Remington Safety Trouble

Caught this one in a VCDL alert. As TTAG commentator and unidentified Remington Arms rep RemingtonArms points out, this was a safety issue, not a trigger issue. Still, a bit worrying eh?


I was wondering how Remington had escaped legal problems all these years.  On two separate occasions with two separate Remington 700 rifles, both my older brother and I have had accidental discharges with these rifles.  It happens when you try to open the bolt with the safety engaged and a round in the chamber . . .

The bolt can not be opened with the safety on, and trying to open it can jiggle the trigger off of the sear. As soon as the safety is disengaged so that the bolt may be operated, the rifle fires without so much as ever having touched the trigger!  My brother had the rifle across his lap, and the bullet entered the wall of his apartment, passed through it to the adjoining apartment, and thankfully no one was at home at the time.  This happened over 40 years ago.

My incident happened several years ago when I loaded my younger brother’s Remington 700 (not the same one) in an attempt to dispatch a predator in my woods.  I was unable to get a good shot, so I brought the rifle back inside the house to unload it (by trying to work the bolt with the safety engaged) and put it away.  I had the barrel of the gun pointed at the floor (thankfully) as I released the safety, and the gun immediately fired as soon as the safety was taken off.  Talk about a SURPRISE!  I still have the hole in my hardwood floor as a reminder.

Unfortunately, I was unable to learn from my older brother’s mistake because 40 years ago I had no interest in guns and was never told of how his accidental discharge happened.  I didn’t know a Remington 700 from a Ruger 10/22 at the time.  When it happened to me 40 years later, I was told that my older brother’s AD happened exactly the same way mine did.  It really is a dangerous problem that should have been addressed as soon as it was first brought to Remington’s attention.


  1. avatar RemingtonArms says:

    What is being referred to here is a mechanical safety issue that effected some pre-1982 700s, not a trigger issue as the CNBC piece claims. Remington announced a safety modification program years ago on this. Details here:

    If you ever feel like your Remington may be unsafe, we'll always inspect your gun for free. Give us a call at 800-243-9700 to discuss.

    1. avatar Robert Farago says:

      Ah. OK. My bad. Changing title.

  2. avatar David says:

    I had the same problem with my Remington . I called wrote emails . The only solution was to dismantle weapon and discard . I personal would return a fault weapon or sell it back for fear of the well being of the next owner . Remington doesn’t care about that just the cash . After phone run around emails I came to the conclusion to never buy Remington again if there selling faulty weapons and playing dumb about then I’ll be more then happy to spend the extra dollar on a nice colt

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