Remington 700P trigger trouble

RERICK

Moderator
I have a Rem 700P in 223.I always thought that the trigger was a little on the heavy side.So I took it to the place that I bought it at who also is a gunsmith to have it lightened up and also to get a trigger job.It is smoother but it still was on the heavy side,When I told him this he seemed reluctant to adjust it further but said he would.Well its still heavy though a little lighter but its funny cause it only seems that way when you have a round chambered.Am I nuts or is there more to it.And how big a deal is it to adjust because I think I just may have to do it myself if I want it done. :eek:
 
Rem 700 trigger

Dear Sir:
Yes, the 700 trigger can be disassembled, stoned, and adjusted to possibly 2# but I DO NOT think that is wise! You're better off with a 4# trigger to be safe - and a 4# trigger is just as easy to pull correctly as a 2#!
Personally I like the Mauser two-stage pull slicked up some - you can correctly get a good crisp pull this way and some of mine are in the 4# range.
There is a reason why the gunsmith didn't want to lighten it more - he obviously knows his business.
I just testified as an expert witness in such a situation where the trigger was so light that the safety didn't function and the boy blew his foot off!
Harry B.
 
Harry,
I'm have no intention of making it so light that if you sneeze at it it will go off i'm just looking for a slightly lighter pull is all.I'm just looking for a little help is all.But thanks for your input as I accept all the help I can get.
 
rem 700 trigger

i have 4 rem 700s and they are all at 1.75#.and completely safe. they are some of the best triggers on the market today in my op.
 
have two remington 700 p's and had both factory triggers adjusted to 2.5 and 3 with no problems and my gunsmith cleaned up the slop so I have a really nice break. Later I upgraded to JARD and jewell triggers, but the factory ones can be adjusted really nicely by a competent gunsmith. my personal preference on weight is around 2.5 pounds, lighter if you are doing any target/extreme accuracy shooting.
 
In my humble, but experienced opinion, one doesn't need to be a gunsmith, in order to learn to turn three screws and adjust a Remington 700 trigger.
 
It's not difficult.

I actually bought a Shilen replacement trigger for my 700P, but when I cleaned, lubed, and adjusted the factory Remington trigger, it performed so nicely I ended up selling the Shilen trigger to a fellow TFL member. ;)
 
Nope

You guys can all tell everyone how well your trigger does and laugh at Harry or myself or anyone else that tries to keep everyone safe if you want too, but the fact remains there are milllions of gun owners and some of them are not very handy with tools and some of them read what you type here on the net and go adjust their trigger to be just like yours and accidents happen all the time. Whew, sorry for the long sentence but it needs to be said.

Just because you like to shoot with a light trigger pull doesn't make you an expert on the subject nor does it mean that you are right on it either. Any rifle not used primarily in a situation where the gun is pointed in a safe direction at all times such as varmint hunting from either a proned position or from a bench or BR style shooting from the bench has no business having a light trigger pull. You can argue that point until you are blue in the face saying that you have done it for years and never had an accident, but the fact remains that hundreds happen every year in the woods because of this very reason. Just because you consider yourself to be Daniel Boone or Davy Crocket doesn't mean that you are immune from it either and I hope that you don't have to find out the hard way about it.

Please get over yourselves on this subject. I have more rifles than most folks need and several of them are bench style rifles with light trigger pulls because I only load them at the bench pointed down range on a safe firing line. I would never stalk hunt or stand hunt with either of them simply because some of them will go off without much notice because they break as clean and smoothly as they do and they are as light as they are. I guess none of you have ever had someone walk up on you while deer hunting and what you thought was going to be a shooting situation quickly turn into a situation where someone cold have gotten hurt very easily, have you? It happens all across the country each year. I have personally seen the results of an accidental shooting in the woods and the response of the man that shot the man was, "I never even pulled the trigger", yet the man still lay dead. Simply because you are beyond this happening to yourself doesn't mean that it couldn't happen to someone else.

How many of you have walked through the woods on a cold day while hunting and got your pulse rate up and raised your gun with the scope hairs bouncing on your target? This simply isn't a time for a light trigger pull either. I could go on and on about it, some of you might see the light of day and some of you won't. That's ok simply because even Jesus couldn't reach everyone, but do yourself a favor, listen more with the ears and not with your mouth. Don't you realize that that someone may be reading what you are typing and think that you are correct and have an accident and kill someone simply because he had no idea of exactly how to lower the trigger pull nor was he trained as a woodsman or hunter? Is this something you are going to proudly stand up and say this was your fault when and if it happens? If not, you might ought to think about it some more before you go off on a man who is trying to talk sense to everyone, not to even mention you have no idea of who you are blowing off as the village idiot. I would venture to say that Harry has forgotten more over the years than you have ever known. I would love for you to try to match up with him in a court of law as an expert witness, but then again, maybe in real life you might not have the courage to stand before a court and run your mouth.

I had said I was through with this nonsense, but I cannot sit idly by and listen to ya'll try to make light of a man that is speaking the truth simply because you go around with a light trigger pull and nothing has ever happened to you. I could challenge you to a shooting contest and prove to you that a 4lb trigger pull is all a man needs for hunting, but that most likely wouldn't do any good either I suppose. Be careful out there and I hope you never come back here and have to be honest with us about an accidental shooting that happened to you one day. That would be a terrible event simply because an accident that could have ben prevented occurred. Have a good one and be safe out there.
 
one little qusetion for you

How many of you that are saying Harry and I are crazy are actually trained, meaning gunsmiths or any kind of actual training with guns? Are any of you insured? I bet your insurance salesman would love to hear just how great you are when it comes to handling guns and yourself on an open forum with giving out advise on safe gun handling.
 
I don't laugh at you guys; but I am aware that Remington supplied detailed trigger adjusting instructions for their Remington 700s for years. I'd never suggest that anybody do anything unsafe with a firearm. Carefully and safely adjusting a Remington trigger isn't complicated or dangerous. I guarantee you it isn't rocket science...if it were, the kind of guys who get into gunsmithing and working at gun shops would never be able to learn how to do it. :D Follow instructions. Perform the safety tests. If you don't feel competent to read and follow instructions, get somebody else to do it for you.
 
more

The only problem with what you are saying is "safely". Not everyone that tries it can do it safely the first time, and that goes for gunsmiths as well as jakelegs and the average joe. Most gunsmiths are smarter than the average bear, but there are quite a few that cannot figure out which way is up as well. It doesn't take too much to be able to open the doors and call yourself a gunsmith nor does it take too much for someone to read something on the net and call it the gospell either. All it takes for someone to end up hurt though is a split second in time and this is why all of the factories have gone to the heavy creepy pull. Everyone usually wants to blame someone when they mess up don't they?

Believe me when I say that just because you know how to reduce the pull on a gun safely doesn't make the gun safer. Would any of you recommend to your son to go out hunting with a rifle with a trigger pull around 2lbs for the first hunt of his life? Why not? If it is good enough for his Dad shouldn't it be good enough for him as well? Most of you have been saying that because you have a rifle with a low pull and feel that you are safe that everyone else should be have you not? Please let me know how you feel on this because I really want to know. There may be a whole other business adventure out there for me to get on the net and tell folks exactly how to lower the trigger pull on their rifles and maybe one of the guys that looks up the information on a google search will be the guy hunting right next to you this winter. He may be one of those pencil pushing geeks that never knew anything other than a pencil and he might have use a monkey wrench to adjust his and he may be the guy that is pointing his rifle at you when you walk out of the woods and he might be the guy that gets so excited he wets himself at the very thought of a deer being in his sights...........nah, he could read couldn't he.
 
I agree that not everyone should have a light trigger pull. But for those of us who use their rifles for long range/target shooting, having a light trigger pull with a crisp break is a must. For the average JOE a normal 4-7 lb trigger pull is sufficient especially if they are planning on taking the rifle out into the woods only once a year. For those not wanting to reduce your trigger pull weight you can at least have the trigger stoned and adjusted so that it has a nice two stage or single stage with a crisp "glass like" break. I don't recommend the average JOE to attempt this. Take it to a compentent gunsmith and he can do the job for little cost. Leave the light trigger pulls to the competition/varmint shooters.
 
Jewell trigger

This is an old post and I have since replaced the old trigger with a new Jewell HVR trigger.Those of you who are frustrated with the stock trigger I would suggest the same.I bought it direct from Jewell.I have seen it written that you have to either file away or use a Dremel type of tool to file some of the stock around the safety lever to make it fit.This is something I did not have to do.It was a drop in install and I was all done in about 30 minutes.I then according to the instructions I adjusted it and that was it.They really make a great product.Every pull feels the same and if I ever decide I want to take it into the field I can always adjust it accordingly. The only problem now is I'm gonna want one for every gun I own or will own.:D
 
More on it

Rerick, I hope that you have found what you are looking for and are happy with it. The only question I would have asked you before popping for the new trigger is whether or not you were actually aiming the gun when you were checking or not. If you were just holding the gun by your side and trying the pull very slowly and carefully trying to feel it, this isn't the way to test the pull to begin with and won't yield a proper feel to begin with. The proper way to test for how a trigger feels is with it up against the shoulder in the firing position with your head down against the stock. There a lot of people that come in to try their gun out when I have done a trigger job and most of them want to hold it by their side and slowly try to feel the trigger break. Not only is it not a natural way to pull the trigger, but you will be adding things to it that really aren't there.


You said you are happy with it so that is good because only you need to be happy with your gun. Be safe and good shootin'.
 
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