Hanco's thread about the value of a Remington M700 and Gunbroker listings saying "desirable A prefix serial number" which would mean a '70's rifle got me wondering about what the difference is and why an A prefix would be worth more than a B, C or later 700? I did a Google search and see that 700's were first made in 1962 starting with sn 6200000. My 7mm RM BDL had that original blued stainless barrel and is sn 62485xx. I've got no idea how many rifles Remington produced in a years time or how long those blued over stainless barrels were manufactured. Anyone know?

I remember reading the early blued stainless steel barrels were made by Hart.I've also wondered if the Sendero barrels came from a barrel maker other than Remington.They shoot and look like custom barrels.

Early Model 700s like this 1962 .243 carbine have 5 digit serial number, this one is # 671XX.

The rifles were button barrelled, very accurate, and yes, some were manufactured by Hart.



Value? It's in the eyes of the beholder.

Me? I think that in the 60s Remington was producing a fine rifle at a competitive price that upset the Winchester accountants and that Rem. continued to produce quality firearms into the 90s when their own bean counters ruined the company.

I’ve had a good many, all accurate, like them a lot.

I've heard from a Remington Loving gun dealer that the "C" being the first letter of the serial number is the best letter?

I have a few 60's vintage 700's, without the letter. in my opinion, there ain't nun better than a 700.

I read where one guy thought that the "RR" start of the serial number was great.

Hart never provided Big Green with barrels,S/S or otherwise. Hint..................

700 serial numbers started at 1100. I have one sn 11Xx and another, sn 21Xx both are ADLs…30/06s from March ‘62 IIRC. Neither has any kind of prefix.

I found one in a local gun/pawn shop while looking for a “beater”. I refinished its stock since it had seen better days. The other was found on G/B and it’s still original.

Concur with Stick. Some of the inspection/proof marks look like a heart but just that person’s stamp. I’ve seen the claim on G/B several times and the close-ups show the inspector’s marks.

The short action calibers in the original 700 production have always been in demand and sell fast. Carbines in any caliber bring good money also

I have a couple 1962 vintage not as low serial numbers as Navlav8r.

I have one in 30-06 Carbine. It was before the Dupont finish on the stock. Some who have seen it think that someone had stripped the finish and re-finished it.
One had a 725 stock - it was a 308 carbine - I rebarreled that one to 358. That one had a rough life, it was as a city of Chicago police rifle according to the guy I bought it from.
I have one - 1963 manufacture - in 25-06 that’s been hunted a bit. It’s a keeper though - the most accurate 25-06 I’ve seen.

Not sure about bbl mfgr but my old 700 BDL 270 Carbine 174xx is a gem in the woods with some 150 NP’s. Never shot it for groups.

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Stick is correct! The Heart shaped stamp on the right side of the barrel is one individual employee’s ‘Gallery’ stamp signifying function and accuracy testing. Remington 700 barrels were button rifled up till 1967, when the hammer forging process was implemented.

Well darn POC! That’s a slick 270 buddy. I dig that. Those older 700’s were nice rifles. I love M70’s but the older 700’s were slick rifles and that 270 carbine is a dream rifle I bet.

I’m going the need the keys to your safe. Your rifles probably have mushrooms growing on em…. 7 RUMs, 270 carbines, sheesh, they need to breath some

I've had some RR prefix 700's that shoot as good, if not better, than the earlier ones. Now, that doesn't mean they were as well finished.

Marketing.... A 700 is a 700 - JMHO..

I think this is the thread about the Hart barrels that I referred too. https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/hart-barrels-on-factory-remingtons.3756178/ One thing you also need to keep in mind is,if Remington did put any special barrels on a limited amount of rifles back in the 1960's,the people who would know for sure are likely to be dead or long gone from the company by now.Remington did have a history of making dealer exclusives and special run rifles.I have a special run Remington Sendero I bought used in 2008.I called Remington to find out what I had bought.They told me it was made in 1996,it has a laminated wood stock and a blued heavy Sendero contour barrel,but does not have Sendero stamped on it.The barrel stamp shows it was done in Madison,North Carolina.It's chambered in the 7STW,I think the same year Remington introduced the 7STW chambering in their rifles.He told me it was a special run or a dealer exclusive,non catalog version of the Sendero rifle.They were also chambered in the 7mag and 300 Win Mag.The transition from hard copy records to computer records probably started in the late 1980's.If it's not in the computer records,a lot of the prior hard copy records were probably were never entered.

Finding the age of my 700 just by the serial number has been kind of a challenge since the barrel letter code was machined off to make it into a lighter #1 taper. You are correct with the 700 sn's starting with the four digit sn back in '62, but I know that I read something about the changes to the 700's starting in 1968 and probably with that 6200000 sn 11/68. That puts my 7mm RM 62485xx into mid '69.

Back in 2013 Campfire member butchlambert1 wrote: "700 receivers with ser# 1000-387347 started in 1962 until 11-68. 6200000-6899999 started in 11-68 until Aug of 1975. A6200000-A6899999 started Aug 1975 until about Jan 1980. B numbers were from 1-1980 to 11-87. C numbers started from 11-1987. This is as far as my John Lacy book covers."

Those early sn 700's shared a lot of the same features as the 721's it replaced with some cost saving modifications though I'm not sure how they differed from the later 700's.

There were a few things that I can think of: First the trigger - similar at first to the 721/722/725 - the safety locked the bolt. Of course the 725's safety was different than the others.
The early 700's bolt didn't have a groove cut in it, similar to the 721/722/725.
The extractor varied. Don't know this for sure but I think the first year or two of the 700's they may have shared the same extractor and the 721/722 (really unsure about that!) But the extractors changed over the years.
When Dupont bought Remington they had Remington change the coating on the stocks. And of course there were many changed to the stocks of the years. When they did this Remington compressed wood in a machine to form it, cutting down on time to finish the stock.
The first couple of years of the 700 they made "carbines" as an option, which stopped I believe when the 600's came out.
The later years of course they came out first with [bleep] synthetic stocks. The stocks improved after that. The later years there was more automated work on the actions - less hand labor.
The first few years they had bolts that would make up for chambers cut too deep. They called these max header bolts. I've only owned one of those. They had them for 600's too as the one I owned was for a 600.
The sights changed over the years.
The finish on the bluing changed from pretty good to [bleep] unless you bought a C grade 700.
Then for some unknown reason to me, Remington sold certain chamberings in one grade but not the others and this changed over the years.
The first couple of years the magnum chambered 700 had SS barrels with an iron coating that was blued.

There's more that others can add, I am sure. But those are the items I can think of off hand.

I should add the press checkered stocks - the entire stock was form pressed from a rough cut stock cut that came out of a duplicator.

I really could use some help! I had to build a little room under the stairs for walk-in access lol. The problem is real.

Nice!

I learned a lot from this thread and I appreciate the input. This kind of stuff ends up in a Google search long after we get done with a thread, so it pays to be accurate. Interesting about how those stocks were made and who could forget that Dupont RKW shiny finish? All it took for me to replace that stock with a green camouflage Brown Precision was putting a nice buck into launch mode when he caught the glint off that original wooden BDL stock.

Great informative provided here! A bit of clarification is in order though. From introduction in 1962 to early 1965, all non magnum standard chambered model 700 rifles were 20” barrels. They’ve come to be known as ‘carbines’, though they were never advertised as such. With the introduction of the model 600 carbines in 1964, all standard chamber model 700’s came with 22” barrels. These early ‘carbine’ model 700’s now have a bit of collector value today and command a premium.

This may have already been answered but I believe these were only made in 1966 & 1967. I have a couple in 7RM myself and they shoot extremely well.

Blued stainless steel magnum barrels were produced from 1962 thru 1970. The following year they were made from Chromoly Steel.