Has anyone here had this modification done? Or can anyone share any information about it?

This is all I can find so far:
http://www.fishnhunt.co.nz/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1301045304/0

Why would anyone do this?

I looked at your link and am completely baffeled . I've heard of some stupid stuff before but this Modification makes absolutely no sence at all to me . How do you cock the gun the rest of the way , and exactly what purpose is supposed to be served by screwing up a perfectly good Rifle ? Enlighten me please !

+1

Must be those guys that love remchesters...

Which reminds me, had a guy in my local gun shop saying how accurate his Remington Savage 700 was...there are certainly some winners in this world.

B8

It will probably go off....

This is just great, take a rifle with a rather poor record of function to begin with and make it MORE complicated and fragile! Just, amazing......

Why would you want to go out "half cocked"

For me, "fully cocked" is the way to go.

Maybe Swampy likes to go out " cock-less"?

Gus

I knew a gunsmith once who carried his hunting rifle with a round in the chamber and the bolt at halfway up. Said it was a safe way to carry while hunting but I don't like the idea at all. Make sure one's fire control system is working properly then don't let the muzzle cover anything you cannot afford to make a hole in. Simple as that.

Looks from the thread link that the NZ folks like to hunt that way, as in half cocked, or maybe that is just a fad within that forum.

Yeah those Kiwis get around "half cocked". Hah hah. But I'm with them on this occasion. If Australia ever bans all guns I'll swim to New Zealand!

Take a moment to consider that the Winchester model 70 has this feature, along with many if not most bolt action designs. "Notch" and "bolt dwell" are other terms I've heard people use when describing this feature. I like safarimans' halfway up term. I�ll start using that.

Yeah it might be an undesirable feature, depending on your application, but I want to understand the pros and cons. If nothing else I want to know why so many manufacturers do it while Remington does not.

The Remington 700 does (sort of) actually have the feature, but varies from one rifle to the next, and the position is higher up than on the Winchester, and is less obvious. I'll share what I learned today after speaking to a gunsmith.

In competition rifles, the feature is considered undesirable by some, and instead of enhancing the halfway up position (to make it more pronounced or "positive") the bolt is modified in such a way to remove the feature altogether - giving a smooth cam all the way down.

But, according to the same gunsmith, in hunting rifles the feature is generally considered desirable, because it allows a hunter to stalk with a round in the chamber without the risk of alarming an animal when the safety lever is released (instead the bolt is closed quietly - from the halfway up position - immediately before a shot is taken). Other benefits in my observation are that it allows a rifle to be uncocked on a loaded chamber safety with one hand, and prevents the bolt from sliding open after a round is chambered (particularly when the last round has been chambered and little or no pressure is being exerted from the magazine follower).

Personally I don�t like to stalk with bolt cocked and closed, and round chambered, because there is always a chance the safety might fail (particularly the sear type). For this reason I never use a safety (with the exception of when unloading from a blind magazine rifle). I never carry a cocked and loaded rifle on my shoulder; instead I carry with both hands and cock and load it only in the final stage of a hunt, and close the bolt only immediately before taking a shot.

Some time ago someone suggested to me that the halfway up position is dangerous; claiming that if the trigger is pulled the bolt will close and discharge a loaded round. After hearing this I conducted a test with my Sako. I chambered a primed case (without powder) and pulled the trigger to see what would happen. The bolt closed as expected but the primer had only a superficial mark from the firing pin. I repeated this procedure many times and then inspected the primer again and found only the same superficial mark.

By the way it turns out that the modification is simple. It involves removing only a small amount of material from the underside of the cocking piece where it engages the sear. This might explain why some model 700 rifles have a more positive halfway up position than other model 700 rifles (production variation and wear maybe). My conclusion is that Mike Walker probably intended for all model 700 rifles to have this feature. If anyone has a model 721/722 or early model 700 I'd be interested to learn how "half cockable" your piece is...

The value of this totally escapes me......

And me.

nsaquam I am still trying to figure out WTF half cock is?

Bingo I think we have a winner..what a lousy firecontrol system to have that in place though.

Maybe a physical disorder the poobah suffers from?.........

The term..." Going off...Half cocked" comes to mind.

Now I know where it came from.......

Me too.

As far as I can tell it seems to be an indent in the cocking ramp where the cocking piece nose rests when the bolt is part way up.

Why one would wish to have a condition where the bolt handle is part way up and therefore more exposed to being bumped escapes me however.

So the rifle would be carried with a round chambered and the bolt half way up? Then before firing, the bolt would have to be cclosed?

Seems so.

Doesn't the safety do everything that this half cock does, with less of a PITA factor?

With Remington's trigger woes, aren't they always half cocked.............

Weird stuff there. Do other people's rifles just randomly fire at will while they are walking around? What is the possible need?

A guy once handed me his Model 700 and bragged its a Pre64. WTH

that there is funny.

Well they came out in 62

TFF!

If it was an original from 1962, it was probably worth a bit of extra coin, especially the 20" ADL version.

A lot of people over here in New Zealand hunt with their rifles on 'half cock'. Nearly all our hunting is done by walking around, not sitting in trees, and quite often the action is up close so any metallic noise can mean the end of the game.

This style of carrying a rifle in the semi ready position initially came from the old deer cullers who used old 303's with safety's that weren't able to be trusted or not even present. I personally have always used my safety but am currently having the half cock added to my remington just as an extra safety feature when I am hunting with someone else.

Ask Steelhead. He knows all about half cock..............

That's all they can handle in them.

I carry half cocked at times.

It is one particular rifle - a 98. Use of the safety is hindered by the low mounted scope. I need to an will get that fixed -

because "half cock" is not good for me.

Here is the sequence.

Rifle is carried cold. When I spot an animal and deceide to put a stalk on, I get as close as possible before chambering a round - leaving the bolt half cocked.

Do the the internal design of the Mauser bolt, the striker, if it fell, could not reach the primer. The bolt OTOH is held by a tangible detent.

So - while this works and feels serviceable, it does not to my mind beat a safety.

I will get mine "fixed". Thanks for the reminder.