Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington 700, The Straight Truth???

Digging out the old 700 25-06. That is the straight on the trigger. Mine has been around.Serial #A659XXXX.

Is it something I need to be concerned about or just a bunch of talk?

Pull the metal out of the wood, clean and degrease the trigger housing and anything you can see any accumulated gunk on..
Lube with a thin protective oil ( Remoil is good)
Re-assenble, and rock on...


( unless someone who doesnt know what hes doing has been dinking with the rigger.... )

This is sorta in line with Scott's post, but is there a consensus as to which aftermarket trigger is best? Shilen? Timney? Basix? Jard? A Jewell is a little rich for my blood for my sporter rifles, but my HB .204 is gonna get one. (Replacing X-Mark Pro)

Let�s take a look at some of the objections:

"It�s an anti-gun conspiracy / CNBC is biased."

Yes, CNBC is biased, and their story contains slanted perspectives and misleading information. What did you expect? However, just because the presentation is biased doesn�t necessarily mean that the core issue isn�t true.

"It must be caused by people fiddling with their trigger adjustments."

No doubt some of the problems are indeed due to improper adjustments. However there are lots of rifles that have adjustable triggers that don�t have anywhere near as many complaints. Something else is going on.

So let's take a look at what it is:

Here's the Remington 700 trigger cocked:



The Remington 700 trigger is a bit unusual in that it uses an extra piece, the trigger connector, to refine the trigger pull. The tiny red area is the engagement between the connector and the sear.

When the trigger is pulled, the connector goes forward and returns to this position:


For this trigger to operate safely it is essential that when the rifle is cocked the trigger connector return 100% to the proper position, pushed there by only the light weight trigger spring.

See the red area between the trigger shoe and the trigger connector when the rifle is uncocked? That's the problem area. Any tiny speck of dirt, rust, ice or other material that gets in there will prevent the connector from engaging the sear properly. This can result in the safety keeping the sear from falling instead of the trigger connector. When the safety is released, the gun fires.

With all this in mind, let's take a look at a couple more objections:

�I�ve owned a Remington 700 for forty years and fired thousands of rounds and never had a problem.�

Good for you. This problem doesn�t happen very often, simply because it�s fairly difficult for stuff to work its way into the proper area of the trigger. But this is not a question of a few defective guns; it�s a design weakness that could affect any of the millions of guns with this trigger. If you haven�t had a problem, it�s because nothing has worked its way into your trigger.

Yet.

"This only happens on dirty or neglected guns."

This is more likely to happen on a dirty or neglected gun. However, a grass seed or a bit of pine needle could make this happen on an otherwise pristine gun.

"There wouldn't be any problem if they followed The Rules of Gun Safety."

True enough. You should always treat your gun as though it could go off at any moment. That doesn't excuse making a rifle that actually does it.

I've used everyone you listed and have all but a Jard and Jewell trigger at present (and will NEVER have another Jard).

That said I just ordered ANOTHER pair of Shilen triggers, that should tell you something.

That tells me just about all I need to know. Thanks, Steelie.

The issue with 700's firing without pulling the trigger is REAL, but extremely RARE. I happen to own a 1974 model that has done it on a few occasions over the years. In my case there was not a round in the chamber the times it happened. My trigger has never been touched since leaving the factory and my guns are clean and well maintained.

I've retired this rifle and no longer use it. I suppose I could have the trigger replaced or send it back to Remington, but I have other guns I like better anyway and I'd rather keep it as is just to prove to the doubters that it can happen.

Years ago a Remington was the only rifle I'd have, but I've drifted away and have come to prefer the CRF Winchesters. It had nothing to do wth concerns over the gun firing own it's own. Heck, I've known about that issue since the 1970's and still bought many Remington rifles. Still own 2, including the one I've retired. If I had a Remingotn I liked I'd use it, but I'd be aware of the problem and use extra care.

Great post natman! I wouldn't own a 700 without the new x mark trigger or an aftermarket one already mentioned. Peace of mind is worth it to me.

natman -

Excellent post but you omitted an important fact. By Remington's own records, up to 50% of new rifles using the Walker trigger, like the 6xx IIRC, were susceptible to the fire-on-release failure and Remington had to modify manufacturing procedures as a result.


I take slight issue with your final statement:


No, there would still be a problem. Treating a gun as though it might go off at any moment does not eliminate the problem but rather mitigates the consequences if the problem exhibits itself.

I'd get the trigger taken care of or move it. Think about it being passed on to a relative or someone you care about after you're gone and the possibility of the trigger taking a dump on them. If you decide to get rid of it make sure the buyer knows it's the old style trigger, etc.

What is the opinion of those on the CF about the new X trigger. Is it safe compared to the old trigger? Durable? I have seen the pics of the broken one but I am asking about the parts that I can't see.

X mark pro triggers are no bueno. Had four...two crapped out in record time...one before the rifle was ever fired...
The other two never had a chance, I changed all four back to old style trigger...

Swampy needs to chime in and offer his opinion..It is very valued around here

I had a 700 with the x mark pro trigger for one full hunting season. I ended up selling the gun as remingtons no longer float my boat so to say, but for that very limited use it was very crisp and had it adjusted down nice and light. I would yield to others here with longer experiences with it and suggest you go aftermarket.

FYI The newer X-Mark Pro adjustable version (with the adjustment on the trigger itself) seems to be a little better than the original X-Mark, in my experience. It's still not great, but better.

For what it's worth I had a problem with my Remington in 300 Weatherby Mag as it would fire when you released the safety on occasion. I had taken it to several gunsmiths and the safety would work flawlessly out of the stock as a last resort I was going to Paulson's gunsmith replace the trigger assembly with a Timney trigger assembly. Before I took the rifle down to him I put some of the wife's lip stick on the trigger assembly and inserted the barreled action into the stock and set the safety. When I removed the barreled action from the stock I found lip stick on the stock in the area of the safety, the safety wasn't fully engaging. I carved out some of the wood and I've never had a problem with the safety corrected it self and worked correctly ever since.

Paulson's gunsmith made the statement to me as to why would I want to replace the Remington trigger assembly as it was one the finest adjustable triggers available.

I replaced all my rem. varmint rifle triggers with Jewells, the 2 sporters still wear the old style Rem trigger, I cant stand the new Xmark pro trigger, its not adjustable like the old style which I dont mind in the least.

ihave 5 shilens; one jewell.

I had a 700 with the original Xmark that fired one time when I closed the bolt.