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

D F & BobNH

I bought that 700 BDL 7 RM after 1986. So it's been @ 30 yrs and used PLENTY. I'v'e never had any qualms.

Do y'all really feel there is a RISK now after SO MUCH use ?

I sincerely do not.

Jerry

Just clean the trigger every year and DON'T mess with it and all will be good.

If one feels the need to mess with the trigger just get one that was made to mess with.

I have a 700 i got for Christmas about 40 years ago and it has not tried to do any of the weird crap that folks say that those triggers do.

By the way it has not been messed with.

YMMV

Does it still have a floating connector ? If it does I don't care if it's worked right for 100 years, it can AD the very next time you use it. It might be wise once in awhile for some of you guys to LISTEN to what the folks who work on guns for a living have to say. Go back and re-read what I and Dustylongshot wrote and try to open your mind.

Jerry I have fired off quite a few rounds over the years from Rem 700's and Walker triggers in 223,22-250,220 Swift,257 Roberts, 25/06, 7/08,7x57, 280.....7 Rem Mag....yadayada....have owned and shot them all.

So I'm not one to run from boogey men.

A lot of those rounds were fired before I learned of the issues, read one or two(?) of the cases involved and read what Walker himself had to say. Just because I used and trusted something years ago does not mean I feel the same today.

I'm also a lawyer by trade and understand a little about product liability...and also that just because something " has not happened to me does not mean that it can't ever happen " (a common human trapping; you see it on here every single day in virtually every thread involving things that did not work as expected).

You play percentages and you hedge bets with any rifle design.

I have personally seen more clogged up and fail to fire situations with Remington triggers than any other. Like I said I've had brand new ones in storeroom floors trip when a safety was released, in my hands.

When a guy like Mike Walker,who invented it,and had a long and distinguished career as a design engineer with Remington, tells us there can be a problem under certain conditions; conditions not all that uncommon in the hunting fields, you better listen up!!!!

Over the years you get cautious; you avoid some things... My Rem 700 6.5 Creedmoor was built with a Timney trigger and I will let it go at that.

I'm more likely to listen when it's not

SHOVED down my ear canal!

Jerry

I understand Bob and I've lived long enuff to NEVER say never.

ANYTHING is possible. Given sufficient time, problems with OTHER triggers may arise. I'm not speculating they WILL, it's just that we don't know YET.

I have a few OLDER 700s in house - the newest was bought in '95. When deer season is over I will EXTENSIVELY retest those stock Walker triggers.

Thanks for y'alls input.

Jerry

I own and know lots of people with 700's and model Sevens, which I think is the same trigger, and only know of one time something happening. I was present when it happened but did not actually see it. In that case the person was in the act of shooting a target, and someone came up and said something to him. He stopped, put the rifle on safe, and listened to that other person. When He took the rifle off of safe, it fired. Now I don't know, and I don't think the other person knows, if He had actually started the trigger to move a little, before stopping and putting it on safe. We did try to get a repeat, but could not. In all cases that I have read about, there are just too many unknowns to form an opinion that would hold up. I did know of a Mauser that would fire when closing the bolt, but that was from a Bubbaed trigger. Out of the many that I know of, I have never seen a handle fall off of one either, but many here seem to have had several. I did have a neighbor, one of the first that I knew that reloaded, that had lots of pressure problems and would have to beat the bolt open. This was mostly from using his reloads in several different rifles. He owned a lot of acres of fish ponds and all of his hired hands carried rifles that He owned and reloaded for. He never had an accidental fire or a handle fall off. miles

I've a Timney on a 700 that's not safe unless it's set to 4lb+. Point being it's not just Walker's that can have issues.

It always amazes me how people can be so insistent that the AD can't happen. Anything designed and/or made by man can fail. You hear all the times that companies are striving for "6 Sigma" which is 99.99966% of units being defect free and very few companies hit that mark ( I read somewhere that less than 20% of companies actually achieve that level). Remington has produced over 5 million 700s, even if they hit six sigma levels that's still over 1,700 defective triggers they put on the market.

Given the amount of turnover and history they've had being owned by by-out funds I would imagine that R&D and quality control haven't exactly been priorities the last several years while they are trying to service debt related to the buyout.

A product is much more likely to fail if it hasn't been maintained or was "fixed" by someone who didn't know what they were doing, but Remington isn't some holy grail of a company that is immune from the laws of statistics.

Your flippant comment about your 700 giving me the vapors made it apparent you needed it SHOVED somewhere.

Once AGAIN you are wrong. I was NOT being flippant. That trigger is light enuff for comp target shooting. TRUE

You are so used to being wrong you don't recognize when someone is telling the truth.

Jerry

I'm not wrong about much when it comes to guns there jocko. If you think I am it's only out of ignorance on your part. Once again you prove that with your assumption that a heavier pull weight setting would cancel the ability of the floating connector to malfunction or that your light trigger working correctly for years proves the connector will not malfunction the very next time you use it.

LMAO.





Dave

Bob,
Any mechanical device has a weak link somewhere, and any trigger assembly is dangerous if really dirty. There are more Walker triggers out there than any trigger assemblies by far--of course we are going to hear about AD's.

As my gunsmith says "99 percent of the M700 AD's are dirty triggers, mis-adjusted triggers or somebody hit the trigger lever when they didn't mean to".

The only critizism I've ever heard Mike Walker speak about or was quoted was when Remington dropped his QC program after Walker retired.

In my neck of the woods Vortex binos and spotters rule. If I were to judge the reliability of Vortx products based on the frequency of failures I'm aware of I would say Vortex quality sucks. But I know better--there's just a lot more Vortex's around here than any other "quality" brand.

Casey

Casey I understand that anything mechanical can fail. But I can't recall another rifle manufacturer of bolt action rifles involved in as much litigation as Remington.

Unless I am losing my mind I recall a memo by Walker,uncovered during discovery in one of the lawsuits...... that clearly indicated to management that the trigger could have issues.(Forgive me if I ant quote chapter and verse. This isn't a court room.

I'm not trying a case here so will not bother to dig it up; but the memo was there and dated back to pre 1950 if I recall. That's a long time before Walker retired.

Again the memo dated back to the late 40's or early 50's which put Remington management on notice of a defect. The memo by itself is enough evidence against Remington to leverage a settlement.

Cases get settled because there is evidence indicating that either side can win.....or lose and someone was facing major exposure.....And lawyers for both sides knew it.

Apparently Timneys aren't 'fail safe'.

Bob, I believe the memo way back then that is often quoted is about QC. Walker found that tolerances were more critical with his design.


Casey

had it happen with a 700 bdl 270.

Guys, just for clarity...

I don't doubt that it has happened.

I've not said that it CAN NOT happen. There is too much evidence that it HAS. It is M O from experience that it does NOT happen to ALL 700s.

It 'SEEMS' that sometimes it's mechanical failure, others it is OPERATOR error OR stupidity.


Jerry

Yeah mostly because nobody wants to sink a bunch of money into a POS Weatheby 😜