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Your lack of experience with 700/721/722 rifles is showing again. The safeties DID lock the bolt down until 1982, when stupid people who apparently believed every round had to be run entirely into the chamber to empty the magazine started suing Remington--because they violated one of the basic rules of firearms safety, pointing a loaded rifle at objects they didn't want to shoot.

The Remington safety DID lock the bolt down for 35 years, from 1947 when the 721/722 appeared to 1982. I bought my first of several 700s in the 1970s--and half of the 700/722s I own lock the bolts down. So for approximately half the life of the 700/721/722 the safety DID lock the bolt..

Granted, the M70 safety allows the action to be opened with the safety on, by putting it in the middle position. But since the post-64 M70 was introduced both the PF and CRF versions have NOT allowed the rifle to fire when somebody put the safety in the middle position, anticipating having to push it forward when hunting dangerous game. This happens when the bolt-handle gets raised SLIGHTLY--and it can even happen with pre-64s. This is one disadvantage of the very long push-forward required with the pre-'64 type safety.

Which is why I prefer the 3-postion safety on CZ 550s (sadly discontinued) to the M70 type. The movement required is FAR less--and also locks the firing pin back, instead of just blocking the trigger. But so many hunters are convinced of the advantages of the pre-'64 safety they spend a lot of money converting 550s to pre-'64 safeties--when the factory safety was superior.

Superior gas handling: advantage Remington, no doubt The other things you cite are anecdotal and while I do not doubt you at all, they are function of poor quality control and not design and overall the 70 is light years ahead . and of course you can use your internet engines and compare Remington to Winchester litigation. I can go on but you get the idea and in the end, the bolt STILL can't be locked.

I can go on but you get the idea and in the end, the bolt STILL can't be locked.

Out of curiosity, what is your issue with a non locking bolt? Can’t say I have ever had an issue with this, nor do I know anyone that this was an issue.

That was my experience. My first Remington 70 was a BDL .243 purchased very slightly used in 1974--from co-worker whose ex-boyfriend bought it as a present, apparently partly because he believed the .243 was a better "women's cartridge" than the .308 she'd been using for years on everything up to elk--in a Winchester 88 lever-action. I got the .243 for $80, including 17 rounds of factory ammo. (She'd fired it 3 times.)

One of the other smart things Remington did back then was give the 700 BDL's stock a semi-Weatherby look, with a Monte Carlo comb, and white-line spacers between the black buttplate, grip-cap and forend tip. The Weatherby look was "in" then, but Remington's was enough of a compromise between Weatherby and "classic" that it sold very well (despite giving Jack O'Connor a case of his "vapors").

The rifle would group just about anything, whether factory or handloads, into less than an inch at 100 yards. I killed a lot of game with it, from prairie dogs to big mule deer. But a year or so later bought a 700 ADL .270. By then I "knew" something about bedding rifles, so-free-floated the barrel, It grouped three shots well under an inch at 100 yards before that, but afterward it would group tree into 1-1/2"--at 300 yards. And that was with a 4x scope. It's still perhaps the most accurate factory big game rifle I've ever owned.

In 2001 I purchased a new varmint weight 700, with a laminated stock, at a local sporting goods store. It didn't shoot all that well out of the box, with 5-shot groups going around 3/4" at 100, but after some minor accurizing and handloads put together with basic benchrest techniques, it consistently grouped 5 shots in 1/4" at 100 yards. (These days a few thousand rounds have gone through the barrel, but it will still consistently group five into less than 1/2".)

Have owned a bunch of 70s, including pre--64s, post-'64 push-feeds, and post-'90 controlled-feeds--which right now include a stainless-synthetic .223 WSSM "controlled push-feed," a Jack O'Connor Commemorative .270 Featherweight, and a "Portuguese" .300 WSM. All three shoot very well--but the .223 WSSM required rebarreling, because (as it turned out) the barrel threads were so loose that there was no way it would shoot. A properly installed Lilja barrel resulted in sub-half-inch 5-shot groups.

The one pre-'64 I now own is a Featherweight .308 Winchester made in 1953, when that was the only factory rifle in .308. As the early reviews of the Featherweight indicated, it shot very poorly until I free-floated the barrel by placing two bread-bag plastic shims behind the recoil lug. Now it groups just about any factory load under an inch at 100 yards, and it's best handloads will put 5 under an inch.)

The O'Connor rifle's first 3-shot group at 100 yards, with factory Norma ammo, was under 1/2": (It also has a very precisely bedded action and free-floated barrel, as have all the other O'Connor Featherweights that I've seen.) The .300 WSM shot most ammo under 3/4"--until Hill Country Rifles accurized it. Now it will shoot just about anything into smaller groups.

I wish the new M70s still had the original trigger, but apparently that's never going to happen.

Must also mention that I've fired over 100,000 rounds from Remington 700s (and 722/721s) and never had a bolt handle fall off, or an extractor break. I guess that's very damn lucky!

John, i've got a new FWt in 280. personally I think the FWT is about the ultimate in a wood stocked rifle, I just wish Winchester would get rid of that ugly schnabel forened and repalce it with awell proportioned piece of ebony.
I cant say anything as far as accuracy yet because I have only ahd it out once and the two factory loads I had were, well lets say all over the place with the bes "pattern" coming from the Winchester Supreme Ballistic Silvertips ( incidently that is a factory load I have never had much faith in as the several different chamberings I have trie them in never shot worth a damn) : the Second load, Federal's 140 Accubond "patterned" too. I was frustrated because I have neevr ahd a rifle not shoot federal accubonds well right out of the gate. when I got home i did what I should have done before setting out and put an allen wrench to the action screws. Both were loos, anywhere between 3/4 and 1-1/2 turns. I hope that corrects the accuracy issue

I carry "hot" whilst hunting (don't tell SitkaDeer) and traipsing through the woods the bolt can catch on brush, limbs, etc and rounds spill out. Others have posted this occurrence, I think Pugs mentioned it a time or two. Besides, it's just a crappy cost cutting measure. I would have no problem with a 700 (other than I don't like the looks) if they would make a safe trigger (that locks the bolt of course ) and without that hideous looking "stick shift" of a safety lever and extractor that was more reliable (such as the Sako option)..

Jorge,

Obviously you're as unfamiliar with the 98 Mauser as Remington 700s.

Simple, really. Model 70s don't need an entire cottage industry like 700s to make them work....