Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rem 722 in 257 Roberts

Sweet, a nd a nice chambering to boot. I picked up a 722 in .300 Savage a couple of years ago, I've been shooting it open sight and loving it.

A Remington 722 is perhaps the most cost effective way to obtain a quality .257 Roberts, they're well built rugged rifles. You got a great deal on the rifle, welcome to the .257 Roberts club it is an easy cartridge to reload for. I was fortunate to find a pre'64 Win. M/70 Featherweight
that the previous owner rebarreled to .257 Roberts using a Douglas barrel turned to match the original FW profile.

One of the interesting aspects of the 722/721 is that when they were introduced, many shooters reacted to them in the same way many react to Ruger Americans and other 21st-century "affordable" bolt actions. Here's what Bob Wallack, a gunsmith and a frequent contributor to many shooting magazines, had to say about them in the 1958 GUN DIGEST:

“The motto at Remington these days…is ‘all for production,’ so their rifles are designed for ease of manufacture and to sell at a certain price. Every part that can possibly be banged out on a punch press is banged out on a punch press, much to the sorrow of any real gun bug. Such methods do not affect the handling qualities or functioning of a rifle, certainly, but neither do they add up to a gun that a guy’d want to own with pride.”

Interesting.

Mike Walker and crew had a feel for the market and what people wanted.

Bill Ruger had that same sense of market and reportedly out voted his bean counters on more than one occasion.

It seems that Ruger still has that market sense, is being rewarded accordingly.

Is capitalism great or what...

DF

Looking at the prices on GunBroker, you did get a good deal!

I was pretty young back then, but I remember those same sentiments being expressed by by father and his hunting buddies regarding the 721/722 versus the M70. And the same comments were made regarding the "stamped sheet metal" in the Remington 870 versus the machined steel Model 12.

Thats a great snag..lucky you.

Doc

Wish I had mine back; a classic

When I was in graduate school, I made pocket money by shortening the barrels on 722s for guys who wished that they had bought 600/660/600Mohawk carbines before Remington dropped them. I'd buy 722s for under $150, mostly in 222 and 300 Savage, shorten/crown the barrels to 20", and install a Williams ramp front sight if the buyer wanted a front sight instead of a slick muzzle.

Yep, heard those opinions, even had those thoughts myself.

Pretty is as pretty does, sorta took the day and those guns proved themselves.

And, I think we'll see the same with with the Ruger American series.

There's a lot to say for pure function. Even the plain looking 722/721's have their own clean lines and asthetics.

DF

I agree. I recall when the RARs were first introduced. A bunch of grumpy old farts (like me) on this forum opined that Ruger had lost its bearings and was going down the tube by entering the economy rifle marketing. The bean counters were in control, the RARs would be the demise of Ruger , etc.

Time marches on. I love the old rifles, but as an engineer, I have to be impressed with how they have, to a significant extent, solved the accuracy issues in mass produced rifles: bedding, trigger pull, reciever stiffness, etc.

Ruger may be more progressive with twist.

Remington was "slow" to the game.

DF

MD, I love you, but disagree on the newer 700 rifles as far as the receiver goes. They are made on CNC machines and are much straighter. They have had a lot of problems with primary extraction because of the bolt handle being brazed in the wrong position. If you will look at a Sako extractor on a Sako you will see why they are not dangerous. When installed on a Remington it is lined up with the bolt race way. They can and have traveled the bolt raceway and injured some people. I know personally of 2 that did that. If mine fail it will get a M16 extractor if I can't replace it with a factory unit.
Below is my 722 in 257 Roberts. I was able to purchase it from Mike Walker himself.






Mike said he had the key to the wood box with the better wood. I sure wish the receiver wasn't tapped for his mount on the Lyman Alaskan, but he told me that it was his favorite deer rifle.

Seems I remember something about a trip to the wood shed.

DF

Butch,

Dunno where I said the present 700 actions aren't straight.

My first (and still the most) experience with Sako extractors on 700's occurred with the late Dave Gentry, who installed them routinely--including the one on the .280 Remington he built for me around 1990. He did not install them where they'd line up in the bolt raceway, and in fact installed them in basically the same position relative to the bolt face and lugs as Sako does. Would appreciate hearing why they'd need to be installed so they'd be in the raceway.

John, what other location can they be installed to extract the cartridge. You will see that if you cock your rifle, the Sako is lined up with the right raceway. I figured that you were saying they made as many parts as possible with a punch press. If that wasn't your intent, I apologize.
Now we do know of one Remington 25-06 that won't shoot and after a lot of work and expense, it went down the road.

Butch,

You apparently missed that the "punch press" quote was from an article in the 1958 GUN DIGEST written by Bob Wallack, a well-known gunsmith and gun writer of the day--and was about the 721/722, not the present 700. While Wallack doesn't specify what parts were "punch pressed," I would guess one would be the sheet-metal floorplate, with other possibilities the extractor and bolt stop.

The Sakos I've owned have had the extractor located alongside (not in) the upper edge of the right locking lug, which means they're alongside the very upper edge of the right raceway, not exactly IN the raceway. (If they were, part of the locking lug would have to be machined away) It's the same location where Dave Gentry installed Sako extractors on 700 actions.

It's also the same place the "Sako-type" extractor is located in the Tikka T3, Howa and Nosler actions. Yet you wrote, "If you will look at a Sako extractor on a Sako you will see why they are not dangerous." If they're not dangerous on a Sako, why would they be dangerous in the same location on a 700, or those other rifles? (Saw an on-line description of a Tikka blowing up a number of years ago, but the bolt remained intact, including the extractor.)

Never heard of any problems with Dave Gentry-installed Sako extractors on 700's, and never had the slightest trouble with mine, even though I was something of a handloading hot-rodder back then, as was Dave himself. In fact that Gentry custom, a .280, was my primary big game rifle for several years, used from Montana to the Arctic Circle. I eventually traded it to a friend, who then used it for quite a while before finally trading it back to me. After another couple of years I sold it to a guy through the Campfire Classifieds, and heard not too long ago that he's still using it with no problems. An example of one, of course--but dunno how many Sakos, Tikkas, Howas and Noslers are out there with the same basic system.

Beautiful! A 725 blank on a 722.

Well, it has a grip cap like a 725, but IIRC, 725's were checkered.

Having a key to the wood box paid off...

And, insider connections...

DF

There are a couple Bob's on GunBroker now