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cfran Offline OP
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Looking for some guidance, had a scary situation last weekend while on stand with my tried and true model 700 in 308. Just so folks are aware, I had this gun built some 15+ years ago, Douglas barrel, Shilen trigger, McMillian stock . . . it's shot a lot of whitetails over the years and probably has 300-400 rounds down the tube w/o incident, great gun.

So while in my stand last weekend, before shooting light I was thinking that my Father just had his Model 700 undergo the product recall fix with the safety/trigger situation about a year ago and my mind starting thinking about that. So the long and short of it was I put my right hand on the forearm of the stock and with my index finger and thumb on the safety I pushed the safety forward into the "fire" position. No worries, gun was safely pointed away. Well the gun went bang and I know with 100% that my finger was nowhere near the trigger. Scared the crap out of me and I really don't know why I checked it in the first place.

Am interested in any thoughts, obviously I won't hunt with it until I get it checked out. But I have done no trigger adjustments or anything to the gun. Open to suggestions and wondering if anyone has had this happen to them.

Thanks!

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djb Offline
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That is some weird coincidence or you psychically fired the gun.

Also if you "had this gun built some 15+ years ago, Douglas barrel, Shilen trigger, McMillian stock" then your statement as to "I have done no trigger adjustments or anything to the gun" is way off. Your post doesn't exactly make sense.

My guess, if it happened as explained, is you have 15+ years of grit and oil in that Shilen trigger and the sear /weight set too low. Good luck.


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I see you stated it’s a Shilen trigger. Do you use a bore guide when you clean your rifle? Have you ever flushed the trigger or cleaned it?
More than likely the trigger has some cleaning solvent, oil and crude built up in it. Remove the barreled action from the stock and flush the trigger with brake cleaner or lighter fluid. You can remove the trigger from the action to clean it also.

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Shilen trigger's not supposed to do that, just the old Walker trigger.

That is weird, for sure. How light was it set?

I'd call Shilen if it was mine, see what they say. The safety is supposed to take the slack off the sear, block the trigger. If the sear was somehow not set to catch the striker properly, I can see how releasing the safety may release the striker...

First I heard that about the Shilen, which is a good trigger.

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Nope, I'd replace the trigger with after market.Timney or Triggertech.


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Guidance. Clean the fool out of the trigger. Do NOT oil it. Then, unloaded at home, still following Rule No. 1 of gun safety, do the slam test. Bump the cocked, unloaded rifle on 'safe' firmly on the carpeted floor. Pull the trigger, on 'safe', then flip to 'fire'. If it releases, even once after at least ten attempts, you got a problem. (Glad you pointed in a safe direction while in the stand.)

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cfran Offline OP
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What I meant was the gun was built, including the current trigger and I have never messed with it, period.

No way I had my finger near the trigger guard and it’s currently set at around 3.5 pounds. Thanks guys for the thoughts.

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Had the same thing happen to me. Took out the trigger and put it in my sonic cleaner. Put it back in and hosed it out with Zippo lighter fluid. Fixed.

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I will say you should just buy a Triggertech. You’ll never get rid of that memory of your rifle going off.

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cfran Offline OP
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What is a trigger tech? Not familiar but appreciate the guidance. And YES, I will never feel comfortable again with this setup!!

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Originally Posted by woodson
I will say you should just buy a Triggertech. You’ll never get rid of that memory of your rifle going off.

I'm a Triggertech fan for sure but there's nothing wrong with a Shilen trigger either. I own both with zero issues. Guns are like vehicles, some people put gas in them and drive them til they don't run others take cars of there stuff and they get many many trouble free miles from them.

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Originally Posted by Remington280
Nope, I'd replace the trigger with after market.Timney or Triggertech.



Why?

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prm Offline
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Why? Why not?

I would promptly throw away and then replace any trigger/safety that did that to me. Period. Piece of mind. I fully understand that cleaning and perhaps an adjustment may correct it, but I would never trust it.

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cfran Offline OP
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That’s where I’m at sir, I concur.

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Originally Posted by prm
Why? Why not?

I would promptly throw away and then replace any trigger/safety that did that to me. Period. Piece of mind. I fully understand that cleaning and perhaps an adjustment may correct it, but I would never trust it.


Why? It’s not the triggers fault that it hasn’t had any bit of maintenance or cleaning for 15 years! It most likely doesn’t need any adjustment. Just a through cleaning like all triggers should get at least once a year or after a hunting season especially if in some bad weather conditions.
Cfran If your going to throw it away I’ll take it and pay for the shipping!😁

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cfran Offline OP
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Originally Posted by 805
Originally Posted by prm
Why? Why not?

I would promptly throw away and then replace any trigger/safety that did that to me. Period. Piece of mind. I fully understand that cleaning and perhaps an adjustment may correct it, but I would never trust it.


Why? It’s not the triggers fault that it hasn’t had any bit of maintenance or cleaning for 15 years! It most likely doesn’t need any adjustment. Just a through cleaning like all triggers should get at least once a year or after a hunting season especially if in some bad weather conditions.
Cfran If your going to throw it away I’ll take it and pay for the shipping!😁

Good thought but I won’t give it to anyone. Couldn’t live with myself if something bad happened down the road.

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If you're sincere about safety and making things right then you should at the least send the trigger back to Shilen and let them diagnose the issue. Would be the least you could do since you publicly muddied up their name to those that don't know any better.

Last edited by Showdog75; 11/18/19.
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Originally Posted by Showdog75
If you're sincere about safety and making things right then you should at the least send the trigger back to Shilen and let them diagnose the issue. Would be the least you could do since you publicly muddied up their name to those that don't know any better.

Absolutely.

You owe that to yourself and to Shilen.

My bet, they'll take care of you, Pretty sure they'll want you to send it to them.

I would like to know what went wrong, they'll want to know what went wrong, you should want know what went wrong.

DF

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Where was your trigger finger?


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FYI, you don’t have to test a safety with a round chambered. Do yourself a favor and sell all of your firearms and take up golf.

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