remington 700, faulty safety

B

bullet44

New member
Has anyone heard about this, the "great" Dan
Rather did a story on this tonight. Some time back
a mother takes her 700 off safe position, it fires
killing her son, now parents are saying 700
unsafe.Father says this was not a gun handling
safety issue,Wow, Of course the idea is put guns
under same government safety controls as other
items.
Has anyone on this board seen this happen with
a 700.?
 
3rd rule of firearm safety...never point it at anything you aren't WILLING to destroy.

We, the gun owners of America, should drag that woman out of her house and beat her in the street.

Did I say that? I'm so bad.
 
i actually did a test on this (rifle is unloaded). if you take it off safety rifle will not fire at all. now, here's the variation that i did, if you pull and hold the trigger, and then take it off the safety, the rifle WILL fire. so, from watching that Dan Rather crap, i do strongly believe that when the woman took the safety off, she had her finger in the trigger and was holding it down. this is just base on the story that she was telling Dan R. i think she mentioned something like she was cleaning her rifle or wiping her rifle because she had it in her lap. i could be wrong, but this is just purely my humble opinion.

she definitely needs lesson in safe gun handling.
 
This is Commrade Rather's baby, he did a report on this about 8 months ago. You know what? He also did one about 6-8 years ago as well.


It's obviously such an AWFUL flawwed design because people are dying from these things! Us gun owners just won't listen to reason, nevermind that when the accident happened somebody was likely breaking a fundamental rule of safety.


Yep, to these people the number one rule is "always trust your safety." Hmm, seems to me I was raised to believe just the opposite so that way if said mechanical device should happen to fail there will be less risk of an injury or accident.


That said, how many of us are also familiar with the concept of a "liability trigger." God forbid Remington should change out their triggers so that they aren't the little gems most of us cherish so greatly, ofcourse tuning a factory Remington trigger is best left to those who understand the concept or actually know what they are doing. But with all of the FREAKIN Remington 700s that are out there across America and in the hands of shooters, this *problem* isn't quite as bad as Commrade Rather portrays it to be. The percentage of Rem 700s out there that drop the firing pin when the safety is released is likely very small. In my opinion it's a small to non-problem. Usually the situation described in the Rather report is something that happens to a trigger that has been improperly tuned or has been improperly cared for, direct from the factory though it's pretty much not an issue as they have been adjusted for a fair amount of takeup and pull weight.



So yet again I'm wishing Rather would just shut his yap.



Anyone want to ponder just how much it would cost Remington to recall the Remington 700s that have been produced so that way a new trigger/safety could be installed? Hmmmm, maybe that's their agenda in the first place? What a devious way to rid America of one of the *evil* gun manufacturers, force them to spend millions replacing hyped up defective products.



I think I might be a little touchy about it though since I'm such an avid lover of the Rem 700.
 
Hi, guys,

The issue is being used by the anti-gun gangsters (this is about the third TV "expose"), but in fact there is a problem. A safety has to be made so that (barring tampering) if the safety is put on and the trigger pulled and released, the gun will not fire when the safety is released. This is referred to as trigger or sear reset.

The Remington safety both locks the sear and raises it to cam back the cocking piece, so the trigger can reset. But the camming action is small and with wear can be reduced to the point where the connector/sear does not reset if the trigger is pulled with the safety on. If that is done, only the safety keeps the firing pin cocked, and when it is released, the gun fires without the trigger being touched.

This does not mean the gun handler is blameless; anyone handling any dangerous instrument is ultimately responsible for its misuse. I am afraid, though, that Remington has a problem which will get worse as those guns show more wear. Fortunately, most sporting rifles are not used a lot, which may be the only thing which has prevented more accidents of the sort.

Jim
 
1. Never point a gun at something you don't intend to shoot.

2. A safety is a mechanical device and should never take the place of proper gun handling.

3. Dan will tell you the frequency if you beat him around the head and shoulders with a club!:D

Seriously though, it sounds like another underhanded attempt to
take away our firearms. I have a 700 in .30-06 and have never had a problem. I also never point it at my kids. HHmmmmm!!!!!
 
Hi, uglygun,

Oddly enough, it is some people who don't "trust the safety" who sort of cause the problem. Those are the folks who put the safety on and then pull the trigger (hard, sometimes a dozen times) just to make sure the safety works. If the condition I described above is present, the gun will fire when the safety is taken off.

Jim
 
I didn't watch any of the reports but I am wondering did any of the guns have a trigger job done by Bubba on the kitchen table with a dremel tool?
I see examples of home gunsmithing work every day and some of it is down right scary.
 
Jim Keenan, you are exactly right and I agree with you whole heartedly. If a trigger is prone to this sort of "accident" or defect then the last thing you want to do is in effect prestage the trigger by pulling on it with the safety engaged.




This isn't the first time there has been a problem with a Remington rifle's safety, the 721s had a bit of a problem as well if I correctly recall. Couldn't engage the safety unless you opened the bolt or something like that, disengaged fine but setting it was a bit more of a hassle then neccesary.




personally, I don't do what you describe where a person sets the safety and then tests it by pulling the trigger. When I say that I don't want to "trust" the safety, I should have been more clear and stated that I want my gun handling to be so spotless that I don't want to have to rely on the safety for any reason and that it's only there as a precautionary device and as a backup to my gun handling.



but with regards to what you said, I agree with you 100%


Most of the rifles if left tuned as they came from the rifle won't reach this sort of condition though for a VERY long time. Tune the trigger down though and you'll likely shorten that period of time, improperly adjust the trigger and you could take it directly to that condition.



I've known about this Remington trigger/safety issue now for about 3-4 years minimum so I rarely put myself into a situation where it would tax that mechanism, I won't deliberately do anything that would be considered compromising either. The Remington 700 issue has made me question the safeties of other firearms as well, as a result of my experience with the 700 has more or less heightened my awareness level when handling firearms and I take it as a blessing.
Whatever firearm I own I make a point of knowing the "ins&outs" of the rifle, a good majority of us on the forums make it our job to consume this sort of knowledge but I just wish everybody who took the responsibility to own a firearm would make it their job as well.
 
my toilet flushed itself a little while ago, i was just sitting on it.. i didnt get near the handle, i promise! its weird how the laws of physics cease to exist at certain times causing accidents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top