Remington 700 Trigger Issue.

Status
Not open for further replies.
stchman

stchman

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
Messages
2,617
Location
Saint Louis, MO
A friend of mine told me about the Remington 700 trigger thing. I have a 700 SPS Tactical in .223 and it falls withing the 2006 to 2014 date range.

I understand that Remington will fix the issue, but the time to fix can be about 12 weeks. Remington has said that not ALL 700s are effected.

Is there a quick test to determine if your trigger is affected?

Thanks.
 
Since Remington has not clearly explained what the design/process fault is, who knows?

Supposedly it has something to do with adhesive getting into the trigger, but Remington has lied about the issues with their triggers and safety for 50 years, so honestly I don't believe a word they say including the claim that after 50 years of making faulty triggers they're now magically safe post 2014 despite no obvious changes.

If you can swing it, I would install a Timney replacement unit. The design is still less than ideal, but the workmanship is very good and AFAIK no problems have been reported.
 
Then Timney is a good suggestion. Ive cleaned and inspected a bunch of 700triggers and found them to be an acceptable design. If your familiar with them id suggest taking a close look at it on the gun, check that everything is actuating properly and engagements are correct. After that ill still usually pull the unit, take the sear out, and look down inside to see if it looks at all gummy. At that point if im still have any concerns ill break it down and clean it thurougly.
 
It would be a good idea to simply replace the factory trigger on almost any Remington bolt gun The 700, 721, 722, 7, and 600 series all use the same trigger. I'm not certain about the 710, 770 or 783 budget rifles. The 788 is a different design. A Timney trigger is just over $100 and is a 10-15 minute DIY install.

Lots of bad stuff going on with them. The triggers made 1946-2006 are a flawed design. Statistically less than 1/2 of 1 percent will ever fail. But 100% of them could fail at any time. This isn't a manufacturing defect where a few rifles were affected. It is a design issue where certain parts inside the trigger must align perfectly and if they do the firing pin will drop with no trigger pull. Remington is not advertising it as a recall, but any of the above rifles can be sent in and have the trigger replaced free. There is a class action lawsuit still in the works to work out further details, Remington may be forced to buy them back if consumers choose to do so. But that isn't final, just one proposal that has come up.

I'm not exactly sure what is going on with the 2006-present trigger. Initial reports were that the design was sound but early rifles may have gotten adhesive in the trigger during assembly and they were recalled. But there may be more to that story too.

Rather than waste time with sending my rifle (1974 manufacture) in I simply bought a new trigger and swapped it. That is my advice to anyone who owns a Remington of any vintage.
 
I have been building Mausers for 51 years, and Remington 700s for 4 years.
I started out leaving the triggers in the 700s, but now I have started putting Timney triggers in all of the 700s, Mosins, Arisakas, etc.

Those aftermarket trigger installations remind me of real estate deals; a pain to get into, a pain to own, and a pain to get out of.
If only triggers and real estate could be more like buying and selling securities with a click of the mouse:)

I have to modify the stock, at least, to get a new trigger in.
 
jmr40 said:
Remington is not advertising it as a recall, but any of the above rifles can be sent in and have the trigger replaced free.
Click to expand...

My understanding is there are two recalls.
  • The one that has gotten most visibility is the X-Mark Pro recall. It is for rifles made roughly 2006-2014. (Detailed dates are on Remington's website.) Rifles that are part of this recall will get triggers replaced. The details of this recall are very accessible and Remington seems to be very up-front about who is eligible, what will be done, etc. etc.
  • There is a *voluntary* recall for rifles with the Walker trigger. This one is a little weirder and it does seem like one has to go on a bit of hunting expedition to find the details on Remington's website. With the Walker trigger there have been claims of it going off without it even being touched. Remington's website says (basically) "If you have had this issue with a Walker trigger we'll replace it.". Whereas the first recall has no conditions other than if your rifle was made in these dates with the X-Mark Pro trigger they'll replace it, the second recall seems to have the condition that you've had to have actually experienced the failure before they'll replace it.
In the case of the first recall they'll replace it with a redesigned X-Mark Pro. Depending on the rifle's intended use - I would swing for a Timney or other replacement if possible. I have a new Rem 700 that I put a new Timney in. I'm now trying to determine if I should put the new X-Mark Pro (the redesigned one that came with my new rifle) in my old 700 that has a Walker.......or just get a Timney for it as well.

OR
 
If I do go the Tinmey trigger route, which one would everyone suggest. I do happen to like the trigger that is currently on my 700, but if it better to go with a Timney no problem as long as the price is exorbitant.
 
There are a variety of different models with different types of trigger surfaces (curved vs flat, 1-stage vs 2-stage) as well as finishes. I'm kind of new to Timney triggers but I think their "meat and potatoes" model is adjustable between 1.5 lbs and 4 lbs of trigger pull.

How you'll be using your SPS along with your preferences are key to deciding. In my case my gun is only a bench gun. I went with Timney's Calvin Elite that can go down to .5 lbs. I absolutely love it - but it would be way too touchy for any sort of field use.

Midway has the basic Timney on sale now for $114.

OR
 
otisrush said:
There are a variety of different models with different types of trigger surfaces (curved vs flat, 1-stage vs 2-stage) as well as finishes. I'm kind of new to Timney triggers but I think their "meat and potatoes" model is adjustable between 1.5 lbs and 4 lbs of trigger pull.

How you'll be using your SPS along with your preferences are key to deciding. In my case my gun is only a bench gun. I went with Timney's Calvin Elite that can go down to .5 lbs. I absolutely love it - but it would be way too touchy for any sort of field use.

Midway has the basic Timney on sale now for $114.

OR
Click to expand...

I just use this gun at the range from a bench.
 
Timney has a tech that will get right back to you.
I had a problem with the Dumoulin safety, which turned out to not be a Timney problem, but they were right there with me. Good company.
 
If you're going to buy a new trigger, I personally would just go all the way and get a Jewell. They are just wonderful.
 
Only you can answer if it's $100 better. But I can say that in my short time looking at triggers there seemed to be little dispute that the Jewels are "the best". Apparently they're just fantastic. (They do have a bit of a reputation of not doing terribly well in dirty environments. I don't know how much of that is valid vs a few reports being enabled by the speed of the internet and creating a false reality.)

I found the Calvin Elite for $170 and, what's the Jewel, $210-230? $40-60 more for me made the Jewel "not worth it". I'm not competing and I didn't think I was refined enough in my skill to see enough difference to make me feel comfortable buying it.

That being said, reports from Jewel users say "they'd never go back".
 
stchman said:
The Jewell trigger is over $100 more than the Timney 510. Is the Jewell over $100 better than the Timney 510?
Click to expand...

Whatever trigger you use, you can always keep. If you were to sell the rifle, just put the original back in.

I'd look closely at the Timney Calvin Elite. It may cost a bit more; but they are really nice.
 
I took my Milspec to a friend that works at the arms. He declared it not impacted. I don't fully know what he did to inspect it other than look for gunk. I replaced the trigger with a timney target model. Its a better trigger anyhow.
 
Why is this making the rounds in forums again lately? This recall announcement is YEARS old... Nothing new... But I've seen threads like this on a handful of forums in the last month, what gives?
 
Varminterror said:
Why is this making the rounds in forums again lately? This recall announcement is YEARS old... Nothing new... But I've seen threads like this on a handful of forums in the last month, what gives?
Click to expand...
Just yesterday, an old, old friend of mine, Mike sent my wife (Barb) and me each an email about this. Mike lives in the Seattle area, he's not a hunter, and I doubt that he owns more than a couple of guns. But he knows that both my wife and I are big time hunters and gun enthusiasts. Anyway, Mike had just heard about Remington 700 triggers on the news, and he was concerned that either Barb or I might have one. I emailed him right back explaining that it was old news and neither Barb nor I have any Remington 700s anyway.
But that wasn't good enough - this morning there was a new email from Mike explaining that the news report he heard wasn't about Remington 700 triggers per se, it was about Remington supposedly not stepping up and taking care of their customer's safety concerns about one of Remington's products - namely the triggers on Remington 700 rifles.
Anyway - long story made short. I'm guessing the reason threads about this are once again showing up on forums is because the media is once again bringing it up in order to demonstrate what a bunch of villains gun companies are. I'm sorry to say that in some cases I think it works. I think that some people who aren't really into guns and shooting (like my friend Mike) are swayed by reports like this.
 
Nail on head.....they bring it up again to just get it back in the nose of people that really don't know any better. If you don't think the media has an agenda you are crazy.
 
I just found about the Remington 700 trigger recall the other day (I guess I live in a cave). I actually like my 700's trigger. I'm not thinking that Remington is an evil company, but it does seem that big green quality isn't what it should be.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Wreck-n-Crew
  • Locked
Remington 700 recall!
Replies
3
Views
543
Wreck-n-Crew
Wreck-n-Crew
A
  • Locked
Remington 700 XCR Compact, etc.
Replies
2
Views
2K
Artiz
A
T
  • Locked
Remington 700 - change trigger?
Replies
24
Views
3K
Finprof
F
bob4
  • Locked
Rem Model 700 and model 7 recall
Replies
2
Views
335
bob4
bob4
G
  • Locked
new Remington 700 SPS broken mag spring
Replies
1
Views
344
Maverick223
Maverick223
Back
Top