Anyone read the article in African Hunter Number 5 2007 (mine just arrived in the mail)about the potential for pushing the safety on while while sweeping back the bolt and rendering the rifle inoperative? I know that this has been mentioned in relation to the CZ550, but it has never occurred to me that it could be a problem with my Ruger 416 Rigby, and certainly has never happened in all the thousand of times I have cycled the action. On my CZ I have smoothed off the safety a bit to reduce the chance of this happening (despite never having been a problem to me with my CZs).Charlie.

I will add my .03 here...inflation you know...but I think that anytime you have anything mechanical, especially when used by a human, that there is the possibility of a error or malfunction.
I am sure that someone, somewhere, managed to hold the bolt on a Ruger RSM just right, and worked that bolt just right, so that the safety engaged when the bolt was worked. Is that a problem? For that particular person, maybe, but for the other 99%+ users of the RSM, probably not.
Personally, when I get a new rifle, I practice cyclling the bolt, lever, etc. hundreds and hundreds of times while empty. I then do the same with dummy rounds. And at the shooting range I also practice cycling the action with live rounds, duplicating what I would do if I had a dud round. This gets me familiar with any glitches the gun has, or anything I might be doing to cause a problem, and also serves to smooth the action a bit. Again, just my opinion.

After reading your post last night, I just had to pull out my RSM and see for myself. Although it is possible to engage the safety while operating the bolt, I had to try very hard and make a concerted effort to get this to happen. I don't see any cause for concern and certainly will not worry about it when using this rifle in the future.

I suspect it happens with both rifles when the shooter uses the open palm bolt manipulation technique. If you grip the bolt knob with a closed hand the fingers can't drag over the safety.

465H&H

...........I can safely say I,ve cycled the bolt on Ruger M77mk II actions more than 20,000 times .,.,and it has never happened to me once with perhaps 70 different rifles ........HOWEVER it is one of the reasons Ruger very wisely made the safety the size it is .....Some people complane the handle is too small ........Wrong ...it is the perfect size,,,, if my broken , short ,fat, not very dexterous thumb can get it 100 % of the time , ANYONE can ....If you can,t learn to work one you may be too stupid to hunt .................................It,s just about the safest safty made on earth ............It is safer in the half safe position than anything other than a military 98 mauser ...........and it won,t work with a scope , so there ya go .......I mean think about it .....It,s a battle rifle safety ........................

Here, here, gumboot458, using the word stupid is a bit on the rough side wouldn't you say??
As mentioned above, safety on the rifle in question is a fine one as far as safeties go, but only real criticism I have of the safeties are the somewhat sharp corners. I have 3 RSM's and like the safety very much, but the corners are a bit sharp for me and have applied very fine curvature to those corners and yet it gives excellent purchase and functions just fine and no more gouged thumb. I would venture that Ruger gives more than enough attention to the legality issues for firearms and you can bet the safety was a very studied item on current 77 models whether of RSM variety or others. (No mechanical device is flawless for it's intended purpose.)

Like Gumboot, I wouldn't even know how many rounds I've cycled through a Ruger, but it is a lot, and I can flat slam rounds quick with a bolt gun- lots of practice. I don't use the open palm for operating a bolt, pinch it into the socket between thumb and finger. I have never ever with any bolt gun ever touched a safety period.

As with anything made by man, it can and will be made to not work by man.

quote:

It is safer in the half safe position than anything other than a military 98 mauser

no, steyr SBS is the safest. but we get your point.

..Ya , I may have been a little , but not much ,,over the top ,.,.,., When a Ruger rifle is new , like a CZ , it is a little tight and or rough .....I am totally mystified at the posters on here who want to buy an inexpensive rifle like the 2 mentioned , , , then they complain about little things that should be part of the [[as my wife says]]playing with your new gun . ......A year or so ago there was a RIFA write up where the author really ripped the Ruger RSM in 416 Rigby because the ejector blade wasn,t leaping into it,s slot in the bolt face .........Ya thats a big problem but the rifle doesn,t have to be sent here there and everywhere ..........Get a fine emery board and shine up the slot a little , do the same with the ejector blade and replace the spring if need be .........If people really knew how fragile even the toughest rifles are and how little it takes for them to not run,, they may appreciate such steadfast rifles as the Ruger and big CZ,s ...............I guess its all part of the education process ...............I,m not too fond of the Steyr , I,ve never got the bobble with the thumb figured out very well and their failure to feed and eject reliably rules them out for me ...........

There are those in this world that could screw up an anvil with a powder puff, and Africa is another good place to find them!