A few months back I picked up a very lightly used Remington 700 ADL synthetic in 7mm Rem Mag. The rifle is in great shape and has seen very little use. I contacted Remington with the serial # and was told it was made in 1999. The rifle has a very good trigger but after reading about some of the issues on past 700's....I admit to being a little leery of this rifle.

I personally know the previous owner and he assures me the trigger has never been modified from its factory form and I believe him. So, here is my question. Would you replace the factory trigger in this particular rifle and situation?

Let me expand a little more. I gave $300 for the rifle and then put a VX3 3.5-10x40 Leupold on it. It shoots very well and I really hate to mess with it. IMO, I have a very respectable, long range capable rig for a very reasonable price. My initial plans were to replace the factory stock with a McMillan and install a custom 7mm barrel. That is a ways down the road though....got to get my son through college first.

I did not post this question to start a war on the older Remington trigger design. I simply would like to know some opinions of what others would do in a similar situation.

Some folks will tell you nightmare stories and they may be absolutely true - I have never had a trigger problem nor has anyone I know. Do a torture test of yyour own (rifle unloaded) and if you cant make your rifle slam fire leave it alone. If you cant sleep from worry put in a Timney.

If i had any reservation about the safety of a firearm. I would do whatever I needed to satisfy myself it was as safe as I could make it. If its your perception its not safe then either educate yourself on the issue or replace the questionable component. My piece of mind is worth more than a $130 trigger. Im not telling you what you should do. Only what I would do. I value my hunting buddies more than to take a rifle into the field i perceived as questionable. The question is not whether it is or isn't ,but what you perceive it to be. By the way I love my timney trigger.

I have several M700's. They were manufactured between the late 60's and early 2000's. I have never had an issue with the triggers in any of them nor have I replaced them. They adjust easily if you know what you are doing and are careful. As with any firearm, they should be pointed in a safe direction any time the safety or action is manipulated.
That being said, if you are leery of the trigger, replace it for your own piece of mind.

The issue with older, 1946-2006 Remington triggers is the fact that they use a trigger connector. Every other gun ever made uses a trigger that connects directly to the sear. With these Remington's pulling the trigger pushes on a piece of stamped sheet metal called the connector. The connector then pushes on the sear causing it to release and fire.

FWIW, Remingtons own people discoverd the issue in 1946 and proposed a different design without the conector.

The connector slides in a groove inside the trigger and will slide back and forth on it's own. In rare cases it will contact the sear with enough force to release it with no pull of the trigger. It does not matter how the trigger is adjusted if this happens. At this point the safety is the only thing holding back the firing pin. Release the safety and the gun fires without anyone ever touching the trigger. At times the gun fires as soon as the bolt is closed if the connector is positioned just right on the sear.

Any gun with an improperly adjusted trigger can fire unintentionally, but this is a completely different issue. Trigger pull can be set on 20 lbs and if the connector fails, the gun fires.

I don't care how old your gun is and how many times it has worked perfectly in the past. If the conditions line up just right any of these guns can do this. My rifle was 25 years old with the trigger still as it left the factory. It did it 2-3 times on the same day 15 years ago and has not repeated the issue since. Fortunately for me it was on an empty chamber.

The issue is rare. 99% of all rifles made will simply never do this. But with 5,000,000 made since 1946 that still leaves quite a few with the potential to do so.

My 700 is retired now. I'll eventually get another trigger installed, but for I just have other, better guns to use.

I'm not going to get into the war stories I've heard on the net. I will say I have owned around 25 M700 hunting rifles. Early on, I had a gunsmith show me how to correctly adjust the trigger and every rifle I've owned since then I have adjusted myself to a crisp 3.5#. I have never had a misfire, nor a mis-function. As a guess, I'm gonna suggest that a lot of the problems stem from the triggers being bubba-ized or being set with too light a trigger pull.
My war story is pretty straight forward. I had bought a new 22-250 in 700 and since it was going to be a varmint rifle, it wasn't going to be carried loaded, in fact, it would be shot single fire only. So I adjusted the trigger to a crisp 32ozs. I put the rifle on safe, pulled the trigger, took the safety off and nothing happened. I bounced the rifle sharply on the floor with the safety off and nothing happened.
My friend came over that evening to look at it. I handed him the rifle, he cycled the action to make sure it was empty and then I told him to check out the trigger. When he pushed the safety forward, we heard a loud click. You can imagine how loud that sounded in the stillness of my shop. To make a long story short, when I shoot I don't touch the trigger until I'm ready. My friend was one of those that keeps his finger curled around the trigger. We found that when he would push the safety forward, his trigger finger would make a involuntary movement. Enough to pull the lightly adjusted trigger. Even knowing what was happening, he could not hold his trigger finger still enough to keep the trigger from activating the firing pin.
Anything mechanical can break or fail --how many cars does GM have on recall?-- so you just can't make an assumption that because it worked last time, it's gonna work this time. So safe gun handling trumps all.

The world would be a much better place if rifles had NO safeties.

I would replace the trigger now. Nothing worse than an element of a rifle that you don't trust or have doubts about.

Cost is minimal and irrelevant.

For the record I have in the past had triggers drop on 2 rifles when the safety was flipped off.

Neither of them were original Remington factory triggers, but both were with replacement triggers, as Bob suggests.

Those 2 were both improperly adjusted, which means that it can happen on about any trigger/platform and REPLACING a trigger don't mean 'problem' solved.

Chirp

Chirp? Cripes I haven't been on here all day! I had stuff to do.....

What do you want me to say? I have sat fiddling with a Rem 700 trigger straight off the rack that tripped as you worked the bolt....and like you Scott,I had an aftermarket Timney on a Mauser that would not hold adjustment and it drove me nuts.

Just saying if the Walker trigger makes the guy nervous, he will be thinking about it and it will play in his mind,and he will worry....if he is worried that it will somehow misbehave one day,he will never trust it.

If that's the case, he should change it. You need to be confident in your gear.That is my point.

I agree with posters who tell you to replace it if you don't have confidence in it.

Jard makes a kit with the internal trigger parts. It's a simple process to drive out the trigger pin, drop the old trigger out thru the bottom of the trigger housing, put in the new part and replace the pin. The sear connector is even easier to replace. You then set the engagement, overtravel and spring tension with the existing screws.

If you don't want to spend the $150 a Timney now costs, the Jard kit is around $50. Either will eliminate the infamous Remington connector.

DF

I've have personally witnessed only one misfire. It was a hunting buddy who was unloading a 700 ADL in a 243. He had one hand on the forearm and the other on the bolt when the misfire occurred. I have another friend that claimed to have a misfire on his 30-06, also when unloading. I did not witness this particular event. After the second situation, I replaced the trigger on my 700 ADL in 25-06 with a Timney Trigger. Although I never had a problem with mine, it was a decision that was easy to make, because I really like my Remy 25-06.

Here's what I would do - since it was made in '99 it won't have that idiotic X-mark trigger. I would remove the action from the stock. A quick peek would see whether the sealant is still on the adjustment screws - therefore the guy who said he hadn't messed with it is probably truthful. I would completely disassemble that trigger and clean the crap out of, and off of, every single part then dry 'em and reassemble to test for function. I would also never allow WD-40 within five feet of it.. If you're not familiar with a proper disassembly and adjustment of weight and overtravel on the Rem trigger I'd simply advise you to leave it alone or take it to a 'smith who KNOWS the Rem trigger and have them take care of it..

I've got two M700s, earlier than 2000, and ensure those triggers are CLEAN and DRY before I take them out of the shop..

FWIW

What about using Zippo lighter fluid to saturate the inside of the trigger assembly to clean and lube it??

Lee,

Have you ever installed the Jard kit. It looks pretty good on paper, just never messed with one. Timney triggers are now $150 or so retail, $135 wholesale thru Brownells. That's getting pricey...

The kit gets rid of that infamous Walker connector.

DF

Nothing beats full disassembly, scrubbing, blowing dry and reassembly..

Never had the call to install a Jard on a M70.. But I've done several JARD installs on AR platforms and they've been good units..

Here's a link to the Jard M-700 trigger kits. I makes sense as the Reminton has a nice, steel trigger housing.

You can see from the link how Jard has different versions with lever geometry designed for specific trigger applications. I thought that was pretty neat.

I think it would be real easy to replace the Rem factory parts with these parts.

http://www.jardinc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3:700-trigger-kit&catid=1:700&Itemid=4

DF


Edited to say I can't get that link to work. Just go on line to jardinc.com and find the 700 trigger kits.

Good info.. Never thought of checking Jard... Most customers just toss the pos original trigger and have a complete new aftermarket installed..

Thank you sir..

+1 I suggest putting in a Timney anyway, they feel better, and can safely be adjusted to lighter pulls. I have Timney's on both of my M700's.

That's been my approach for years. But with the price of M-700 Timney triggers now in the $150 range, I started looking for less expensive alternatives.

DF

Has anybody tried a Rifle Basix? Your thoughts on them?

Dave.

I just installed a rifle basix n my 700 win mag last night. I need to call rifle basix on Monday because it slam fires way too easy and the instructions say to call before adjusting.

I had the same issue with a shilen and never did anything with it or called shilen. My smith couldn't adjust it either. The timney I have in another has been great. Looking like I'm sticking to having the factory triggers worked on or buying timney in the future.

Timney is top notch in my book.

I once had a Shilen and liked it. Could you elaborate on what wouldn't adjust. Did you contact Shilen?

DF

I had 2 M700's that were supposed to go back, I bought 2 old M700 triggers for $45.00 ea., I will have local Smith make sure they are clean and about 2.75#.

Done Rifle Basix, Timney and Shilen.

Just examples of one each.

The Timney was the easiest for the switch (didn't adjust a thing) but I like the Shilen the best.

Tell us why you like the Shilen best.

DF

I don't like the wide trigger of the Timney/Rifle Basix and the Shilen adjusted clean for me. It just appears to have a little more attention to detail.
I'm sure the Timney would adjust fine, but I dropped it in without touching a thing.

The Rifle Basix has sort of a humped notch on the contact point; it is more of a target trigger, adjustment weight wise, but has the most creep, even though its the only one a pretty good smith adjusted.

One of the better triggers I had was a stock stainless Remington; hated the gun but I should have kept the trigger.

I like the Timney assembly with the safety, as I understand it the Shilen does not furnish an assembly with safety and you have to use the factory safety.

!

OMG you own 2 remingtons Blasphemy I tell you

The only one that can decide what to do about that is you. I have had a number of 700's over the years and have three right now. Never one time has this problem happened to me and I've never seen it in any other 700. You only have two option's as I see it. get the trigger changed or fixed and shoot it as it is. That's it! Mine are rather old, don't know the year. I have re-set all of their triggers. Two are at 3# as far as I could go and the other got to a bit under three pounds.

There are at least 100 members that would buy the rifle from you for $300 if you are worried.

Lighter fluid has been very popular the last week.

Totally agree. Wish more thought this way.

Nope it's not for sale. Hunted with it quite a bit this year and enjoyed it. Friend of mine took a couple of his rifles to a Remington repair center for a trigger replacement courtesy of Big Green. The XMP trigger is not very good, IMO. I may eventually replace the trigger but it will be with something other than one from Remington.

I'm with Bob on this. If a guy loses confidence in his rifle for whatever reason, he's done for as a hunter. I had one of the first Rem. Mtn. rifles in 7x57. It would not shoot to the same place day in and day out. One day dead bull...the next day 6inches high and 4inches left. It had a proven scope on it. I loved the rifle but after it cost me one of the largest s. Texas bucks I ever saw...I sold it. I don't know where the bullet went but it wasn't even close enough to even wound the animal at 90 yards...thank God. A bad trigger, scope or stock will do the same thing. A man's got enough to worry about when trying to make a good shot, he doesn't need to worry about how his equipment is going to perform. Call me OCD if you want but there's a lot of others out there just like me. powdr

Thanks Dirtfarmer, I checked out the Jard site and will get a couple of kits and try them out. They are about $60 now but that is half the price of most triggers.

I recently picked up 3 Timney's from the SWFA Black Friday sale. $97 and some change each. They come up every once-in-awhile.

If anyone wants to get rid of their old Remington triggers, I'd take them. The issue witht the triggers was tolerance in manufacturing. The trigger doesn't go bad...
If you disagree, I'd be happy to help you out of yours.

Seconds!

keep the trigger clean and avoid too light of adjustments. i hose n=mine out with kroil and compressed air. if it worries you too much sell it and buy an older mod 70

+1

I have owned and currently own, more than a dozen 700's. Some from the store shelf and some from trades and pawn shops. ALL have had their triggers replaced with either Canjar's (in the 'olden days') or currently, Timney. A trigger is a cheap price for piece of mind.

In the past, there have been "backyard tests" on checking triggers.

Might be worth a search and starting point.