I am the new, and puzzled, owner of a Rem 721 in 300 H&H, rebored to 300 Weatherby Mag. ( Don't know why)
Any chance someone has an original 721 barrel in 300 H&H they would part with?

Thanks,
Larry

I can't help you on the barrel but if you need another gun just like it let me know!
I have the same deal it's stamped 300h&h but PO said it is now a wby.
Why some people can't leave a good gun alone.

Yup... I have an original H&H... well, had... a certain poster here talked me out of it and started to restock it and it has been here for years waiting for him to return and finish it...

I guess you could say the same thing about Weatherby himself. We had the 300 H&H, so why make the 300 Weatherby? But when you do you always will have those who absolutely need the latest and greatest thing and will go buy it. Then you also will have the guys who can't afford one so they re-chamber their humble 721s.

Old Roy saw a lot of those types coming.... Like PT Barnam did.

Be aware at least some of those 721s had blued stainless barrels. Marked SS on the stamping.

I was not, until I turned the rear sight hump off a customer's barrel per request. Stainless bluing was not something I could do, so it cost me about what I charged to turn the hump. Maybe more - it's been 30 years, but some things even us old guys don't forget!

Weatherby would rechamber your 721 back in the day. I have seen several done by them. The caliber stamping is unique to their shop.

Uhhhh... the Remington blued SS barrels did not start with the 721 line... there were 700s from early production that may have had the donut... AND been blued SS. The 721 ended in 62, the same year the 700 started and also the beginning of blued SS barrels. Early 700s also had the donut sight boss. Yours would be the first 721 with a blued SS barrel I have heard of and I have had a strong interest in these rifle for a very long time.

Maybe he was talking about a pre 64 model 70, I know that some of their 300 H&H had a stainless barrel original from the factory. You can look it up in Rules book, and I also happen to own one.

In "The Remington 700", page 74, John Lacy wrote about barrel steel on the 721:

"The 264 WIN MAG was equipped with a twenty-four inch (23.5" nominal length) stainless steel barre. These barrels were not marked as stainless steel. This alloy would be undocumented except for a new in the box specimen (S # 445501, assembled in July, 1961) that is labeled on the box as having a stainless barrel). there is little reason to question its authenticity as the first year (1962) 700 magnums also had stainless barrels that were unmarked with regards to alloy."

No mention of stainless in the 300 H&H in the 721.

I have a 700 ADL that was one of the first 200 made (SN 11XX). It does not have the sight boss and has the same open sights as all other early 700's.

OK - I can't argue Model # as that was more than 30 years ago, and my book has long since been sent back to BATF. I've carried it in my mind as a 721, tho. Thanks for the correction. (There might be one or two other bits in the alleged mind that aren't entirely accurate as well.... . )

You might be right because I have a number of examples of obviously misstamped Remingtons... calibers not being offered at the times the production date stamps indicated... date stamps that do not match model years, and so on.

On thinking about it more, I'm pretty sure the receiver was a 721, as this was the first of only about 3 that I have ever handled or worked on, so that really stuck in my mind.. along with the bluing faux pas. It made enough impression that I even remembered the customer's name- last name immediately, a few hours later his first. With my memory for names, that is beyond remarkable!

The stock was Remington standard, so I really never considered that it wasn't factory. Obviously, I haven't researched it like you have, Art. (By the way, you are over your limit for PM's apparently. . )

This was in the late 80s or early 90's, so I see at least 3 possibilities. Re-barrel, custom put together of owned receiver after the 721 parts were no longer available, or Remington maybe had more 721 receivers than they did barrels, or one was just fitted with the "wrong" barrel during the change-over period oby accident or design, and not documented or the documents disappeared.

In which case we likely screwed the pooch for collector value, tho this was a working gun and showed a fair amount of use.

Interesting. Still, I learned something. I often do by sticking my foot in mouth.

No collector value in 721s... 725 maybe.

I thought like Sitka Deer. Never knew of any stainless, blued 721's.

The early 700 magnums had an iron coating that was blued. Wear that coating off and traditional bluing isn't, at least in my mind, possible.


Unless you have to have the Remington stampings, why not buy a barrel from ER Shaw?

No collector value? How about the Navy trophy rifles? THOSE would be cool.

I don't think that Remington ever cataloged the Model 700 with barrels that featured the rear sight barrel boss.

If there was caliber overlap between models, I believe that Remington stopped making barrels with the rear sight barrel boss when the 725 was introduced in 1958.

Weren't the Navy trophy rifles Remington 720s?

Yes,720.

My 722 in 257 Roberts has the sight boss.



Mine has collector value.

That's true and toward the end of 721 and 722 production (1958), there were 721's, 722's without the barrel boss sometimes called "transition models" that used the same barrel contour and sights of the early 700's. I have a 722 transition model in 222 magnum with the later barrel.

I don't think that any of the 722s in 243 or 308 had barrel bosses, I think that they had 22" barrels that were exactly the same as the 725s.

I have a late production 721 30/06 with a 22" barrel with no boss. It was almost mint when I bought it for a song a few years ago so I'm certain it's the original barrel and stock.

It would be interesting to know how that transition went, aside from very randomly! I have had an early 700 in 30-06 with the boss and have seen a couple others.

I have several other Remington with production codes that cannot match the model or cartridge or some other cataloged detail and it sure makes them look disorganized.

There is always going to be a certain amount of error in a production environment, probably less than 1%. I don't recall John Lacy mentioning 700s with barrel bosses.

I'd be interested to hear the specifics of your Remingtons with assembly codes that are out of sync with cataloged details.

As you know, it is pretty easy to swap barrels on 700 series rifles, often without having to set the barrels back to get correct timing, so putting a newer barrel on an older action isn't all that uncommon an event.

But only because it belonged to Mike Walker.

I am in the tedious stages of transferring my records to electrons... as I come to them I will post them and perhaps start a thread. I will try to remember to let you know when I come to them.

Thinking about it, none of the half-dozen or so 700 variations I have swapped factory barrels on ended up even close to timed...

I find that about 50% of the Remington 700 series barrel swaps that I've done, in excess of 60, that timed and headspaced without any work. Many folks report much higher rates than mine, some claim 100%.

I saw a Remington 700 for sale that the seller claimed was a rare lunchbox special straight out of Ilion, when it was actually a parts gun that I'd put together for I guy who I used to hunt with. Without authentic documentation/provenance, a story is just a story, even if it is a really good story.

I have a couple of Remington 721's for sale in my online shop:

remington-model-721-3006

remington-model-721-3006-springfield-w-scope/

I killed my first elk with a .270 chambered 721. Solid rifles that are easy to upgrade to ADL, if desired.

Speaking of 721s, I just picked a v nice 721 in 300 HH. Ser # 55xxU. Barrel is 26 inches long, I believe shes stainless under factory blueing. Barrel stamped UU. Any idea of date of manufacture? 1948? This rifle has the slickest action I ever worked!!

Assembly code "UU" is 1949.

I wouldn't expect a serial number in that age range to have an alpha character in it.

Thanks!

I would not expect to find a SS barrels under the bluing...