Remington 700 Trigger "froze" then fired on it's own

N

ndking1126

New member
Hey everyone, I've spent a great deal of time over on the Art of the Rifle and even just posted this same question there, but I think it's probably better placed over here.

When shooting my dad's 1974 Remington 700 ADL in .30-06 yesterday, the trigger just "froze". I couldn't pull it back no matter how hard I pulled. I unchambered the round, looked to make sure it was ok and rechambered it. When I locked the bolt (ie, pushed the bolt handle down) the rifle fired the round off by itsself. This was about the 6-8th shot of the day. All shots before and afterwards (took about 10 more after that) were exactly as would be expected. The trigger was tuned in the past. I cannot get the rifle to duplicate this. I've hit it on the floor, my leg, shook it, etc and the rifle always works as it should. I've locked the bolt easily, with average force and with excessive force, but it always works like it should.

Any ideas? I'm thinking some kind of dust or particle got in the way and wouldn't allow the trigger and/or firing pin to do its thing. Any chance the trigger is wearing out or was adjusted to unsafe settings? I'm going to take the rifle apart today and see if I can find anything that looks out of the norm. Let me know if theres anything I should be looking for! Thanks.
 
I adjusted the trigger on my 700 to almost as light as it would go with still being safe when I got it. Bout 5 or six years ago. Since then I have adjusted it to a lil bit heavier because I had something similar happen to me except it just fired when I closed the bolt. Nothing bad happend and maybe I just brushed the trigger with my pinky or somethin. I dont know, but from then on i've made it habbit to put the safty on right after it goes off unless im unloading on a pack of hogs!!:p:p But I have herd that trsah can get in there and cause this. It only happend to me once and it could have been me.
 
"The trigger was tuned in the past."

"I adjusted the trigger on my 700 to almost as light as it would go with still being safe when I got it..." Or maybe not so safe.

Remington says, and I believe them, that all but a very few of the complaints about the 700 trigger have involved deliberate tampering by the gun owner or by some self-styled "gunsmith."

Those Remington factory triggers are good; there is no reason to adjust, hack, file, grind, hammer or otherwise assault them. If you do, and someone is wounded or killed, it is NOT Remington's fault, it is YOURS. But you bet the anti-gun gang will use it as more evidence of the need to put Remington out of business and ban rifles.

Jim
 
Whoa, Jim! Calm those horses down. :) I didn't say if a qualified gunsmith did it or not. And yes, those triggers are good, but they are capable of being much better than they come out of the factory. Not to mention my father nor I will ever kill someone with our weapons accidentally because we rely on sound safety rules (like never point your weapon at something you aren't willing to destroy and always keep your weapons pointed down range), not a mechanical device that some company told me will work. Truth is I have no idea idea how Remington's safety and triggers work.. so I don't really trust them when it comes to saving someone's life. I do, however, fully trust myself.

I would still be very interested if someone has insight as to what type of problem I may have. Thanks!
 
When's the last time you cleaned the trigger mechanism?

I had problems with a 721 ....... sticky trigger and weak firing pin strikes..... stripped it down and it was packed with crud ...... years of dirt/congealed oil. Cleaned it up and the problems were gone with the crud.
 
You should contact remington. Get a call tag and send it back to the factory.


WildtheywilltakecareofitAlaska ™©2002-2010
 
You should contact remington. Get a call tag and send it back to the factory.
Click to expand...

Why? mehbee they'll clean it for free?

More than likely they will replace the trigger with a Lawyer Proof (8 lbs or so) model......
 
More than likely they will replace the trigger with a Lawyer Proof (8 lbs or so) model......
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Actually, I call them Lawyer or Idiot Proof Models since the only reason they are set so high is because idiots use them and have lawyers get them out of it. :D

The new Xmark triggers can be nicely and professionaly adjusted.

WildnoteverygunownerissafeorageniusAlaska ™©2002-2010
 
Hey there mr. keenan, I never said I blamed remington for my fault, and even said it was probally me that done it. I am very familiar with these trigger and saftys on just about any rifle that I pick up. PPL get on here to figure out there problems and to learn more. If you dont like to adjust the triggers on your fireamrs to suit you then more power to you, but some folks do and dont need you or anybody else to jump down there throat about it. By the way I havnt ever filed or cut or hacked on any trigger, just adjusted the creep and seir.
 
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there was a program on tv lately about remington trigger problems that sound like that. ypu should do some research on the problem to see how it relates to yours. i personally wouldn't trust remington until this problem has been resolved and they don't seem to want to recognize the problem.
 
there was a program on tv lately about remington trigger problems that sound like that.
Click to expand...

I saw a TV program that there are aliens in Area 51:p

WildifitisntonoreillyitisntthetruthAlaska ™©2002-2010
 
I found an article by Jack Belk here on gunsmiths.com. It had a lot of information. Can anyone vouch for Mr Belk's or gunsmiths.com credibility?

Under "FBO and FBC--" he specifically mentions improperly adjusting the sear and dust/debris as possible culprits, both things I suspected. Since he said "easy to reproduce", that lowers the likelihood it's a sear adjustment problem, at least in my mind. My father specifically mentioned a couple of times how it seemed our shooting area was dustier than everyone else's because everytime we shot, dust kicked up everywhere, but we didn't notice that on other people's area. Very interesting. I'll take the rifle apart tomorrow (hopefully.. I said that yesterday :) ) and see what I find.

Ultimately it's my dad's decision cause it's his rifle, but thanks for the different perspectives!
 
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I confess,in my own case,as a high school kid about 1969,I "tuned" my Rem 700 trigger by monkeying with the screws till I figured out what they changed.I got by but I cannot say that trigger had a safe or proper adjustment.Seat of the pants figuring it out is tampering,and likely will not get it right,and likely the trigger's ability to function as designed will be compromised.
It wasn't all that long ago I hesitated to do one for a brother.He found,on a website(may have been 6mm something) a procedure to properly adjust one.
The proper adjustment includes language like "from this point turn this much to set depth of sear engagement"
Proper depth of sear engagement is an entirely different concept than "getting all the creep out"Same with overtravel.spinning the screw and pulling the trigger,then tuning the screw till it breaks plus just a teeny bit,is not right.Some overtravel is a requirement.
I don't think we need 8 lb lawyer triggers,They at least used to be called adjustable triggers.
It is reasonable to say doing it right can be a matter of life and death.Even if you follow good gun handling practice all the time,that rifle may get sold some day,or passed to a grandson.It won't be in your hands.
You might try some websearching for a procedure.Maybe a clean and retune is in order.Maybe a new Timney or Basix or the new Rem trigger is in order.For now,that rifle needs a n "out of service" red tag.
 
Rem Trigger

There is room for dirt/ corrision to get in between the trigger and sear,and cause this malfuntion,to light a trigger ~2lbs,will be hard to hold on this trigger....it's time for a good cleaning,adjustment by a quailified gunsmith...
BTW,this has happened to me on my Sendero also,but I had the trigger adjusted to light<2lbs.

My 2 cents ,Jim
 
For anyone interested, I got the rifle apart today. The trigger area was definitely kind of gunky. Oil had mixed with dirt, so I wiped it down wherever I could. I didn't take the trigger apart or even off the rifle as I've never done that and am not comfortable experiementing on someone else's rifle.

The trigger adjustment had only been to the weight of pull, not the sear or the backtravel. The 2 screws had the same type of "locktite", whatever the factory used, and the weight of pulled looked like clear finger nail polish. Just as a precaution I pushed the screw in, adding in my guess about half a pound of weight to the trigger pull.

We decided to go ahead and give it a trip or two to the range to see if it happens again given that it got a decent cleaning and everything looked kosher. A trip to the smith may be in its future though.

Thanks for your help.
 
Hog Hunter, all I can say is that I hope that arrogant attitude and ignorance of the consequences of tampering with firearms doesn't result in your (or worse, some innocent person's) injury or death.

JIm
 
I just skimmed through, don't mean to repeat. It's probably a little dirty, out of 'tune' or a combination of both. I'd consider just doing a simple replacement with a Timney(#510) I believe. It's not hard to do, no more worries & you will have a more enjoyable trigger, highly likely anyway. JMHO
 
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