The Remington Model 700 Rumour

[Hogpatrol]

7.5 million 700 rifles, there's bound to be a few dogs. Unfortunately for Remington, you only read about those. This thread could morph in to autos, trucks and motorcycles and follow the same path. IMHO, if one wants perfection, a factory built rifle isn't going to fill the bill.

 

[Wheels]

7.5 million 700 rifles, there's bound to be a few dogs. Unfortunately for Remington, you only read about those. This thread could morph in to autos, trucks and motorcycles and follow the same path. IMHO, if one wants perfection, a factory built rifle isn't going to fill the bill.

A former neighbor would never buy a GM vehicle. Evidently he had an M 16 that was pathetic in Vietnam. The M 16 was made by a GM division.

We all have individual experiences, good or bad that shape our decisions. Millions of people love GM products. Some don't.

There, I made the segway from Remington to GM. Or is it Segue.

 

[Forrest Halley]

Forrest,
Don’t be messing around with a 700 in your living room like you do with your Lott. You’re likely to put a hole in your roof!
CEH

What I do in the privacy of my own home...with my Lott...haha!
My current favorite company is an old 9422M. I've just found a load it likes. Consequently I've just been invaded by groundhogs for the fifth time this spring. Let the games resume...

I had a 788 go off when I fell on ice. I think it was my fault as I had adjusted the trigger below where it should have been set.

The 700 is a fine rifle. I am a M70 fan, but there is a reason so many sniper platforms start with a 700 action.

An honest man! How refreshing on this subject.

 

[CoElkHunter]

What I do in the privacy of my own home...with my Lott...haha!
My current favorite company is an old 9422M. I've just found a load it likes. Consequently I've just been invaded by groundhogs for the fifth time this spring. Let the games resume...


An honest man! How refreshing on this subject.

Load up some 350 grainers in the Lott for the groundhogs? Justifiable practice! Open sights of course.

 

[Newboomer]

Every new rifle of mine goes to my gunsmith to have the stock shortened and get a thorough checkup and trigger set at 3 lbs. with no takeup or slack. I don't like light or two stage triggers. Too easy to screw up with cold fingers, hurry a shot, etc. after getting on target and releasing the safety.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Every new rifle of mine goes to my gunsmith to have the stock shortened and get a thorough checkup and trigger set at 3 lbs. with no takeup or slack. I don't like light or two stage triggers. Too easy to screw up with cold fingers, hurry a shot, etc. after getting on target and releasing the safety.

I’m with you on this! I don’t see any practical reason for a lighter than 3 lb. trigger on a big game rifle or a two stage trigger. It’s not a MOA game. It’s put your gloved finger on the trigger in cold weather when your ready to shoot, aim and pull the trigger?

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

Yes!

Many have went off without having the trigger pulled, but only after some nitwit with a bent screwdriver and a broken claw hammer adjusted screws he should have never touched.

THIS!

 

[Ray B]

I don't see how a person could have their finger on the trigger when unloading a bolt action rifle. Seems to me that one hand (generally the left hand) is holding the rile at the balance point while the other hand (generally the right) is holding and working the bolt. try as I might, it is not possible for me to get my finger down on the trigger while my hand is holding the bolt.

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Yes!

Many have went off without having the trigger pulled, but only after some nitwit with a bent screwdriver and a broken claw hammer adjusted screws he should have never touched.

Well said Sir!!

 

[Firebird]

Not a Rem trigger story but a safety one worth re telling if you will forgive me the divergence.
For a couple years I shot competitive trap and skeet. I got fairly good to the point where some of the other shooters had magnificent shotguns and drove vehicles I still can not afford. At the end of a match one day, one the the more affluent shooters went to put his gun in his fancy suv. As he slid the gun into its case laying across the back seat, it went off, blowing a mangled softball sized hole in the opposite door. He looked around at all of us standing open mouthed amazed. Then, ashen faced, he just got into the drivers door and slowly backed out and drove away. I had rust spots on my old truck door about the size of the hole in his. We all laughed about it later when we had time to realize nothing was ruined except that guys feel goods and his door!

 

[Newby]

I'm with Newboomer - I fix 'em up front.

I have two of the lighter pull Timney Calvin Elites set at 1.5lbs on R700 clones and am very happy with them. If I was using them in very cold conditions, I might increase that to 2lbs -maybe, maybe not. The size of my hands is such that I can find the trigger by touching it on the side, rather than the front, which avoids light pull problems.

For me the Calvin Elite is an excellent compromise. No where near the complication of a Jewell and near as good for my use. And lots cheaper.

I have a spare ready for an R700 build sometime.

 

[Rock375]

I own many different brands of rifles and have enjoyed them all. However, over more then 55 years of shooting, I have primarily used the Remington 700 action. Ive hunted on 3 different continents with temperatures ranging below 0 to over 100 degrees and have not had one failure! Remington has been good to me. I also have friends who have done the same with no failures.

 

[Von S.]

In the thousands of Remington that I have sold and/or worked on I have only had safety issue with ones that have been ........what I like to call "fingered" by people who should have kept their fingers somewhere else.

It has been common knowledge that for a long time that a remington 700 trigger can be made unsafe by anyone who attempts to make a super light target trigger out of a unit that is specifically designed as a crisp hunting trigger..... and for that matter any trigger can be made unsafe by people who don't know what they are doing.

Ok... sofar we have a cry out that the triggers stink, a new one of visibly bent barrels, and should this thread go on long enough maybe we'll have a re appearance of the guy who claimed to have personally witness the falling off a many Remington bolt handles, including 3 of his own, maybe a smattering of extractor failures and the one where the fella claims that his was so faulty that the. Primer was completely out of the pocket simply defys any reasonable description.

 

[Hogpatrol]

I'm with Newboomer - I fix 'em up front.

I have two of the lighter pull Timney Calvin Elites set at 1.5lbs on R700 clones and am very happy with them. If I was using them in very cold conditions, I might increase that to 2lbs -maybe, maybe not. The size of my hands is such that I can find the trigger by touching it on the side, rather than the front, which avoids light pull problems.

For me the Calvin Elite is an excellent compromise. No where near the complication of a Jewell and near as good for my use. And lots cheaper.

I have a spare ready for an R700 build sometime.

Just a heads up, Timney no longer makes the Calvin Elite hunting trigger, only the target version with adjustable shoe. The replacement is the Elite Hunter Remington 700.

 

[IvW]

The thing with the supposed going off by themselves. If one is handling the rifle and it "goes off" as some contend, the likelihood is that there was a finger on the trigger while unloading or slamming the bolt closed or whatever. So ask yourself. What is a person, especially a young person going to say when you ask if they had their finger on the trigger just after it "went off"? You guessed it. Not me, uh uh, not me. The gun just went off.
This is a potential drawback of the blind magazine model, the ADL, in that the rounds must be run thru the rifle manually by bolt operation, instead of dropping the floor plate of the BDL. Its all too easy to have that finger where it doesn't belong. I saw my dad do this once while unloading a Rem 700 ADL. Funny thing is, the Rem trigger thing was in the news about that time. When I quizzed him, he admitted it was quite possible he was careless, but the rifle was pointed away from everything and nobody got hurt. That is the point of safe gun handling, if the man made mechanical device fails, and they can and do, RULE ONE keeps everybody safe.
There are many, many unintended discharges every year, but very few are the fault of whatever gun had one.

If you are right handed and busy operating the bolt at the time how do you get your right trigger finger on the trigger at the same time to discharge it? Will take some weard hand actions to accomplish unless it is a real numnut operating the rifle......

 

[sestoppelman]

If you are right handed and busy operating the bolt at the time how do you get your right trigger finger on the trigger at the same time to discharge it? Will take some weard hand actions to accomplish unless it is a real numnut operating the rifle......

Not really. I once did something similar. I was shooting a bolt action Ruger 77 early model in a match once from sitting. That model has the Mauser type floorplate release inside the trigger guard forward. While running rapid sit, one of my fingers hit the mag dump and all my rounds went onto the ground in the middle of the string! If man is involved in the equation, any kind of weird s**t can happen.

 

[Dr Ray]

I can remember the Mohawk rifle w trigger issues.
Next door neighbor had one discharge into the floor.
Unbelievable it was Anzac Day and just near his place there was a parade.
I heard the shot and thought that the police would be there any minute:
Obviously the shot was not heard as the house was closed up and there was enough noise at the parade.

 

[IvW]

Not really. I once did something similar. I was shooting a bolt action Ruger 77 early model in a match once from sitting. That model has the Mauser type floorplate release inside the trigger guard forward. While running rapid sit, one of my fingers hit the mag dump and all my rounds went onto the ground in the middle of the string! If man is involved in the equation, any kind of weird s**t can happen.

Agreed however pulling the trigger with the same hand that is operating the bolt is not one of them......

 

[Major Khan]

I am indeed thankful to all of our forum members , for providing me with their most educational insight on this most ...
Controversial subject .

From what I gather , operator induced tampering contributed to several of the accidental discharges . How ever , there were AT THE VERY LEAST a few cases ...
Where the trigger mechanism of the Remington Model 700 , seemed to be genuinely at fault ( Although these instances are far more rare , than critics if the Remington Model 700 would have you believe ) .

 

[Von S.]

I can remember the Mohawk rifle w trigger issues.
Next door neighbor had one discharge into the floor.
Unbelievable it was Anzac Day and just near his place there was a parade.
I heard the shot and thought that the police would be there any minute:
Obviously the shot was not heard as the house was closed up and there was enough noise at the parade.

Yes Squire Doctor,

Right you are. The 600 & 660 along with the Mohawk 600 after a certain year were called back by remington to remove the bolt lock that lock the bolt when the safety was on.