loaded and why were they pointed at self or a son? It seems to me that some of the blame must be assumed by these men who place all the blame on Remington.

270man

[skeet]

As has been stated here before. Cardinal rules of safety were not even given lip service by the people who claimed these things blaming it on Remington.. Most problems with the Rem Trigger can be traced to idiots with small screwdrivers and NO Knowledge of how to adjust the Remington trigger. All of the blame for these stupid accidents(??) should be put exactly where it belongs..on the guy who was handling the rifle..If it was pointed where it should have been...no one would have ever been shot...defective gun trigger ammo or whatever else.. Yep we all do stupid things every now and then..but I never point a firearm at anyone..even when it is Open and unloaded. I have seen a few shotguns go off without touching the trigger...mainly on a skeet field but never saw anyone injured... Yep mechanical devices do sometimes break or do things they are not supposed to..but with guns..point it away from people at all times.

[buckhunter]

Ditto Skeet.

[Rapier]

You know of course this program is being shown again and again on cable and sattalite. Saw part of it again on Sunday.

I think I am going to make up a sign for the next show.

I feel sorry for Remington, but I will also buy every 700 I can get my hands on at a decent price. Now is the time to buy a few of the old Classic guns, the all wood models.

The 1988 Classic 35 Whelen I bought at B'Ham has turned out beautiful and it shoots real good, sub half inch. But it is light weight and when you get 200gr or more moving, that light rifle tends to thump you pretty good.
Ed

[GoodOlBoy]

Yeah this was discussed in Almost Anything Goes awhile back. I have several remmy 700s and they have even been dropped. The problem comes in when some jackwagon wants to start fiddling with the trigger and the sear. I had a guy bring me a 1911 one time for the same reason. He swore the gun was deadly, upon dis-assembly the moron had filled the sear down to almost nothing. I asked him about it and he assured me he had done it "correctly" that there had to be another problem. I dropped in a spare sear and had him try it. A month later he brings it back by the house with the exact same issue, and again he had filled down the sear. I told him he was right the gun was deadly and offered him $20 for it. He turned me down and hung it on a wall.

GoodOlBoy

[Adam Helmer]

270man,

I saw the "Program" and have a few questions. How on Earth did that father in Alaska shoot his son in the left wrist that has cost $300,000 in surgeries? A wrist is a SMALL target, so how did the father manage the feat and still BLAME Remington? Whatever???

Adam

[PJgunner]

"The 1988 Classic 35 Whelen I bought at B'Ham has turned out beautiful and it shoots real good, sub half inch. But it is light weight and when you get 200gr or more moving, that light rifle tends to thump you pretty good."

You got that right. I have one but you shouldn't have a problem with the trigger. I believe, IIRC that Remington went to a newer trigger around 1982. I could be wrong. I also have a Classic in 30-06. My BDL 30-06 was made before 1982 and has never given me any trouble. My Remington 660 was recalled and the abortion of trigger they put in as a replacement got seriously worked on and now works fine.
Years back before all this came to a head, I was invilved with an M700 ADL in .270 that supposedly went off when a fellow took the safety off to open the bolt. The bullet hit his wife in both knees causing her to lose both legs. As I had been working with the local gunsmith, who had passed away, the gun was brought to me for inspection and to see if I could make it fie under the same type circumstances as the alleged accident. Try as I might, I never could make the gun fire off accidently. My thought was he had his finger on the trgger when he took the safety off, thus shoting his wife. I told them I couldn't help them and I did have that gun for two weeks. I used a primed casein stead of a live round.
These days, when asked, I tell people to hunt with the chamber empty on the Remington 700. It's no big deal most of the time when hunting. Just chamber the round when a shot is imminent. Unload the chambe if the shot doesn't ccome about. The gun can't shoot someone if there is no round in the chamber.
Paul B.

[Rapier]

Paul,
The trigger was about 8 pounds. It is now a crisp 3 pounds and all screws have had Locktite applied as they should have after any adjustment.

Remington has done a rebuttal of the CNBC program which can be found on Youtube. It clearly demonstrates that CNBC created the "News" in their program and that each and every case used by CNBC to attack Remington was distorted, mis-quoted or was a plain fabrication. Go look at the destruction of the CNBC program, piece by piece.

I knew from watching the few minutes I saw of the CNBC program that it was pure bunk. I just turned it off.

I will repeat what i have said before: I spent 25 years as a range master at a rod and gun club range, I spent over 25 years as a match director, range officer and safety director. I have never seen a Remington 700 trigger or the various models that do or can use the 700 trigger malfunction unless they were adjusted by the shooter and 99% of those ADs were due to a failure to "glue" the screws in place once adjusted. In other words, Shooter's Error.
Ed

[PJgunner]

Ed. No argument from me. I have three Remington 700's and a 660 for good measure. The 660 is at least 37 years old and the M700 BDL is 29 years old. At least I bought it 29 years ago new from J.C. Penney's. Not too sure of the age on the Classic in 30-06 but the .35 Whelen Classic I believe is from what, 1988? The 30-06 is older than that. I've seen Remington's rebuttment. The program about Reminton's triggers was just another hatchet job by a bunch of lyinf liberal punks. With luck, dan Rather will have company.
Paul B.