Remington has agreed in a federal legal settlement to replace millions of triggers in its Model 700 and related rifles, as part of two class action suits (reportedly there is a total of at least 75 related suits). Remington says this is not a recall, but is agreeing to make the changes “to avoid the uncertainties and expense of protracted litigation.” One suit accused Remington and its owners of negligence, breach of warranty, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and fraudulent concealment-some of it involving the company’s formal response to a 2010 CNBC documentary on the issue.
Remington denied the allegations, calling them “inaccurate, misleading, (and) taken out of context,” and a judge dismissed several of the claims, including negligence and fraudulent concealment.
Numerous reports indicate that some shooters claimed that Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifles have fired without a trigger pull, sometimes discharging when the bolt is locked forward or when the safety is disengaged. Remington claims there is no design flaw with the trigger and has said the unintended discharges are the result of user error.
Two dozen deaths and more than 100 serious injuries are claimed to have been linked to the inadvertent discharges. We don’t know how many of those are trigger problems and how many are trigger-puller problems, but it’s doubtful any injury would have happened had the rifles not been pointed at someone (Rule #2).
Under the nationwide settlement, which still must be approved by a judge, Remington has proposed to retrofit the rifles in question at no cost to the owner. We understand that the original Model 700 “Walker” triggers will be replaced with the newer, current production “X-Mark Pro” (XMP) trigger, some of which have also already been recalled due to a minor assembly error. For owners who had replacement trigger mechanisms installed on their own, Remington proposes reimburse them as part of the settlement. For guns that cannot be retrofitted, the company plans to offer vouchers for other Remington products. The settlement covers more than a dozen bolt action rifle models, specifically Models 700, Seven, Sportsman 78, 673, 710, 715, 770, 600, 660, XP-100 (handgun), 721, 722 and 725, amounting to about 8 million rifles, including all 700s made from 1962 until the new XMP trigger era (2006?).
(Note that newer Model 700s use the XMP trigger, which is not the trigger in question. But as mentioned above, some XMP triggers have been recalled, and information about that recall is on Remington’s website. That recall covers XMP triggers in Model 7 and 700 rifles made from May 1, 2006 to April 9, 2014.)
At least you get a chance to replace a New York trigger with an Alabama trigger.
More on this as we get specifics on how to proceed. Again, this replacement is not yet available until the judge agrees.
http://www.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Settlement-Agreement.pdf