Remington 700 fired, on safe, while bolt being closed

[CRAMBONE]

My dad's 700bdl, he bought new in the late 70s, started to have issues a few years ago. If you pulled the trigger while the rifle was on safe the rifle would fire when the safety was pushed off and the trigger was not touched.

[gan1hck]

I remember hearing stories and seeing a show on TV about Remington 700's firing while on safe.

I thought it was total bullshit until it just happened to me.

I had 5 rounds in the internal magazine (Black Hills 175gr.).The gun was on safe. The gun is an unmodified Remington 700 in 7.62x51 (1 in 12 twist 22" barrel) unadjusted, unmodified, stock trigger.

I was feeding a round into the chamber, when I got to about 25% of closing the bolt and the gun fired. I fortunately was not right behind the gun when this happened. The bolt was ejected and it about broke my thumb. The bolt hit the karsten check piece and flew upward. I would think that had I been behind the gun I might be writing this from the hospital.

scared the shit out of me.

I am looking at calling Remington with a world class WTF, I remember someone at SOTIC saying they had witnessed this as well. (I thought BS) I have probably 25-30k rounds behind a rem 700. This is the weirdest damn thing.

So I am looking to compile information about this and to warn others. Has anyone else dealt with anything remotely similar?

Can you clarify this statement? I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around your description. Do you mean to say that the gun fired when you started to rotate the bolt? Or that the gun fired as you were pushing the round into the chamber.

If it's the former, did the lug break off to allow the bolt to eject?

Thanks in advance.

[signal4l]

Here is the old (2010) M4C thread regarding this:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...-to-CNBC/page2

[scatsob]

Good point, and is it actually possible to have the firing pin protrude far enough to pierce a primer without it being all the way closed? Seems like even if it were to no engage the sear and just follow the bolt as it was closed.

Can you clarify this statement? I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around your description. Do you mean to say that the gun fired when you started to rotate the bolt? Or that the gun fired as you were pushing the round into the chamber.

If it's the former, did the lug break off to allow the bolt to eject?

Thanks in advance.

[Fox33]

Can you clarify this statement? I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around your description. Do you mean to say that the gun fired when you started to rotate the bolt? Or that the gun fired as you were pushing the round into the chamber.

If it's the former, did the lug break off to allow the bolt to eject?

Thanks in advance.

The round was in the chamber and the bolt was being rotated form the 12 o clock position then when it got to about the 2 o clock position it fired and blew the bolt out of the back of the gun.

I after the fact I tired to put the bolt back in- it would not go

Then i tried to put the saftey on fire- it will not go

it appears that the hammer dropped during the rotation of the bolt, while on safe

I have a contact at Remington who is a SF buddy of a SF buddy so more to come on Monday

[scoutchris]

I friggin' hate hearing this. I, like many others, was also skeptical of the Glock ejection issues...Until I got a Gen 3 19 that peppered my face. As a Army Sniper with thousands of rounds behind the M24, I am half a breath away from picking up a 16.5 AAC-SD, and thought that these stories were all fairy tales as well... Please continue to follow up on this thread and keep us updated. Would a Timney unit solve the issue? It doesn't come with a new safety, so wouldn't the issue remain?

I've watched all of the videos and reports, and still on't understand what's causing it.

[gan1hck]

The round was in the chamber and the bolt was being rotated form the 12 o clock position then when it got to about the 2 o clock position it fired and blew the bolt out of the back of the gun.

I after the fact I tired to put the bolt back in- it would not go

Then i tried to put the saftey on fire- it will not go

it appears that the hammer dropped during the rotation of the bolt, while on safe

I have a contact at Remington who is a SF buddy of a SF buddy so more to come on Monday

so did the lug shear off? As soon as I rotate the bolt on my PSS, the lug engages with the chamber, locking the bolt into the firearm.

[montanadave]

Fellow here in Montana lost his son when a Remington 700 misfired and shot the nine-year-old boy. Gus Barber was the subject of some of the news stories linked above. His family has been pursuing the case against Remington for years, collecting a voluminous amount of research. Here's a link to the story in a local paper (http://billingsgazette.com/news/stat...c4b3751ed.html) and here's a YouTube video with the boy's dad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx1_wC2PHwE

There have been a shitload of similar stories and a ton of lawsuits. Document what happened with your rifle, get statements from any witnesses, etc. If nothing else, pick a rifle out of the Remington catalog and offer to sign a non-discloure agreement in exchange for a newer (and hopefully MUCH more expensive) rifle. I'm guessing they'll be more than happy to oblige.

Remington has been fighting these cases for years, dragging them out in litigation and settling when they had to, because it would bankrupt the company to admit the defect, assume liability for damages, and recall the bazillion Model 700 rifles which might be effected.

Glad you're safe and nobody was injured or killed.

[scatsob]

This is where I think we have to draw the line. No firearm company should be held responsible for someone else's stupidity and lack of care for their weapons. This is not directed to the OP, but I have read many articles that point to lack of care for the firearm and/or modification without knowing what they are doing. Besides, if general firearm safety is practiced correctly no one should be getting killed.

Fellow here in Montana lost his son when a Remington 700 misfired and shot the nine-year-old boy. Gus Barber was the subject of some of the news stories linked above. His family has been pursuing the case against Remington for years, collecting a voluminous amount of research. Here's a link to the story in a local paper (http://billingsgazette.com/news/stat...c4b3751ed.html) and here's a YouTube video with the boy's dad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx1_wC2PHwE

There have been a shitload of similar stories and a ton of lawsuits. Document what happened with your rifle, get statements from any witnesses, etc. If nothing else, pick a rifle out of the Remington catalog and offer to sign a non-discloure agreement in exchange for a newer (and hopefully MUCH more expensive) rifle. I'm guessing they'll be more than happy to oblige.

Remington has been fighting these cases for years, dragging them out in litigation and settling when they had to, because it would bankrupt the company to admit the defect, assume liability for damages, and recall the bazillion Model 700 rifles which might be effected.

Glad you're safe and nobody was injured or killed.

[J8127]

While this is only anecdotal, third-hand evidence, I have a sniper qualified friend who likes to tell the story of this happening to a student in his class. He was going to be dropped from the course until it happened again to the instructor going over the rifle. I don't know the details though as to wether it was this sort of case or if there was other damage to the rifle. Or if it's a sniper school urban legend.