Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Gas venting and modern bolt actions

A recent thread about an exploded rifle got me thinking about the safety of two brands of rifles I own when it comes to venting gases in the event of something like a case rupture. I read a very long thread from a few years ago about this topic. A very common opinion was that Mausers are great "venters" that vent the gases away from the shooter's face, but the most knowledgeable seemed to think the safest of all were the "sealers," like the Remington 700 and the Savage 110.

The only centerfire rifles I own are Tikkas and Howas - just kind of worked out that way. I understand that the Howa is a "venter" designed to direct gases down through the magazine well (I might be wrong there). That seems less than ideal? I am curious what your thoughts would be. Also, people criticize the safety of adding a sako-style extractor to a Remington 700, but the Howa bolt has a sako-style extractor. Is that an issue?

I am more curious about how modern bolt actions compete - those from the last twenty years or so. These are mostly cheaper designs, like the Ruger American, Mossberg Patriot, and the Winchester XPR. But also of course I'm wondering about the Tikka. How do these compare in safety to the safest bolt actions, such as the Savage and the Remington?

I wonder how concerned I should be about this topic. I wear safety glasses and do not lose sleep over it. I don't reload. But I now have a child, and someday I will teach him to shoot - I don't like the idea of handing him anything less than the safest action I can find. Is this mostly a non-issue? Are we talking about very remote possibilities here?

You already have one of the strongest, most safe actions in the Howa/ vanguard action. Trade the tikkas for more vanguards and never have to worry again

I took part in an extensive test on blowing up rifles with up to massive over loads ( all over loads the rifles were in a "blow-up" container). The strongest rifle took multiple, I believe it was 6 ea. 220 grain bullets set in the barrel in front of a factory 30-06 load and if held by a shooter, the shooter would not have been harmed shooting that crazy combination. But I have seen pictures that model of rifle with split barrels on the internet.

I am curious about where this thread goes. In my humble opinion, the Remington 700 is the safest. I have one episode to back that up.

I want to hear about the Tikka, Current M70 Winchester, Ruger American for starters.

I believe it when people say that the 700 and Savage are the safest. The trouble is that internet forums have convinced me that I need to own a Tikka to hunt successfully!

Ok Bugger, spill the beans.. what model was the rifle/action that took the beating?

Makes my list of characteristics I care about, but just barely. Vent, seal, whatever, as long as the gas isn’t channelled directly towards my lovely complexion and eyeballs. Had my fun for a few decades with the beloved pre-64 M70, but that one is among the worst at handling gas. The solution is to keep the throttle at a safe level, and always wear eye protection. Actually, that applies to the others too.

Well reading the ongoing thread about the Mossberg Patriot seems to answer some of my questions about the safety of that particular design... Still very curious about the Ruger and Tikka.

I'm happy to hear that the Howa/Vanguard is a strong design, but it seems to me that the Savage and Remington actions are preferable as far as I can understand the differences.

I thought about all this stuff when I was buying my rifles originally. I convinced myself that it was a non-issue, and I heard enough complaints about Savage and Remington to want to avoid them entirely. But I might rather suffer the occasional failure to eject or broken extractor than carry a less safe rifle.

Only 1 personal incident.
Completely separated a 308 in a 660.
First clue was when I opened the bolt and the case was only 1/2" long.


Long story, not bolt actions.
2 760's, 30-06 loaded with 57gr of 4320 (NOT A RECOMMENDED LOAD)

The guy who loaded it used nothing buy 4350 for decades.
Then he bought a 222, and wasn't used to thinking about powder
types, plus the cans are very similar.


Guy shoots the first round.
It kicks, hard!
Smoke comes out the ejection port.

2nd round.
More kick, more smoke.
Action is stuck.
He mortars it open.

3rd round.

Kick, smoke, locked up tight.
Tries to beat it open with a hammer.


Says to his grown son,
"Let's see if they work in you gun?" (Honest truth. And this guy is a skilled mechanic!)

First round.
Kick, smoke, locked up.
Kid refuses to let Dad do anymore stupid stuff.


First gun was basically destroyed.
Between pressure and stupid hammering.

2nd, had the bolt broken.
Nothing else wrong.
Can't buy 760 bolts, gun was parted out.

Barring complete destruction, a Remington pump rifle would be
about as good as it gets.
There is no pathway open between a right handed shooter and the chamber.
At least not to the power plant. The right hand would be vulnerable.

I managed to fire a 270 round in a Savage 110 7 rem mag. Other than a little bit of gas to the face (think a whiff), and some brass shavings in the action and magazine, it was pretty much a non-event. The biggest damage was to my ego.

I shot a 270 in a 7mmRM a couple times. It is worse with hot loads. I will not go to a range bench with those two any more. I will not go to a range bench anymore. I shoot by myself out in the sagebrush now. I can't think while cases from an SKS, AK, or AR are landing on me.

My notes from Oct 2010
I put a 10kpsi 270 round in a 7mmRM, thinking it was a 7mmRM round. I had my warning and promised myself never to do that again.
Then a few days later I loaded a 270 round and grabbed at what I thought was a 270, but was another light weight laminated glass stock rifle, but 7mmRM.
That as a 70kpsi round, and it decided it was time to open up the hinged floor plate.
OK, never mix up 270 ammo with 7mmRM ammo.


In 2010, that glass stock would have been a VZ24 Mauser bolt action that I rebarreled to 7mmRM.

I just found the brass 10 years later. That is what happens when the reloading room is never cleaned.

I blew a primer from a .25-06 in a Winchester Classic action. I had to use a rubber mallet to open the action. I never felt a thing on my face.

I would bet they're not as good.

The Mauser 98 was a frontline rifle, this was cutting edge at its time, they put a lot of resources into its development. These new budget things are just designed to be cheap and easy to manufacture. Gas is not something shooters are concerned with these days. The Tikka I've heard is supposed to quite bad, in theory.

I've got a Turkish model 1903 military Mauser rifle (98 action with bolt shroud etc) in 8x57. I also have some Romanian ex-military ammo of 1970s vintage. The ammo is lacquered steel case and relatively lowish pressure and sometimes the case does not obturate to seal the chamber and gas will come back through the action and I will feel a slight puff on my face when I fire the rifle. My Vergueiro rifle has a tight chamber (and no bolt shroud) and always seals with this ammo. I always wear glasses of course.

I've posted this before, but has anyone had a case or primer let go in a Kimber 84? I always wear glasses, but am one eyed, so I do worry a bit.

I shot a 7X57 in my Remington 700 270. Big ball of fire out of the muzzle, and a stuck bolt. Took a rubber hammer and beat the bolt open, and saw what I'd done. No damage to the rifle, as I shot it a lot after that.

Had been shooting a little above max load in my Remington Model 7 Predator 223, with no issues whatsoever. Tried them in a Weatherby Vanguard (Howa) and got a sticky bolt, and eventually the extractor broke. May have been a faulty extractor from the start, and the hot loads may or may not have had something to do with it breaking. Also, may have had nothing do with that actions ability to handle hot loads.

I’ve been present during two wrong cartridge incidents; one with a pre-64, and the other with a P14 Enfield. In both cases, the floorplates were bent. The M70 extractor was blown loose at the front, but not damaged. The P14 extractor was blown into pieces, one of which hit me, about 15 feet away. The P14 stock around the mag box was shattered. Both shooters’ faces were peppered with bits of brass and powder.

The M70 had been rechambered from .30/06 to some .300 mag, but not marked. The extractor held the case against the bolt face, allowing it to fire.

The P14 was a mystery. It was a British military experimental piece chambered in 7.92 Mauser. The owner suspected that he somehow got a .308 mixed into his ammo, but the case went up in smoke so he wasn’t certain. He’d paid a pretty penny for that rifle, and was able to get it back into action eventually.

That’s disappointing to hear. You’d think that with over a century of bolt action development to build on, it’d be a simple enough thing to engineer a safe bolt action.

Safety? That is not an issue in much of engineering today, think plastic cars. The century of bolt action development has lately been mostly to see how cheap one can build anything.

Actually, I believe cars are safer now than ever before, in spite of plastic and a general feeling of not being as nice. That's why I'm willing to give newer rifle designs the benefit of the doubt. But I'm not an engineer.