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

This is why I asked my son to give back to me the 700 BDL Deluxe 30-06 I got him for Christmas and I replaced it with a Savage.308 w/Accutrigger. Just didn't ever want to face the possibility.

I see your point. I should have worded it slightly differently. A gun that goes off without pulling the trigger is a definite problem, even if no one is injured.

My brother had one with a bad trigger. After cleaning & trying to "adjust" it, it still had the same problem...BUT only when the temperature got below about 40 or so...at least that's the conclusion we came to...right or wrong, I have no idea.
Swapped it out for a Timney & haven't had the problem again...that was back in the mid eighties. The last time I looked, it appeared that Timney had changed the trigger from the model I used, so I can't comment on the new ones, but I've never had a problem with a Timney trigger. If you can afford it though, I'd suggest putting a Jewell HVR on it...


ETA: The problem he had was that he'd push the safety off & pull the trigger & nothing would happen till he tried to lift the bolt handle...then boom.

A Timney doesn't cost that much. I'd change it and then focus my attention on something more important.

I bought a Remington 660 this year from a friend. When he took it out of his gun cabinet to show me the rifle it dry fired when he closed the bolt. He sent it back to Remington to have the recall done replacing the trigger. After I bought it I got a trigger bolt locking kit made by NULA and installed it. The bolt locks again but can be released to open with the safety on. I adjusted the trigger pull down to 3.5# and life is good.

Thanks, Natman. That explains alot of things.
I'm of the opinion that the potential problem causing material that gets into a Remington trigger group can easily travel down the safety lever. I was under the impression that this stuff would have to build up to cause a problem. But, odviously, all it takes is one wrong item, in just the wrong place and one has a problem.
My personal solution, besides an after market trigger, is to close the gap for the safety lever and go with an M70 style safety. E

Wow! 26 posts on a thread about Remmy 700s and no Swampnut drivel??? The Lord can come back now.

My first post. This is as good thread to start as any.

I was considering buying a 700 from a friend. It was built in 82. Now i'm having second thoughts.

Maybe I should just stick to my Swedish Mouser. It's become an old friend over the years.

I own tons of 700 and model 7s most still have the factory triggers.. never an issue BUT I keep them clean

I have seen several folks brought me that were gummed up big time from wd40 or some cheap oil. very dangerous. old factory oil isn't great either

clean them once a year with lighter fluid and leave them. no other oil is needed.

I will say that the Shilen trigger is what Remington should have built. I own severla for some varmit 700 and they are perfect.

many custom builders will glue or screw the connector to the trigger body making it one piece and elinminating any issues...fairly simple to do actually

I've owned 2 different Rem 700's in 25-06 cal. for the past 35+ years and never had a misfire from working the bolt or otherwise. Last year, one of the guys in our hunting party had a misfire on his Rem 700 30-06 while unloading. A guy I work with also told me had a misfire while unloading a couple of years ago. I didn't see either misfire myself. I'm a bit concerned, but my little 25-06 is accurate and one of my favorites. Though I might consider a trigger replacement, I won't be getting rid of the rifle anytime soon.

Excellent posts Natman and well balanced, what I find interesting is Mike Walker the engineer that designed the trigger to begin with, in his own words stated that had Remington implemented the 5 cent fix and if he had been still overseeing the QA dept. Remington wouldn't be dealing with this problem. He stated that there was a design problem and in a passing comment remarked that after the airing of the interview by CNBC that he was probably going to be in trouble with them (Remington). I agree that there is bias on CNBC's part, but IMHO the most germaine comments came from the man who designed/engineered and promoted the weapon to begin with....and in his own words he stated that there was a problem. As far as I'm concerned thats enough.
That said, I will also say that I currently own several 700's of various vintages.
Am I worried about the triggers? No. I had the recalled triggers replaced by Remington, but more importantly, I don't feel that there is a problem as long as you implement the proper maintenance to insure they function properly. If you treat or care for your firearm with with the same casual disregard that some homeowners show to a common garden hoe then you should and can expect your rifle to fail and therefore the burden of responsibility should be on you.
JMHO,
BD

The problem with thinking like that is it doesn�t deal with reality. People make mistakes under the best of circumstances. When they get tired or distracted they make more mistakes. While �you� might treat the rifle properly a to avoid injury in a FOF incident, you might also hand the rifle to someone else, and �they� might screw up. As a manufacturer, Remington knew this and chose to save $.05 per rifle rather than fix the known problem. In doing so they put profits above the safety of the public. Shame on them as far as I�m concerned.

Best to have a rifle that functions the way it is intended and doesn�t fire when the safety is released. My M700 .308 Win went back to the factory while my M700 .30-06 is too new to have the problem. If I get another used M700 I�ll likely replace the trigger with a Timney.

I've been thinking of replacing the triggers in my 700 BDL 223 Rem. and 700 Classic 280 Rem. How do you like the Timny? I was looking at their trigger assembly that comes with the safety. Are they easy to install or should I have a gun smith do it?

I got my 700 BDL new in '88 or '89. and the 700 Classic new in '97 if it matters. A friend of mine did a trigger job on my BDL and it's super SUPER LIGHT, like ounces not pounds. My son (10) enjoys shooting it so I want to make it a little heavier. And I like the idea of the safety blocking the trigger and it being adjustable.

Thanks, NYH1!

What I'm amazed at is there are those who refuse to believe that Remington had a problem(even though the % was extremely low) with the 700 trigger. I have to agree with the Mike Walker statements. Looks like the bean counters were hard at work back then as well as today.

I have one of those magical Model 700s.. bought it in 1980.. I has discharged 4 times on its own over the years...

I treat it like it has NO safety... some say I should have dumped it, but I wasn't going to morally stick someone else with it..

probably should have sent it back to Remington, but the first couple of times I thought it was something I did wrong...

It went off once and could have taken my foot off... missed it by inches... thought I had done something wrong..it was slung over my back with muzzle at the ground... my dad taught me to carry a rifle that way, so that it would not discharge into the air... he was in the Air Force... so I assumed that was his reasoning for that one..

The other two times it made me jump, but was not aimed at anything or anyone unsafe... due to the first time...

Last time I had loaned it to a friend who wanted an 06 for Elk hunting.. I warned him about the problem... I was with him at the time...its an ADL, so he was unloading it and cycling the rounds out of it...I had turned away, and he changed direction working the bolt.. and it went off...

about 25 yds from a guy who was getting into his new Chevy dually pickup, brand new, set up for pulling a 5th wheel... custom paint job and the whole bit...

the 180 bullet went thru both fenders on his new truck, that the plates hadn't even arrived yet..

needless to say the guy was livid... my buddy was pissed at me, like it was my fault...

the barrel got pulled and the rest of the rifle's life it has been used as a single shot rifle at the range and for shooting varmints... but mainly target practice..

I pay to hunt so my opinion doesn't count. Good luck with your Remingtons

Don't forget that after the trigger fails, the bolt handle will fall off in your hand just after the extractor fails....

I just installed my first Timney trigger on Model 700 this past Monday night. Previously I had installed two Jewells in other 700�s. It is simple as pie, in fact their instructions showed me a little easier way to do it than I had done before. You just tap out two punch pins, remove the old trigger, put in the Timney and drive the pins back in. You will need to bend the bolt release lever to engage the bolt release. The instructions said it may take several tries to get it right, I got it on the first try.

Super simple to adjust as well. Loosen the lock nut and turn the adjustment screw in or out. I adjusted mine to a very consistent 1 � pound pull. You will need a small proper sized wrench to loosen the hex nut that locks the adjustment screw (1/4�? � what is the proper size?) but a smaller adjustable wrench would also work. I slammed and slammed the bolt to try to get the striker to drop at that 1 � pound weight but it wouldn�t. When I adjust a stock Remington trigger below about 2 pounds it's not hard to make it slam fire.

Oh yeah, I did have to file out the front of trigger opening in the stock just a tad as that adjustment screw sticks out of the housing further than the Remington trigger does. A small round file works well for that.

Total time spent was about 20 minutes.

Tools needed:
Hammer or mallet. I�m as hacky a hack gunsmith as ever lived, so I used a standard 16 ounce hammer.
Small punch or if you don�t have any punches like yours truly, a proper sized drill bit works too.
Needle nose pliers or the pliers on a Leatherman work fine.
Small wrench which I actually had. It�s the same size as needed to loosen the lock nuts on the New Haven M70 triggers. Again, it you�re a hack like me pliers will work too if you don�t mind scratching up the lock nut.
Small round file or even coarse sandpaper wrapped around a pencil.
Some Tru-oil, varnish or other wood finish to put over the wood you just exposed.

http://www.scilowcountry.org/kenny_jarretts_rifle_cleaning_tips.htm from Kenny Jarrett on trigger maintenance plus other rifle cleaning and maintenance tips. He recommends lighter fluid squirted through the trigger so it runs out the bottom. I think that Jarrett built some of his rifles on M700 actions, but do not know if the factory trigger is usually kept.

All a bunch of horse $hit/Liberal Media Lies.