Posted on 10/19/2010 12:02:13 PM PDT by verum ago
CNBC ORIGINAL TAKES VIEWERS INSIDE A 10-MONTH INVESTIGATION OF THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR HUNTING RIFLE AND EXAMINES WHETHER A COMPANY HAS GONE TOO FAR IN PROTECTING ITS SIGNATURE PRODUCT
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
This special runs tomorrow. I might watch it out of morbid curiosity, but it just reeks of "hatchet job," and probably not just on Remington but firearms in general.
The obnoxious caps in the title and excerpt are CNBC's emphasis, not mine. I guess they're a bit worked up...
Hatchet piece for sure. I own 2 model 700’s and love them both. The problem they are referring to are in the older model (pre-1980, IIRC) trigger mechanisms in which you had to flip the safety to “fire” before opening the bolt. One of mine, a 30-06 made in 1976, had this type of trigger. My .270 was made severl years later and doesn’t have the old trigger mechanism and you can open the chamber with the safety still on.
Anyway, they are right, those older models CAN fire accidentally, but Remington is also right in that it happens in poorly maintained or modified instances. I know personally because I never had a minute’s problem from mine until I adjusted the trigger pull. Mine was a bit tighter than I liked, so I adjusted it and it seemed to work fine. Then after getting out of a deer stand one evening, I went to unload it and as soon as I flipped the safety to “fire”, it went off. Luckily for me I had it pointed away from my buddy and anything else and I had the butt end propped on my leg, which absorbed all of the kickback.
Remington issued a recall on the trigger mechanism and offered to replace any pre-1980 triggers for free. All you had to do is pay for shipping. I did this, paid $25 to ship it back and got it back from them with a new trigger. Shoots like a champ and I have had NO problems since.
The 700 is outstanding...what a bunch of crap!
The good news is, it’s on CNBC therefore no one will see it.
Your post indicates that yeah, while this is a hatchet piece written by anti-gun pants-wetters, there is/was a problem.
With the piece cocked and on "safe" it just might go off if jarred, dropped, or whatever. The safety does not physically block the firing pin. People keep rifles for years, and some people, believe it or not, are not maintenance fanatics. This is also a pretty subtle design flaw, in that the safety operates on the sear, effectively making the SEAR the safety. In hindsight, not a great idea.
If someone were to adjust the creep out of the trigger, which as you know is fairly common, this makes the damn thing even more suspect after normal wear and tear.
The fact that they were fixing this for years, while excellent customer service on a great rifle, is also a tacit admission that all was not perfect.
Sorry Remington. You are going to get hammered. Safety means "SAFE" and has to be fool-proof. Cocked and locked. Me? I own a 700 in 250-3000. Never had a problem. Until now, never knew there WAS a problem. But then again, I never carry it cocked and locked! Just the way I use it makes that unecessary.
[ducking and running while donning flame retardant suit]
Eh, you can take off the suit. I’m not going to say anything bad about a pre-64 Model 70.
I just hope this crap doesn’t result in US manufacturers going from 7lb lawyer-triggers to 17 lb communist rifle peasant-safety triggers.
It’s not like we can’t put them back.
I remember years ago, all the gun mags were advertising that Remington would install a 3 position safety for free.
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