Remington 700 extractor verses m16 style verses sako extractor

elkhntr

Active Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
41
I am in the process of having a long range hunting rifle built on a Remington 700 ss long action. The cal is 300 win mag. My question is, is there any real advantage to replaceing the Remington factory extractor for either of the other two after market extractors? . I suspect that this comes down to personal preference more than anything else? I don't see any reason to replace what works unless there is a real advantage.
 
People claim the factory ejectors have issues, but I've never had a single issue with any of my Remington's...Maybe I've been lucky?

While it might be an improvement as far as design goes, the M16 extractor is still not fool-proof. I've seen numerous AR's with worn-out or problematic ejectors. With wear & tear, man-made things have potential for failure.

Just my $.02, or however much it's worth to you.
 
The Remington factory extractor is one of the poorest designs ever put in to production.

Yes, if you are going custom you are much better off biting the bullet and going with either the Sako or M-16 style extractor.

Or you could just go first class and build on a Model 70 CRF (Mauser type claw extractor) or give the Montana M1999 action a hard look. It is essentially a beefed up Model 70 CRF.

I have Six Model 700's about twice that many Model 70's, and one Montana 1999 and I much prefer the Winchester and Montana overall to the Remington.

One of the really big pluses for those designs is the three position safety and the same can be installed on the Model 700 as well. It is a much "safer" safety and completely reliable even in the foulest of weather, very much worth consideration as well.
 
People claim the factory ejectors have issues, but I've never had a single issue with any of my Remington's...Maybe I've been lucky?

While it might be an improvement as far as design goes, the M16 extractor is still not fool-proof. I've seen numerous AR's with worn-out or problematic ejectors. With wear & tear, man-made things have potential for failure.

Just my $.02, or however much it's worth to you.
Nothing is fool proof but it's a vastly superior design. I've run many thousands of rounds out of AR platform rifles and only once had a failure. That particular bolt assembly had in excess of 6000rds through it at the time of failure.
 
All of my R700s get M16 extractors by Karl Kampfeld. I've had the factory extractors fail to engage enough if the rim with warm loads. IMO it's worth it to change out. I don't much like the Sako.
 
The Remington factory extractor is one of the poorest designs ever put in to production.

Yes, if you are going custom you are much better off biting the bullet and going with either the Sako or M-16 style extractor.

Or you could just go first class and build on a Model 70 CRF (Mauser type claw extractor) or give the Montana M1999 action a hard look. It is essentially a beefed up Model 70 CRF.

I have Six Model 700's about twice that many Model 70's, and one Montana 1999 and I much prefer the Winchester and Montana overall to the Remington.

One of the really big pluses for those designs is the three position safety and the same can be installed on the Model 700 as well. It is a much "safer" safety and completely reliable even in the foulest of weather, very much worth consideration as well.

The above represents the bulk of my experience.

Choosing between replacing the extractor, and a Gentry 3 position Safety, I'd do the safety first.
 
I would have the extractor replaced. I have had two rem 700's that would fail to extract with the factory extractor. Had sako style extractors installed and they work perfect. They were both magnum bolt face.
 
I have few Rem 700 both long short actions and never had a problem with factory extractor but I had gunsmith replace few with M-16 just because I want to try them. When gunsmith replaced them he also did action and new barrel.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your response. Sorry for the delay in responding but I have the worst Internet service. I will give consideration to all comments. I see that most all clone 700 actions ie stiller defiance etc use sako or m16 style extractors.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your response. Sorry for the delay in responding but I have the worst Internet service. I will give consideration to all comments. I see that most all clone 700 actions ie stiller defiance etc use sako or m16 style extractors.

I love the extractor on my SAKO M995. Check out this videos ...



This is very interesting >>> ...
 
Last edited:
I keep records of all firearm failures that are presented to me for correction. In my short time i have accounted for 84 remignton 700 of various long and short actions with and estimated total round count (from customers so figure its 75% accurate) 29,400 rounds fired. One broken extractor on a 270 win that had "his friends reloads" fired and stuck. The others that were brought in for extraction/ejector issues were related to cleaning/maintenance issues. While the design of the sako/m16 extractor is better in my opinion, the remington 700 extractor works well on the remignton 700. This is again from my experience and the end is my opinion.
 
Here is a novel Idea, you could use what you have and if it fails, they you could have either some work done to your bolt or you could just go ahead and buy one from Pacific and get what ever extractor you want, and it would look really cool with the flutes and custom knob.
 
Run with the factory extractor until it gives up. Then have it replaced.

I found that as I reloaded and thus reused brass, the rim would become rounded. This brass with the worn rim is more likely to fail to extract cleanly with the factory unit which is essentially rigid.

When I had the rifle rebarrelled and blueprinted, a Sako style extractor was installed. This extractor, because it moves (as does a M16 style) when engaging the rim, has been more reliable. The Sako also seems to be less destructive to the rim as it engaged. As observed on a new batch of brass put in service when the rifle came back from the smith last year.

For the record, the rifle is a 260 and the load is a moderate one and resizing is minimal. Therefore I seem to get considerable life from the brass.

Beandog
 
I keep records of all firearm failures that are presented to me for correction. In my short time i have accounted for 84 remignton 700 of various long and short actions with and estimated total round count (from customers so figure its 75% accurate) 29,400 rounds fired. One broken extractor on a 270 win that had "his friends reloads" fired and stuck. The others that were brought in for extraction/ejector issues were related to cleaning/maintenance issues. While the design of the sako/m16 extractor is better in my opinion, the remington 700 extractor works well on the remignton 700. This is again from my experience and the end is my opinion.

You did a good job objectively citing your experience, and I respect your opinion, but my experience differs.

I'm no gunsmith, but I have seen a few rifles checked in for extractor repair. Never asked for round count, or log how many it was. The one that sticks in my mind, was one from a friends cast bullet rifle. The rifle had never had a factory, or jacketed load fired from it. Mild cast bullet loads exclusively, and I don't recall a round total being discussed, but it certainly left all involved with a negative feeling about Remington extractor.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 4 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top