Just picked up a 700 BDL Custom Deluxe in 6mm Rem.
The barrel is 22" and looks heavier than sporter profile. It measures .665" from muzzle to about 8" back before it starts tapering up.
Would this be called medium sporter...light varmint??
Called Remington and they said it is approx. 1987 but no idea on the barrel contour. The gun looks brand new, the bore looked a little dirty, but when I cleaned it all that came out was a little dust. No tell-tale blue/green colors when running the ole #9 throught it.
Really hope this one shoots, gonna find out soon as Christmas is over.

ElKabong

Thats pretty much the same taper/profile as any of the sporter weight barrels Remington makes, yeah, medium sporter sounds good to me. Jay

I finally googled up something that shows all the factory Remington contours. This one is actually the Magnum contour, not quite varmint but still pretty heavy. It is definitely heavier than the usual sporter. Learn something new every day...lol.

I don't know if that would make it a special order or just a small factory run of something oddball. Being a cartridge geared towards varmints it would make sense to have the standard barrel a little heavier though I guess.

I just noticed all the blue is still on the crown. Really excited to try out my new/old gun now. Down to the basement to fire up the press and dig out some Sierra 85gr BTHP's right now!!

ElKabong

Threw together 7 or 8 rounds for my new (to me) rifle this morning. Hornady 95 gr SST, 36gr Varget. Bore sighted and shot a couple at 50, moved to 100 and fine tuned it for 3 more shots. Adjusted off the blue dot so I could see the last 3 for a group.

Center-to-center was .65" !!, not too shabby for a random load I pulled out of thin air based on some left over deer season bullets and Varget, which the heavier bullets never really liked in my .243.
I'm pumped to see what it will do with some load development.

I did notice that at 2.83" OAL they were very snug, a couple were REAL snug chambering. This was listed as minimum OAL with a 95 gr plated, I set them at minimum just to be sure they would chamber and still had problems, brass was scraping a little on 2 rounds. Very tight chamber maybe? I full length sized of course, maybe need to set the die down another 1/4 turn?

ElKabong

Elkabong, My 308 and 708 barrels measure .655" @ the muzzle, they're just the sporter version. So you definately got a magnum version there.

You should try RE22 with them 95SSTs, 48grs. is max, so somewhere in between should work better than Varget, I like Varget and H4895 for 75 Sierras and Hornadys, they shoot in the 1/2"-5/8" range for 5 shots through my VS.

87 Hornady HPs shoot pretty decent with 47.5grs. RE19 if you wanted to try that bullet, though they shoot better with Remington brass than with Win. Jay

I did notice that at 2.83" OAL they were very snug, a couple were REAL snug chambering. This was listed as minimum OAL with a 95 gr plated, I set them at minimum just to be sure they would chamber and still had problems, brass was scraping a little on 2 rounds. Very tight chamber maybe? I full length sized of course, maybe need to set the die down another 1/4 turn?

What you using for dies? Some dies like Lee make their dies with minimum headspace, so you might have some bolt drag such is the case with my Lee '06 dies. If you think the bullet is dragging, smoke it with a candle and chamber it, if it's dragin' you'll see the land marks, then seat the bullet a little deeper until the bullet is about .010" off the lands. Jay

Thanks for the loads, I will try the RE22.
Just shot some 95gr CT Ballistics with Varget & 4895...it wasn't good. The best group was 1", some close to 2".

I guess those two powders are a little fast for this weight bullet maybe.

I forgot that I had been partial-Full length sizing in my dad's 788 which is aparently a little tighter than this 700. It did shoot good that way though, may have to break down and get a neck die. Have went out to 2.86 so far on the OAL so the bullets were deifinitely not touching yet.


Thanks,
ElKabong

I've been partially neck sizing my Rem brass until when I do chamber them, they're a little snug, that tells me I need to full length resize them. Usually after 4 firings. My remington has a long throat, too. Still it shoots pretty decent. best group I ever shot was with this rifle, a .217" 5 shot group, that was with a H-S thumbhole stock, 9oz Jewell trigger, 6-24 Burris Sig., shooting off/with a bipod. Jay

I'd call you barrel medium sporter. Varmint barrels usualy start at around .7" in the 6mm rounds. My Savage in .243Win. with a 22" barrel has a muzzle diameter of .565" whereas my Remington VLS has a 26" barrel with a muzzle diameter of .837" and boy is that sucker heavy. It's both heavier and longer It's also much more accurate. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal