rem 700 trigger adjust

[fishshocker]

I have an older remington 700 cdl .270 (approx 12 years old). I have kept it 100 percent stock all that time but have decided to start tinkering with it. I was thinking trigger first, pillar bed second, action bed third.

I have tinkered my ruger 10/22 to death (very successfully too) and am about to do the rem 700 and a mosin nagant.

Right off the the bat, I removed the clear polish from the three screws and backed the trigger pull screw out some, a little lighter pull. I was going to slightly adjust the sear adjust screw. It would not budge, I soaked the screw overnight in wd40, still no budge. Soaked overnight in clp, still no budge. I had a quality perfect fit screwdriver. It finally budged, maybe 10 degrees clockwise. I went to back it out some and free things up but the screw top just cratered.:banghead::banghead: No stripping of threads but all material is gone on both sides of screw slot.

It was one of those moments (voice in head says, leave alone...you will damage this, leave alone) and you just keep doing it.

Pretty small area to work with, but has anyone ever drilled a small hole in the screw and used an extractor. If so, what size screw to order for replace.

Also, anyone have a factory rem 700 trigger (old style) laying around from when they replaced with a timney, etc., they would sell cheap.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

IMO, the trigger in a 700 is best left adjusted by an experienced gunsmith. I have a 700 in the shop right now getting expert work to correct where some novice went to adjusting on it. On occasion, my gun would go off when closing the bolt.

 

[ghostwriter]

@fishshocker: If you've completely destroyed any chance of removing it with a screwdriver, perhaps you'll need to grind or file the head smooth so you can get a single small centerpunch mark as close to center as you can get then use a good steady drill press and smallest bit to use with your smallest extractor and give it a try. Not much left to do at this point. If you can still get ahold of it maybe try a little heat but be very careful because heat in that area will no doubt soften the spring(s) and then they'll need replaced. Sorry but the prognosis isn't good. Maybe with a little luck it'll turn out ok.


@ColtPythonElite: It hardly qualifies as "rocket science" and really doesn't require any specialized tools so I think your remark is probably based on personal experience or bad experience and doesn't necessarily reflect the actual difficulty of the job. I've adjusted them in the field in a few minutes until the result was what I wanted. It certainly doesn't qualify as "gunsmithing required" work. Nothing personal...

Here's several links to the procedure.

http://www.quarterbore.com/library/articles/rem700trigger.html

http://www.theoutdoorwriter.com/shooting/r700_trigger.htm

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f37/how-adjust-new-remington-700-x-mark-pro-trigger-37572/

 

[ColtPythonElite]

..............

 

[ColtPythonElite]

My comment was based on the experience of buying a used rifle that had been adjusted by a novice and then having it go off on me...I have never adjusted a 700 trigger, but have studied it from links like you posted. I know a gunsmith with decades of experience, who will take the trigger apart, inspect, clean and reassemble for a reasonable price. I feel better letting him do the work.

 

[snake284]

Well, join the club. Remington actions are inherently the best on the market IMHO. However, their triggers are an accident waiting to happen. I just read an article on them that explained the real problem with the Rem. Walker Trigger. It has that connector piece between teh trigger and the sear and it is not really needed. It was designed like that so they could patent it. But it turned out to be dangerous. If the connector and sear don't settle in together right, it can go off when the safety is moved to the fire position or when the bolt is closed hard.

My advice, save your nickles and dimes boys and girls and buy a Timney or other aftermarket replacement that doesn't have the disconnector. I presently have two Remingtons that I have had the trigger reworked for and they break cleanly at about 2 pounds. But I no longer trust them and when I can replace them I will.

 

[ghostwriter]

+1 for the Timney replacement... but if you don't have the change to get one, adjusting the rem trigger is not as hard as it's put on to be. IMHO

oh, @Mr. Snake284, I have noticed that if you back off too much on the trigger pull you're right about the connector link issue... but honestly, a 3# pull isn't bad at all on a rem 700, especially on the bigger calibers and using them for field work like Elk hunting etc. where they get bounced around.

 

[snake284]

Mr. Ghostwriter you may well be right about that. I just get nervous about it knowing how the Remington Trigger functions. However, having said that, there's millions of em out there and the number of people injured or killed in relation to the numbers out there is pretty small. But in this day of PC crap and lawyerality (is there such a word?) one accident can be too many. However, all the fancy idiot proof mechanisms on earth won't take the place of safe gun handling and common sense.

 

[ghostwriter]

true that. I read somewhere on someones sig line something like this...

"Never underestimate the abilities of stupid people to circumvent the use of fool proof things"