Evening gents.

I have a 1989 vintage 700 PSS .308 with the factory trigger.

When moved to the "safe" position, the safety becomes almost impossible to move to the "fire" position. I ran some lighter fluid it this evening to flush it out and it works a bit better, but not as easy as any of my other 700s.

I had the same problem when it was new and returned the rifle to Remington who put in a new trigger/safety.

When I say it gets tough to move to the fire position, I mean use a plastic mallet to whack it loose.
Any suggestions?

ALong the same topic, do you know how hard it is to find lighter fluid in todays anti-smoking environment? It took me an hour and several stores before I found some.

Lighter fluid/Naptha-
Tis the reason that I use Coleman Fuel & a gallon goes farther that a half pint!!!!!

Remove the trigger group assy from the action.
Take heed to the position of the bolt stop torsion spring.
Trigger group pins are pushed from RH to LH side.

Trigger group removed-
RH side of trigger group facing up.
Remove mutant E clip from safety.
Remove detent spring piece.
Remove 5/32" detent ball.
Push safety pivot pin out thru lever & trigger group housing.
Using a die grinder w/ bullet profile cratex wheel,bevel web & edges of safe & fire detent holes in RH trigger group housing side plate.
Fire detent hole is countersunk.
Reassemble,making sure detent spring piece hole is around pin & not hung up in mutent E clip groove.
Activate safety lever by looking at operation from aft end.
Reinstall trigger group.

It's possible the ball is sitting too deep in the safety hole and any incorrect attempt to alter the hole may result in a completely ruined trigger. I have a box of the old walker trigger housings where most of the holes were over sized from the factory. Unless you are very familiar with these triggers, I would recommend you take it or send it to someone who knows what they're doing.

Buy a Timney!

One can do all of the various items mentioned above and they would work I am sure, have done them myself over the years, but might want to consider a small toothpick point size of quality moly grease in the detent ball area. It will smooth it up and have no adverse action with the trigger itself. Obviously the safety lever on the 700 trigger is not supposed to be that difficult to engage, disengage and even with the tad of moly grease, would still suggest you have someone skilled take a look at it if you are not comfortable in doing so yourself. Can't imagine what it would be, but there may well be something else with the trigger causing the problem and one can't be too safe when it comes to firearms.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. And I do have Timneys on some of my other 700's!

john113wyo,

Does the safety operate this way when the action is out of the stock? I had a similar problem in a M700 that I was adjusting for trigger pull. The bedding/inletting was off in the stock and when I cranked down the action screws the safety got tight as did the trigger pull. It was torquing the trigger housing in some manner.

Bobster,
Yes, it does the same thing , in or out of the stock. Torqued to 65 inch pounds per factory specs. Trigger is standard factory. I used this for two years as a police sniper rifle so no tweaking has been done. It is one of the first ones from the switch by Remington from walnut to HS precision kevlar. I retired in '97 and haven't usd it much but have too much emotional attachment to it to let it go. My youngest son has already called dibs anyway. This rifle shoots in the .4's for 5 shots just about as consistently as one could ask with FED GMM 168s.
The safety does operate a bit easier since I ran the lighter fluid thru it, but not near as easily as my other 700s.