Can a Timney trigger cause a noisy Remington 700 bolt ?

ABBA

New member
I have a Remington 700 stainless steel bolt action that I bought in 2005. It was an excellent problem-free rifle until I had the original Remington (Walker-style) trigger replaced by a new Timney trigger (installed in 2012 by a very reputable firm of rifle-smiths). Since then, the bolt on my rifle has been loudly squeaking on the down-stroke when closing the bolt. I read with much interest the tread from 4 years ago about squeaky 700 bolts and have tried every remedy imaginable (including putting oil/grease all parts and surfaces inside and outside the bolt) without any success. I have carefully examined the bolt under 10X magnification and can find no signs of external wear. So I am curious, does anyone know whether a Timney trigger exerts more upward pressure on the bolt than would the old Remington trigger? Or do you suspect that this new Timney trigger installation job was somehow botched and therefore causing this noise? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

P.S. I have owned 12 different Remington 700 rifles during my life and this is the only one that ever made such a noise.
 
Originally Posted By: ABBA
Can a Timney trigger cause a noisy Remington 700 bolt ?

So I am curious, does anyone know whether a Timney trigger exerts more upward pressure on the bolt than would the old Remington trigger? Or do you suspect that this new Timney trigger installation job was somehow botched and therefore causing this noise? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

P.S. I have owned 12 different Remington 700 rifles during my life and this is the only one that ever made such a noise.



Yes!!

Remington triggers work fine, Jewell triggers and Shilen triggers work fine, but Timney triggers are up to their armpits with problems.

I bought a beautiful 700 VSF in 22-250 a little while back - I bought it for the action cuz the owner said the barrel was no good (it turned out to be great).

It came with an old model Timney that was frozen... I replaced it with a new one (my mistake, I shoulda spent a little more), and it was supposed to be 24 ounces, but would not go below 42... even with the trigger spring completely removed
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... and it pushed up and dragged on the bolt.

By itself, the bolt was the smoothest I have ever seen, and I loved the action - but the Timney trigger caused the sear release to drag on the bolt body and caused the bolt to bind.

On other triggers, the the bar on top of the trigger, that holds back the pin, does not rise up to touch the bolt body - just up enough to catch the pin on closing the bolt.
The Timney bar goes up too far, and drags on the bolt for the whole stroke
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When I replaced the trigger with a different brand, the binding went away, and the bolt is like greased glass.

I have had four Timney triggers and all were lacking... I am done with them - the folks at the company are really nice, but the triggers suck.



 
I have a Timney on a 700 and another on a 788. There is no
problem at all with the 788 trigger. With the 700,I can feel just
a hint of drag for maybe 1/2" when pulling the bolt back, but
then gets smooth...same with closing, the last 1/2" gives a hint
of a drag, but really isn't noticeable at the range or hunting.
And there is no squeak at all. That would drive me nutz, too.
 
Interesting CatShooter, I've owned Timney triggers for years and never had a problem. But than you may have owned more than I have.

My next trigger will be some other brand though, only because I want to try something else.
 
Originally Posted By: joedInteresting CatShooter, I've owned Timney triggers for years and never had a problem. But than you may have owned more than I have.

My next trigger will be some other brand though, only because I want to try something else.

X2 Thanks Catshooter
 
Drop in doesn't always mean drop in. Some triggers need to be fitted by a competent gunsmith. Rather than trashing Timney, try having the trigger fit to your bolt and adjusted by a good gunsmith who knows triggers. Sorry to hear that your rifle company did a poor job of installing your Timney. Time to find a better 'smith. PM me if you need more help.
 
I bought a used (like new!) Timney for a 700 at a give-away price, and neither I nor my gunsmith were able to get the blasted thing to work properly. Guess I should return it to them for either a repair or replacement.

I ended up using an old-style factory trigger that was tuned by a renowned trigger tuner. It was SUPPOSED to break at 1.5 pounds; it broke at 8-ounces or when you closed the bolt - whichever it felt like at the moment. Not wanting to throw good money after bad, I adjusted it until it was safe and resolved to never have this guy tune another trigger.

I'll buy a Jewell next time.
 
Originally Posted By: ABBAI have a Remington 700 stainless steel bolt action that I bought in 2005. It was an excellent problem-free rifle until I had the original Remington (Walker-style) trigger replaced by a new Timney trigger (installed in 2012 by a very reputable firm of rifle-smiths). Since then, the bolt on my rifle has been loudly squeaking on the down-stroke when closing the bolt. I read with much interest the tread from 4 years ago about squeaky 700 bolts and have tried every remedy imaginable (including putting oil/grease all parts and surfaces inside and outside the bolt) without any success. I have carefully examined the bolt under 10X magnification and can find no signs of external wear. So I am curious, does anyone know whether a Timney trigger exerts more upward pressure on the bolt than would the old Remington trigger? Or do you suspect that this new Timney trigger installation job was somehow botched and therefore causing this noise? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

P.S. I have owned 12 different Remington 700 rifles during my life and this is the only one that ever made such a noise.

If you have a J Lock bolt, the firing pin spring may be binding against the inside dia of the bolt body.
 
I have one Timney trigger. I sent it to my smith with all of the other parts to build a rifle. He called me and said the trigger was dragging and he couldn't make it work, so I sent him a Jewell and he sent the Timney back to me.
I dropped it into a 700 I have and it's just as smooth as it ever was.
I guess it just depends on the rifle, but I'll stick with the Jewells from now on.
 
Originally Posted By: CAFRDrop in doesn't always mean drop in. Some triggers need to be fitted by a competent gunsmith. Rather than trashing Timney, try having the trigger fit to your bolt and adjusted by a good gunsmith who knows triggers. Sorry to hear that your rifle company did a poor job of installing your Timney. Time to find a better 'smith. PM me if you need more help.

Good post, IMO.

I'm always amazed at how quick some people are to throw one of a limited number of vendors that exist in the firearms industry under the bus if people felt that they have been wronged in some manner. Most of it sounds a lot like Obama blaming Bush for what will happen next week.

I've owned Timney, Dayton Traister, and Jewell triggers, and I've never had a problem with any of them. My problem is probably the fact that I've let good gunsmiths install them for me as the drop in approach to anything has never captured my imagination. I like to spend my time doing other things

Before someone gets out their favorite accelerant and their matches, Timney triggers are not my favorite, but it has absolutely nothing to do with their performance. I happen to live fairly close to where Jewell triggers are made, so that factors into my preferences for them if I need one fairly quickly.

Carry on troops. What vendor is next?
 
Thanks to everyone for their comments. After considering them, I went back to "the drawing board" and started over with my scientific-engineering approach to problem solving (as a research scientist, I am prone to working in such a systematic manner). I carefully inspected the suspected parts once again and saw nothing strange, at first. Then, I continued by removing one part at a time and testing the bolt for a squeak. I got all the way down to only the barreled action and the bolt, and it still squeaked upon closing. By this time I was able to localize the origin of the sound in the rear of the bolt, so I looked there once again and found two small metal burrs that I suspected to be the culprits. So, I carefully ground them down and smoothed-up the areas. Upon testing at this point, the squeak was gone!! So what probably happened? The original walker-style Remington trigger did not fit against the bolt as tightly as the Timney. With the old Remington trigger, the action was noticeably looser (especially when decocked) and the sloppy manufacturing at the Remington factory (i.e., not smoothing off all the metal burrs) did not matter because there was enough space to function without binding. With the new Timney trigger, however, the bolt fit more snugly and the reduced space for operation caused those two small burrs to bind and squeak, as if complaining that the bolt needed some surgical intervention to relieve the pressure. So, with sloppier-fitting parts, poor-quality metal finishing can slide-by (literally). However, with parts that do not fit so sloppily (i.e., the new Timney trigger), the metal finishing must be performed to a higher standard. In this particular Remington 700 rifle, the quality of the metal finishing at the factory was not up to par for quiet functioning with a tighter-fitting Timney trigger, until I improved it.
 
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Great job tracking down the problem. I have never owned anything but factory triggers, but if Timney is so bad, then how did they survive all this time?

I think based on my last Remington purchase, their quality control has gone totally to crap and so it does not surprise me that you found extra burrs.
 
Originally Posted By: ABBAThanks to everyone for their comments. After considering them, I went back to "the drawing board" and started over with my scientific-engineering approach to problem solving (as a research scientist, I am prone to working in such a systematic manner). I carefully inspected the suspected parts once again and saw nothing strange, at first. Then, I continued by removing one part at a time and testing the bolt for a squeak. I got all the way down to only the barreled action and the bolt, and it still squeaked upon closing. By this time I was able to localize the origin of the sound in the rear of the bolt, so I looked there once again and found two small metal burrs that I suspected to be the culprits. So, I carefully ground them down and smoothed-up the areas. Upon testing at this point, the squeak was gone!! So what probably happened? The original walker-style Remington trigger did not fit against the bolt as tightly as the Timney. With the old Remington trigger, the action was noticeably looser (especially when decocked) and the sloppy manufacturing at the Remington factory (i.e., not smoothing off all the metal burrs) did not matter because there was enough space to function without binding. With the new Timney trigger, however, the bolt fit more snugly and the reduced space for operation caused those two small burrs to bind and squeak, as if complaining that the bolt needed some surgical intervention to relieve the pressure. So, with sloppier-fitting parts, poor-quality metal finishing can slide-by (literally). However, with parts that do not fit so sloppily (i.e., the new Timney trigger), the metal finishing must be performed to a higher standard. In this particular Remington 700 rifle, the quality of the metal finishing at the factory was not up to par for quiet functioning with a tighter-fitting Timney trigger, until I improved it.

Thanks for updating us on what you found. I'm glad that you didn't leave any trigger makers under the bus. Let this be a lesson to us all. By the way, Rifle Basix is another good choice for a new trigger.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
YES to what CAFR said.

Originally Posted By: sbhooperGreat job tracking down the problem. I have never owned anything but factory triggers, but if Timney is so bad, then how did they survive all this time?

I think based on my last Remington purchase, their quality control has gone totally to crap and so it does not surprise me that you found extra burrs.

And what you found concerning quality control as a reason to bash a vendor in general is not what everyone finds. In addition...... Your last statement can be made for any factory rifle builder today based on one example.
 
To be clear, I was NOT bashing any vendor here. I specifically focused all of my comments on "this particular Remington 700 rifle" and the difficulty I encountered when it was fitted with an after-market part (in this case a Timney trigger). I like the Timney trigger and believe it to be a good product. I also liked the old Walker-style Remington trigger, since I have owned a dozen 700s during my lifetime and never had any problems with any of them. In my opinion, both Timney and Remington make good products. However, when it comes to the vagaries of the mass production in our capitalistic system required to meet the huge demand for firearms at an affordable price, every once in a while a product with problems is produced (most likely on a Monday or Friday by impaired or distracted workers). I have encountered numerous far worse problems with several brands of pistols, none of which would I ever count on for self-defense. People run assembly lines and people, being fallible, will once in a while turn out less than sterling work. This is not a criticism of Timney, Remington, capitalism or mass production. Rather, it is a simple statement of fact...that people sometimes turn out bad work or produce products that do not easily lend themselves to after-market alteration without some additional effort needed to make things fit and function properly. As a scientist, I consciously try to avoid emotional reactions against or mindless cheerleading for companies, models, calibers, etc. Conclusions MUST be well supported by the facts (as Jack Webb said on that old TV drama "Dragnet"). Living ones life on any other basis is fraught with peril to one's self and others. Obtaining knowledge through careful observation, conferring with well-informed people and reading factual literature is like arming yourself with a reliable and straight-shooting rifle. If you do your part, the rifle (i.e., the knowledge) won't let you down when it is needed.
 
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