tmfisher,
There was a recent thread in the Alaskan Outdors Directory Shooting forums in the gunsmithing section where one of the members had the bolt handle of his new XCR break off the same day he picked it up, complete with pictures. A discussion ensued about how common this was or wasn't with another one or two members chiming in about their Rem bolt handles breaking off.
Remington 700 bolt broke - Page 2 - Alaska Outdoors Forums
Bottom line, Howa bolts are one piece and this does not happen at all with them.
On the Inadvertent trigger firing, this is not an extremely common thing but there was a boy allegedly killed here in Montana a few years ago with one of these triggers. I know a lot of folks who will not own a Remington because of this issue and there are quite a few who wont own one for other reasons. I have two Senderos and like them and after tuning triggers I did and continue to do multiple safety tests with them, so far, no failure.
Yes, it took me about 30-60 min each to tune the Rem triggers. There are 3 triggers that must all be tuned in-sink with each other and it takes a while. You back out sear engagement and over travel screws, adjust the pull weight screw, then adjust the sear and over travel screws just right. I found I had to readjust the pull weight screws after tuning the sear and OT screws because it changed. it was a process of doing this cycle about 3 times each for both of my triggers before I got it the way I wanted. Removing and placing the Howa trigger back on the action is also MUCH easier than the Rems. A lot of guys get their Rem bolts upgraded with a Sako type extractor. Howa's come with a Sako type of extractor. I could go on and on. The Howa is superior in every aspect.
You will read a lot of posts about very happy and loyal Rem owners like yourself. You will also read about a lot of unhappy Rem owners, such as this thread here in LRH...
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/im-done-remington-35619/
You will read a about a lot about happy Howa, Vanguard (Howa) and S&W (Howa) owners and I have yet to read about an unhappy Howa owner. I have read some posts about guys who did not like their triggers. I have handled about a half dozen or so Vanguards and Sub MOA vanguards in the stores, and all the triggers but one broke very nicely. One trigger did ave some creep. One of our gunsmith members recently post this tutorial one tuning Howa trigger complete with pictures. My trigger was much easier adjust.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f37/howa-trigger-adjustment-how-52584/
I'm happy with my Sendeors, but IME, my Howa is a much better action and the rifle is a shooter and any future builds I might do will be off of Howa actions. And BTW, my very first rifle was a plain Jane BDL 243. After less than 100 rounds through it, I discovered a crack in the bolt body.
Oh, and welcome to LRH
-Mark