Bolt Handle Failure during live fire - Remi 700 XCR

[Brithunter]

No problem.
I would still prefer a Remington with broken off handle over a Steyer or Sauer
edi

Hmmm well I must admit to not being fond of the modern Steyr rifles. Have not spent enough time handling the Sauer to make up my mind. I very nearly brought a Steyr SSG in 7x64 some years back but cannot warm to the plastic stocks.

I really do have problems warmign to a lot of modern production rifles. When compared to the old "classics" they are just so obviously poorly finished.

 

[the_cunctator]

Brithunter - Interesting stuff, thanks! Good post It seems they are trading on glories past
I won't go into detail about my dealings with the importers as it wouldn't be proper given the circumstances. Let's just say I was less than impressed when it was suggested I was being 'harsh' when I shared the facts with them!

I won't be buying anything from them in future. As for Remington today, I totally agree with you mate.

ATB
J

 

[newkid]

Very dissapointing from REM. I have two 700s in243 and 308. Think I'll give the bolt a good shoogle just to check.

 

[Brithunter]

Brithunter - Interesting stuff, thanks! Good post It seems they are trading on glories past
I won't go into detail about my dealings with the importers as it wouldn't be proper given the circumstances. Let's just say I was less than impressed when it was suggested I was being 'harsh' when I shared the facts with them!

I won't be buying anything from them in future. As for Remington today, I totally agree with you mate.

ATB
J

Our problem in the UK is that we only have a couple of "Big" importers who handle nearly all the imports the likes of Viking Arms, Edgar Bros and GMK. Now Bill Edgar was a gentleman to whom customers mattered. I did not get the same impression when dealing with Derek the other year.

What we need is some competition. Hmm I was going to tell of an episode but remembering the last time I got blasted for telling it as it happened perhaps I had better not .

What with the big importers controlling nearly all the shooting market we are stuffed no wonder people are happy with so called "Grey Imports" when the warranty on an official import is not worth the paper it's printed on.

Let's hope the licensing office get your variation processed quickly.

As for Remington well they are owned by a Capital Venture stock holding company who only care about how much it makes. The same company brought Marlin and shut it down where it has always been and moved the manufacture to a Remington facility. The Marlin staff were surplus to requirements so disposed of. Which is why Marlin's are having troubles with quality and I believe there has been a recall on the "marlingtons" due to problems.

 

[MountainStalker2]

Cunctator, dissapointing to hear of this happen but it seems something was amiss with your rifle and remingtons QA. I would have thought for the bolt handle to come off like that there must have been both a poor weld and a shearing force on the bolt handle at firing. The bolt handle on a 700 should not act as a lug but yours must have been bearing some pressure to part and fly off with some force? Moving on, if the rifle was shooting well, get it fixed, get as much ammo for compo as you can. You will get a heap more years of shooting out of it. I have had a lot of remingtons over the last 25 years and still have 7 in the safe. All randomly selected, mostly bought second hand out of a paper and a few new ones and had no problems of note. They are a good bit of kit despite the few naysayers on this site.

 

[brenneke]

The yanks are masters of branding over substance after all.

I'm moving toward asking for my money back and replacing it with a European rifle of quality for the same or less cash

Yep, you pay for an awful lot of marketing and not a whole lot of engineering when you by yank these days.

I cannot believe folks buy Remingtons these days.

 

[Muir]

What I never understand is when companies just don't rectify a problem
once it happens to a certain percentage. This bolt handle flying off seems to be known world wide.
I have a few Remingtons and it might happen to them, if so I'll get them welded. No problem.
edi

In the early-mid eighties I worked at a large gunshop that was a registered factory dealer. That was a big thig back then. Remington was closing out their Model 788 line and we took delivery of a a couple of dozen of them and sold them at some sales bonanza for $120 each. We got nine of these back within a week with broken bolt handles, and 5 with broken extractors. We fixed the extractorss in-house but sent the nine rifles to Remington for bolt handle rebraze. Almost exactly one year later the rifles came back in exactly the same condition in which they were sent. No note, no explanation. We had them heliarced at a local shop and gave them back to the guys who hadn't asked (and gotten) their money back. The next fall we had a huge sale with all the major sales reps there. The Remington rep sold my boss the usual boat load of Model 700's at his normal dealer cost on Friday and then disappeared for the "big" sales day of Saturday. The following Monday is was announced that Remington had entered a partnership with the Wal Mart chain and they were now selling Remington 700s for less then what we paid for out fall order of Model 700's. Our shop had been the top Remington shop in the state for 20 years and they screwed us without a second thought. Needless to say, we stopped dealing in Remingtons immediately and took a loss on all those rifles we ordered.

I agree about the bolt handle. If it comes off you can just weld it back on. I have a couple of 700's that are very accurate and I like them, but I only shoot them at paper. I don't want the handle to come off between shots on live game... especially if it happens to be something that will trample or eat me.~Muir

 

[Ranger22]

Every thing that gets made can have faults. I had a Sako 85, 10 months old and the bolt cold welded. The new rifle went the same way at 3 months old, they repaired it and it lasted 3 weeks. This was a rifle over twice the price of my Remy that has been faultless. So with anything you pay your money and takes your chance

 

[deerwarden]

I don't buy anything and take a chance with my hard earned cash, there are Trading standards out there for your protection, never accept a repair as you loose much of your rights. The phrase "not fit for the purpose intended for is all you need to say" and grow balls and stand firm, escalate to the shooting media is another weapon at your disposal where no bolt will fly off it. We spend our hard earned cash on our chosen sport, and no company can pull the wool over our ears, look at the posts above, Muir a pro gunsmith and his take on using a 700 only for targets, as a time served engineer, 40 years ago Hawker Siddley was prominent in promoting the use of ultrasound to check for flaws in welds etc, nowadays that would be even more a simple task for Q.A. of products, many engineers on here like myself would easily spot the sad condition of the pictured bolt in the original post. As this is due to poor practices during manufacture, Q.A should have been more stringent on an item bearing pressure enough to send the bolt handle flying off, I would not buy another 700 because of the poor engineering and lack of consumer care/consideration by the company/importers. deerwarden.

 

[Ronin]

It would be far easier to have a one piece or welded bolt handle - the brazed bolt handle problem has been well known for a long time.


One piece bolt would be the answer - but that would heft manufacturing costs.


All rifles can break or become faulty, there are no mass produced rifles which I know of which dont have some faults or known "issues"


I could start a list, but that wouldnt serve any useful purpose here.


As long as this is recitfied to the satisfaction of the OP, thats all that matters.

 

[Whitebeard]

Customer service in this country is on the whole very poor, and that brimgs to mind the phrase "you get the service you deserve"
Us brits dont like confrontation, we dont complain enough, are only to willing to except compromise and dont stand up for our rights, we are too nice whne we should be hard.
The retail sector (and everyone else) knows this and hence they walk all over us.
If you do complain you are branded as some kind of trouble making maniac and people care more about that then they do about their rights.

Ian.

 

[MarinePMI]

Customer service in this country is on the whole very poor, and that brimgs to mind the phrase "you get the service you deserve"
Us brits dont like confrontation, we dont complain enough, are only to willing to except compromise and dont stand up for our rights, we are too nice whne we should be hard.
The retail sector (and everyone else) knows this and hence they walk all over us.
If you do complain you are branded as some kind of trouble making maniac and people care more about that then they do about their rights.

Ian.

You're spot on Whitebeard. Here in the US, UK folks do have that reputation; it has been the butt of many jokes, you guys being overly polite and unwilling to make a scene. Sad when you think about it, mocking good manners and polite, professional bearing in public...

 

[Paddy_SP]

I would still prefer a Remington with broken off handle over a Steyer or Sauer.
edi

The Steyr I can understand, but why on Earth wouldn't you have a Sauer?

 

[ejg]

Paddy,
I hate over engineered safety systems which are great for showing off on a brochure but don't suit a rainy night
under the lamp. Don't get the stock design, pieces of stock stuck to the front and back of the action, All the stiffness of the forend and
rear piece gone to waste in the design. This leads to either unnecessary weight and or a less stiff rifle.
I prefer simple, safe, light weight, accurate, reliable and good value for money.

edi

 

[Paddy_SP]

Paddy,
I hate over engineered safety systems which are great for showing off on a brochure but don't suit a rainy night
under the lamp. Don't get the stock design, pieces of stock stuck to the front and back of the action, All the stiffness of the forend and
rear piece gone to waste in the design. This leads to either unnecessary weight and or a less stiff rifle.
I prefer simple, safe, light weight, accurate, reliable and good value for money.

edi

Now I'm really confused. I would say that if you bought a Sauer s/h, you'd get all the things you asked for - that is, a simple, safe, light weight, accurate, reliable and good value for money rifle. My .308 cost me £600, including 100 rounds of ammo. I don't consider stock stiffness to be an issue - the front is fully floated, so does little more than give me something to hold onto it by. IMHO there's nothing over-engineered about the safety system - OK, it's a little different to most, but I use my 202 in .22-250 as a dedicated NV rig, and I've never had the slightest problem using it in the dark. Maybe it's because I don't use a lamp!