As in many things in life, we remember the very good and the very bad most clearly. In the case of M-700 failures, those are the things that stick in the minds of people that have had them. In the case of the millions of m-700 "non-failures" ..........what's to remember?
So i am not going out of my way to "slam" M-700s. Just stating facts
Now if I were to get a 700 for myself I would do one thing right at the first, and another thing every time I shot it
The first thing I would do is to clamp the bolt in a vice and hit the handle with a big wooden mallet. If the handle doesn't come off with that, it's not going to. I'd have one that got a good solder joint. I'd say at least 75% of those I have put back on were brand new. Bad joints! Yeah, some were old, and had been used for years, but I doubt those that had served 10-30 years would have survived the "mallet test" if they would have been so tested. So I'd rather break it off right out of the chute, and put it back the right way. Then I'd never have to worry about it again.
The 2nd thing I'd do every time I cleaned the rifle is to put a drop of Hoppies 9 on the bolt face and leave it wet. The when I take it out of the safe, I'd dry it with a tissue and go shooting. I believe that just leaving the solvent on the bolt face would cure about 99% or all extractor failures in m-700s. But I am amazed at how many men don't EVER clean their rifles, and those are the ones I'd get in the shop, with extractors jamming or breaking.
No the Rem-700 is not my favorite action, but I would not feel like I was holding a gun waiting to break if I had one.
I like Rugers and Winchesters better, and Mausers a lot better, but I am not going to say I hate Remingtons.
Just test the bolt joint BEFORE you NEED it to work, and CLEAN the bolt face and extractors. You'll probably be more likely to get hit by lightning than to have one fail in the field. If you do have one fail, after the "mallet test" and with a clean bolt face, ------ wellllll ------------- I guess You are just not living a clean life.