Remington 700 in 30-06

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Prof Young

New member
Am looking at used Rem 700 in 30-06 with nice scope. Gun seems to be in decent condition. However, am recalling articles and internet posts about the 700 having accidental discharge issues, especially when safety is released. Will do some research, but thought I'd see what you all know about this.
Talk to me please.
Life is good.
Prof Young
 
A continuing controversy. I have an early 700 that I got from my father (7 Mag), and it did exactly that. However, it was apparent that the previous owner had messed with the trigger. I tried to work it, but the tiny screws were frozen. What to do? Send Timney $100+, push out a couple pins, and drop in their trigger. I have, or had, 3 other 700s that did not have this problem. Buy it, see how it does without a round chambered, and, if necessary, replace the trigger. They are fine rifles.
 
Thanks - - -

Thanks Gentlemen. I'll have to get the serial number and see when it was made. This would be a range rifle for the most part. I'm interested because I have an m1 Garand now and the 30-06 cartridge has become part of my world.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
If the trigger issue worries you, there are excellent aftermarket triggers available. Timney, RifleBasix, and Jewell come readily to mind.
 
If the trigger issue worries you, there are excellent aftermarket triggers available. Timney, RifleBasix, and Jewell come readily to mind.
Click to expand...

Maybe someone that has done the trigger swap can chime in here. I have NOT done it (don't see the need) but I've looked at it and it seems pretty straight forward.
 
Every Remington bolt action except the 788 made between 1946 and October 2006 has trigger that is a flawed design. Every single one of them will discharge when the safety is moved to the fire position if the trigger connector just happens to line up in the wrong spot with no trigger pull.

This is the only trigger in the history of firearms to use a trigger connector. The engineer who designed the gun discovered the flaw in 1946 and designed a new trigger without the use of a connector just like every one else used. Remington management declined to make the change.

Granted the odds of that happening are slim, but if you keep the gun long enough it will eventually happen. My 1974 production rifle did it the 1st time at some point in the 1990's.

Fortunately for me it happened when the gun was unloaded. I pulled the gun from the safe and moved the safety to the fire position in order to open the bolt and verify the gun was unloaded. Remington's made prior to 1982 would lock the bolt down when on "SAFE" and you had to move the gun to "FIRE" in order to open the bolt.

It did it 2-3 times in a row and didn't do it again for over 20 years. It did the same thing, unloaded, about 5 years ago. After the 2nd incident I replaced the trigger with a Timney.

Remington adopted the alternate design drawn up in 1946 in October of 2006. BUT.... Some of the rifles built from 2007-2014 somehow got adhesive dripped into the trigger housing during assembly causing issues. There were only a handful of guns that had this happen, but they did a recall on those guns.

The older guns were only recently recalled due to a class action lawsuit. If you buy, or own an older gun and want the trigger replaced Remington will do it for you. But installing an aftermarket trigger isn't hard and doesn't cost much more than shipping the gun to Remington. That is what I'd advise.

When buying an older gun with the original trigger I'd factor in the cost of a new trigger when haggling over price.
 
keep it cleaned and adjusted right, and leave the 4 oz triggers to the bench rest crowd. when a shooter has a problem with a AD, the trigger gets the blame if it caused it or not and remington gets sued because of their deep pockets, as we all know dumb shooters never cause AD,s.
 
Prof if you haven't read it yet there is a rifle recall post in the general rifle section that may be helpful.
 
Oh, merely my opinion. Hahah Just trying to stir the pot. Not looking to spend the guys money for him.

I have not had great luck in the past with Remington's extractors. Have gone through the process of updating them with Sako-style extractors. Just that dinky little finger clicking over the rim doesn't reassure me that it will pull that casing out of the chamber if something goes awry.

Whereas that CRF claw.... YANK!! I just like the CRF, how it grabs the rim right out of the magazine, holds on for dear life, and I just like that better.

TIFWIW, but just my opinion. Do with that information what you will.
 
I have 5 700s and 1 788. Replaced all triggers with Timney's and have been delighted. As far as extractors, I've owned 700s since the 70s and haven't had an issue. I had one in 30-06 and one in 7mm RM back then, loading max loads without incident.
 
Contemplated trying to find one of those Zastava Remington 798’s. They looked really neat, but I have heard some really rough reviews on them.
 
The Winchester receiver is over twice as stiff as the Remington.

And it doesn't twist loose from epoxy bedding like 700's do with cartridges larger than the 260 Remington.
 
I’ve got 2 REM 700s - vintage 1966 and 1979. Both had the Walker triggers made the basis of the class action suit.

However, I replaced both of them with Timney triggers. These triggers are excellent and no worries about accidental discharges!

Bayou
 
"This is the only trigger in the history of firearms to use a trigger connector. The engineer who designed the gun discovered the flaw in 1946 and designed a new trigger without the use of a connector just like every one else used. Remington management declined to make the change."

I read where if that change in the trigger had been accepted it would have cost Remington five cents more than the original trigger. IIRC, there have been something like seven million Remingtons made. (Not sure if that includes the 721/722 or just the m700s as they all used that trigger) Using the seven million figure times five cents comes out to about $350,000. I sometimes wonder if Remington regretted the decision to not change the trigger?
Paul B.
 
Big green has quite a lot to regret. Little things that could have saved them huge cash. Like this trigger thing, and a few others I’ve read about over the years. They are affordable good rifles, for sure, don’t get me wrong. Just not for me.
 
If the cost of the rifle plus a new trigger isn't a really good deal, then I have to agree with this:
"Save the money and get a Win70. Either a pre-64 or the newer "Classic" with CRF.
Just my two cents... you'll be MUCH happier."
 
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