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Well I better set you straight.

I am a full time gunsmith and I used to work for a Remington Service Center. I have been a gunsmith for almost 1/2 a century now.

Yes, their extractors do fail.

Not in huge number numerically speaking, but yes they do, and in fact, they do more than every other extractor of every other modern rifle combined.

I know, I am the one replacing them.

Looking at my books for the last 10 years as I write this (from 4 shops I do work for in central Wyoming)I can find 17 references to replacing Remington extractors. Now 17 out of many thousands of 700s in use in Wyoming is not a high percentage I'll grant you, but when I look through the same books I find:

3 repairs on shotgun extractors, One on a Spanish double, one on an old M12 Winchester and one on a Remington 870.

2 on other bolt action center fire rifles, one Marlin XL7 and one on a Mossberg MVP.

One on a Winchester M92 38-40.

2 on bolt action 22s. One a Winchester M69 and one Brazilian FIE import.

Also one on a very old 1911 pistol.

So that's 17 for Remington rifles and 9 for every other gun combined in the last 10 years from these 4 shops.

Now keep in mind, this is through independent gun shops and ONLY in 2 counties in Wyoming. When I worked for Remington Service I replaced about 1-2 a week, for 2 years.

In my life I have had to replace one extractor on an M1-Garand.

And I will also grant that our guns should receive some care. But saying that the Remington M700 style extractor is "good" because they only break if neglected is a weak argument for it's design.

I have seen many of these that were not "well kept" either.

M1 Garands.
M14s.
Carcanos.
Mannlichers.
AKs.
FALs
G3s
Krags. (MANY)
Springfields. (MANY)
Enfields in SMLE, 1914, and 1917 types. (MANY MANY!)
Mausers. (MANY MANY MANY!)
Mosin Nagants. (MANY MANY MANY MANY!)

About 1/3 of these old guns I have worked on are 2X older then the design of the 700 extractor (M720 was the 1st from the mid 1950s) and have been being neglected for that long too, but still work.

I have worked on more WW1 and Pre-WW1 guns than I can easily count and restored or sporterized them, but only a very few ever had a broken or non-functional extractor.
I can remember two Mosin Nagants that broke, one bent 95 Mauser, and one US Krag that came to me with it's extractor missing, so it was lost or discarded before I got it.

We are talking about guns that are now over 100 years old.

I am not saying Remington extractors don't work.

I am saying they should make something better. EVERYONE else on earth that makes a bolt action, makes one better.
So should Remington.

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