Rem 700 BDL Safety advice

[PT111]

I just bought an older Rem 700 BDL 30-06 at the local pawn shop. It was in great condition as far as I could tell. A few very minor dents on the stock but the action was good and it hasn't been fired a lot.

I took it out just to test it out and fired a few rounds, decided to put it away and dropped the floor plate to remove the extra shells. I was then going to remove the live round out of the chamber. Since this is an older model I had to take the safety off to open the bolt. When I started to open the bolt it fired. I was using safe practices making sure it was in a safe direction but I cannot promise that I did not hit the trigger. I came home and googled Remington Safety and found that Remington has a "recall" on 700 models to replace the bolt safety with one that will allow you to open the bolt with the safety on.

Does anyone have experience with this recall and what is involved with it? Should I try to get the bolt safety replaced? It really bothers me that the trigger is so light that I could hit it like that and not even notice that I hit it.

Would you classify this as a AD or ND?
Looking for advice.

 

[crowbeaner]

A previous owner may have played with the trigger adjustment screws trying to get a lighter trigger pull. If the pull weight is under 3 lbs. it's almost sure that they did. You can adjust the trigger yourself, but I'm not going to post the info here to get flamed. The newer M700s have a safety that allows the bolt to be opened with the safety on as opposed to the older guns that require the safety to be off for the bolt to be cycled. PM me and I'll give you the info for adjusting the trigger; this is probably the problem with the AD. If the gun hasn't been shot much like you say, it's probably in the adjustment.

 

[Inspector3711]

I had a similiar experience with a 700 LV SF safety several months ago. It was with a rifle that is a couple of years old but was never fired by the original owner. Nearly every time I moved the safety to the fire position, the action would fire. I was pretty darned nervous about it and made sure to keep live ammo away from the rifle.

I found a website that talked about debris left over from production being a possible cause. I flushed the trigger group with brake cleaner and found that shavings came out of the assembly. I made sure that I flushed it good again and then lubed the trigger group. I adjusted the trigger to 3 lbs and tested it many times. The safety never caused the action to fire again. I'm not saying this is what's wrong with your rifle, but it is something to think about.

So far I've cycled about 400 rounds (.223) through the rifle and haven't had a problem. That said, like all firearms, I make certain that when I move the safety to fire the barrel is pointed down range. If nothing else, this rifle has reinforced my safety skills!

It's also entirely possible that someone pawned the rifle because of this problem.

 

[PT111]

As a follow up. I started checking it closely without ammo and found that sometimes when moving from safety it would fire. I striipped it down and there was some dirt and a little rust on the trigger mechanism. I cleaned it good and it hasn't happened since but am going to keep an eye on it. I wondered why it was as cheap as it was in the Pawn shop and this was probably the problem. Has a Weaver 3x-9x scope and a came with one of these hard plastic two shotgun cases. Not a great additional value but for $300 otd I couldn't turn it down in the cosmetic shape it is in. Maybe I will send it to Remington and let them replace the trigger for $20 on their recall program.

This completes my set of the Remington Trio. 700, 870, 1100.

 

[Slopemeno]

Maybe nothing...send it in.