Remington 700 AD - Fix?

[Drenalin]

Buddy insisted I shoot his Remington 700 tonight; I’ve been vaguely aware that 700s have some potential issues with slam fires and trigger malfunctions, particularly in crappy weather, but had never seen it myself.

Bluebird day here today. Buddy handed me the rifle, I partially opened the bolt to see if there was a round chambered (there was), closed bolt, got in the scope, finger straight and off the trigger. As I pushed the safety forward, the rifle discharged. I did not squeeze, brush, breath on, or otherwise do anything to influence the trigger. The rifle discharged as the safety disengaged. Surprised the hell out of me. No one was hurt though, thankfully.

Questions:

1. Is this a known issue with 700s, outside of extreme adverse conditions? Trigger has not been lightened or otherwise worked on, at least in the 6+ years my buddy has had it. As far as we know, this is the first time it’s happened with this rifle.
2. How do I fix it? I’m imagining breaking the whole thing down, cleaning with brake cleaner and reassembling. Is that the way, or a waste of time?
3. Would an aftermarket trigger assembly be any better (safer) than factory?

I agreed to take the rifle home with me and look into it; frankly I didn’t want it riding around in his truck until the incident was forgotten about and then have it happen again in someone else’s hands. If it makes a difference, this rifle lives in a truck or on a tractor for groundhog control. It’s dusty, to say the least.

 

[EastHumboldt]

I have a 1963 model 700 that slam fired on me twice. It wasn’t adverse conditions at all. I replaced the trigger with a Timney. I’m not a trigger expert, but the Internet says they are safer. It is certainly a better trigger than the original, and I find it easier to shoot now.

Trigger replacement was pretty straightforward and simple. Only special tools I needed was a set of drift punches.

 

[Formidilosus]

Buddy insisted I shoot his Remington 700 tonight; I’ve been vaguely aware that 700s have some potential issues with slam fires and trigger malfunctions, particularly in crappy weather, but had never seen it myself.

Bluebird day here today. Buddy handed me the rifle, I partially opened the bolt to see if there was a round chambered (there was), closed bolt, got in the scope, finger straight and off the trigger. As I pushed the safety forward, the rifle discharged. I did not squeeze, brush, breath on, or otherwise do anything to influence the trigger. The rifle discharged as the safety disengaged. Surprised the hell out of me. No one was hurt though, thankfully.

Questions:

1. Is this a known issue with 700s, outside of extreme adverse conditions? Trigger has not been lightened or otherwise worked on, at least in the 6+ years my buddy has had it. As far as we know, this is the first time it’s happened with this rifle.

Yes, it is a na issue with all R700 triggers. Some are better than others.

1. How do I fix it? I’m imagining breaking the whole thing down, cleaning with brake cleaner and reassembling. Is that the way, or a waste of time?

It’s just going to happen again- might be next week, might be next decade. If insisting that the gun is is going to be used, the options- in order of best to worst; get a Geissele Super 700 trigger and use it in two stage mode. Get an Extreme Shooting products MK22 trigger. Get a Tubb t7 trigger. After that iss probably a Bix N Andy TacSport Two stage, then a Timney, then a Trigger Tech.

1. Would an aftermarket trigger assembly be any better (safer) than factory?

Yes, though the problem is inherent to the R700 trigger mech- it will always have less margin of error than better trigger designs.

The ones above, in order.