Two Remington Model 700 owners have submitted a filing in a federal court asking the judge to investigate claims that repaired triggers are still malfunctioning.
In 2014, Remington settled a class-action lawsuit in which gun owners claimed defective triggers caused the rifles to fire without the triggers being pulled. The company has consistently denied the allegations, but they offered to replace the firing mechanisms on millions of firearms to avoid continued litigation. They also recalled thousands of firearms and offered to replace the trigger because “excess bonding agent” could cause triggers to malfunction.
CNBC published an article in April of this year claiming to have reviewed “nearly a dozen” repair reports from Model 700 owners claiming that the triggers malfunctioned even after they had been repaired.
Citing this article, Model 700 owners Lewis Frost and Richard Denney filed a request asking U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith in Missouri to convene a hearing and seek information from Remington and the class action plaintiffs.
“There is an obvious increased danger of unwarranted reliance on the safety of the replacement trigger mechanism because that repair is wrapped in the authority of the court,” wrote an attorney in a court filing. “Here the court-approved repair apparently does not eliminate the danger/defect.”
SEE ALSO: Remington Settles ‘Faulty Trigger’ Lawsuit, Lays Off 122 Employees
But the class action plaintiffs have not reported similar issues.
“Our firms collectively received hundreds of calls regarding the settlement,” Eric Holland, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an email to CNBC. “To date, not one putative class member has contacted any of us regarding any allegations of any retrofitted firearms misfiring.”
CNBC only spoke with one Model 700 owner who said his rifle fired without the trigger being pulled – even after the firing mechanism had been repaired or replaced.
Montana resident William Cook said he took his rifle to an authorized repair shop, but it fired after he switched off the safety during an elk hunt. He said his hand wasn’t near the trigger, and he nearly injured his hunting partner.
“I’m lucky I didn’t blow his liver out,” he said in an interview.
SEE ALSO: Remington Fights Back Against Fake News 60 Minutes Attack
CNBC cited two additional repair orders.
One owner claimed to be “afraid to use this gun because of the safety issue involved.” He said his rifle fired when he closed the bolt after putting a round in the chamber.
Another customer claimed that his gun malfunctioned only after the repairs were done.
“I never had any problem before the trigger was replaced,” he said.
Remington confirmed in the reports that the customers had not altered the triggers, according to CNBC. But Remington was unable to duplicate the malfunction. The company nonetheless offered to replace the trigger — or the entire gun — at no charge.
Remington spokespeople declined to comment when reached by GunsAmerica for comment.
What’s all the fuss about Remington triggers? Easy fix do what I did years ago with my 700, Timney is the answer and you’ll never look back.
i have a remington 700vls about 7-8 yrs now ,no trouble with it so far, however, you can adjust the trigger too light if youre not careful i think all trigger sould be crisp ,and not light never had a problem with my 700 vls (varmint,laminated stock;) thanks remington,
When I was about 15 years I had a bolt action 410 shotgun fire for no reason. I had the gun pointed at the ground at the time it went off. Put a shot pattern right in front of my foot. From that point on I always point
a gun towards the sky. Always. I have noticed people that point a gun towards the ground have a tendency
to have the muzzle rise while holding it. Very dangerous thing to have happen also. Almost shot my foot but
holding a gun pointed towards the ground but never have shot down an airplane while pointing a gun towards the sky. That is especially good advice when loading a long gun.
The left is trying to run Remington (and all firearms manufacturers) out of business; however they can. All of these lawsuits have one thing in common; death by a thousand cuts. Bleed them finically until they’re bankrupt.
“Montana resident William Cook said he took his rifle to an authorized repair shop, but it fired after he switched off the safety during an elk hunt. He said his hand wasn’t near the trigger, and he nearly injured his hunting partner.
“I’m lucky I didn’t blow his liver out,” he said in an interview.Montana resident William Cook said he took his rifle to an authorized repair shop, but it fired after he switched off the safety during an elk hunt. He said his hand wasn’t near the trigger, and he nearly injured his hunting partner.
“I’m lucky I didn’t blow his liver out,” he said in an interview.”
I find it hard to put any trust in the words of someone apparently too stupid to know the basic rules of safe gun handling. If he nearly shot his partner in the liver, he was breaking a primary rule. Period.
Never had an issue with the old triggers and never had a safety issue with the X-Crap Pro triggers. The fact that the X-Crap pro triggers would never adjust below five pounds and only after working on them to get them there was a deal breaker. The issue with the old style triggers was tolerance stacking and and/or poor assembly at the factory combined with people messing around with them afterwards who shouldn’t be allowed to have screwdrivers. Nothing is going to change the last part.
Another thing is sometimes when people close the bolt they don’t have they’re fingers in the right place on the bolt and they hit the trigger when they close or slam the bolt shut.
So what is probably happening is after the gun is chambered the user accidentally has his finger on or brushing the trigger. Then when the safety is moved from the safe position to the fire position, chances are if you have your trigger finger in the wrong spot ( touching or barley brushing ) it will go off. It’s because when you move the safety forward it causes you to move your wrist in kinda downward position. When that happens the rotation causes you to move the safety while you accidentally pull the trigger. Then boom. You get lucky or someone gets hurt. I’ve seen it happen probably ten times at the range. It will happen with all Remington and Remington clone triggers regardless of single or two stage triggers. It’s nothing more than your fault! The Remington trigger isn’t good by any means, but I’ve been around a lot of em and it’s more often than not the guy holding the rifle who’s to blame. Just a experienced opinion that’s all.
I’ve had & currently have numerous M700s & have never had a trigger malfunction. On the older models, prior to the upgraded trigger, I did put after market triggers in them, but that was for “trigger pull”! I have a lot of friends that use R700s & never heard of a problem. Also as a plug to R700s, we use the receiver to make most of our BR, F Class, & LR rifles. But….they have been plagued with QC problems in recent years.
You nearly “blew his liver out”? What was the muzzle even doing NEAR his liver to begin with? Not saying faulty triggers are ok, but if you’re following the 4 firearm safety rules you wouldn’t be shooting people, faulty trigger or not…
I was “sighting in” with my father’s Rem 700 prior to deer season. I had fired a round or two and noticed how extremely light the trigger was………to the point of concern. I bolted the next round into the chamber and before I put my finger inside the trigger guard—–BOOM—–; we unloaded the rifle and put it away for a gunsmith to inspect.
Nearly blew his partners liver out? Why was he taking the safety off while his partner was any where near the muzzle of his rifle? The gun may have malfunctioned, but that doesn’t excuse careless muzzle control.
I own 4 Remington 7oo and since I purchased my first Ten years ago I never had one issue with triggers.
must be Fake news.
Safety depends on the person behind the guns. Always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction. I personally chuck the Remington trigger immediately because there triggers suck. I always use a Jewell or a Romney Calvin elite trigger. Any trigger can fail if it’s not cleaned or properly maintained. Remember the first safety is the person behind the gun.
Just do a deal with Timney and get it over with. Easy peezy.
years ago I was deer hunting with a group of x- military, one guy had a Remington 700 which accidentally discharged nearly missing another hunters leg by a couple of inches. Accidents happen however well trained an individual is, my first thought was that he had mishandled his rifle, he was adamant that he had not.
BS! Throwing out the tidbit that the guy was an ex Navy Seal/Delta Force/ Green Beret high speed low drag operator only makes the story more incredulous. I’ve owned dozens of 700s and never once, in 10s of 1000s of trigger pulls had a malfunction, and if there had been one, an errant bullet would never have hit a man’s liver, or leg, or Johnson. Safety is in between the ears. Your ex military guy was a nincompoop if he let his muzzle cross another human being.
MSNBC fake anti gun inflammatory BS story.