[kaido]

As it states, today was not only the scariest time going to the range, but also one of the best time so far.

To start off, let's go with the scariest part of the day.
Me and my girl were able to take a friends rifle out, I'm not to sure if it actually is or not, but says it is in fact a Remington 700.
The gun it's self isn't in to bad I shape, especially the stock.
The entire rifle is at least 30~ years old.

To get to the "good" part of this freaky story, I was sighting it in and everything was going just fine. Least for the first two shots.
The third round chambered jut fine with out a hitch at all, here's where it get interesting. I pulled the trigger, nothing. I thought maybe I left the safety on so checked, it was off but to make sure I flicked it on then back off, still nothing. Since my only other thought was that I might of some how not cycled it properly, I popped the bolt up then locked it back down. That let the round fly down range. Being a little iffy, I cycled for the fourth round and once again, nothing. Figuring it would be the same issue, I went for the bolt, with out even so much as a finger in the trigger guard, let alone near it, the rifle went off. Needles to say, I'm not a fan of having a 7mm Rem Mag firing when ever it feels like, so that got unloaded (dropped the floor plate) and put away pretty quick.

Now, the best part of the day, least in my eyes.
When me and my girl got down there there was already a few people down there doing their own thing. Me being the guy that I am, I noticed someone had an M14 out. Now since that is one of my all time favorite rifles of all time, I had to see if he was alright with me shooting a couple round though it.

He gave me the okay as we'll as two loaded 5round mags (max round count for Canada per mag -_- ) as well as a quick run down since I told him I had never fired one before. After showing me where the mag release, safety and bolt locks are he pretty much told me to go have fun. Needles to say, I felt like a kid in a candy shop, it's by far the coolest firearm I've ever shot in my life.


The smallest group is my second mag, its also after I got used to the trigger. Sadly it was only done at 25yards. He had a scope mounted but I only cought the fact it was a 3-9 and that's it.

All in all I think I did good since before that I've only fired a couple of .22LRs, two 12gauges and that 7mm. (which I refuse to fire at all until he shows me that it's totally clean.)

(would also just like to say that I still had to 7mm shouldered and pointing downrange when it discharged)

[AleksiR]

Sounds like a good trip to the range, excluding that incident with the 7mm Mag. From what you described, it sounds like you were getting hang fires (the powder doesn't ignite immediately after the primers been hit). Were you shooting old ammo in that Remington? Good thing you were pointing the muzzle downrange, but if the rifle doesn't fire after you pull the trigger you should always wait for atleast a minute or so, pointing the muzzle to a safe direction of course (as you did).

[kaido]

Originally Posted by AleksiR

Sounds like a good trip to the range, excluding that incident with the 7mm Mag. From what you described, it sounds like you were getting hang fires (the powder doesn't ignite immediately after the primers been hit). Were you shooting old ammo in that Remington? Good thing you were pointing the muzzle downrange, but if the rifle doesn't fire after you pull the trigger you should always wait for atleast a minute or so, pointing the muzzle to a safe direction of course (as you did).

It very well could of been a hang fire, but I don't remember hearing the pin hitting the primer at all. As of the ammunition, that very well could of played a part since yesterday it was firing when pulled.
I was using Winchesters PowerPoint SPs and the casing looked to be fairly different from round to round. Some looked brand new while otheres, from that same box, looked as though they've been sitting there for a little while. There was what looked like rusting/oxidizing in the base stamp of some and real small sports on the case it self. I figured it wouldn't be a problem since the gun was doing just fine yesterday.

I did think about the hang fire afterwards though. Even now (close to 6 hours later) it still surprises me and make me glad I have a decent amount of smarts when it comes to firearms.

[Tackleberry1]

Highly unlikely to have TWO hang fires back to back. That combined with your mention of not hearing a click when you pulled the trigger but having both rounds detonated when you touched the bolt handle makes me think you've got an internal malfunction in the striker firing system.

Fouling, corosion, and brass shavings around the pin and pin spring can prevent it from snapping forward and striking the primer. I suggest you try to re-create the failure while dry firing. If the rifle is cocked, trigger is pulled, and you get no click or a delayed click after manipulating the bolt, you've got a problem. Given the age of the rifle you should have a competent person diseasemble the firing mechanism and clean/replace parts if necessary.

Personally, I would have stopped firing after the first malfunction but good on you for being savvy enough to keep it pointed I'm a safe direction.

Oh...and FYI...I highly doubt the other shooters rifle was an M14. M14's are select fire, both semi and full auto capable. The civilian semi auto clone is known as the M1A. Looks identical but no rock and roll switch.

Tack

[kaido]

Originally Posted by Tackleberry1

Highly unlikely to have TWO hang fires back to back. That combined with your mention of not hearing a click when you pulled the trigger but having both rounds detonated when you touched the bolt handle makes me think you've got an internal malfunction in the striker firing system.

Fouling, corosion, and brass shavings around the pin and pin spring can prevent it from snapping forward and striking the primer. I suggest you try to re-create the failure while dry firing. If the rifle is cocked, trigger is pulled, and you get no click or a delayed click after manipulating the bolt, you've got a problem. Given the age of the rifle you should have a competent person diseasemble the firing mechanism and clean/replace parts if necessary.

Personally, I would have stopped firing after the first malfunction but good on you for being savvy enough to keep it pointed I'm a safe direction.

Oh...and FYI...I highly doubt the other shooters rifle was an M14. M14's are select fire, both semi and full auto capable. The civilian semi auto clone is known as the M1A. Looks identical but no rock and roll switch.

Tack

I figured I should of put it away after the first failure, but I was thinking it might of been human error since I'm still fairly new to the shooting sport. Even though it's kind if hard to mess up while using a bolt action as far as mechanics goes. The second one I knew for sure wasn't do to something that I had done and that it was in fact the rifle. I'll be sure to let the owner of it (a good friend of mine) know about recreating the issue with out anything being chambered. However soon as I mentioned it to him, he said that he's been looking into buying a new bolt and thinks that might fix it.

I knew it wasn't an actual M14, but it was a clone. Regardless of lacking the "Rock 'n' roll switch" it was still a blast to shoot and I'm thinking of getting one now. Haha

[Durangokid]

The 700 Remington has had this problem from the begining. There have been a number of deadly accidents with this rifles saftey problem. They have paid the largest settlements ever paid by a firearms co. There was a one hour TV Doc. made on this very problem. The Engineer who designed this rifle testified against the dangers of his own design.

[kaido]

Originally Posted by Durangokid

The 700 Remington has had this problem from the begining. There have been a number of deadly accidents with this rifles saftey problem. They have paid the largest settlements ever paid by a firearms co. There was a one hour TV Doc. made on this very problem. The Engineer who designed this rifle testified against the dangers of his own design.

Damn, that's some crazy stuff. I was thinking it might just be this one rifle and not the type. I'll be sure to let him (gonna call him Jack on here) know that this type of rifle has seen this issue from the start. I also think I'll look around and see if I can find this Doc floating around the web at all.

[Tackleberry1]

Originally Posted by kaido

I knew it wasn't an actual M14, but it was a clone. Regardless of lacking the "Rock 'n' roll switch" it was still a blast to shoot and I'm thinking of getting one now. Haha

The M1A is on my short list also. IMHO it's sill the best semi auto sniper system out there short of a Barret M82A1 .50 BMG and with 4 kids I don't see myself dropping $8500 on the Barret anytime soon.

Tack

[Marlinman]

Originally Posted by Durangokid

The 700 Remington has had this problem from the begining. There have been a number of deadly accidents with this rifles saftey problem. They have paid the largest settlements ever paid by a firearms co. There was a one hour TV Doc. made on this very problem. The Engineer who designed this rifle testified against the dangers of his own design.

Originally Posted by kaido

Damn, that's some crazy stuff. I was thinking it might just be this one rifle and not the type. I'll be sure to let him (gonna call him Jack on here) know that this type of rifle has seen this issue from the start. I also think I'll look around and see if I can find this Doc floating around the web at all.

They actually havent had that many problems if you take out the "gunsmiths" jacking with them. The engineer even said so. He said the design was to easy for someone to tamper w

God didnt make all men equal colonel Sam Colt did

[texaswoodworker]

Originally Posted by kaido

Damn, that's some crazy stuff. I was thinking it might just be this one rifle and not the type. I'll be sure to let him (gonna call him Jack on here) know that this type of rifle has seen this issue from the start. I also think I'll look around and see if I can find this Doc floating around the web at all.

I heard somewhere that about 1% out of 100 rifles tested had this problem, (though, the actual percentage is probably less) (I think they have pretty much fixed that problem now though, it seems to happen more in their older 700s.) and as Marlinman said, it can also be caused by "gunsmiths" screwing around with the internals, and making a mistake. a few replacements should hopefully fix it. You could also try calling Remington, I don't know what they would do, but it could end up helping you.