"Deaths, injuries raise questions for popular Remington 700 rifle"

[KnghtAzrael]

I ran across this in the news today and thought I'd see if any of you have experience with this issue or have opinions on this. I was always taught that the 700 was extremely safe but it sounds like it has an interesting mechanical problem that can be a safety hazard. Granted the incidents where someone is unloading ect. and shot another person in this article is a 50/50 problem in my mind. Yes the gun malfunctioned and fired when it shouldn't have but the person ignored basic gun safety by not making sure it wasn't pointed at someone.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2010-10-20-remington-700-trigger-cnbc_N.htm

[Don Roley]

According to some guys at the local gun store, models built after about 1982 have the problem fixed. They did not do a recall of guns made before that, but will fix the problem if you send it in with about 20 dollars.

[Cliff Hargrave]

Interesting. The only AD I have ever had in my life was with a Rem 700 in 22-250. It was a 70's manufactured rifle. I was 13 and at a deer lease with my dad. Luckily the weapon was pointed up. As I manipulated the bolt to chamber a round, it fired. My dad said my hand must have slipped off the bolt handle and hit the trigger. I said no way. My hand was still wrapped around the bolt handle when the weapon fired. Here 31 years later I might just be vindicated.

[TonyU]

A perfect example of one sided and manipulative reporting for something that was fixed 28 years ago.

[Kruczek]

the person ignored basic gun safety by not making sure it wasn't pointed at someone.

I feel like this was the real issue the news needs to be highlighting. If they taught basic firearm safety in schools, we could solve more problems than trying to use outdated weapons as proof guns are unsafe.

Just my very biased opinion.

[KnghtAzrael]

I agree that safe handling is an issue but I taped the CNBC show the article talks about and it seems theres more to the story. The guy who designed the 700 warned them back before they were first released that it was potentially unsafe and to change the firing mechanism. They refused to do so. However he also maintains that the real fault isn't the mechanism its a combonation of unsafe handling and rushed shoddy manufacture with bad quality inspections. Even after the "fix" in the 80's people still seem to experience these accidental discharges. From what the show explained the "safety" only stops the trigger from being pulled and the problem with AD seems to stem from it coming out of contact with the rest of the firing mechanism. This means that if the trigger connector becomes dislodged the gun can still accidentally discharge with the safety on.

The show had video sent in from various police swat teams showing newer 700s discharging when nothing but the bolt is moved. One swat team stopped using them after it happened during a raid almost injuring civilians and police officers. To top it off according to the reports they got from the marine sniper school they consider this to be a known safety issue and can be as common as 2 AD for every 20 shots fired. In one lawsuit while an expert was testifying on behalf of Remington the 700 he was handling dry fired without him touching the trigger but just moving the bolt.

I don't personally have experience with 700s but this to me sounds like more than manipulative reporting. It also sounds as though the "fix" doesn't work and its interesting that as of 2007 they now offer 700s with an entirely different firing mechanism.