Rem. Mohawk 600 bolt action in .308

[salvo]

A friend of mine bought a Rem. Mohawk bolt action model 600 in .308. It is a short barreled light weight rifle. It shoots well. He heard that there was a problem
with this model, so he wrote Remington. They said that
there was not a recall on his serial number for his
rifle. I searched the net for more information, but
could not locate anything about this model. It is
almost like remington is trying to hide something. I
think that this model was discontinued in the late
70’s. I was wondering if any one knew anything about the
model 600. If so I would appreciate any information
you have.
Thanks.

[Al Thompson]

I've got one in a scout configuration. Shoots well! I suspect this was discontinued due to a "beancounter" decision as opposed to any good reason. Like the 788 for instance.

Stocks and parts are still available. I'm saving pennies for a HS-Precision stock for mine.

Giz

[BLUE HORNET]

Salvo, I have some info on your 600 Mohawk. First of all it is my understanding the 600 Mohawk, 600,660 & the xp 100 (pistol) are all based on the same action. My dad bought a 660 (308) back in the 60's and there was some kind of a recall on his gun. There was a trigger / safety problem that he had to have fixed.Maybe the model your friend has did not fall into this catagory but you might want to talk to a gunsmith on this subject.
The 660 that my dad gave me is the gun I have taken the majority of my whitetails with. I hand load the 165 gr. nosler ballistic tip and have never had one get away.
good luck, BLUE HORNET

[salvo]

Thanks guys, You put my friends fears to rest.
Sounds like a fine little rifle, I have a couple of XP-100's chambered in 7mmBR that are just plain tack drivers.

[9mmepiphany]

the remington 600 started the line with a cool vent rib, swept back front sight, nylon(during reign of the nylon 66)trigger guard and flattened stock hugging bolt handle (great for packing on a saddle scabboard). it was offered in .223,.243, 6.5mm rem mag, .308 and .350 rem mag. the mags were a great idea but the magazines were too short to seat the bullets out very far.

the remington 660 did away with the vent rib but you could still get the deluxe (bdl?) with the black fore end tip and grip cap as well as a rubber recoil pad

there was a big to due about it's safety because you could cause the gun to fire by pushing off the safety if you had been pulling the trigger with the safety on. i can remember if it was a general recall or if it was a factory fix if you wanted to send your gun in (like ruger's tranfer bar)

the mohawk 600 was remington's economy version of the 660 that was offered after they had removed it from the regular line. plain hardwood, no deluxe version and it think only in .223 and .308. i use to always see them in k-mart.

when jeff cooper first put together his "scout rifle" he choose the remington 600

[James K]

Just to ease minds, do the following:

1. Make sure the rifle is empty.

2. Cock the rifle as if loading.

3. Put the safety in the ON position (back).

4. Pull the trigger as hard as you can.

5. Take your finger off the trigger and move the safety to the OFF position (forward).

If the firing pin falls in steps 4 or 5, call Remington immediately for advice and assistance. If not, there is no problem.

Jim

[DCR]

I had one in 1985, a 6mm. Good shooter. What 9mmepiphany & Jim Keenan say is true. I had one chambered, safety on, when I flicked off the safety to unload, BOOM!!! Safe muzzle direction (ALWAYS!!), thankfully, so no one was injured. Oddly, we never could duplicate the firing event. Traded it off immediately for a 721.

My gunsmith's recollection was that in the '60's or '70's (whenever the model was altered or discontinued), a kid was riding in a pickup bed & the same thing happened, tragically killing his father who was in the cab, so Remington made the changes and/or stopped production. Don't know the truth, so don't rely on that recollection; it just fits my personal experience so I tend to believe it.

- - - D.

[Paul B.]

Salvo. If memory serves, all Remington 600, 660, 600 Mohawks, and XP-100's were recalled. I forget the exact way the safety was tested, but I think there was something about it being moved foreward, ever so slightly and the trigger being pulled. Then when the safety was removed to fire the rifle, it would fire as the safety was turned off. Something like that anyway. I think the recall was around 1980 or 81, maybe as late as 1982.
You might want to check with George Stringer's forum. He might recall the exact procedure for testing the safety. Beats hell of of having an unexpected kaboom.
Paul B.

[salvo]

Wow, it sounds like there is a lot of different
stories about the gun that are starting to surface.
Were the accidents human error or a defect in the trigger/ safety mechenism. Or a combination of both. Don't know if we will ever find this out?

[9mmepiphany]

it sounds like a QC problem with their tolerences combined with human error {PULLING the trigger? }.

salvo - if your friend is having second throught about his purchase, let me know. i can provide a nice home.

[DCR]

I have to admit I should have un-chambered the round when I chose not to take the shot rather than just putting it on safe. That aside, the discharge was QC - my rifle was lying on the ground, and the one finger I used to flick off the safety made no contact with the trigger.

I wouldn't avoid getting one - we've bought & sold some since then, there are folks out there who think they're kind of neat guns, and they certainly aren't going to decrease in value over time (assuming good care & honest, minimal wear).

Just treat them like tequila - you're forewarned of potential side-effects, so act accordingly if you choose to partake.

[L T S]

When Remington first started producing these they had a defective trigger mechanism and they were prone to going off accidentally. My first 660 was purchased in 1971. It went off without me even touching the trigger the first time I took it to the range. I immediately sent it back to Remington and they replaced the trigger mechanism and it's been shooting great every since.In 1979 they did have a recall on 600's and 660's on all that had a serial number that did not start with the letter A. If your serial number starts with the letter A it doesn't have the defective trigger. If it doesn't have the letter A, look on the top of the left side of the trigger for the letter V. The ones that were sent back to Remington have the letter V stamped at the top of the left side of the trigger. If you have one with the defective trigger I believe Remington will still repair it for free. Best of luck, they're great little guns.

[James K]

The original design was not really defective. When Remington designed that sear mechanism, they made the sear as one piece of hard machined steel. But they found that that infringed on a Winchester patent so they went to two pieces of stamped steel. That system worked fine until it got a lot of use and the stamped metal began to wear.

What happens is this. When the safety is applied, it cams the sear up so it cams the cocking piece back. The sear is completely free of the trigger, which is free to move, though pulling it will have no effect. But if the parts are worn or have been tampered with, and the sear does not cam back the cocking piece and is not free of the trigger, pulling the trigger with the safety on will allow the sear to move so that it is not held by the trigger, but only by the safety cam. When the safety is released, the firing pin will be released and the rifle, if loaded, will fire.

An accident requires two factors, a worn mechanism and human carelessness. If the person involved practices safe gun handling, the muzzle will be pointed in a safe direction, but that does not entirely absolve Remington of blame for not foreseeing what would reasonably be expected as a result of wear.

Jim

[44 AMP]

Jim is quite correct on the trigger/safety problem.

A little more info on the Model 600 series, They were originally a "bargin" rifle, compared to the model 700, and are fine little guns in their own right. Originally they had 18.5" barrels with a very slender contour and a nylon vent rib, along with the nylon triggerguard/floorplate. Blind box magazine, "shark fin" front sight, and a dogleg bolt handle with flat bottom knob, which kept it very close to the stock. The dogleg put the bolt handle above the trigger finger, and at least for me, was very fast to operate.

Calibers available were .222 Rem, (later a very few were factory chambered in .223), 243 Win, 6mm Rem, .308 Win, and a few in .35 Rem. There have been rumors of a handful in .30-30, but I have never seen any, or any info to document that fact. The same rifle in 6.5mm Remington Mag and .350 Rem Mag was called the model 660. It also had a laminated stock and a recoil pad.

The guns went through a few small changes during their short production life, and some model 660s apparently were made in standard calibers. I have seen one model 600 with a deluxe stock (contrasting forend tip, pistol grip cap), but this was not usual. I have a .222 with the laminated stock, which is supposedly only found on the magnum guns. At one point in the production, the vent rib was dropped, and the barrel was increased to 20", with a heavier contour.

After Remington dropped the model 600 rifles from its main catalogue, they contined to be made for a few years as the Mohawk 600. The cocking piece on the bolt was changed to the one used on the model 700, and they had the heavier 20" barrels. .308 was probably the most common, but I have one in .243 Win. I do not know if any Mohawk rifles were made in the magnum calibers, but I don't think so.

The model 600 action is the same basic action used on the XP-100 pistols, and is the same basic design as the model 700 (short) action, with some slight differences. The ejection port is very small, and a loaded round will only pass through it at an angle. The magazine is a simple sheet metal box which is open at the rear, and must be carefully fitted to the bottom of the action when installing it into the stock. Unless care is taken, the sheet metal box will pop out slightly, and if not noticed (and corrected), you can bend the nylon floorplate when tightening the screws.

The early guns were very light, going about 5 1/2 pounds (without scope), and the later guns about a pound more, due to the slightly longer and much thicker barrel.

My first deer rifle was a Model 600 in .308, and I still have it. My Dad bought it from Sears for just under $100, brand new (around 1965, I think), and carried it a couple of years before passing it on to me. The little carbine was a big stick in the Adirondack deer woods, considering at the time, 8 of 10 rifles carried there were Winchester or Marlin .30-30s or .32s. The odd rifles were either Remington pumps or autos, or Savage 99s, generally.

Col. Cooper did use the model 600 as the basis for his first scout rifle designs, as even out of production, no other bolt action then available came closer to what he was looking to build.

Remington replaced the model 600 rifles in their line up with the model 788, a completely different kind of action (rear locking bolt), detatchable magazine. (I think it was cheaper to make than the model 600, but have no real proof)

I have always loved the model 600, and felt betrayed when Remington dropped them for good. On the other hand, not everyone felt the same way, a lot of people at the time felt they were quite ugly. You either loved them or hated them, there didn't seem to be any middle ground.

Anyway, they are pretty good game rifles, but not (usually) stellar performers from the bench. The light barrels heat up fast, and tend to walk shots as they heat, so 5 shot groups fired rapidly don't look too good. Shots fired from cold barrels do much better. My original .308 only shoots about a 2in group @ 100yds. But it puts everything into that same 2 inches! 150s, 165, and 180s all the same. This is not typical performance, but it works for me.

With good optics the little carbines are at no real disadvantage for longer range shooting either, keeping in mind the limits of their cartridges. I still have a love affair with th Model 600 series rifles, and buy them when I can find them (and afford it!). They cost quite a bit more today than they did back then, but then, everthing does.

[wblackfin]

I just did some research on a Remington 660 so I have the Remington link about the safety modification at hand.

http://www.remington.com/safety/safe...00_%26_660.asp

[akrock1]

Hi, thanks for all the info. I have a .308 Mohawk 600 which I bought in 1975 about a month after the recall. The store that I purchased it at unfortunately did not inform me of the recall and for years I thought I was being a careless hunter. This was due to the fact that the safety would not always engage and would sometimes fire when loading a bullet into the chamber. Too many close calls put the rifle in the closet and that is where it remains. Anyway, just stopping in because I was curious about finding a new walnut stock for it and ran across this great forum. I have also found a place to download an application to join the Remington Safety Modification Program which will cover the trigger replacement. This form must be recieved by them NLT 1/31/2008, or by calling 800-243-9700.

<http://www.remington.com/safety/safety_center/safety_modification_program/models_600_&_660.asp>

[kixonrt66]

I just today purchased a Remington Model 600 chambered in .308. This gun has a vent rib and a serial number that does not begin with the letter A. According to the Remington letter code this gun was manufactured in August of 1967. I am concerned about the possibility of a trigger/safety mechanism malfunction from what I have read in this thread and elsewhere. I tried the test mentione here (with an unloaded gun of course) where you put the cocked rifle on safety and pull the trigger hard and then release the safety. The gun did not "fire" after repeating this test five or six times. I am still concerned because you cannot unload the gun with the safety in the "safe" position. This is a design flaw IMHO and I would like to send the gun back to Remington for repairs. Do I need an FFL to send the gun to them? When they return it do they have to send it to an FFL for me to pick up? Any information would be much appreciated.

This rifle came highly reccomended to me as a good carry rifle for stalking mule deer, elk and pronghorn because the gun is light, very accurate, and not necessarily a "collector" or "Ultra Rare" gun. I need a light short rifle that can be easily carried on horseback and one that I don't mind getting scratched and banged a bit in the crawling/stalking process. For this purpose the gun seems to be ideal, but I would like to address the safety of the gun before any significant use.

Kix

[fal308]

The 600 has a floorplate so you can "dump" your ammo out the bottom. Then work the action to empty the chamber.

[44 AMP]

But I think you are confusing the model 600 with the model 700 (BDL).

The model 600 has a blind box magazine and a nylon triggerguard/floorplate held on with two screws. You cannot dump the ammo out the bottom, even by removing the floorplate, as the blind box will have to be pulled out also.

And, the safety locks the bolt, so you must take the safety off before opening the bolt, and the problem is that with some of the guns, if the trigger has been pulled with the safety on, they will fire when the safety is taken off.

Best thing to do is get ahold of Remington and follow their instructions.

[[email protected]]

I have owned a Mohawk 600 since 1971. After 3 accidental discharges I put it in the closet. Several years ago I, by chance, looked up the gun on the Internet and found the reference to the trigger replacement. I sent it right away and was pleased when it was returned. Later I heard about a safety modification that would allow loading and unloading with the safety on and I had that work done, too.

This rifle is very accurate with many kinds of ammo. I have taken several deer, coyotes, etc. with it. It is light weight, which means a bit heavy on the recoil with more powerful loads. The short barrel makes it a little louder, but I use ear protection anyway. I have installed a synthetic stock on it and beefed up the recoil pad. I like being able to hold it with one hand, muzzle down, by my side without it touching the ground.

[ringworm]

they do have a defect. they will explode sending .308 " bits of metal out. wrap it up in foil and send it to me. I will dispose of it properly.