Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles My Rem 700 bolt handle broke off....

As it turns out , I'm pretty sure I killed him with the first shot as he jumped up almost under my feet and ran away at an angle . In instant replay , it seems as though I had no hair in my scope at the second shot , so I think he was falling then .

It took me about 20 minutes or so to find him in the sage grass . I was hunting about half a mile from my house so I went back a few times to try and find the bolt handle . Never did .

FWIW , the buck was pretty nice for our country at that time .Only an 8 point with only a 14 inch spread but when a friend scored him years later he has a gross of 110 4/8 and net typical of 110 so it is a very symetrical rack . I sawed of the rack and still have it even though I've discarded lots of higher scoring 8 points since then .

The rifle ? I traded a friend out of it . He bought it new sometime in the fifties . He didn't handload and was "tight as hell" so it probably hadn't been shot a lot when I got it . It was the only C.F. rifle I had and I DID roll my own so in the eight or so years I had it prior to the incident , it saw a lot of shooting .

Herter dies and Lee "dipper " powder measures resulted in a few inconsistent loads , I'm sure , but I never had to hammer the bolt open .

BTW ,I'm a big REM fan , and I have hammered a few bolts open on 700's since then with no more bolt failures .

Now , I'm goin' fishin for a couple days .

Mr Swampman ; Mighty white of you to allow that what I said happened COULD happen !

LMAO!

I was the one in a million......Big Green lost my Green after that.......Would not wish this headache on anyone, always a pain when your gear goes out of commission, and the time/trouble/money to get it corrected.

I like one piece bolts....and custom's next when it comes to sheer reliability. As to a bolt action simplicity, what better way than to use a forged block of steel for the body AND handle.

Ltppowell: You just trying to stir things up huh?
I was all ready to take you to task and give you a sound cyber-thrashing and you are just "funnin" or trolling for trouble.
Sheesh!
Long live Big Green!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Most one piece bolts are cast steel. No thanks!

The accuracy of the 700 is so far ahead of the next best thing, I'll take my chances.

A well cast part made from the appropriate grade of steel can be quite strong. 17-4 pH, 4140 and 4340 are stout stuff.

Rugers are cast, also known to be damn strong....

Don't see S&W loads for 45 Colt+P in manuals...

That (and the work required to get them to shoot) is why I won't own another one.

Forged steel is better.

I'll bet frying an egg is tough on you.

My brother had a bolt handle come off his Remington 788 back in the mid '70's. He took it right in the front door at Remington in Ilion and they fitted a new bolt to the rifle while he waited.

Strength/durability is the product of a pretty complicated equation that factors in material, design, craftsmanship and quality control. Some seem to get it all right more often than others.

Have several Remington 700's. Never a problem.

However... I recently did some investigating when I had a chance to pick up a SW 1500 (Howa 1500) barreled action in 308 win.

The Howa 1500's bolt and handle is a one piece forged unit. The Howa 1500 action, also forged (not cast), has a nice flat bottom with integral recoil lug too (great for bedding). If the handle breaks off a Howa 1500, you have some 'splaining to do.

I bought the barreled action. I am impressed with the quality and design of the Howa 1500 system. Smooth as silk operation. I'm waiting for a Boyds JRS laminate stock to arrive.

link added July 19, 2009
http://www.legacysports.com/products/howa/howa_baractions.html

How do you know it's forged?

Because it says so in their catalog. Copied and pasted from the Legacy Sports website:

Well, that makes it a fact. Any unbiased sources?

Me

Irony check!

Last summer I saw a bolt handle come off one of the 770s...it was not very impressive...

Bob

I like my M700 but it is nowhere near the rifle my M98 mausers are. The M700 series make good varmint rifles but not for real hunting where important things happen. Frying eggs, nah make it taters or boiling water.

I'm curious where the exceptional skepticism springs from? How many times have we read ads that claimed "forged" when it was cast, or "cast" when it was machined from billet? Sure, the ad writers take liberties with such things which cannot be readily or objectively measured such as "best looking" or "none stronger", but it would take a fool to intentionally write false details of import which can easily be measured.

I've got some Remingtons I trust, others which I don't - based on certain issues I've had with them. I've got several Rugers which can be trusted for their dependability - and I've never even benched them for groups, but they sure hunt well. Go figure.