I had a gunsmith do one of these conversions on a 700 bolt after I broke the factory extractor. It does not extract, and it appears that the extractor does not extend far enough out to grasp the case. How do you get the extractor out of the bolt? I was told that it could be adjusted. Does anyone know how to do this? Help!

How long ago was the installation done? take it back to the smith and squeek at him. If the mill cut is wrong, he might owe you a bolt. There are different sizes of the sako style extractors, depending on the bolt face, it will be a somewhat different installation.
To get it out, just depress the pin and spring at the back of the extractor hook with a pin punch or small tool and lift out the claw.

Is this a common thing with Remington extractors? It seems like I hear about this Sako conversion quite a bit. I don't own to many Remingtons but the ones I do have, have never given me any problems with the stock extractor.

It is only a problem with numbnuts like me who force a cartridge into a tight necked chamber without first turning the necks and break the extractor and part of the lip of the bolt face getting it out.

Craig

I've seen exactly one M700 extractor failure.It was on 22-250 that had been overloaded and had ruptured a case head which also took out a chunk of bolt face along with the extractor.

Shooter didn't even realize anything bad had happened until he opened the bolt.

The Sako-extractor conversion is done by a few people who simply can't stand the Remington 700 extractor on theory alone. One gunsmith of my acquaintance was quite fond of doing it until a few of his customers (the typical hot-rod type handloaders) blew a few cases, which by some not-so-odd coincidence blew out right where he made the bolt-face cut for the Sako extractor. The gunsmith finally decided it was a bad idea and quit doing it.

I don't really know how many rounds I have put through Remington 700's over the decades, but offhand I can remember owning 700's in .204, .223 (several), .220 Swift, .243, .250 Savage, .260, .270 (several), 7mm-08, 7x57, .30-06 (several), .300 Winchester Magnum and .35 Whelen Improved. Obviously some were chambered for wildcats. The total nmber of rounds must be in the tens of thousands, and more likely over 100,000, since some were used for prairieie dog shooting.

I have yet to have a 700 extractor break. Not that it can't happen, but obviously the odds are pretty low. I also can't remember a 700 not extracting a case. Yet I constantly read about the POS 700 extractor....

I also have never broken a bolt handle off on a 700, yet from some of the Internet stuff you'd think that they fall off every 100 rounds or so. (And yes, I have stuck a case or three in 700's, and had to tap the bolt handle to open the action.)

Amen

Playing in the "high accuracy, custom M700" world a bit, I've kept my eye on the M700-Sako or M16 Extractor conversion situation for a bit and can offer the following;

From a safety perspective, you are "breaking" what Remington calls their "3 rings of steel". You've now introduced a breech in the rings and should a case let loose, gasses now has a more ready path back at the shooter.

From a practical perspective, I'll share what my Marine 2112 friend told me. The USMC used/uses the M700 action as the basis for their M40M40A1/M40A3 Sniper Rifles. Some of their receivers were in service originally as Vietnam era M40's (beginning in the 1960's) and were rebuilt into M40A1's. IIRC they were finally retired in 1996 or so when they went to the M40A3 (finally with new M700 receivers!). These guns are probably fired more than any M700's are ever fired. They have worn out recievers (something Remington's engineers apparently had never seen before). My friend was head of Sniper Section at the PWS and had a role in working out the configuration during the fielding of the M40A3. They went with the stock extractor on purpose.

Sam, I had a Rem extractor break on an elk hunt (you and I must two of the very few) but then had the Sako extractors added and they've both gone 15 years + with nary a problem. That doesn't answer you question but I'd start with the guy who put it in unless you've lost all confidence.

edited to add, that in reference to JB's comment, at least theoretically, it would seem to then forever be a weaker area on the bolt so I hand load judiciously, which we of course do anyway.

Also, my extractor broke with a "medium" load in my .338 Win, a 225-gr Nos Part at about 2700, probably hundreds of which had been fired before. The problem was it didn't happen at home which would have been no big deal but on the third day of said elk hunt which relegated me to camp jack since neither I nor my buddy took a spare.

I'm curious about what would cause a 700 extractor to break.

Although I'm not familiar with the Sako, yeah, the 700 extractor is smaller than the Mauser, Model 70 (pre-64) or whatever. But so what? How much larger does it have to be to pull full length resized cases, fired at proper pressures, out of a barrel?

I've never heard of an M16 extractor breaking, or a Weatherby MkV either.

Maybe the problem was one of weak metallurgy as opposed to extractor design.

I don't know but believe like JB says, the incidence is somewhat like winning the grand lottery; the problem arises when it does at some very inconvenient time. Stuff (or the vernacular) happens.

One of the early articles that Ross Seyfried wrote for Rifle magazine was about his dangerous game rifle, a Remington chambered in .416 Rem. He wrote a bit about the Remington extractor and told tales of its strength. His opinion was that any problem with the sliver of steel failing would be due to poor heat treatment, a problem that would demonstrate itself early in the rifle's life. Failure of the bolt resulting from other damage is not due to the design of the extractor.

To address your original question, I am not aware of any adjustment. You should go back to the smith and have him make it right.

While I agree that the chances of the 700 extractor breaking are low, I have had this conversion done on several of my 700's. I have NEVER heard of the Sako extractor failing. I do not hot rod my loads and feel better when going on hunts with the conversion being more confident that I will not have an extraction problem on a once in a lifetime trophy or worse yet in a dangerous game situation.

John,

I've never had a Remington extractor give me trouble, either, but I have had 2 bolt handles come off. Once during shipping and once I opened my gun case in Africa to discover the handle had popped off one of my rifles s my case worked its way through the baggage handling system. That was a long time ago, and I've never had a problem since I started taking the bolts out of my guns when I ship them or fly.

Just out of curiosity, how much on average does it cost to have the Sako conversion done?

Watched a friend break his extractor while on an elk hunt. He was shooting a .300 Ultra using factory ammo. It appeared that the extractor was shaving brass. Some of the shavings may have gotton under the extractor, it popped out of it's groove. When he tried to close the bolt on a round the extractor would't snap into the groove (in the case head) which kept the bolt from closing completly. The bolt was closed with a little additional force, when he the bolt opene after firing it ripped the extractor out of it's groove destroying the extractor.

The extractor on my .300 Ultra also had a habbit of shaving brass.

Another friend who made yearly trips out west to shoot PD's carried spare extractors and the tools to install them in his equipment box. He's seen a few extractors that had to be replaced.

Your "friends" appear to fall into the same of category of people Nash Buckingham was describing once, like the guy who shot 24 doves with 25 shells of .410. Absolutely AMAZING feats to say the least.

No idea, as I have never had a Sako extractor installed on a Remington. I don't have a problem with the Remington action, but if I feel the need for an extractor, I build the gun on an M70 action. If I had to guess, I'd say 75% of my custom rifles are built on M70s.

Depends on who does it, but expect to pay between 125-150 with parts. Don't have someone do the conversion who does not do it on a regular basis.

The late Dave Gentry did Sako extractors on 700s and I presume now his son does also (Gentry Custom Guns). Shilen also did this work and I imagine there's a bunch of others I'm not aware of.

The cost was not prohibitive as mentioned by a poster above and all theories of weakening the action and probabilities of it happening aside--like getting hit by lightening, it's always very inconvenient when it happens--my two 700s , one a Dave Gentry 270 Wby, since sold, and a 340 Wby worked very, very well for a combined two and a half decades.

Like cosmetic surgery if done well it looks and functions the same, if not, well,..

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 . ]