I have a very old Remington Woodsmaster 742 carbine in 30-06 and thank goodness, that thing works as good as the day I purchased it as a used rifle (all I could afford back then) over 40 years ago. The guy that owned it before me sold it because he could not stand the noise that short barrel gives off. Never bothered me. Probably why I am deaf in on ear. I would hate to guess how many deer, coyote, and even a few foxes, have fallen to that short barreled little monster of mine. I actually had a guy tell me that with that short barrel I would not have the range of the bolt gun with the longer barrels. It never let me down on any shot I attempted with it to date.

My understanding from talking to a gun shop owner was, about twenty years ago, Remington started to produce the parts for their semi auto rifles in much cheaper way. Those rifles just seem to not function as well as the old method of making parts for the rifles. They had loading problems, they also had breech lock up problems. Also their assembly manner changed and the old style of each rifle being examined for fit and finish, went to ... test a few here and there.

A person I have known for over 15 years had a Remington 742 in 30-06 but his was the full size model. That rifle gave him so much trouble with cartridges feeding into it, and other things, that he traded it off for a Marlin 336 30-30.

The important thing is your friend, while a terrible thing happened, just proved... handle them rifles in a safe manner. You never know when one of those strange things is going to happen. He never let that barrel point at anyone, even though what he was doing might not have been considered dangerous. Good for him. He is someone to hunt with.

As for a Ruger. I have a Ruger M77 in 7mm mag (purchased new 1984). The first year I owned it, I broke the bolt. We were hunting a huge open field. My friend using his Winchester model 70 in 7mm mag had wounded a deer. and it was running/hobbling across this field. He hollered for me to shoot it, and I fired, slammed the bolt hard to bring up the next round, and something in the bolt broke. It would not fire. So there I was on opening day of deer season with a rifle that would not work. Needless to say, I was a little upset.

I called Ruger and they asked that I mail them the bolt and the rifle (at their expense too) which I did. When it all came back to me a few days later there was a letter from their gunsmith. He really had no reason why the bolt broke he said. But had put a new one in, that he personally tuned and polished to make it smooth. Also he said he tested it personally and it worked flawless. What a beautiful job he did.

Good thing I had my old Remington 30-06 to fall back on that year.