Brownells sells a 3 position safety for Rem 700 rifles. Listed on their web page as item 916-100-203. It is not the bolt shroud style (like the winchester) rather a replacement version of the original.

My question is this: I've installed a Rifle Basix trigger, will this safety work with this aftermarket trigger?

Most probably will, but I'd send it to someone to fit it for you.

If this is the Ultra Light Arms safety, I ordered one, and neither I nor the local 'smith could get it to work on a Rem 600. Not sure if I was missing pieces or what, but it would not function the way I got it from Brownells. FWIW - Dan

Yep, that's the one. I intent to put it on a Rem 700 FWIW, but I sure hope I can get it to work. Seems like a good idea. Humm... guess we'll see...

Dan Belisle, that safty from Brownells didn't fit your 600 trigger because the 600 trigger stands alone and is physically smaller than the 700 trigger.

So I've since been told, but the Brownells literature on the safety at the time claimed it worked on 600's. I still have it in a bag somewhere, I'll take it out and try it on one of my 700's. Thanks for the info. - Dan

Actually, I've just looked in the latest catalogue from Brownells and they still say it will work on the 600/660. Hmmmm. - Dan

Dan,

Got that safety in the mail today, and I just gave up on it moments ago.

It assembles fine. It moves gun from safe to fire just fine also. But, the bolt locking feature of the safety will not work! Was this your same trouble, dan?

I looked the action over and I've figured out why this is the case: First, the correct function of this replacement safety is not a true 3 position safety. It is the same old 2 position where the bolt is locked while on "safe" and unlocked on fire. If the operator wishes to unload the rifle on "safe" he preses down on the safety to unlock the bolt. There is a squarish, flat piece of metal portion of this new safety that protrudes up into the bolt when the safty is in "safe" mode, thereby locking the bolt from being raised and opened. And here is where my problem lies. There is no channel, groove, or hole in the bolt to accomodate this squarrish piece of metal. There is that triangular opening (beneath the bolt handle) which cocks the bolt, though I'm not certain if it is intended to insert here or not. In any case the bolt rotates past this triangular cocking area by a couple 10ths of an inch or so. Thus there is nothing for the flat, metal piece of the safety to engage into.

Now, my rifle is a newer ADL action (pre J-lock) that was squared and trued into a custom rifle. Might the bolt on older rifles with the old bolt-lock safeties be milled differently? I don't know, I don't own a Remington from that era.

Hummmm.... could anyone shed some light on this dilemma before I (like dan)put the safety back in the bag and toss it into the abyss of misc gun parts?

ps. I emailed New Ultra Light Arms with a question about this; I'll post their reply.

That squarish, flat piece of metal lines up with the action's bolt handle notch, right? There's a groove in the old bolts between the bolt handle and the cocking ramp that this piece locks into. If your bolt is all cylinder in this area I can't see how the safety could lock the bolt. A 1992 rifle has the groove but no lock and I'd like one on it. Looks like they dropped the groove recently. some days I wonder about Remington.

Bye
Jack

I became curious about this post yesterday. I too would prefer a "Locking" safety that has a third position that would allow the bolt to be opened (when desired) with the action still on "safe".

I called Brownell's first. I didn't get much detailed tech info on this safety, but I did get Ultra Light Arms' telephone # (304)292-0600.

The gentleman @ Ultra Light Arms was most helpful and explaned the function of the safety in detail.

JackM is correct. The newer M700s require some slots to be milled. According to Ultra Light Arms, both the bolt and receiver must have slots cut into them.

The safety sounds like a good idea. As waldog said, it acts as the "old" style safety in that it locks the bolt closed. According to Ultra Light Arms, pushing down and releasing the safety button will release the bolt and allow the bolt to be opened with the safety engaged. Closing the bolt completely "resets" the bolt lock. Holding down on the button allows the bolt to be removed from the action.

The other alternative is a M70 type 3 pos. shroud safety. These are probably the best type of safety for any bolt action rifle, but they are much more expensive. I paid $185 to have one of these instaled on a M98K action. Well worth the money in that particular instance, but the type we are discussing (side lever conversion) for the M700 would cost less than half, even with the services of a professional gunsmith to do the required milling.

I am going to try to get my hands on an early M700 action to get some dimensions. This may be something a "home gunsmith" such as myself could accomplish.

I have heard of several gunsmiths converting newer style M700s to the old "locking" style safety. It would seem to me that this conversion would require the same type of work.

waldog: Don't give up!

[ 10-26-2002, 20:52: Message edited by: wildcat junkie ]

Hmmm. time to dig out a few Remingtons and see which ones this thing will work on. Thanks for the updates, I'll post what I find as well. - Dan