Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Remington 722 Are they that bad?

Love my 722 in 257. Its going to my grandson when I'm gone.

I've owned Leupold Alaskans and they all had duplex reticles, while the Lyman Alaskans that I've owned were split between crooshair, post & crosshair, and dot & crosshair. The Leupold Alaskans came in 2.5x, 4x, and 6x, while the Lyman Alaskans were all 2.5x. The 7/8" tubes are a nice fit, at least aesthetically speaking, on small/short actions, like the small Sakos and the Winchester 43 and 52 Sporter. I have a 4x Leupold Alaskan on a Miroku-made 52 Sporter for the Aesthetics.

The Leupold Alaskans are fairly modern scopes, made for a couple of years in the early 1990's IIRC. Lyman Alaskan are considerably older technology, made form pre-WW2 until the late 1950's or early 1960's. They were well regarded in their day, but their zenith was probably in the neighborhood of 65 years ago.

A Leupold Alaskan in decent shape will bring close to the $325 that the seller is asking for the entire unit. This deal just keeps getting better and better for you.

Guess i got lucky. Also am going to pick up an beautiful Browning BL-22 leveraction but now the rule is for me to sell off several to make room for a new one becUse the accumulation gets out of hand.

Aside from reticles, there are two big differences between the Lyman Alaskans and the Leupold Alaskans.

The Lymans were NOT sealed against moisture. Instead they were called Alaskans because the adjustment turrets had caps, which earlier Lymans of the same basic design did not. But capped turrets do not make scopes waterproof against atmospheric moisture. That's accomplished by O-rings inside the turrets.

The other difference is the Lyman Alaskans didn't have coated lenses, which made them pretty dim in low light. The Leupold Alaskans did have coated lenses, though as a recall they were only single-coated, as most Leupold lenses were back then. But they were definitely brighter than the Lymans, which I know from owning more than one of both.

I have a couple of Lyman Alaskans installed on old rifles. One is on a Savage 1920 that Larry Koller once owned, installed with a stamped steel Weaver N-Mount. One on a pre-WW2 99EG in 250-3000, installed with a G&H side-mount. One on a post-WW2 99EG in 300 SAV, also installed with a G&H side-mount, both rifle were owned by the same man. One with a Litschert power booster that claims to take it up to 8x on a Marlin 336 SC in 219 Zipper, installed in Redfield turn-in mounts.

I had one of those G&H side mounts on a Savage 99 303 Savage with a big long barrel on it. I dont have a lot of use for old optics and i have a nice Minox and Sightron ready to mount. Someone put some money and work into this thing making it into a light rifle and i think i did good

I was fortunate to be able to purchase Mike Walker's favorite deer rifle. It is a 722 in 257 Roberts. I asked Mike where the beautiful wood came from. He said if you control the wood box you can get some nice pieces. I do not like the scope mounts as they are the type that swing to the left to allow you to use the iron sights.

I have used these actions over the years numerous times. They will shoot as well as others, assuming the action is trued, good barrel , stock, and ammo.
Charlie

When I saw "Alaskan" on an old rifle, I thought Lyman. The technology on old scopes can't compare with today's scopes. But an old Lyman "Alaskan" would be a collector especially if it is in good condition.

If you get that rifle and it turns out to be Lyman and if you don't want the scope. Sell it on E-bay. You'll might get your money back on the purchase.

No warts on this one.

Ive got two 721's 30/06 and 300 H&H. I consider them an outright bargain, and good solid guns. A 722 in 222 may be added if its still available.
Mule Deer, I have a question about free floating the barrels on my 721's.
So they have the large "barrel ring" where rear sight was/is dovetailed into.
Do you free float from that point forward? From recoil lug to that and then beyond that (leaving ring contacting stock)? Or float it all including that "ring"?
They shoot pretty good as is, but I like to tinker and can't leave well enough alone.
Thanks

More years ago than I care to remember, I decided that the .222 Mag was the ideal varmint caliber. Something about the legendary accuracy of a .222 with a bit more range, or something like that. At the time our LGS was going out of business and had everything on sale and had a set of .222 Mag dies and a bunch of brass. I bought it all and then spent the next several years looking for a rifle to go with it. One day I came across two of them at a gun show, a Sako and a 722. I bought the 722 and never looked back. In the last 20 or more years I have had it, it has never given me any reason to second guess myself. It has been completely reliable and consistently shoots sub-moa. Love that gun.

Some really like the 257 cal but im seriously considering reboring or a rebarrel to 308 win. The biggest reason im already set up for 308win to load and have lots of bullets, cases and powder for it and at this time with shortages its a matter of economy and availibility.

You'll be soooooorrrrrryyyyy!
Paul B.

Maybe sell your 257 to someone who really likes the cartridge and get yourself a 308 or trade. You could make someone else happy and save yourself some $'s.

I'm a fan of the Roberts and most other 25 calibers. A Ruger #1 250 Savage was just added to go along with the Remington 700 Classic in that caliber. The Roberts will serve you well in any deer country you choose. Shoot it some you'll like it. If you don't than sell it and buy another rifle in 308. I have one of those also but it hasn't seen the light of day in 20 years. The Roberts or a 25 06 always seem to come first.

I agree with the availability statement but not so much with the economy part. A rebore will probably set you back somewhere around $300 plus some shipping, a rebarrel more like $500 - $600 plus some shipping - a hundred cases and and a few hundred bullets will not even come close to setting you back that much even at current high prices. I will say that you may have to look a bit to find them but I suspect that they will be easier to find than you are thinking because the 257 R and its brass are not high-demand items.

drover

I had an early 40x in 222. It was a 722, very accurate rifle.

Don't rebore or rebarrel it. It is precious as is.
IMO (and this is pretty straight forward Rifle Looney dictum) ALREADY having a .308 is about the worst reason to take a sweet .257 Roberts and make it a .308 too.
Just my opinion (and everybody else on this thread...LOL)

If you want another .308, just sell this rifle at a nice profit (because you WILL get a nice profit), and buy one. You'll get half your money back on the Lyman Alaskan, and It would not surprise me in the least if the rifle (sans scope) brings twice (or more) what you paid for it on Gunbroker.

All the best,
Rex

This^^^!!!!!!!!!