Well today I traded off the most disappointing rifle I ever owned (Ruger 77 22 Hornet) for an old 700 Rem. chambered for the 308 Win. the serial number is 196,XXX. Can anyone tell me about how old this rifle is. The safety is different from my other 700's in that the knob is flat rather than round. The butt plate is checkered aluminum with Remington stamped in it. The scope mounts are Refield windage adjustable but the rings have the screws comming in from the bottom rather than from the top. Do they still make rings like that? The bore seems pristine. I will get my smith to check it out Monday with a bore scope. The stock has quite a few dings in it. But mercy, at 50 years old so do I. Regradless this rifle can't frustrate me as bad as that Ruger did. After spending more time than I care to think about working on loads, not to mention accuracy work by a could smith, that rifle just wouldn't shoot as good as it looked. Any info about the rifle would be appreciated.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight.....RiverRat

Probably about '64-65. If you post the two letters on the barrel someone can figure out the year/month. It may also have a stripper clip notch at the rear of the top of the ejection port and you see two pieces instead of one on the trigger when the bolt is removed. Also, probably a short bolt shroud. The 721/722 predecessors were made until 1962. You did very good on the trade, IMO.

I just looked and you are right about the short bolt shroud. Another thing about this rifle. The bolt won't lift with the safety on. Every other 700 I own or have shot the bolt would lift with the safety on. The full serial number is 196866. I just looked and it don't have the stripper clip notch like the 722 does. I know one thing after spending an hour getting the scope mounted with the screws coming through the bottom part of the ring rather than the top. I know that wasn't one of Redfields better ideas! Thanks for the reply. I do appreciate it.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight....RiverRat

The safety has a longer tab that enters a small slot at the root of the bolt handle when on "safe". This feature is liked by hunters... the bolt on newer rifles w/o this feature can be raised a bit, unintentionally, by brushing the rifle against a branch or whatever. One time of pulling the trigger when the bolt is slightly raised and getting a loud "thunk" instead of "bang" will illustrate this problem. The negative feature is that one cannot unload the rifle with the rifle on "safe". Remington will alter the older rifles, at no cost, to "correct" this problem. You get to decide.

The very first model M700s. in standard cals. were made with a 20in. barrel. After a year or two they came out with a 22in. barrel. Pete

This rifle isn't going back to Remington for anything. With the hinged floor plate I can drop out all except the one in chamber. The work I have seen Remington turn out in the last year or so, they won't touch it. If the bore turns out to be as good as I think it is, and I can find a good load using a 150 gr. bullet, I will probably retire my old 788 chambered for the 308 and hunt with this rifle. It weighs 8lb 2 oz with the scope and sling. Which is a full 1 1/2 pound lighter than the old 788.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight.....RiverRat

Go here to date any Remington---
http://www.remingtonsociety.com/BLACKPOWDERX.htm

The bolt lock safety was discontinued in 1982. It takes less than 10 minutes to change it from lock to no lock.

The older a M-700 series action is the better it's made BUT the more dangerous the trigger is. Best to replace it with a solid trigger aftermarket unit.

Thanks guys for all the info. Point well taken about the trigger. When my smith gets back Monday afternoon I will call him and have him put a Rifle Basix trigger in it and keep the old one so I could put it back in. By the way I shot the gun this afternoon before it started raining. I took a piece of my sized brass for a 700 custom built 308 I shoot F Class matches with and it is head spaced tight. Put it in chamber of the old rifle and the bolt closed slightly tighter on it than in my F class gun. So I knew I didn't have an excess head space situation. I went to my loading bench and got some 125 gr. Nosler B.T. loads for my 788, got a 100 yd. zero on the scope and shot a five shot group to see what would happen. Guys this rifle will shot! The group went .653" for five shots. I AM HAPPY!!!!!. That five shot group may be a fluke but I bet it it will shot consistently around 1 MOA. That darn Ruger never shot a five shot group that tight in the 7 years I owned it. Gentlemen, thanks for all the information. I went to the link shown in the previous post and with that information the rifle was manufactured in January of 1965. Thanks again!

Happy EX 77/22 Hornet owner....RiverRat

Sounds like a good one. Very similiar to one I had in 22-250 last year. Rectangular safety knob,short bolt plug and aluminium buttplate,built May 1966.I sold it to a friend last year, asked him recently if he wanted to sell it back to me but he had already resold it.two weeks ago I bought another one in 222,built 1969 and you can sure tell the fit and finish was there back then,unlike today.One source says that all Rem 700 barrels before 1967 were button or cut rifled, not hammer forged.May have something to do with the accuracy.

The Remington 700s built from 1962 thru the late 1980s were the best Model 700s ever built, and I like the ones built but to 1982 the best of all. They are great rifles for the money, and excellent used specimens can be had for less than the price of a new, current production Model 700. In terms of quality, there is no comparison between the old and new 700s, which is a happy irony as far as I'm concerned.

Personally, I like the locking safety of the older 700s. I've had the non-locking version open up unexpectedly before in the field, and I think it's an abomination that should never have been born.

It might be a prudent move to have an expert gunsmith replace the 700 trigger altogether with an aftermarket Timney or Canjar unit. If I ever buy another Model 700, that'll be my strategy.

AD

Re: Redfield under-screw rings.

As you found out, these slick-looking rings with no screw heads visible are a *&%^$ to actually mount the scope in. That's why Redfield discontinued them. Once in place, however, they are clean and neat and work as well as any Redfield-type rings.

Your gun is typical of '60's era Remington 700's, generally accurate, action well built, and trigger potentially dangerous. The Remington "fix" of doing away with the bolt catch did nothing to improve the underlying problem with the trigger -- it just allowed the cartridge to be removed from the chamber before the accidental discharge resulting from disengaging the faulty safety/trigger. Replace the trigger, like Remington should have done, and leave the bolt catch in place.

Thanks gentlemen for all the information. I bought this rifle with the idea of tearing it down to build a rifle on. But after looking at, thinking about, and shooting, I am going to keep it as is. I believe this was a hunters rifle that got out of the family because it didn't mean anything to who ever it was given too. Those scratches and dings in stock, the pristine barrel, and the lack of rust on any of the metal makes me believe it was rifle that was used, but well cared for. This rifle will be passed on to my grandson with me wondering about the story it could tell.

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight....RiverRat