Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Sako extractor in Remington 722 bolt

I recently purchased a 722 Remington in .222 from a friend. He had taken the rifle to a smith because it would not extract casings proberly. Ther smith milled a slot and put in a sako type extractor. My question is:
Other than detracting from the collector value, has this modification helped or hurt the rifle? Would this be better than replacing the Remington extractor? Whats your opinion. thanks

The Sako will keep the boltface cleaner, it will be less fussy to rim size, and it will not be so susceptible to debries. When I want to make a Remmy as reliable as possible I like a Sako extractor.

The only downside is if you like to run excessively hot loads you do have another point of potential failure. Then again, so does a Sako rifle, the Wby Mk 5, the Howa, the M-16 and any other rifle that uses this kind of extractor.

The factory extractor is like finding hens teeth, then might be worn out also. The Sako extractor, IMHO is the easiest way to fix the 722. End of the day the price was the same. If you are not trying to keep it original. use the Sako.

My gunsmith says the Remington's are good until they get worn out,then replace with the Sako style.

The proper procedure is to ask questions BEFORE the mods are made,whats the point now?

I need to clarify that the gunsmith did in fact ask my friend (who in turn asked me for my advise) if the modification would be ok with him. He agreed to have it done. You make a valid point Hubert. In retrospect, I wonder if our ignorance of the matter helped or hurt us.

I got a 722 where someone had tried to install a Sako extractor and messed it up. I was able to convert it to use a modified M16 extractor.

The original 722 extractor is not anywhere as good as the 700 extractor and as noted is hard to find. I'd just make sure the smith installing the Sako extractor knows what they are doing and has the right jigs. The bolt face needs to have a bushing installed too.

Here's the extractor conversion I did. I still need to clean up the bolt, but it works very nicely and allowed me to save an otherwise ruined rifle.

I put one in my 700, working like a charm.

THe m-16 extractors are, to me, a WHOLE lot better. As they are attached to the bolt body by a pin they will not fly off and get lost. I have used thes and also the S&W [Howa] for years now with no problems.
Aloha, Mark

THe m-16 extractors are, to me, a WHOLE lot better. As they are attached to the bolt body by a pin they will not fly off and get lost. I have used thes and also the S&W [Howa] for years now with no problems.
Aloha, Mark