Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters It finally happened to me - Remington Safety Issue

Jorge,

Most BR actions are beefed up copies of the 700. Forbes rifle is a "7/8 copy" of the 700 action.

Do a internet search of "dangerous", "unsafe" ladders and the hits will be almost entirely about Werner ladders. Why--because Werner outsells everybody else by a wide margin.

It's a numbers game.

The trigger lever engages the sear the same on every aftermarket trigger for 700's, and is similar for most sporting bolt action. Dirt between those two surfaces creates the identical condition regardless if a thin piece of metal (connector) is involved.

Once a person understands the mechanism it's easy to understand. It ain't rocket science

Casey

I've had similar happen to me in a stand with my son but with a Sako. Smith had adjusted trigger put Loctite on the screws and the Loctite had migrated into the mechanism.

A safe trigger really is vital. For 20years I never thought about sear engagement (other than to test for safe operation) then I dropped my rifle off sticks one morning. It did a neat pirouette and landed butt first pointing at me and my dog. I had been about to fire - it was not on safe

Yes but if you refine the search it mitigates that. Look, we'll have to agree to disagree. By all the aforementioned 700 maladies, I wouldn't own one on a dare. J

Mike Walker admitted there was a problem with the floating connector. I don't know how that's even up for debate?

I've had 700's since around 1978, and currently have 5 700's and a couple of Model 7's. I have adjusted the triggers down to my liking, and have replaced 2 that wouldn't adjust like I wanted. Zero problems.

If you watch the interview he says there was a problem with the manufacturing of a part. He said the design was sound. He also stated he designed another trigger which he preferred, but the cost was prohibitive for the company to change.

Heard of 2 in the last week firing in the safety on position. NIB rifles. Go figure. If I didnt have a cellar full of remmy stuff I wouldnt know which way to look for a new favorite. Oh wait....
Glad I scored a 6.5 in a Howa from Derrick. Thinking that will be my boring toy for the next few years.... Weaning myself off the 700s.

W

Nothing wrong with an experienced person skillfully adjusting a REM trigger. But, neglecting a stock box trigger is bad, and worse is to neglect a lightened box trigger.

Every season, remove the barreled action from the stock, and while inspecting the trigger, hose it down and flush it out with a bottle of Ronson lighter fluid. This will keep it clean and leave just enough lubrication to keep the trigger running trouble free. If neglected, debris and the various solvents and oils used on the rifle will creep into the trigger, and will gum the works over time, which can lead to the issues you describe. A trigger set on the light end will hang up quicker than one set on the heavier end.

If neglected badly enough so that a varnish has built up, or the wrong product, such as an alox, was applied, you may need to remove the trigger and soak in a solvent to remove the varnish. Once clean, lightly lubed with the residual of the Ronson, properly adjusted, and with the yearly inspection and cleaning; it should run for quite some time before physically wearing out.

Best

Good advise this.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Walker was in his 90's when that interview was conducted and may well have been confused. But in 1946 and again in 1948 he was perfectly clear in written memo's to management stating his concerns about a "serious safety issue" with his trigger design. I've seen copies of the memo's.

Any trigger that is dirty or adjusted improperly can fail. But the floating connector is unique to the Walker trigger design. It has proven beyond doubt that it can allow the sear to be released with no trigger pull. It can fail with a brand new, perfectly clean rifle with the trigger pull adjusted to 15 lbs, it is irrelevant to the problem.

It has been estimated that less than 1/2 of 1 percent of all of these rifles will ever do this. But it is also a fact that 100% of them could do so the next time the gun is picked up. The fact that someone has owned several rifles for years with no problems changes nothing.

I've owned 8-10 700's or 7's over the last 45 years. One purchased new in 1975 did it the 1st time in the 1990's. Never had an issue again until about 2 years ago when it did it a 2nd time. It got a Timney at that point. The factory trigger was never adjusted and it was perfectly clean.

That's an awfully straight-forward post.

I have several Timney's, but recently installed my first Trigger Tech Trigger. They are a lot simpler and easier to install than a Timney. I think that is all I will buy in the future.

Excellent post and right on the money. Wish I could have articulated it so well myself. The thick headed Remington fan boys won't be convinced no matter what though. I've tried before and it's a waste of time.

This very same thing happened to me in 1983, the first year the model 7 came out. It was a 308, which I never messed with, nor did I ever have a gunsmith adjust anything. My son and I were at deer camp, the week b/4 season doing some scouting. We were sighting in our rifles, and when I pushed the safety to the fire position, the gun fired. I never shot it again. I took it back to the shop where I bought it, told them what happened, and that I did not want the rifle anymore. They gave me what I paid them for it, and I purchased a Weatherby VGL that I have to this day. They sent the rifle back to Remington, but can't remember what the outcome was.

You might have the old trigger with the 2 piece connector and have crap in it or you have a poorly adjusted sear. Bring it to a good gunsmith and have him fix it .


FWIW it happened to me on a brand new Remington 700 ADL i bought in the 70's only time it happened BTW

Anything made by man can go cowchit.That being said I have owned lots of Rem.700`s with no problems.One of my pet peeves is watching guys clean their rifles from the breech end with no bore guide,Guess where all that residue and barrel cleaning gunk ends up??Then folks wonder why they have trigger problems.

Some of you guys are obfusticating the issue on purpose.

The "design problem" of the Walker trigger is in the trigger disconnector. It has nothing to do with the normal wear-and-tear or dirtiness that every trigger must endure.

If the disconnector does not reset due to any reason, then the trigger will AD. That is simply a design difference between the Walker trigger and every other design.

Remingtons remedy when the AD thing came around was the invention of remoil and to blast it thru the trigger mechanism. It's a lousy design, you can have the connector epoxied like it used to be done or get a replacement 700 trigger. I think I have one of the old triggers in a jar somewhere on my workbench.

There's only one problem with the Walker trigger. The tolerances were set to broad. If all the manufacturing tolerances are exactly wrong there's an issue. That's it! Anyone that says different is unknowlegable. Then there's the bib bubbas that's think they know what they are doing.