Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sako extractor conversion question on Remington 700

I have also had a Remington 700 extractor shave brass. One out of fifty or more I have shot extensively.

This one was a newer 7mm Magnum, fortunately it happened at the range and I had my cleaning kit with me. I just swabbed out the slivers and then rubbed metal polish on the extractor with a Q-tip. Then I fired another 20 or so rounds with the grit on the bolt face. It never happened again.

If it happened in the field and I had caught this early on I think I could have cleaned it up with a sharpened stick if I had to. It's a matter of detecting it before metal slivers get under the extractor. If it is occurring you will see bright spots on the rim and can feel a little resistance when you chamber a round. Easy to do at the bench less so while hunting. This is another reason to break in any rifle prior to a hunt.

I still have complete faith in the Remington extractors and even more in the "three rings of steel" which I have seen protect a shooter from a gross overload. A situation that might have required emergency attention with some other bolt guns.

The only Rem extractor I have broken was on a new M700 .416 Rem which failed on the third shot fired with the then new factory ammo. I replaced it with a factory unit, and no problems since. After all the commentary about high pressure in .416 Rem cartridges, I figured perhaps I had observed that.

jim

I have never had a lick of problems myself with a Remington extractor, but I have seen them fail to extract on other peoples rifles three or four times IIRC.All except one were at the range,but the last and most recent time was while the shooter was engaging a 32" mule deer.Things got a bit hectic

In each case, the extractor did not break that I could tell,but rather pulled through the rim of the case.Whether this was because it was worn somehow, or ill-fitted,or dirty, I really can't say.

I might add that I have also seen push feed M70's leave fired cartridges in the chamber, a 458 and a 257 Roberts FW.I've also seen improperly tuned Mausers fail to eject; and a pre 64 give balky ejection when the recess for the ejector blade got gummed up.Also a Savage 110 extractor broke, leaving a fired case in the chamber.

About the only factory rifle that I have been around a lot that I have never seen suffer a problem of some kind is the Ruger in its' various permutations.

Generally Remingtons work fine IMO,and with 5 million of them in circulation,and untold millions of rounds fired, it's pretty hard to say it doesn't work well.I am not too enthused about doing Sako extractor conversions and if I was at all uncomfortable with a Remington extractor, I'd just go get a M70, a Mauser, or a Ruger,rather than mess with Remington's design.

One of my Rem 700's in .338 Win would not extract Federal factory ammo with nickle plated cases. I didn't happen on each shot, but 3 or 4 out of 10. I had a Sako extractor installed...end of problem. I thougth if it did this ocassionally with these cases it might happen with other cases at an inopportune time. Since I use this rifle for brown and grizzly bears, I didn't want any extraction problems. Just my experience, yours may vary.
Chip

chip: I have no doubtthat a Sako installation will work. But,the reason I am not enthused myself about the conversion is because I'm squeamish about messing with the Remington factory design.Also, you get the best guy you can for such a conversion and hope he does it "right";but I'm sure sometimes that might not happen.

I'd rather just get another rifle

I'm with BobinNH. I wouldn't mess with Remington's design. If I was really that uncomfortable about it, I'd go with a CRF gun, keeping in mind that anything can go wrong with any gun.

Well since everyone is so excited about the Rem 721s I better add that I have two for sale in the classified..I will take $350 for either one of them sans scopes and that's a steal..They are nice guns, even with the posted flaws!

Don't do the Sako extractor. It'll put your eyes out.

Admission of guilt here, not to diligent reloading on a 17 Rem. will cause extractor breakage. This is by no means a flawed design of the Rem. extractor. I would be willing to bet that most extractor failures are caused by operator error.

Addition to above (not to dilligent reloading) AKA HOT LOAD!

I have not seen or heard of a Sako extractor failing that wasn't operator error. When you see pictures of a rifle action blown to pieces and stocks in several pieces as well, I THINK it's reasonable to assume that hot (dangerous) loads were the culprit.

About 1/2 of my Remingtons have had this modification done. I have had no problems at all either with the Sako extractors or with the original Rem. extractors.

The conversion does need to be done by a competent smith.

LC

Help me help me Ive gone blind....is is from those Sako extractors.......or doing those things my mom warned me about?

Lefty C

Greg,

Yeah, I could very well believe a 700 handle could come off if bumped hard enough during shipping or on an airline, even in a very good case. Of course, a welded/integral bolt handle isn't any guarantee of no damage if left in the rifle either. Quite often the stock will then break at the wrist!

Yet another reason to take the bolts out of the action when shipping or traveling with a a rifle....

What's the "advantage" of a Sako style extractor?

I have a 700 bolt here that has has the rim broken off (not by me) and needs repair. I'd prefer to just replace the bolt body if possible and stay original. Rim is missing between arrows.

I only have a few Remington 700s and so far the extractors are still working. However, I do have a Remington 660 that I bought in the very early 1970's that just plain flat out wore out the extractor. I dunno how many rounds have gone through that rifle, mostly cast bullet shooting a jack rabbits and the like but it has to be close to 5,000, maybe more.
It does leave me feeling a bit anxious when using one of the Remington's on a hunt. Guess that's why I now always bring a spare with me on the hunt. I met Murphy and he is alive and well and will strike when you least expect it.
Paul B.

I had a bolt handle break off a 722 years ago - the whole story can be found on the hunting rifle forum - but since then I've had to hammer on a few and none broke .

I had exactly one Sako extractor installed in a 700 bolt as part of a wildcat conversion because my gunsmith insisted on it . It wouldn't stay in .

Perfect example of ;" If it ain't broke , don't fix it " , since I've never had a a 700 fail to extract except when it pulled part of the rim off . [ See " had to hammer a few " above . ]