One time i bought a new 340wby., i had bought it to use on my brown bear hunts. Anyway, one day i stalked up on a big moose and got a shot off. When i opened the bolt and pulled it back, it came right out of the gun! I can still remember to this day how shocked i was when that happened... Anyway, i fumbled around and got the bolt back in the gun and took a second shot, anchoring the moose. I was pretty happy i wasn't on a bear hunt when that happened!
Once i got the gun apart, i saw that wby. had put a "lathe cut" in the bolt stop, for no reason that i could figure out, giving it a weak spot to break at! AND the replacement i bought later from wby., didn't have one in it, so i guess they finally figured it out... I later heard of others having the same problem, so i wasn't alone with that particular wby. problem.
I learned to dislike that rifle, and it didn't last long before i replaced it!
DM
