Do you own a Remington bolt-action model 700, Seven, Sportsman 78, 673, 710, 715, 770, 600, 660, XP-100, 721, 722 or 725 rifle? If so, you’re not alone. Some 7.85 million Americans are right there with you. Time for you and your 7,849,999 fellow Big Green bolt-action rifle owners to get a new trigger. cnbc.com reports that Remington has settled a class-action lawsuit for its bolt-action rifles’ defective not-to-say deadly triggers. They’ve agreed to replace the trigger on any and all of the above-named rifles – for free! That said, there could be something of a delay . . .

I’m no math major, but if it takes ten minutes to replace and function check one Remington bolt-action trigger, that’s six trigger jobs per hour. If Remington charges 50 employees with making the swap, that’s 300 triggers per hour. Yielding 2,400 triggers per day. That’s 876,000 trigger jobs per year.

Using those numbers, it would take Big Green roughly ten years to replace all the triggers named in the agreement. With no time off for good behavior.

Of course, Remington won’t get anywhere near that many guns in for new triggers. Nor will the Freedom Group’s showcase brand hire 50 employees to spend eight hours a day swapping triggers. But they will get thousands of rifles in for repair. Maybe even tens of thousands.

No matter how you crunch those numbers, owners sending Remington their guns for repair will be looking at a looong waiting period before they get their rifle back.

The wait will be a strong disincentive for owners to surrender their rifles – if the owners even know about the recall. Sorry, free trigger-swap offer. There’s no word on whether there’s any court-ordered publicity for the recall, or what the wording might be.

This “I’ll keep my rifle and take my chances” reluctance will work in Remington’s favor logistically, not to mention financially (can you imagine the shipping costs?). But it will do nothing to restore the brand’s already damaged reputation (cough R51 cough). Nor the Freedom Group’s rep (cough Marlin cough).

We’ll see the devilish details and how Remington announces the judge’s ruling. I’d hate to have spin that one, but Big Green pays its PR peeps big bucks. Watch this space.

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48 COMMENTS

  1. I would imaging this offer won’t be taken up by people who have already bought a 3rd party trigger, right?

      • Am I having a deja-va-all-over-again moment, or didn’t we run this scenario several months ago?

        I think your math is more optimistic than the group came up with last time. IIRC we came out to 20+ years even with over 100 employees doing repairs. But it’s all fuzzy now. Not to mention the logistics of bagging and tagging that river of iron flowing through the repair shop (which would only be efficient if it was dedicated to those triggers alone…)

    • I swapped mine for a 0.5lb. – 2.5lb. Timney when they did the 700 trigger recall a year or two ago.

    • You said it. About a year ago I saw a documentary on the Remington 700 trigger issues. In it they said that Remington first noticed a potential safety issue with the trigger around 100 gunship in IIRC and could have replaced them with better designed triggers for about 5 cents a gun. But they didn’t and now look what’s happened. One way they could shorten the wait time and save themselves money in labor and shipping costs would be to give customers the option of Remington shipping the trigger directly to the qualified gunsmith of the customers choice for installation, assuming that would not be in violation of the judges order of course.

      • yeah, its the lil things like that . Personally, between this and the R51 debacle, my first pump will be a mossy or Ithaca. I mean, I REALLY bad want a SPAS 12, but, not at that price…. Even if I hunt velociraptors with it, still too much.

        • May I suggest the H&R pardner pump? It’s an 870 on steriods. Built like a tank and zero issues with mine. Can easily be found in the sub $200 range NEW. I like the short barreled 12 so much I’m probably going to buy the 20 guage for my little girl to use on turkey. Review can be found on TTAG.

  3. Finally! This head in the sand BS has been going on too long. It knew its triggers were risky for years and refused to do anything due to the now famous “Fight Club” math equation…

  4. Mark my words; Big-Green will go bankrupt and the “brand name” will be sold to another Freedom group company.

  5. The best triggers out there are old Winchester model 70s. Clean break, incredibly tough and it won’t go bang if you drop it. The are also relatively easy to set for strength. I love Remington 700s for there accuracy but have always mistrusted the design since I watched a friend close his bolt and watched the damn thing fire. I Personally think Ttag has problems with Remington that have very little to do with firearms and more to do with pride but on 700 triggers, big green needs to fix them with no questions asked.

    • Let me be absolutely clear: TTAG does not hold grudges or get into pissing matches. We call it like we see it. Period.

      • I disagree. Been reading this site for a couple years and have yet to see one favorable review of Remington. My own (yes subjective exp) with rems is that they simply work. Even guns bought in the last 3 years. Half the people on this site are anti whatever the editors say. Some of us however out there have lots of exp with firearms that does not come from watching others on YouTube shoot. Or (half the vocal TTAG posters) those who bought firearms in the last five years. Look this site is straight up good stuff. I read it regularly R.F. I’m Just not seeing the purest appraisal of Remington.

        • I will endeavor to argue the salient points, but there’s little direct hard data to use. It’s mostly second-hand and opinion. Save for the recall, natch.

          I’ve been handling guns for 40 years. I know many a gun collector, and a few volume dealers. My anecdotal data from each and every one off them is that they wouldn’t touch a Remington made in the last 5 years with a 10 foot pole. The complaints are all the same – horrid QC, visible tool marks, actions that feel like they were crafted in the 4th world, because better things are crafted with hand tools in the 3rd world of Dara Adam Khel.

          As to the issue itself with the 700s, either you’ve know it forever, or you’ve never heard of it. There’s two groups, I fall in the former. Having heard the stern admonition from old men 40 years ago to always assume a 700 series may discharge on bolt cycling. I have never owned one, so I have no firsthand testimonial. But I have heard the story of bolt-cycle discharge from directly from others it has happened to whom I know to be skilled in how to handle a firearm and to be truthful, about most things. (Save for the size of the buck they just missed…) YMMV.

          This like the GM ignition switch story. If you’re close to the industry, you’ve known this problem for years. People die, but statistically it can be sweept under the rug. Until it can’t.

        • “Been reading this site for a couple years and have yet to see one favorable review of Remington.”

          Well, maybe if they’d stop sucking? How many positive reviews have you seen for taking a nail to a primer with a hammer?

        • I side with RF on this, if you read the coverage of the shot show it sounds as if Remington had the issue with TTAG calling the junk r51, junk. I have some minor mistrust for TTAG due to the sig stuff, sounded too much like a bunch of gun adds in one day, (Sorry Nick already expressed to you my opinion on that). I do still read TTAG almost daily. There is a lot of finger pointing at bad cops and dumb things cops have done, but they also point out stupid gun users of all kinds, including celebrities that shoot off their own fingers. But Remington hate is not 100% they have given Marlins multiple chances, they have given the new Remington 380 a thumbs up so far until they get a full review, and they still give AAC lots of good publicity even though one of their associates was canned (pun intended).

      • RF, please don’t channel 0bama with his “let me be absolutely clear” schtick. It makes me shudder.

        • That’s fine. I will try to not to use his style. That being said why don’t you engage my argument instead of (like Obama) using side tracks and obstacles to engage the truth. I’m open to the truth. Just don’t think ttag has it on guns despite there protests.

    • My first gun was a Remington 870 Wingmaster Youth Model in 20 guage that I got for my 15th birthday, in the 80’s. My Dad bought it for me at Clark Brothers gun shop in Warrenton, VA. It was used when I got it, which I didn’t mind at all, and had to be an early 80’s model at the latest. To this day, it was the most beautiful pump gun I have ever seen. The grain in the wood stocks was gorgeous. As for the receiver, I don’t know if the previous owner buffed it a lot, or it came from the factory that way, but it looked like black glass. Not a flaw anywhere. The action was tight, but easy, smooth and quick. I used it to shoot doubles in skeet with ease and held my own against the kids with over-unders.

      A couple of years ago I got nostalgic for that old 870 I sold when I thought I had gotten a little too big for it (the biggest gun sale regret of my life) and asked a LGS guy to hand me a new 870 Wingmaster off the rack, out of curiosity. After looking it over, I thought of those old guys who like to go on about how “they just don’t build ’em like they used to.” Sometimes those guys are right. It was just not in the same class as the one I’d had back then, not by a long shot. It’s sad seeing the old greats like Remington fall from glory.

    • There are better triggers out there on target rifles, but for a hunting rifle, the M70 is a very good trigger, especially when given a little TLC by a competent gunsmith. They’re far easier to adjust than the Rem700 trigger, IMO, and they’re simple.

      There’s very little that I don’t like about a Model 70.

  6. I wonder if you could ask Remington to reimburse you for part of the cost of a third party trigger?

  7. Wait — Remington rifles have triggers? I thought that all you had to do to shoot them was to switch off the safety or bump the stocks — which, when you think about it, is more original than the R51.

  8. I am guessing this won’t apply to the X-Mark Pro triggers they started putting in Model 700 and Seven rifles as standard.

  12. It pains me that a few years ago I recommended a 700 to my older brother. Now I have to hang my head in shame in the eyes of my big brother because of this trigger news. All I knew was my 700 (.270 win) has a smooth as silk action and shoots 3/4 ” groups with the crappiest ammo (still does).

    But yeah, a drop in Timney is a better cure. That’s what I did way before all this nonsense hit the fan.

  14. And what about the rifles that were exported?

    The local agent for Big Green refuses to acknowledge the issue since it first broke, and has made it clear that any mention of the trigger problem in print or online WILL result in a black-ban of advertising and review samples.

  15. Are there really 7.8 million rifles going bang when the bolt is closed or did that CBS special finally have its intended affect. Actually curious if the most popular bolt rifle in America has had a bad trigger for decades.

  16. All the ones I’ve heard of had been adjusted by gunsmiths, or “gunsmiths”. I had 3 of them done, and never had an issue, over thousands of rounds of prairie dog shooting. My Savage (pre Accu) on the other hand, could NOT be safely lightened. It would hold up for about 200 rounds, and then fire every time the bolt was closed. Had it set to 7lbs, and sold it.

  18. So far I think TTAG been very honest on reporting on Remington products if look at people doing honest reporting on Remington products on Youtube you find most them been spot on what TTAG been reporting about good bad thing Remington put out on gun market. Case in point R51 handgun TTAG review gave honest no bs review said was lemon well whole bunch other people in gun industry down play review swearing best new reliable handgun they ever used ignoring fact ever body got one from gun store could get damn handgun work as advertise or as review buy some in print gun magazines. Ever one knows end this story Remington had recall ever one R51 being defective. I know people who bought R51 sent there in be fix or wait have new improve R51 come out still waiting after a year for Remington fix there handgun or give them new one. They can not get any one from Remington tell them when gone fix there handgun or when gone send them new one.

    • The R51 might actually be nearing re-release. We saw it at SHOT, and the guys said they fixed every complaint I had in my review and will be replacing the R51 owners’ firearms as soon as the first production run is complete.

      To be honest, the Remington folks have been very accommodating when it comes to the R51 issue. Owners were given the option of waiting for them to fix the gun (which now means scrapping it and replacing it), or accepting a replacement R1 1911 handgun instead. That said, the gun should have never left the factory. But at least they’ve made an effort to make good on their mistake.

    • Sir, correct spelling, correct grammar, and few more periods would vastly improve the readability of your prose. Are you a proud graduate of America’s educational system or is English your second language? I know we overlook most typos but this particular entry was truly painful to read and to comprehend.

  19. Looks like tthe aftermarket trigger manufacturers needs to prepare for a production run. Would you rather replace your trigger with a run of the mill factory trigger and wait an undetermined amount of time for it; or just buy a quality aftermarket trigger and save the time and reap the benefit of a decent trigger pull? I know which way I would go.

    Does anyone know if Big Green will pick up the freight both ways?

  20. Freedom Group has been a bag of dicks for a while… This, waht they did with AAC… This shouldn’t be a concern because nobody should be buying their stuff…

  21. I would risk the potentially faulty trigger of old Remington versus the new and “fixed” trigger of modern Remington.

    Big Green and the brands assimilated are dead to me.

  22. And now you know why I went with a Savage and will continue to recommend savage. Remington has become cheap garbage!

  23. When Remmy sh!t on AAC and Marlin like they did, that made up my mind never to buy any of their firearms in the future.

  24. Meh. Millions and millions sold and a few dozen lawsuits. Looks like the lawyers won again. How many mishaps were caused by amateur gunsmiths adjusting the trigger mechanism or failure to properly maintain the firearm, much less keep it pointed in a safe direction? We’ll never know. I bet some of those triggers had more caked in crap than the average fireplace. I love my 500P’s trigger and will keep it just as is thank you very much.

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