Yes, the trigger in any rifle is the key to accuracy for sure and is the first thing to check and take care of on one that isn't shooting good groups! I have no idea what the average pull weight used to be on rifles, but I believe it was up around 7# and it was definitely to lessen nimrods from shooting somebody and the companies getting sued. Yes, Remington has settled almost all of the lawsuits against them out of court to keep things quiet and in doing so most cases also required the complainants to keep their mouth shut and the records were sealed.

The problem with the Walker control trigger mechanism is that it may happen one time in a particualr rifle and never again. I have read an awful lot on many different gun and hunting forums and it's unbelievable how many guys reading about it say geez, that happened to me! Thank God they had the gun pointed in a safe direction like they should be at all times and they thought maybe they had goofed and touched the trigger, but were sure they hadn't. The thing that alarms me is that the designer himself, Mike Walker, told Remington not too long after his trigger was put into production back in the 40s, that the design needed to be changed to prevent accidental firing when it started happening. The top brass found out it would cost just 5 1/2 cents per rifle, but decided not to do the change and this went on for decades until 5 million are now out on the market. The new trigger you dislike was finally introduced a few years ago after the Barber court case I mentioned was settled. Anyway, when you have 5 million of something out in the market place that's why you and your friends may not have had it happen YET. However, it has happened to thousands of folks that never attempted any home gunsmithing on them and when talking of firearms safety one accident because of a design flaw is one too many!!! There were even internal Remington documents introduced in various court cases showing that they had figures estimating what percentage of rifles going out of their factories had the chance of accidental firing without touching the trigger. It was a small number, but was in the thousands based on the millions being produced.

They finally changed to the Accumark trigger just a few years ago in the 700, but as far as I know they are still putting them in that cheap, junk 770 they're selling and people are having the bolt handles break off, plastic parts breaking, etc. Read all the terrible reviews on that POS sometime when you get a chance and yet Remington keeps right on manufacturing them too!

IMHO the trigger on a hunting rifle should be set no lighter than approximately 3-3 1/2 pounds and the delicate trigger pull left to the bench shooters where they are in a very controlled situation and bad stuff won't happen since they should always be pointing down range. The first thing I did on the 03A3 I sporterized was to put a Timney trigger in it, adjusted it to 3#, and it was unreal how the groups came down to MOA compared to that heavy pull in the military trigger that was in it. I know from all my reading on this system that if I had a Remington with the old Walker trigger in it, I would be putting a good aftermarket trigger in it. If you don't like a Timney, there is the Jewel and several other good ones that will do the job. To me it's not worth the risk not doing it when you read all the evidence that is out there.