Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington fans...interesting old 700

I picked up a rather interesting Remington 700 today, one I've never even heard about (much less seen). Its an early model gun in .243, with a 5-digit serial number. The chambering caught my eye first, as I'm always looking for short action 700's, but the low serial number really got me interested. I could tell it was an older gun based on the iron sights and aluminum butt plate, but the low serial number was really cool.....I've never seen a SN on a Remington bolt rifle that low.

But what's even cooler about the gun is the slot milled in the receiver for stripper clips. Based on my limited research, it seems like some of the earlier 700's had this slot, as it was a hold over feature from earlier 721/722 actions. According to Remington, my gun was manufactured in 1963, which I believe was the 2nd year of 700 production.

Its probably the most intriguing 700 I've ever come across, certainly the neatest one I've ever owned. It has a decent stock with press checkering, and (of course) has the old style trigger and safety that locks the action with the safety engaged. Barrel length is 20", and has very good balance.

Here are a few pics:






Iron sights, with broken front blade...no worries, I'll be removing them.

Safety, trigger, etc...

Stripper clip slot...





Nice surprise, barrel has been full length bedded...

Nice rifle. I'm having a custom built now on a similar vintage action. The older one's didn't have the anti-bind slot on outer bolt lug. They seem a bit smoother without it.

I have a 6mm Remington which looks exactly like your rifle. I don't know if you noticed it. There is no threaded hole on the bottom of the receiver to accept a screw for the ADL style magazine box. I am not sure which year they started doing that change.

nice rifle. The bolt handle and trigger guard are better made and have more detail.

So you are going to hit that antique barrel with a torch?

A friend has one in 30-06. They made a carbine model with 20" barrel. Check out the trigger sear. It's a laminated (two piece) Model 721 sear. The early 700s used leftover triggers from the 721s, 722s, and 725s. His is first year of manufacture, and it's an ADL.

What is the assembly date code on the barrel?

The assembly code for 1963 was "K".

My 20" 700 ADL in 6mm Rem Mag was made in February 1963, "LK", and carries SN 579xx.

Not sure what you mean, it has the normal style internal box, and three screws on the bottom of the stock (all are standard threaded screws).



????

That's exactly what it has, thought it looked a little odd.

You mention that you are removing the sights

A few years back I saw a rifle like yours in 308, but it was not as good of shape. Should have bought it.

What's the story with the stripper clip slot?

Not sure why you would need a torch, they're held in place with cap screws like most other 700s I've seen....




...only difference is it uses only one screw up front, centered between two posts to hold the front sight in place. Seems like a lot more work versus simply threading two holes.




Just have to figure out a way to make that a little more attractive, find a scope, and she will be ready to shoot. Worst case, I can simply reinstall the front sight with a new bead, and call it a day.

The 721/722's were just after World War II, and virtually anything without a detachable box magazine was using stripper clips or en bloc clips to load internal magazines. I guess Remington decided to design the 721/722s around this concept as well, and it carried over to the early 700s.

"PK" = June 1963

Watch out for scope mount dimensions. I can't recall the cutoff date, but early 700's had a different, lower I believe, rear receiver top.

My bad...I should have been more clear...
TiG torch...as in filling in the ugly unsightly holes with parent metal and then re-blueing