I consider myself knowledgeable when it comes to adjusting the trigger on a 700 but my son's new rifle has me stumped. Its a 700 SPS. I can adjust the trigger to get a crisp let off and the trigger doesnt go off when I slam the bolt home. Here is the situation. If the sear is released and I go to cock the trigger by lifting the bolt handle straight up it will not cock till I move the bolt ever so slightly backward. None of my other 700's are like this. I played with adjusting the trigger adding more weight of pull and sear engagement but it didnt matter. Is this a design change or am I doing something wrong?

Snowwolfe, Unfortunatly yours is not the only 700 with this malady. Two things you might look at, both a result of poor design/quality control at Remington. Most of the newer 700's need to be resprung to get a decent, safe trigger pull. The sear engagement spring needs to be replaced with a longer but lighter spring to maintain sear engagement.
Another issue with a lot of them is that the root of the bolt handle gets peened over at the secondary extraction point and doesn't reset the bolt back far enough. Sometimes you can carefully peen the worn out portion of the bolt root and get it to move rearward properly. Sometimes they are worn enough to need Tig welding and regrinding to work properly good luck.
P.S. I hope you enjoy your new Zeiss FL's, I'm lusting after the 8x30's...........DJ

Here are some good instructions on how to adjust a 700 trigger.

link

As far as the rifle not cocking just by lifting the bolt this is not unheard of. I'm not saying its right but it should be safe. I have seen several out of the box 700s that were like this.
This has also been discussed on here before so you my try a search. There were some explanations given as to why some don’t cock when you lift the handle.

Shawn

Thanks for both answers. Since it is a new unfired rifle I don't think anything is worn out. I will re adjust it and leave it alone till winter comes and then I will play with changing the spring.

Lot of the newer 700 won't cock till you move the bolt ever so slightly rearward,can't tell you why,but if you install an aftermarket trigger it won't do it,so probably has something to do with the sear spring.I have put another remington trigger in,and didn't do it anymore either.

When you say it won't do it.......do you mean after changing the trigger it will now cock just by lifting the bolt up without moving it to the rear?

I have only seen that situation on J-lock 700's, and though different, do not consider it a malfunction or concern.
Trigger adjustments were normal, as you experienced.

I know this goes against the grain having lived in Alaska, and I have tuned many of my triggers in the past. But, I would just throw it in an envelope and send it to:
http://www.triggersmith.com/
The fellow is named Jim Pigg. He blueprints (on jigs), polishes and tunes hundreds of M700 triggers a year. For $35.00 you'll get it back in a week, and it will be 90% as good as a Jewell. He will set the weight from 1.75# on up. I'm sending in three today. I'll have them back in four to five days. It will take about 7 days from where you are.
Just a thought.
He will also tell you what the exact problem is. He does all Remington 700 triggers; blued, nickled, stainless (some of the guts in the stainless triggers are nickled).

lawndart

Ya know........for $35 I may give the triggersmith a try. I can adjust the triggers pretty well but I will ship one off to these folks after moose hunting and see what they are capable of. Thanks

Ditto what lawndart said, I'm expecting two from Triggersmith in the next day or two.