Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Restocking a Remington 721 LA

Looking to restock a Remington Model 721 (right hand, long action) with a 700 BDL stock and trigger guard assembly. I don't have either the stock or the bottom metal at present. I suppose if I could find a decent 721 long action stock this project will change, but this seems like the path of least resistance at the moment. My understanding is that the project will require some barrel channel work to accommodate the rear sight barrel 'bulge' and maybe some work on the trigger guard to widen it slightly. With that in mind, I would appreciate any project advice or 'gotchas' from your experience. Thanks.

In addition to that the bolt handle "notch" in the BDL stock is slightly different to accommodate the rear sweep of the current 700 vs. the relative straight bolt of the 721. It will work but you might not like the resulting look.

They show up pretty regularly on eBay....got one a year or so ago in 95% condition (not even drilled for sling swivels) for $80.00.

Also, the tang needs to have a small relief filed in to accomodate the 700 safety lever. You can use the 721 safety lever and cut some clearance along the tang in the 700 stock.

I much prefer using the 700 lever and cutting the tang. It is a quick and easy job with a decent file.

You can even use the old bottom metal. You just have to fill the ends of the floor plate cut out where the action screws go.

721 rebored to 35 Whelen in a BDL stock (Youth )

With very minor inletting work on the tang, bolt handle, trigger, and barrel boss, a 721 can quickly/easily be dropped into a 700 ADL stock for less cost than if you go the BDL route. I use carbon paper, still available despite the limited use in today's technological environment, to ID the places to trim.

I generally prefer the BDL format, so I have a couple of 722 barreled actions installed in 700 stocks, a 257 Roberts in a BDL and a 25-284 in a walnut MR.

I don't know if it's the case with .300 H&H's from all years but mine (two) have a larger (factory) barrel diameters than the standard calibers. Regardless, make sure if you look on EBAY that it's got the proper contour. My .300"s both have "MAG" stamped in the barrel channels where my other 721's don't.

I located a Remington "Classic" short action stock and have put it onto an hierloom M722. Barrel bulge and minor inletting adjuatments only. Loks prety good actually. Biggest chore was stripping the factory remington finish before the Tru-Oil.
I think I paid about $75 for the take-off stock a few years ago.