From the Post Falls Press, Post Falls, Idaho

Gun accident prompts man to sue rifle company, Wal-Mart
Posted: Friday, Oct 24, 2008 - 10:25:00 pm PDT
Email this story Printer friendly version By TOM GREENE
Staff writer
James Monette lost 'practical use of his hand' when weapon misfired

COEUR d'ALENE -- A Coeur d'Alene man is suing a rifle-making company and Wal-Mart after a gun he bought at the store in Post Falls allegedly exploded, permanently injuring his hand.

James Monette bought the Mossberg 100 ATR 30-06 Springfield hunting rifle as a Christmas present for his son in 2005, according to court documents.

While elk hunting in October 2006, Monette was handing the rifle to his son when "it misfired and the bolt action exploded sending parts (including the rifle's bolt) and fragments into Monette's right hand causing severe injuries ..." according to the complaint filed in district court Oct. 21.

"It cost him the practical use of his hand. He can use the hand, but he can't grip and he can't write," said James Siebe, Monette's attorney.

The complaint was filed against the Mossberg Corp. and its subsidiaries, Wal-Mart and the bullet manufacturer Remington Arms Company. A Wal-Mart representative said Friday the company had no comment at the time since its legal counsel has not had a chance to review the case. Joe Bartozzi, general counsel for Mossberg Corp., did not return phone calls.

The bullet manufacturer Remington Arms Company was named as a defendant in the lawsuit "in the event that any or all other named defendants claim that the ammunition was defective," according to court documents.

Siebe said he is also working with two other men in two other states who had similar issues with rifles manufactured by Mossberg.

"One guy had his face blown off and with the other guy it nearly severed his hand," Siebe said.

The lawsuit is asking for a judgment in excess of $10,000. Siebe said the final amount is expected to be "substantially more" than $10,000.


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most likely due to consumer misuse.

While elk hunting in October 2006, Monette was handing the rifle to his son when "it misfired and the bolt action exploded "

Safes like unsafe gun handling to me.

From what I've seen, we can speculate the hell out of this, and turn it into a 30 page condemnation of Christians, if we just give it a chance.

Not the first time one of these rifles have come apart.

til later

For the attorney's on the board, in what conceivable way is Walmart culpable? Are they expected to test each product they sell or just a handy, deep pocketed target?

Here's a link to a review on another forum. It isn't a bad review, but it does mention the "floating" locking lugs, held by a pin, a design used by several manufacturers.

Mossberg ATR

Apparently, one of the things that can go wrong with this design is the pin can break, and there is no indication to the user that the lugs didn't rotate and lock the bolt to the action.

Perhaps Mossberg isn't using the same quality parts as Savage, if their version has trouble. (?)

Anyway, if this was the mode of failure, it can destroy the action without incorrect ammo or operator error.

Personally, I like the old Winchester Model 70, but I understand it is expensive to manufacture.

I used to have a raptor arms rifle,which the mossberg atr is a direct copy of,in fact,mossberg must have bought the machinery and tooling when raptor arms folded.
Mine was beset with problems,from very poor bedding in the stock,to poor design ,or at least poor execution of design,to the scope base had to be shimmed .050 on one end to let the rings line up.I ended up selling it for half of what i paid for it,and was glad to be rid of it.

IMO, it would take some real strong and deliberate torque on the bolt handle to break the pin. I looked at one of these, and the pin seems substantial. Granted, defects in Material happen...

I've read that the new Marlin XL-7 has a pinned in bolt head,too, but with a key and slot for positive rotation even if the pin was missing.

Still waiting to see one, though.

Bruce

Sounds like either a design or manufacturing defect to me or a case of careless handling. Thsi then would be Mossberg's issue, not the retailer (WalMart) or the ammunition manufacturer (Remington). I assume that there are some rounds of ammo left that can be tested for pressure or defects, and the retailer is certainly not to blame (they have to assume that all goods are manufacturer tested). That leaves Mossberg and its liabilty insurers.

Who knows what happened. But even careless handling would not caurse an explosion. Maybe the firing pin broke or the sear was not fully engaged, OR --

maybe there was no "explosion", but rather in handling the gun to the son, the trigger was pulled and his hand was in front of the muzzle.

We'll just have to wait until the evidence is presented.

Don't forget the barrel full of mud. If it is a defect in design, Mossberg should back it up. I doubt Remington sent out a bunch of stuff that was that overloaded or there would have been other incidents. As for Wal'Mart, "deep pockets". Next someone will be saying their Wally quit selling guns.

I would like to see a more detailed story on this. MSM has the tendency to misquote everything, but gun stories in particular.

If he was simply "handing the rifle to his son" there's no reason that it should have "blown up."

Safety should have been on. Fingers away from trigger. Ammo doesn't explode by itself. Must be one of those "evil black guns." They have a mind of their own.

When this controversy was all said and done...

What happened? Did mossberg pay up? Did they recall rifles? Were they vindicated?

You hit the nail on the head...

Why the [bleep] is he suing Wallmart. Sounds like Bambam is on his defense team.

Sue the guns shops too....

Is this from the same family as the Stevens bolt action rifle currently being marketed guys? I'm looking for an entry level rifle for my daughter, but I've heard a few too many stories about these guns to feel comfortable buying one of them.

Was he really using remington ammo or just using remington head stamp brass to reload and over loaded it? At this point based on the article the whole thing smells like week old fish. tom

Jeff,

You may want to look into a Savage for a gun in that price range on a new gun. Or maybe used?

Stick with the Remington 700 action and be done with it. Law suits like this are always money orentiated regardless

No. Stevens=Savage.

Of course you realize Remington went through something similar with their safeties a few years back.

A free tip. go and delete everything you have ever posted negative about that rifle, or should something happen to the new owner, trust me, you will be named in the paperwork.
An attorney would say you knew of its problems and knowingly passed that on.
do it today-

You sue everyone in the chain. You sue Wal-Mart because as sure as you don't Mossberg will claim that Wal-Mart did something to make the rifle defective and if they jury believes it and you haven't brought in Wal-Mart, then they'll you're out of luck. The same thing with the ammunition. As sure as you don't include them in the suit, Mossberg will say that the ammunition was bad and if Remington hasn't been brought into the suit, then you will be out of luck if the jury buys it.

This way, you bring everyone in from the beginning and put all the cards out on the table. Discovery will be fully inclusive from the start and Mossberg won't be able to argue something that didn't happen. Put everything out there and let a jury decide who was at fault.

Every time I see a suit like that I think increase in gun prices and reduction in number of places to buy one.

Don't blame the guy who had his hand blown off, blame the company turning out the defective product.

Products liability litigation plays an important role in product safety in the United States. If Mossberg cut corners or used bad materials, they should pay the price.

As a former WM vendor they test everything. I have been in the test labs in Bentonville. It is such a money racket it is unbelievable. My dealings with the test lab is why I avoid shopping with WM!

What is up with mossberg? I recently bought an 802 plinkster. I really didn't have high expectations but this thing is , well, it is a handyman special. I am torn wether to send it back, or just rebuild the thing myself!The customer service sounded helpful, but just e-mailed me that i can mail the rifle back- at my expense, and please describe exactly what i think they can do to remedy the situation? This rifle has a headspace over .020 over excess!!!! It blows the heads off cases! Every firing pin strike cuts a rim! Now, it is only a 22 and not likely to kill anyone. I have had good experiences with Mossberg in the past. Unfortunately they seem to be concerned only with their shotguns anymore. I am quite shocked that any manufacturer would alow such defects to reach market. I am truly greatfull to have learned this lesson with a rimfire and not a big bore.

Typical behavior in lawsuits involving corporations. Sue everybody even remotely involved. This ain't the first time this has happened. End result will be that Wal-Mart decides they don't make enough off the sale of firearms to justify the exposure so they quit and all the gun owners dog cuss Wal-Mart for it.

It's easy to blame the lawyers but they only argue their case. The blame in all this mess belong on the mindless idiots on the juries that believe that awarding big settlements doesn't cost anybody anything. The more minorities and liberals you can get on a jury the bigger the settlement, especially down South.

One of my best friends is an attorney. He's told me more than once that the courthouse is a great place for settling disputes but one of the poorest places for justice. O.J.'s trial settled a 'dispute' but justice was not served.

It seems Mossberg has something weak in the whole bolt assembly. There still is no explanation of how the thing fired. Is the safety married to the bolt position? Seems like someone forgot about clearing the gun before handing it over to someone else.

Walmart has the most money, the rest are along for the ride. Remember the Remington 870 "weak" barrels from 25 years ago? This is what got us to crossbolt safeties, manuals written on the barrel and all the other crap.

I actually participated in the link that dmazur posted above, and I provided the write up & pics on the trigger mods..

Let's talk a little bit about the Mossberg ATR 100's, and also the 4X4's (same action).. There have been a few documented cases where when the gun is fired, the bolt comes out of the action hitting the shooter in the face.. This is not due to a broken bolt head pin, but something must more sinister... The bolt handles on these guns are not keyed to the bolt. They are simply pressed onto the end of the bolt body, and then silver soldered. If for some reason the bond of the silver solder is broken, or the bolt somehow was NOT silver soldered at the factory, you can put the bolt handle in the DOWN position-which normally would lock up the bolt in the lugs-but in this case, the bolt will still be unlocked, and the bolt handle will deceptively be in the DOWN, and ready to shoot, position... Then, when the shooter pulls the trigger, you guessed it, lights out, and big problems ahead.

I own 3 of these rifles. On all three I have modified the triggers, and physically plug welded the bolt handle to the bolt body. There is NO WAY my bolt handle will ever allow the above scenario to happen. While I feel my rifles are completely safe after the modifications, I will never sell them to anyone else, and won't recommend that anyone else buy one of these guns new either.

If you are presently in the market for a base gun-the Marlin XL7, and XS7 are what I am recommending to people who only have $300 or so. I don't own one yet, but the next rifle I buy will be Marlin for sure.

N0,they are made by Savage.

The seller as well as the manufacturer may be held liable for personal injury caused by defective product. In most jurisdictions is not necessary to prove knowledge of the defect or even negligence to ground liability.

I've got a little trouble with that statement. On most bolt actions when you lift the bolt handle and unlock the lugs the cocking piece rides up the cocking cam to a flat where it stays. The cocking piece remains in that position until the bolt rotates closed, taking it off that flat and resting it on the sear. So if you push down the handle and it doesn't rotate the bolt body the cocking piece should stay on the flat of the cam. If it is not held by the sear the cocking piece sliding down the cam rotates the bolt Just my observation.

can you give us a step by step with pics of this plug weld?

i won one of these at our Ducks unlimited dinner last year.
i shoot a ruger m77 mark II but my 20 year old scope messed up the 1st week of gun season so i got the mossberg out and sighted it in and killed a 9pt first morning with it

i did a search for adjustable trigger for it and found all this info about the bolts ... the gun shoots gr8 sub MOA @ 100
yards but kinda scared of it now

thx
butch

Walmart may open themselves up to more liability than other retailers by routinely accepting different (lower) specs on products they carry, to meet a price point.

i just welded mine .. im not the best welder but i do feel better about shootin the gun now ... im fixin to go get into the stand and hope i get to try the weld out on a big buck

Crosshair, if you study the picture that Gr8hnt posted you can see that the striker piece on the bolt extends down into the action. You can rotate the bolt handle to the down position and the striker piece will remain in the cocked position REGARDLESS of what the bolt head is doing. The gun will fire with the bolt head NOT ENGAGED with the lugs.

What has potentially happened with the people that got hurt is that the bolt handle is pushed into a down, or firing, position, leaving the cocking piece in the bolt on the sear-BUT-the bolt head is not locked up in the lugs because the bolt handle has not turned the bolt body. If you ever get the chance to hold a bolt from a Mossberg, you'll see very clearly what is going on.

Gr8hntr-glad you took the extra precaution to secure your bolt.