Remington 700 "freezing up"??

glockman40sw

I just wanted to see if anyone has ever experienced the following problem with their rifle. And to get the most obvious answer out of the way first, it isn't doing it because it is saturated with oil.
When I take my remington model 700 outside in temperatures below 38 degrees the safety and trigger sieze up and will not work. I can work the bolt, but the firing pin assembly will not cock. If I take the gun back into the house for an hour or so, everything returns to normal. Has anyone ever heard or saw anything like this before?

bobski

metal is shrinking.

perry shooter

oil gets thicker as it gets colder however GREASE can turn to a solid. . I would get a can of spray CARB cleaner from auto parts store Take the action out of the stock remove the bolt and spray everything down and let dry . put bolt back in and try your test over. Most factory guns are not setup so tight that Temperature will lock up the action

284 Fan

I had something similiar happen to a 700 I had that was in a different stock than originally manufactured. The stock was binding the trigger and when cold either or both the metal and wood was affected by the cold. I simply sanded some relief for the trigger and sear.

Hawkshaw

You have already said that the obvious problem(grease) is NOT the problem. If you have already de-greased the trigger, and the sear, and nothing is binding ---I'm going to go way over in left field---Have you or a previous owner ever fiddled with the trigger(read sear engagement), or tried to adjust the trigger? If the answer is yes, try this. Obviously with the gun unloaded, and in a safe place, cock the gun, put the safety ON and pull the trigger,remove finger from trigger, then push the safety to the off position. If the firing pin didn't fall, try this. With the gun cocked and the safety off, beat the receiver area smartly with a hammer handle, or large wooden dowell. If the firing pin falls, I suspect that you have WAY to little engagement between the sear, and the trigger. It is possible that the lower temp. causes the components to shrink, allowing the sear to NOT to be engaged by the trigger. If any of the above occurs, or degreasing doesn't cure the problem, make an appointment with your favorite gunsmith. You may have a very dangerous situation here. Don't attempt to load or shoot the gun untill fixed. Good luck. Hawkshaw

NRA ENDOWMENT MEMBER

cussedemgun

glockman,

Wood or composite (plastic) stocks will have a different rate of thermal expansion than the metal. The odds are the binding is occuring between the stock & the trigger mechanism.

Take the action & barrel assembly out of the stock & try your temp. test again. If the problem is still there without the stock, send it back to Remington as unsafe.

If the problem is indeed binding in the stock, time to glass bed the action & relieve the other pressure points.

Jim

MIKE WISKEY

completely disassembel the trigger assy. and clean. wd40 will 'gum' them up.

336marlin

A heavy spring pressure with a light sear engagement will give the impression you have a safe trigger in a controlled enviroment, or in the house. As Mr. Bobski and Mr. Hawkshaw have stated the trigger and sear are contracting in the cold totally elimating any sear engagement. There have been previous topics on this if you will search, and even someone provided a link to a diagram showing the adjustments of the 700 trigger.

tsr1965

You have obviously got a problem that sounds like it was not properly prepped out of the box from the factory. To do this, remove the barreled action from the stock, and remove the bolt from the action. You will need two 12"x12", chunks from an old COTTON T-shirt, brake cleaner from NAPA, a rifle cleaning kit, with solvent, patches, jag, and brush, and some Rem Oil spray or Tri-Flow spray.

Spray one 12x12 with brake cleaner, and wipe all the external packing oil/grease off the barreled action. Then take the straw and place it on the nozzle of the brake cleaned and spray out your trigger assy, first from the top, then the bottom.

Next disassemble your bolt, and spray the whole internals with break cleaner, then wipe off with 12x12...do this several times, using a brush to get inbetween the firing pin spring. Do this to the bolt body also to insure that any machining metal chips are out. Let everything dry from the solvent. while the brake cleaner is drying off, you may clean the bore by a patch with solvent, then bore brush, then dry patch, repeating untill the dry patch is clean. Finish the bore with a patch with spray lube(Rem Oil or Tri-flow).

Next lightly spray the trigger group using the straw included with the spray lube. Spray the firing pin/bolt assembly lightly, and the inside of the bolt body lightly, and re assemble the bolt.

You might want to remove your scope while doing this for ease, and to keep it out of reach of the brake cleaner.

If this does not help, then that rifle needs to go back to Remington.

Remember to do this with every new rifle. They are not ready to go out of the factory box. They will most often work out of the box, but should be prepped to avoid this situation you are having. When they leave the factory they are prepped for storage, not use. You will get this from a full service gun shop, but not the big box stores, including Cabela's, Gander Mountain, or Bass Pro, and especially Wal-Mart.

Best

These rifles as any other will need this done periodotically afterwords also, as any oil can dry and harden.

JustC

clean the inside of the bolt body and the trigger with break cleaner

FEENIX

Save yourself the hassle and send that fair weather rifle back to Remington.[}:)]