Trigger Failure

[JLane330]

Not a trigger failure, but I've seen two FTF for others. Both (Rem 700 and CVA Paramount) had to do with the bolt not being COMPLETELY down. I personally hate how the bolt can be lifted on some rifles when in the safe position.

 

[flyinsquirel]

Had my old Savage 3 screw trigger FTF in sub freezing conditons. Worked the bolt and got it working. No issues since doing a good degrease and switching to a dry lube. With that said, that rifle doesn't get wet often.

 

[waitforit]

Last November, whitetail hunting in MN, rain sleet snow mix in dropping temps. My kimber hunter would not fire - I was trying to put a deer out of its misery that my uncle wounded. Firing pin was frozen from the rain.

 

[Packin_packout]

Two sets of issues :
1. Tikka that would not fire when cold...light spring issue...I love tikkas but if you have a problem good luck. My kid kept his cool he must have tried to fire four times on a javelina before it went off. Kid was about to have a fit...he kept on trying to shoot and it would not go...Replaced bolt at beretta store and life is good after that.
2. The scarier one was a rem 700 factory that fired when the safety was taken off. I had taken a buddy to the range and was shooting off the bench. I cleared it...had him get behind the gun, push some rounds into magazine, safety was on, he drove the bolt closed and was getting his face situated when he pushed safety forward. I was sitting on his left watching his eye placement ( he was a new shooter ) his finger was not on the trigger...i was watching and it went boom and spooked us both. He got slammed hard it was a 7mm rem mag. Ended up playing with it at the range for a while and was able to reproduce it twice out of a few hundred times of cycling bolt / safety etc. Promptly swapped out the trigger for a timney.
I can pretty much always tolerate a rifle not firing...I will not tolerate a rifle firing when I do not want it to...

 

[ultraedge]

I had it happen with two different Jewells and one Bix&Andy. I changed over to Trigger Techs and Tubbs T7T and have had no more problems.

 

[eLightfoot]

not me but, my buddy had it happen on his browning Abolt under normal conditions. not cold or anything. trigger was jammbed up some how and would not fire on a hog being bayed up by his dog. Pig ended up running super far and cutting his dog. finally caught back up to it and rifle finally fired after 3 cycles of the bolt.

 

[Wrongside]

My hunting bud's Kimber froze up last fall.-30 temps and blowing snow. We'd been out most of the day, sat down to end the day on a set for predators. He tried to chamber a round, sear wouldn't engage.

 

[SoDaky]

Couple times over the years in sub zero temps coyote hunting.Standard Rems and a Timney.Running m too wet I suspect.

 

[brsnow]

Only once for me, but then I realized there was no round in the chamber

 

[Shooter71]

Kimber montana trigger frozen solid, thawed, frozen. Deer in scope, no boom.

 

[Browninglover1]

I had a pierced primer shooting some factory 6.5 Creed ammo and the on the next shot the rifle fired when I closed the bolt. It happened one more time so I called it quits for the day. I went home and cleaned the trigger, put the rifle back together and it's never had a problem since. The trigger was a Shilen on a 700.

I did have that same rifle freeze up once too but the whole firing control group got wet and then froze. Once it thawed it worked perfectly. I wouldn't have expected any trigger to work in that situation.

 

[snowcamoman]

I haven't, and I'm honestly surprised, particularly by my winter predator rifles. They ride on my back on a snowmachine and they've been literally packed with snow and ice before. My main winter gun has a Jewel in it, but I've also run the stock Tikka's and Rem 700 triggers. I'm religious about running Brake-Kleen into them all, as well as my bolts and spring assembly and then a light coating of Eezox. Not exactly sure what's in that stuff, but it really does seem to work and keep ice, snow, dirt, whatever from causing mechanical problems and it's a super corrosion inhibitor.

 

[elkguide]

While guiding, I had two hunters with rifles that had triggers fail. One on a day that sane people wouldn't have been out in the snow, wind and freezing temperatures. The other on a bright, sunny, 45* day. Both were 700 clones with Jewel triggers.

 

[sram9102]

Mine would be qualified as a failure but it was fun looking back after everything was over with. Built a 9mm ar a while back and was shooting some old rounds that had been given to me by a friend at work. Apparently it was blowing primers out and one got down into the trigger housing and got sort of shredded. Load the next mag, drop the bolt and ride the lightning for 33 rounds. Strip everything down throw the ammo away and went on shooting. Was a fun 2.5/3 seconds.

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[PathFinder]

There is an obvious trend showing itself throughout this thread...I'm glad I was made aware of it before I dumped a bunch of money on a "custom" action and trigger. IMO any rifle that can't handle dust, snow, and ice isn't good for much more than a boat paddle.
I've had it a couple times, but never on game. On a Bergara B14 (R700 clone). Dust got it one day. It freezes up solid if it gets wet and frozen. Only heating it up will unlock it.
My Browning A Bolt locked up once too. Couple cycles of the bolt and a good clean/lube fixed it, but it isn't completely reliable either.

 

[handwerk]

Interesting results, me never...but I use pre 64 M70's, once tuned the best trigger.

 

[Shortschaf]

Any more instances of this after a few years?
Are Triggertechs less prone to freezing? (some have mentioned buying them after having troubles)
Aside from grease-pack, what is the believed root-cause to rem700 issues?

I had never heard of the freezing trigger issue with rem700's until I was browsing the ice/snow comparison test yesterday (posted by Formidilosus a year ago)

 

[robtattoo]

I had a Savage fail on me. One of the pins holding the trigger unit into the action had enough room to slide out of position. Jammed it up solid. That cost me a nice whitetail doe.

 

[6.5x284]

I’ve had it happen on a first year model Tikka T3 in 2010. Extreme cold (-25 or so, about -55 wind chill). Was unable to harvest that deer. I don’t recall if trigger pressed and nothing happened or if trigger wouldn’t press. Left my bolt in my pocket the rest of the hunt and the next time it fired (frozen deer pic attached). Probably actually the firing pin froze I would guess but you asked when we pulled the trigger if it failed to go boom! That week I had many friends in similar shoes with all types of rifles.

Also had a savage trigger freeze up. In thigh deep snow and the gun was in a gun bearer. The rifle buttstock was down in the snow quite a bit and fine snow got in the accusafety thing and froze. I caught it before I had to shoot and used hot breath to break it all free and get it going again. Sold that gun after that trip.

Had a Timney fail in a super dusty match. Swapped to a TT and resumed without issue.

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[Jfjfrye]

I’ve had issues with the savage accu trigger. The gen 1 spring likes to bind up. So I had to replace it with a gen two.