Those are VERY isolated cases Chris. The 700 is a fantastic design, very safe and very accurate. Most of the time, the things that cause those rifles to fire are things brought on by the users themselves...such as trying to adjust the trigger pull themselves, causing the sear to slip...and the gun to slam fire.

As far as trying to reduce recoil. I think that there are better ways to do that than going with a semi. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but I think you will be able to save some money, and have a more accurate platform if you go with a standard bolt action. Many of the more popular calibers, such as .308, .270 and .30-06, now have ammo makers loading reduced recoil loads, which offer up to 50% less recoil out of the exact same gun. They are not quite as capable performance wise, so 300 yard shots are out....you'd probably want to keep it under 200. But I am sure that with a little practice at that range, you can be deadly with them. Then, once you get bigger, and more used to shooting, you can step right into full powered loads, and have an accurate bolt action rifle to use. Only thing that changes is the bullet...not the gun. Just an idea for you to think on.