Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ganyana on Rifle Power

I've never understood the bashing of 700's for general use either, since I've shot at least 100,000 rounds (and maybe twice that) through 700's over the years, and never had a bolt fall off, or an extractor break. (As a matter of fact, have never seen either happen with the 700's used by my companions, either.) In general 700's also feed very reliably, since push-feed actions don't have to be tuned as much to the specific cartridge as controlled-feed actions. Have even taken a 700 to African and killed a grizzly bear in Alaska with one.

Am not going to argue with Heath, though, on the higher reliability of good CRF actions, like commercial 98 Mausers of CZ's. Would rather hunt most dangerous game with a CRF rifle that had been really tuned for the cartridge than a 700 or other push-feed, and generally do.

I have seen one bolt fall off and two extractors break- one extractor was on a Wal-Mart cheap 30-06 with matt finish 700, one was on a Robar SR60 sniper rifle which broke at about the 3000 round mark. Saw a bolt fall off with very poor coverage of the silver braze- only took around the edges of the bolt attachment. I have seen some [and done so myself] bolts beaten on pretty hard and not break off but it isn't comforting to see people have to do it!

Include the Weatherby in the push feed. Everytime I hunted in Africa in open truck and dust flying in the dry season. When you get a heavy coat of dust on everything, my preference in PF.

That's cause I took one (3 actually) for the team.

Have had two bolt handles fall off and 1 extractor break. The extractor didn't really break but something happened to it such that it wouldn't grab the case rim any more. Oh, I remember, it twisted around in the bolt face. Anyway, it didn't work and I needed a cleaning rod to get the case out. Replacing the extractor cured that problem.

I've had bolt releases get stuck in the down position so that when you work the bolt it comes right out the back of the receiver. No biggie, just put it back in.

I've also had the ejector pin get jammed up several times by a sliver of brass sheared off by (variously) burrs or a raised lip around the ejector pin hole, or brass shaved off by a too sharp extractor hook. It extracts the case okay but it just sits there held to the front of the bolt, you have to reach in and flip it out with your finger. That is, if you haven't tried to load the next round and gotten everything jammed up. All you have to do is get a screwdriver tip or something and push the ejector down a couple of times to work the brass shaving loose to fix it.





I got all of those rifles so the rest of y'all wouldn't have to put up with them. You're welcome...


But seriously, despite my beating the odds with Model 700's I still like them. They're generally very accurate and the old triggers could be adjusted down to a nice crisp pull, albeit they might go off when the safety is released so always watch that muzzle!

I had a string of several one shot kills with a M700 BDL .30-06. it always worked flawlessly but it wasn't put to a torture test, just carried out in the hills for a few hours. I like the rifles, still have five of them, but I wouldn't trust my life to one, especially one that had to be carried in dusty or icy conditions for a while.

Mike hunts in Africa as much as anyone I know. Not a "keyboard" anything

Then you need to get the facts right. One countries rules don't blanket the whole country. Think about it. If your hunting in heavy brush and jungle versus plains hunting. Pick your caliber wisely.

Usually these problems are caused by shooting loads well over-pressure.

I know from experience

Not always. I know from experience as well.

Refresh my memory. Your purpose built .338 for real wilderness use was, too, a M700 or was it something else.

CAR is not .375 but .338 precisely 8.5mm.

Namibia there is no indications about cats for mini in Energy ... only for Buffalo, Rhino, Hippo and Elephant ... in fact in Namibia you can use a 300 wea mag or 8x68s that will meet the mini but not a 9.3x62 ...

Army gunsmiths use Remington actions to build sniper rifles. Other than the action I doubt many parts are the same that we buy. For a variety of reasons 700's are probably the easiest to customize. That and low bidder.

First one I saw was a pre-stainless period rifle that had only fired factory Core-lokts; second was a stainless rifle which was quite new and the bolt popped off when the bolt was closed under the tension of the firing spring. (The trigger was pulled when closing the bolt - my bad!) I have two I use quite often; both have been shot enough that they have proven themselves to me. I don't think the design is a bad one- only the execution at times.

I envy you....

A tig welder will fix the bolt in short order.

As will drilling and tapping the right spot, and installing a stout screw.

And the ejector and extractor failures are mostly caused by lack of cleaning. I recently had some extractor issues with my 700 and it was caused by brass getting behind the hook. Same thing happens with the ejector. I will say I have had this particular 700 since 1991 and its in its third tube. I never once cleaned the bolt in that time and never had a failure till now. Not bad considering it's been 23 years and it has been hunted quit a bit from Alaska to MT and here in the UP.

Remington actions have the fastest "lock time". That's why they're preferred. But sniper rifles are custom built on selected actions. Nothing is "off the shelf" like it's bought at a Walmart.

Yeah, I've had the same basic experience. Generally I flush out the bolt face when I clean the bore, but on some 700's I don't clean the bore very often!

The Army buys their M24 and M24E1 rifles from Remington, Army smiths don't build them.

The only thing a good gunsmith does to a 700 is blueprint the action. Mine are stock firing pins and springs, ejectors, extractors and even the trigger is stock. The trigger is the weak link IME as I've worn out a few sears.

A custom 700 is "off the shelf" as far as parts, except for touching up the back of the lugs and sleeving the firing pin, blueprinting.



I use a toothbrush and solvent on the bolt face and extractor. Put a squirt of Rem Oil on the ejector plunger and work it in and out.

Like I said, the only time I get brass flow into the plunger is if my loads are a little hot (due to being on the edge combined with a hot day). I did have to use a cleaning rod to extract a few cases at the SRM because the extractor was not able to grab my OVER PRESSURE stuck fired cases, but that was my fault.

Ask Dogshooter!!!