Remington 700 accidental discharges

[Blaze]

Never seen this show it was about the Remington 700 and the trigger function....I believe it was a old rerun that 60 minutes did?? not sure but I caught the last half of it. Seems like the the injuries and accidental deaths could have been avoided if safety procedures were followed. Why is the barrel of a gun EVER pointed at anything you don't attend to shoot? thoughts?

 

[bdcardinal]

My thoughts exactly. Don't keep a round in the chamber unless you are ready to shoot. Also don't point it at anything you aren't intending to kill.

 

[cb_13]

Exactly bdcardinal! ALWAYS keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

 

[Barkleymut]

Just more propaganda to scare those that know nothing about guns. Anyone with a lick of common sense would never ever point a gun at another person or even allow a person to be in the area where it was pointed.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Ditto; no matter if there is a defect or not, no one would have been shot if the gun was pointed in a safe direction. Seems to be so obvious, but...

 

[edwardh1]

gun manufacturers need to make guns that dont accidentally discharge,

 

[285south]

Just another anti-2nd amendment from the old media.

Look at CNN. Nobody watches is and Media was shocked to find this out.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/cnn-hits-year-monthly-ratings-low-124890.html

MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS are always saying guns are bad and Americans should not have them

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: edwardh1
gun manufacturers need to make guns that dont accidentally discharge,
Yeah, but, machines fail. Chambering a round or fiddling with the safety with someone in front of the muzzle isn't safe no matter what.

 

[The_Eric]

I agree with the other posters. If followed rigidly, safe handling practices will guarantee the safety of others no matter the design or mechanical state of the firearm. This of course excludes dangerous loading/reloading practices (known or otherwise) that exceed the safe chamber pressure for firearms not designed for such loadings, as well as mechanical flaws/blockages. All of which can result in an explosion harming bystanders regardless of the muzzle orientation.

Bottom line- always adhere to established firearms handling practices and use loads known to be safe for your particular firearm and you and those around you will be assured a safe firearms experience.

 

[gregharrison]

Okay guys I know I will get flamed for this unpopular view but here goes. Don't think I am antigun, I own AR's , pistols, the whole nine yards. Here is the deal on the 700 safety. Mike Walker devised the fire control system, namely the safety and trigger assembly. It for a fact had some issues. Those issues, plus unsafe gun safety practices contributed to injuried and death. Big Green knew about the issues. One of the most serious ones occured when the safety and or trigger was moved in some combination which I now forget the exact details, then moving the safety to fire position caused an immediate discharge! I have seen it happen.
But once again proper firearms safety would have still taken care of the issue!
I still own them and hunt with them. Just thought I would add some fuel to the fire. Have a great day guys! This was meant only to be somewhat factual not to create problems!
Greg Harrison

 

[CarbonSteel]

Was the new trigger that has been deployed in the 700 supposed to solve these issues? I have more than 10 Remington 700s, but I always pull the stock trigger and install a Jewell so this has never been an issue for me (not attempting to downplay the seriousness of the defect/problem in any way).

 

[Blaze]

Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Was the new trigger that has been deployed in the 700 supposed to solve these issues?
Yes Remington redesigned the trigger to solve the problem. They knew it was a problem but obviously their lawyers told them not to admit to anything.
The one case that comes to mind was the case where someone was unloading the rifle and it accidently discharged. The round went through the horse trailer he was standing next to and struck/killed the person on the other side of the trailer. Why not unload with the barrel towards the GROUND? Obviously that rifle should have been lowered and had an accounting where the other parties were especially holding that rifle in the high position while unloading. If I caught anyone swinging a rifle in my direction even with a horse trailer as a barrier that would be last the time I would be hunting with him/her.

 

[danthaman1980]

I have had this type of thing happen to me before, but not with a Remington 700...

My father owns an old Winchester Model 70 bolt action in .243 Win. It is old and ugly but dead nuts accurate and capable of MOA accuracy. I used that rifle to take my first several deer and one turkey (@ around 170 yards).

One thing I do not like about that rifle is that the bolt cannot be opened with the safey on. Not typically an issue, but this particular rifle developed a problem... On my last deer hunt with that rifle, I forgot to take it off safety first, and attempted to open the bolt on safe. Discovering the bolt would not open, I pushed the safety off with my thumb, when the rifle suddenly discharged (shooting a hole in the roof of my uncle's chevy suburban).

A year later, my brother replicated the problem after a deer hunt, discharging a round into the air. Seemingly the cause was the same - attempting to open the bolt on safe, then pushing the safety forward, causing the rifle to discharge.

No fault of the design, IMO, just an old rifle that developed a mechanical failure.

Valuable lessons confirmed... ALWAYS have your firearm pointed in a safe direction. I also learned that I prefer bolt guns that can be opened with the safety on ; )

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Blaze
Never seen this show it was about the Remington 700 and the trigger function....I believe it was a old rerun that 60 minutes did?? not sure but I caught the last half of it. Seems like the the injuries and accidental deaths could have been avoided if safety procedures were followed. Why is the barrel of a gun EVER pointed at anything you don't attend to shoot? thoughts?


True, that is basic gun safety ... and if everyone followed that rule there wouldn't be a need for any safety.

BUT, what I'm saying is that following basic safety rules is not an excuse for a faulty safety mechanism. A gun's safety should be made to work flawlessly and not let the gun discharge in any way if the safety is engaged. So if someone is not handling the gun properly at least the 2nd level of defense is a properly working safety mechanism.

I followed the whole story because I have an older Remington 700 that falls into the category of the "unsafe" ones, before they changed the trigger/safety mechanism.

 

[Robenstein]

Some rifles dont even have safeties, just saying. I have two in my cabinet made in France that have no safety outside the operators gun handling and trigger finger. But yes, a safety should work if its there.

While the action lock time is glacially slow by modern standards, I love my old Enfield and Mauser 98 based hunting rifles. Battle proven and safari proven.