My two M700's were purchased in Southwest Idaho and only used in this arid location. I've had three bolt handles fall off in total but I never mention the third as I beat it with a piece of 2X4 so can't really blame the rifle - NOT a hot load btw but jammed by the locking safety somehow, I never did figure out how it jammed. But the two that did fall off just plain fell off with no undue force applied at all, just what one would use to chamber a properly sized round. Chamber, close bolt, handle comes away from the bolt body. Surprise!
The cause is really pretty simple - an improper mating of the two surfaces and/or sloppy brazing. If the concave surface of the handle does not match the convex surface of the bolt properly the attachment is only at one or two small points. Combine that with sloppy brazing and there's the recipe for a bolt handle falling off.
The gunsmith that fixed both of them simply ground the bolt handle to mate completely with the bolt body and silver soldered it back on. He told me that with a properly soldered on handle that the handle would bend before the solder joint would break and I'm sure he's right.
It's not that the 700 is a terrible rifle but it has design flaws that, if not properly maintained or not properly assembled in the first place, provide several points of failure in the operating cycle of feeding, firing, extracting and ejecting. A two piece enclosed trigger that can fire on safety release, an ejector pin that can jam, a tiny little spring on the bolt stop and a two piece bolt and handle. If properly assembled and kept relatively clean they do provide years of trouble free service as several million users can verify - including me on the majority of 700's I've owned. We should probably give kudos to Remington that they made so many and have had relatively so few problems.
Any rifle will have possible points of failure. My Model 70 from their Custom Shop would stick the ejector in the slot. There was a burr on the edge of the slot that prevented the blade from rising every time. Some 200 and 600 grit paper on the slot and ejector blade fixed that forever but it was certainly irksome to pay that kind of money for something that wasn't function checked sufficiently at the factory.
But it one expects to put their skin on the line it is definitely a good idea to eliminate as many points of failure as possible right from the start. Most of the bitching about our rifles(and you can throw in self defense handguns here) is about theoretical or possible flaws but Mr. Murphy loves to test theories and possibilities.
I bought a Yugo 24/47 Mauser a couple of years ago and I can see why folks love their 98 Mausers. Even though it is definitely "rough and ready" - THAT is a frickin' CRF rifle! It was built for the 8x57 and it is just as it came from factory. I can't double feed it for love nor money. I can just kiss the ejector coming back and lay the empty case on top of the next round but that has to be done deliberately, any normal operation of the bolt throws the case clear and any half measures just feed the fired case back in the chamber. Any half feeding of the next round won't jam it, it absolutely does not leave the magazine until the extractor has hold of it. It groups about 2 1/2" on a really good day and has a trigger that finally breaks after a l-o-n-g travel, but I really like that rifle. It's solid with a capital S.
Lots of rifles work well because, honestly, we just don't stress them as much as a PH going after dangerous game - or a soldier in the field might have done. But even with moderate "hardships" in the field I've had pine needles get in the action, a Model 70 safety in "bolt locked" position get popped off by a backpack and open the bolt, smokestacks on feeding (Model 700 still chambered as it came from the factory), and I haven't been on near as many adventures as a lot of folks here.
Oh well, not telling anybody anything they don't know, just sort of rambling as I drink my coffee.
Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
