I think their quality went downhill in the late 80' s prior to that I never had a problem with a 700 never ever. Since the late 80' s I have had about a 50 % percent success rate with them. We are talking stupid crap like safetys that don' t work right...chambering problems, feed problems none of this with any grade lower than BDL and it also happened with a custom shop gun that should never have left the custom shop.... stuff you don' t find out about until you shoot the darn gun(s). Last week I almost bought a 700 BDL in 300 SAUM but thought about it again and didn' t do it. This one appeared to be a well made gun , getting a little gun shy with them now . I personally think they make good guns and bad ones unfortunately I feel like a magnet with the bad ones. Bottom line is if you have one and it works keep it. If your in the market for a new one be wary of what your buying.