On all the forums I am on, you hear two opinions. 1. It never happens unless the owner or operator screwed up. 2. It happened to me or someone I know (like Howard J above).
Well, since you hear of ADs with Remingtons 700s one-hundred times as often as you do with Winchesters, Rugers, Savage, Tikka/Sako, Mausers, CZ, Howa/Weatherby, Marlin, T/C, and Browning bolt guns combined, I refuse to believe it is just something the press is trumping up. People adjust triggers on all those other brands too and you just hardly ever hear about ADs happening when the safety is disengaged on any of those brands. You just don't hear about law suits against ALL those other firms' bolt guns the way you do about the Rem 700 either. This, and the fact that the designer himself (who has no reason to lie at this point in his life) said there was a problem both in a recent interview and in writing as early as 1947 and again more recently. He also said the trigger was safe if manufactured and maintained correctly, but admitted that it was very prone to issues and was not always manufactured correctly in his opinion after his departure as manager of the assembly line.
My personal belief is that the trigger is more prone to issues than any other bolt gun system out there, and that at times, corners were cut in manufacturing that exasterbated this problem. If 2% to 5% of the 7 million rifles that left the factory fell into this category, you are talking 140,000 to 350,000 rifles that could go bang when the safty is disengaged. That is a problem. Rem 700 lovers can deny it all they want, blame the press and lawyers, call the rest of us stupid and gullible, but it is a problem. Who wants a gun that might discharge for ANY reason other than you pulling the trigger?
