My FIL gave me his Remington 721 recently. I took it deer hunting back in October and discovered a problem with it. I usually hike with my rifle with a round chambered because the terrain isn't tooooo bad, there's usually no fences to cross, and I'm typically alone. Plus, if I were to jump a deer I'd be lucky to just get the rifle up in time let alone also work the bolt to chamber a round before it was gone. I've also with my other hunting guns never had a problem with the safety. However on the 721 I noticed after carrying it on my right side that the safety was not engaged. Re-engaged the safety, hiked around a bit more and noticed the safety was off again. Figured I test my theory out and carried it purposely on the right side and found the safety off within maybe a minute or two. Left side was fine, never bothered the safety, but you can't always carry it on one side.
Work around in the field was to unchamber the round and just carry it on an empty chamber, but even that's not totally satisfactory as the safety also keeps the bolt locked closed, and with it off it's also possible for the bolt to fall open exposing the receiver to possible contamination as well as exposing the bolt to possible damage.
So, I want to get that safety stiffened up so it won't disengage accidentally. If that is easy enough to DIY I will. Any resources on how to do such gunsmithing work?