I have sometimes wondered if the M700 Phil Shoemaker wrote about years ago in a Wolfe Publishing periodical ended up in the stream bed where they found it - sans attached bolt handle- by intent or by accident. (I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to come all the way to Alaska, perhaps a dreamed of lifetime hunt, only to have the rifle become useless. The picture of a fellow giving said rifle the heave-ho into the nearest body of water isn't hard to imagine.)
That M-700 was the forth or fifth Remington I have seen fail. And I actually met a guy at SHOT who started telling me about his Alaskan moose hunt and the stream where they started. I asked if he or his buddy had lost a rifle and he said they had. I then not only told them what the rifle was but where he had lost it and it turned out to be the same rifle.
I have another friend who I have hunted with who used a custom M-700 that twice had the bolt handle pull off. He only uses factory ammo and the second time it came off he was simply closing the bolt in order to sight in at camp. I have not sold any of my M-700's because of it but I also do not think it is worth the risk on a hunt for DG when there are more proven actions.
