Remington Rifles

Half a Century With Model 700s

- John Barsness

This synthetic BDL .17 Fireball, another of John’s Model 700 varmint rifles, grouped Remington factory ammunition almost as well as handloads.

The .221 Fireball was probably the most accurate sporter weight 700 John has ever owned.

The Remington 700 appeared in 1962, in both short and long action lengths, essentially modified versions of the Model 722 and 721 bolt-actions introduced in 1948. The obvious differences were mostly cosmetic, especially fancier stocks than the uncheckered wood on the 722/721.

The 700’s stocks initially came in two variations, ADLs with a blind magazine and BDLs with a hinged floorplate, black forend tip and grip-cap with Whiteline spacers. Both were also “checkered,” with patterns essentially stamped into the wood, the ADL’s is a skip-line point pattern and the BDL’s is a fleur-de-lis. The BDL came with factory-installed sling swivel studs, and initially, a nice leather sling. Obviously, Remington designed the ADL as the “affordable” model, so it came without sling studs, the reason many older ADLs have studs installed in odd positions by garage gunsmiths.

Both stocks had sedate Monte Carlo combs better suited to scope use than 722/721 stocks, which had straight combs with considerable drop for using iron sights. Scopes became almost standard equipment during the 1950s, and 700 stocks acknowledged that fact.

The new rifles were an immediate success, partly due to costing the same or less than the pre-1964 Model 70 Winchester. The 1963 Gun Digest annual, the first where the 700 appeared, listed a retail price of $114.95 for the least expensive ADL and $139.95 for the BDL, while the lowest price for any Model 70 was $139.00.