I have never had a Mod 700 fire on me from taking off the safety. If I had the barrel would have been been pointed at the ground! Accident's do not happen, stupid does!
I've never had one "fire" when taking the safety off. But I've had an unloaded rifle drop the firing pin a couple of times when moving the safety to the Fire position. Rifle was made in 1974. It did it the 1st time in the 1990's and I thought it was a fluke. Happened again gain about 10 years ago. I'd basically retired that rifle by then but one of my grandkids will get it one day and I won't give it to them with a flawed trigger design. I replaced it with a Timney. I much prefer a bolt that will lock, but this is a well-documented issue. I've found better rifles than the 700 anyway.
Pointing the barrel at the ground doesn't solve the problem. Remington has been sued over 100 times going back to the 1940's because of this. In one of the high profile suits the person holding the rifle had the muzzle pointing at the ground when it discharged. The bullet deflected off the ground and killed another hunter.
