Remington Rifle Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Trigger Problems

The Remington Arms Company faces a class action lawsuit filed by individuals who allege that the Model 700 rifle may fire without the trigger actually being pulled. 

The Remington rifle class action lawsuit (PDF) was filed by William G. Moodie and James W. Waterman on January 29, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Remington has been charged in the complaint with unfair and deceptive trade practices, strict product liability, negligence, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment and unjust enrichment.

The lawsuit seeks class action status, to represent all Remington Model 700 owners in Washington and North Carolina, whose rifles were made and sold with the Walker Fire Control Trigger Mechanism.

According to the lawsuit, the problem is Remington’s Walker Fire Control, which has been used by Remington since 1948 and is found in more than 5,000,000 Remington guns. The lawsuit claims that since at least 1979, Remington has known that at least one percent of all Model 700 Rifles fire unexpectedly, without the trigger being pulled, due to defects in the fire control assembly. The lawsuit also claims that the company knew there were some problems with the Walker Fire Control before it was even placed on the market.

The lawsuit claims that the percentage of rifles affected, and that may fire unexpectedly, is “vastly understated.”

In 1978, the gun manufacturer called the Model 600 series rifles, which also used the fire control, after determining that they had a 55.9% failure rate. The lawsuit claims that the Model 700 bolt action rifles have the same problems.

“From 1992 to 2004, Defendants acknowledge receiving 3,273 customer complaints about Remington Model 700 rifles firing without a trigger pull,” the lawsuit states. “This amounts to an average of approximately five unintended firings per week for this twelve year period.”

The lawsuit goes on to state that the number is likely much higher, since it is unlikely that every customer that experienced an accidental firing reported it to Remington.

Moodie and Waterman allege that they experienced problems where their Remington 700 rifle fired without the trigger being pulled, according to the lawsuit. It is unclear whether any one was hurt in either incident. The lawsuit says the two men were not alone.