My Rem 700 FIRED on Bolt Closing!!

A few years back, myself and two other hunters in our group used Rem 700's, all of which were purchased within a couple years of each other. Two in our group had slam fires. We contacted a two different gunsmith's and were to immediately bring them in. We did, all three of us had the triggers replaced and haven't had a problem since.

If you are going to use your rifle, I certainly hope you hunting solo or shooting with no one else around.

Your trigger should be no less than 3 pounds. This is for safety. Two and a half is too light.

Remington triggers are not the safest in the gun world. I still think they should use the old garand safety system. That was simple yet trustworthy.

Just in case there's someone out there not aware of this. Anytime you adjust *anything* on a trigger there are 4 things that must be tested before the gun is loaded.

1. Close the bolt, engage the safety, pull on the trigger.

2. Release pressure on the trigger after #1 and take the safety off.

3. Close the bolt and with the safety off, hit the butt on a hard floor - as hard as you're willing to hit it!

4. Slam the bolt home, again, as hard as you're willing to do it (with safety off) several times. This is definitely not a normal closing of the bolt, don't pussyfoot this!

Any movement of the firing pin during these tests is a fail requiring adjustment to a safe condition!

Doesn't matter what brand of trigger or firearm manufacturer, do all 4 steps. It's the only way to insure your rifle is safe to hunt with. Once this is completed and you're satisfied with the results, the use of at least blue loctite (personally I use red stud and bearing mount! They are not impossible to adjust at a later time) is a requirement and the use of red nail polish to put a witness mark on the adjustment screws isn't a bad idea either. Reducing the trigger pull weight to below the manufacturers minimum weight is an automatic fail!

Failure to do all four tests can leave you an unsafe rifle, just like failure to follow even one of the 4 safety rules will make you an unsafe shooter. If you're lucky like I was, you might get away with just blowing the back window out of your camper (rifle was pointed straight up on the tailgate, window opened up to about 45 deg.). It will be one hell of a (nasty) surprise when a rifle goes off unintentionally around you. Been there, done that, it's a T shirt no one wants, even if no one gets hurt or killed!
Cheers,
crkckr

OK Fellas, TT called me yesterday and a new trigger is on its way out to me

Yes, this is a trigger issue, plain and simple. This should not have happened. Settings are obviously not right. The problem arises when the pull is set right on the cusp of firing and then a little wear (doesn't take but a pull or two) polishes the sear engagement area. Then What was a safe situation, now becomes a deadly situation. Good to know. I have some Trigger Techs. Look for recalls and/or changes in design where new triggers won't be as light as before.

If you have to slam the bolt shut with a lot of force, you have overlooked a problem with the round. If you get heavy resistance, pull it and check it out back home.

Ingwe said:

Hello Fellas,

This was a one-time occurrence but my Rem 700 fired when I closed the bolt.

The rifle has a Trigger Tech Trigger and the action has been blueprinted. The ONLY thing different about this incident was that I was chambering a round that I didn't FL size down to the base, and I was having difficulty closing the bolt on it. Actually, I had to push the bolt forward very strongly and I was in the process of forcing the bolt down when it went off. It fired the second the bolt was down all the way.

That said, I don't think that it should have fired but I would like to hear what you guys think, and if this is "normal" because of what I did or if there is something wrong with the gun. I have several hundred rounds through the rifle and this has never happened

What do you say??

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Ugh, Not a good feeling is it?

I have never replaced a rem700 trigger. I have adjusted them, all of them. I have purchased 40x rifles with completely gummed and varnished triggers and left my old eighties vintage 700 varmint too long and had it gum up.


That factory trigger design is fallible with oils hardening. It is more prone to it with lighter trigger settings. Fortunately my experiences they were obvious before going bang. Cold day, gummy trigger begat a retarded striker operation. Too slow to ignite a primer. The 40x was an army surplus from cmp. I could cock it, pull the trigger and moments later the striker would ooze forward.


That one I split the trigger pack apart and removed varnish with picks. Hosing with brake cleaner ans lighter fluid wasn't working.

That trigger design must be clean and free of oil. That trigger must be set with sufficient weight preload on the trigger spring. That takes out the randomness of parts engagement. My smith friend said with the set springs in threaded holes going light is bound to be random interference from the spring coils engaging the threaded wall. Makes sense to a point. Again with enough weight it is a minor issue.

All in all if I had it to do all over again I would have gone for more Winchester model 70s back in the day. My main rifles now are two custom .260s on FN SPR actions, and a model 7.

Recognizing the limits of the walker design and working within their design is key to safety.


Someone mentioned going with a garand style. Ha that is one that famously gets double tripped being semi auto and bounced off the shoulder triggering the inadvertent second pull. No issue in a bolt gun though.

Ingwe said:

Hello Fellas,

This was a one-time occurrence but my Rem 700 fired when I closed the bolt.

The rifle has a Trigger Tech Trigger and the action has been blueprinted. The ONLY thing different about this incident was that I was chambering a round that I didn't FL size down to the base, and I was having difficulty closing the bolt on it. Actually, I had to push the bolt forward very strongly and I was in the process of forcing the bolt down when it went off. It fired the second the bolt was down all the way.

That said, I don't think that it should have fired but I would like to hear what you guys think, and if this is "normal" because of what I did or if there is something wrong with the gun. I have several hundred rounds through the rifle and this has never happened

What do you say??

Click to expand...

Where was your trigger finger?

Ingwe said:

OK Fellas, TT called me yesterday and a new trigger is on its way out to me

Click to expand...

Hopefully it works, I've never had a replacement one work any better but there is always a chance!

bigngreen said:

Hopefully it works, I've never had a replacement one work any better but there is always a chance!

Click to expand...

Same here. Just make sure when you install that ol girl, don't be gentle with it trying to induce the same conditions that you had before. Slam the crap out of that bolt, and I always slam the butt on the ground also. Good luck and good luck on your hunt!

****. this thread is a roller coaster. glad they are sending one out. this is 100% the right way to go!

Need to increase sear engagement, this shouldn't happen again, if it does contact the company that made the trigger and have them replace it. After you reset the seat engagement test with the gun empty.

Remington always had this problem!!