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Either gain access to a CAD drawing of a Rem700, or pull an action off a barrel and put it on the table in front of you. Do the same with a Mauser 98 action.
Imagine a case failure where gas escapes while you're looking at the drawing or the action and ask yourself "Where does the gas go?"
The Mauser 98 action had several features designed into it to deflect gas away from the shooter's face and eye, which would have been just above the line of the bore. Look particularly at the rear of the bolt on a 98. For example: Why does the 98 cocking piece have that huge flange that covers the rear of the action? Deflection of gases coming down the bolt raceways, that's why. Same deal with the design of the cocking piece and how it attaches to the firing pin, the large holes in the bolt body to dump gas down the magazine well, etc.
The Remington 700 has been made cheaper to build by removing features from the original Mauser 98 design. Matter of fact, most all "improvements" by most bolt gun manufactures over the Mauser 98 design are actually removals of safety features.
Why are those features on a Mauser 98 action? Because Peter Paul Mauser himself lost an eye while working on an action prior to the 98 where a case head ruptured and the gas came back into his eye. As a result, the 98 action has a number of improvements over the prior bolt action Mauser designs for deflecting and dumping gas before it gets to the shooter's face.
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