push feeds are more accurate.
Perhaps, but any actual difference would only benefit a benchrest shooter IMHO. The 700 Rem action does have slightly more locking lug contact than the pre-64 Win. which may give it a slight accuracy advantage, but the average shooter will never notice the difference.
This 3" spotter reveals 14 consecutive shots fired from pre 64 Win. using iron sights from prone position at 600 yards; not too bad for a CRF action.
The middle position blocks the trigger while allowing the bolt to open for loading/unloading one round at a time. Remington, Savage, and Weatherby don't have this feature afaik.
Savage does have the 3 position safety.
Remington 700 Great gun with two very bad problems. 1: the safety. Good design - separating and blocking safety. Very poor execution. Check your safety by cocking the gun, placing it on safe, pull the trigger four or five times, take the safety off. It SHOULD not discharge. Remington has been sued for this innumerable times.
This problem resulted in a recall by Rem. Rifles returned to factory will be altered so the bolt is not locked when rifle on safe. Many of the "fire on release of safety" events resulted as the shooter was attempting to unload his/her rifle (which could not be done w/o slipping it off safe). While this alteration will not prevent the "FORS", it does offer the shooter the opportunity to at least unload the rifle without slipping it off safe. Personally, I prefer the Mod. 70 safety which blocks the firing pin, not the sear.
As has been stated, it is best (safer) not to trust any of the mechanical safeties as any mechanical device can fail.
One highly touted advantage of the push feed action, when first introduced, was the fact that the cartridge case head is 100 % enclosed in the rifle chamber by the bolt face as opposed to a portion of the case head not being supported where the extractor slot is milled in the barrels of CRF rifles. While this is a true claim, barring barrel obstructions or severe overloads, a case failure is quite unlikely with modern rifles/ammunition.
Savage may not receive any awards for beauty, but they have a reputation for excellent accuracy out of the box. They offer both push feed and CRF in their current lines. The pre-accutrigger models left something to be desired in trigger pull area, but can be tuned up by a competent gunsmith; the accutriggers offered on current models take a bit of getting used to, but offer user adjustable trigger which can be set for a very light pull.
Regards,
hps