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Perhaps I misunderstood this article. I thought that this was in reference to the new, improved Remington 700 bolt system that has this really putrid little hole in the bolt shroud that is key-activated to lock the firing pin. Am I wrong? I have several of the older pre-firing pin safety units and I seem to remember that I did not have to snap the trigger safety off in order to open the bolt.

My take on this was that the woman could not open the bolt until she inserted the key and unlocked the firing pin stop. Before she did this, she moved the trigger safety lever to the front, and as soon as she unlocked the firing pin safety, the gun supposedly discharged when "her finger was nowhere near the trigger." It could also be that somebody tried to "lighten" up the factory trigger pull and went a little too far. Below about three pounds of pull, the gun can fire with a round in the chamber when the bolt is merely closed. I've seen it happen. Its not clear from this article just what the sequence of events was.

I just checked mine, and you do have to release the safety lever to open the bolt.
However this gun is an early model and I know the original owner and it has never released the firing pin while releasing the safety.
Hey and just for nostalgia, I work in the same room where this gun was first produced and coincidentally it is the same room where Kevlar was perfected.

The "bolt lock" mechanism that they are referring to is exactly what I stated. You cannot open the bolt with the safety on on these Pre-82 models. I have shot them since I was 10 years old, and it's always been a PITA to have to take the safety off to open the bolt and unload your rifle. It's an internal mechanism that is part of the old design. There is no key or instrument that you have to insert into the rifle to "unlock" the bolt, and in fact, I'm not aware of any rifle manufactured anywhere that has that feature.