To start out I have no ball in this game. I present what I learned from reading the book:
"UnSafe by Design: Forensic Gunsmithing and Firearms" by Jack Belk
And by making an engineering judgement as to the veracity of what is presented there.
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Remington started offering the Model 700 some 60 years ago and make derivatives of it today. Included in the vast majority of these guns is a trigger assembly designed, in the main, by Mike Walker (recently deceased at 101), an engineer and, in the day, a bench rest shooter. For reasons not really known today the trigger is unconventional in design.
The trigger system has a sear with a pivot at the front of the trigger box that houses all of the trigger system. When the gun is cocked a part of the firing pin assembly pushes down on the sear in an attempt to override it. To keep that from happening the trigger piece itself has a leg that props the sear up, holding the gun cocked. The the trigger is not a simple one piece part but has a "connector" on its front edge for virtually the whole height of the trigger box. The connector is a U shaped piece of hardened sheet metal loosely attach (actually floating) on the front face of the trigger. The top part of the U hooks over the top of the trigger piece and becomes the place where the sear engages to keep the gun cocked. The engagement of the sear and connector edge is about 0.020 inches. The bottom of the U piece wraps around a cut in the trigger piece to stabilize the connector on the trigger front face. The connector floats on the trigger piece with the trigger pull level spring driving or holding it to the trigger piece. When the sear falls it pushes the connector off the face of the trigger piece.
In operation once the bolt handle is rolled over to the closed position the firing pin assembly engages the sear and the firing pin is held to the rear by the sear which is propped up by the trigger/connector. When the trigger is pulled, the trigger moves forward so as to reduce the engagement of the sear/connector to zero, releasing the sear to move downward out of the way of the firing pin assembly. Once the sear has fall en off the trigger/connector, the loose connector moves forward off the face of the trigger driven by the falling sear, out of contact with the face of the trigger piece. It is guided by the legs of the U. When the trigger piece is released from the shooter's finger, the trigger piece moves forward to recapture the connector to its face. This connector action was supposed to reduce lock time (??) and make the trigger feel crisper. In general, it works as advertised until…..
If dirt or debris fall into the space between the connect and the trigger piece then over time the sear/connector engagement is reduced. That makes the effort to get the gun to fire become continuously reduced by the building debris to the point where the sear/connect engagement may not be able to hold the sear from releasing the firing pin assembly. This may mean a no-cock situation or the gun firing as the bolt is closing. Such a unwanted firing is dangerous and could seriously hurt someone or even kill them. It could be the shooter or an innocent by-stander. There is also the chance that just touching the gun would be enough to set it off. Or taking the safety off may allow the gun to fire.
In addition there is one documented case of the over travel adjustment screw which pokes through the floating connector dragging on the side of the clearance hole for that adjustment screw and holding the connector off the face of the trigger and reducing the sear engagement randomly.
Just conjecture you say? Watch this documentary:
"Remington Under Fire: A CNBC Investigation,"
It turns out that many lawsuits have been filed over this safety issue. Remington settles them if the lawsuits are indeed their trigger design fault, but all evidence and information is sealed by the courts as part of the settlement. There are records of thousands of these inappropriate firings and casualties and killings. Remington will not admit in public to a design fault, in my opinion, because to fix the millions of rifles using this trigger from over 60 years of production would bankrupt them. Mike Walker, in the early days, many decades ago offered a cheap fix but Remington management chose not to make the changes, maybe for the bankruptcy reason (??). Along the way Remington has made minor changes but never eliminated the connector, the heart of the problem.
So the results maybe a firing of the gun without the trigger being pulled, or at bolt closure, or at removal of the safety, or from a minor bump. What can you do about it?
Supposedly Remington is offering an updated trigger to anyone requesting it (It is NOT a recall). I am not privy to what the changes are so I can not recommend that path. You can install a drop in after market trigger like a Timney or anyone of the many offered. Are they better? Probably, if well made of adequate material and have no connector like design. Which one…I don't know. Or you can get the JARD update kit that replaces the sear and the trigger with new parts without a connector. But a warning: I know nothing of the quality of the the JARD trigger parts and the instruction for assembly are very weak with no pictures and the adjustment instructions are even weaker. The latter fact is important because the port in the trigger box that allowed you to see the sear engagement no longer will line up with the new trigger/sear engagement point. That critical adjustment has to be done blind with the only instruction being to have enough engagement by feel.
Now, you can choose to believe all of this of your favorite hunting rifle or not. I present my interpretation of the listed book and TV documentary as a warning of a possible life threatening safety issue. Believe it and do something about it or kiss it off. I don't care. Just don't attack me for a reproduction of the facts, as I know them to be, as presented in the above sources. Read the book and watch the documentary and judge for yourself.
BE SAFE !
LDBennett
"UnSafe by Design: Forensic Gunsmithing and Firearms" by Jack Belk
And by making an engineering judgement as to the veracity of what is presented there.
.................................................................................................................................................................
Remington started offering the Model 700 some 60 years ago and make derivatives of it today. Included in the vast majority of these guns is a trigger assembly designed, in the main, by Mike Walker (recently deceased at 101), an engineer and, in the day, a bench rest shooter. For reasons not really known today the trigger is unconventional in design.
The trigger system has a sear with a pivot at the front of the trigger box that houses all of the trigger system. When the gun is cocked a part of the firing pin assembly pushes down on the sear in an attempt to override it. To keep that from happening the trigger piece itself has a leg that props the sear up, holding the gun cocked. The the trigger is not a simple one piece part but has a "connector" on its front edge for virtually the whole height of the trigger box. The connector is a U shaped piece of hardened sheet metal loosely attach (actually floating) on the front face of the trigger. The top part of the U hooks over the top of the trigger piece and becomes the place where the sear engages to keep the gun cocked. The engagement of the sear and connector edge is about 0.020 inches. The bottom of the U piece wraps around a cut in the trigger piece to stabilize the connector on the trigger front face. The connector floats on the trigger piece with the trigger pull level spring driving or holding it to the trigger piece. When the sear falls it pushes the connector off the face of the trigger piece.
In operation once the bolt handle is rolled over to the closed position the firing pin assembly engages the sear and the firing pin is held to the rear by the sear which is propped up by the trigger/connector. When the trigger is pulled, the trigger moves forward so as to reduce the engagement of the sear/connector to zero, releasing the sear to move downward out of the way of the firing pin assembly. Once the sear has fall en off the trigger/connector, the loose connector moves forward off the face of the trigger driven by the falling sear, out of contact with the face of the trigger piece. It is guided by the legs of the U. When the trigger piece is released from the shooter's finger, the trigger piece moves forward to recapture the connector to its face. This connector action was supposed to reduce lock time (??) and make the trigger feel crisper. In general, it works as advertised until…..
If dirt or debris fall into the space between the connect and the trigger piece then over time the sear/connector engagement is reduced. That makes the effort to get the gun to fire become continuously reduced by the building debris to the point where the sear/connect engagement may not be able to hold the sear from releasing the firing pin assembly. This may mean a no-cock situation or the gun firing as the bolt is closing. Such a unwanted firing is dangerous and could seriously hurt someone or even kill them. It could be the shooter or an innocent by-stander. There is also the chance that just touching the gun would be enough to set it off. Or taking the safety off may allow the gun to fire.
In addition there is one documented case of the over travel adjustment screw which pokes through the floating connector dragging on the side of the clearance hole for that adjustment screw and holding the connector off the face of the trigger and reducing the sear engagement randomly.
Just conjecture you say? Watch this documentary:
"Remington Under Fire: A CNBC Investigation,"
It turns out that many lawsuits have been filed over this safety issue. Remington settles them if the lawsuits are indeed their trigger design fault, but all evidence and information is sealed by the courts as part of the settlement. There are records of thousands of these inappropriate firings and casualties and killings. Remington will not admit in public to a design fault, in my opinion, because to fix the millions of rifles using this trigger from over 60 years of production would bankrupt them. Mike Walker, in the early days, many decades ago offered a cheap fix but Remington management chose not to make the changes, maybe for the bankruptcy reason (??). Along the way Remington has made minor changes but never eliminated the connector, the heart of the problem.
So the results maybe a firing of the gun without the trigger being pulled, or at bolt closure, or at removal of the safety, or from a minor bump. What can you do about it?
Supposedly Remington is offering an updated trigger to anyone requesting it (It is NOT a recall). I am not privy to what the changes are so I can not recommend that path. You can install a drop in after market trigger like a Timney or anyone of the many offered. Are they better? Probably, if well made of adequate material and have no connector like design. Which one…I don't know. Or you can get the JARD update kit that replaces the sear and the trigger with new parts without a connector. But a warning: I know nothing of the quality of the the JARD trigger parts and the instruction for assembly are very weak with no pictures and the adjustment instructions are even weaker. The latter fact is important because the port in the trigger box that allowed you to see the sear engagement no longer will line up with the new trigger/sear engagement point. That critical adjustment has to be done blind with the only instruction being to have enough engagement by feel.
Now, you can choose to believe all of this of your favorite hunting rifle or not. I present my interpretation of the listed book and TV documentary as a warning of a possible life threatening safety issue. Believe it and do something about it or kiss it off. I don't care. Just don't attack me for a reproduction of the facts, as I know them to be, as presented in the above sources. Read the book and watch the documentary and judge for yourself.
BE SAFE !
LDBennett