Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Remington 700 History Lesson Needed

Of my Remington 700 collection, two of them have a factory rounded smooth bolt knob. Both manufactured in the 80s, one is a 270 Mountain rifle and the other is 30-06 ADL. Was this just how Remington made the bolt knobs for a few years or were the rounded models a higher/lower end deal?

My understanding is the uncheckered, smooth bolt handles were only on the budget minded 700's called the Model 78 Sportsman rifles from the early eighties.

To go along with his question, when did Remington change the knob on the Model Sevens and did they change the left side of the action at the same time?

i had a nice ADL with walnut that had a smooth handle. weird.

Both mine are 100% 700s. Not a Model 78. Both are gloss blued too.

I recall the long action Mountain Rifles had the rounded knob. I was hoping my 7-08 would have one when I ordered it in the early-mid eighties but it had the checkered.

It would be interesting to know if anyone has any documentation/info on this.

I also had a Mountain Rifle in 270 that had a smooth handle.

Call Remington and talk to their historian. I've found them to be pretty helpful on several occasions.

I have two Remington 700 ADL's chambered in 222. The rifle which was made in 1973 has the checkered/knurled bolt handle while the other rifle made in 1983 has a smooth bolt handle. The checkering on the stocks is different as well.

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I'd bet on there being no documentation, since what most likely happened was that the parts bin for the standard bolt handles temporarily ran out, and rather than halt the production line (a corporate no-no in most assembly lines), whatever was on hand (like the smooth/round knob) was used until the proper part could be restocked.



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To throw another twist on this question, I picked up a '92 Model 7 tonight with a rounded knob. That makes 3 I own and don't have a clue as to why there smooth lol.

So did I.

Sounds like the most likely scenario.

^^^ That's what I'm starting to think. Talked to a dealer who's sold them since 1975 and according to him (for whatever its worth) early mountain 700s had them exclusively, then they were an option on rifles that were special orders from the custom shop, then they randomly showed up on rifles until they ran out of stock. Whether or not he's correct I don't know but it seems like a legitimate explanation.

The smooth bolt knobs were introduced in 1983 on the ADL's when Remington introduced several changes to that model. That was the first year of cut checkering replacing the impressed style that had been the norm. The Sportsman 78 was introduced in 1984 with the same smooth bolt knob. The mountain rifles of the era also had smooth bolt knobs and were introduced in 1986.