Remington Varmint Special 700 .222 Remington

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horsemen61

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Hello all while I was waiting on a transfer on Saturday They happened to have several guns on consignment one of which was the extremely heavy barreled Rem 700 and I’ve never seen anything like it from Remington an older gent said “ahh a Varmint Special I haven’t seen one in years” it was very neat to me very nostalgic like something from the 50’s or 60’s it was chambered in .222 Remington and now I want one what can you tell me about this rifle please? Oh the asking price was like $2500 I passed on this one but I can’t stop thinking about that gorgeous finish and that heavy heavy barrel
 
I bought a mint 700 BDL Varmint Special in .22-250 a couple of years ago for less than 1/3 that price.

I believe Remington made the Varmint Special from the 60s to the 90s. I also believe all the short action calibers made at the time were available in the VS.
 
They are nice accurate rifles. I actually had one in 7-08 that shot bugholes all day. Unless that one has some high dollar piece of glass,blue printed action or some other special treatment that price is out of the ball park by a lot...
 
I had one back in the late 80's, early 90's in 308 with a Shepherd 3x10 on it. It was a great shooter and bugholes at 100 yards prone from a bipod were the norm with factory Federal match or my equivalent reloads.

Only thing I didn't like about them was the stock finish. Remington used a polyurethane-type finish that was ugly as hell, and didn't hold up well to handling. The only positive to it was, it did seal the wood stock well.

Didnt pay anything close to that though. I think the rifle cost me around $400-$450.
 
I have one that I bought in 1979 when a bunch of us started groundhog hunting in Ohio. The Varmint Special back then was a BDL high gloss stock on an action with heavy barrel. When I bought mine choice of cartridges was .222 Rem, .223 Rem, .22-250 Rem, .243 Win, 6mm Rem, 7-08 Rem, .308 Win and in long action chambered in .25-06 rem. I sprung for the .25-06 and never regretted it.

I can still remember that rifle cost me $238 in 1979 and $180 for a Leupold M8 fixed power scope in 24x. Here's a picture of it from 2004 along side a 700 Classic in .300 H&H mag. that I purchased for a future hunt.

aelcouC.jpg
 
I have a friend that just sold one a few years ago. His was a sporter weight barrel. It was pristine. Sold for $650 or $700 IIRC.

My first real rifle was a 700 BDL Varmint Special heavy barrel in .22-250 with a cheapie 10x scope. Bought it in 1967.

Be advised that those guns were typically shot off a bench, and it could look perfect and still have had a lot of rounds through it. I’d guess it’s worth at the very most maybe 1/3rd to 40% of what he is asking, and only if it’s a really low round count.

Personally, for that money I’d be looking at a Sako. For 1/3rd of that cost, I’d be looking at a CZ. They don’t have the look of that old rifle, but you’d be getting something new. The .222 was a great round, but I’m not sure there’s enough practical difference from a .223 to justify the extra cost and hassle of getting .222 ammo
 
redneck2 said:
I have a friend that just sold one a few years ago. His was a sporter weight barrel. It was pristine. Sold for $650 or $700 IIRC.

My first real rifle was a 700 BDL Varmint Special heavy barrel in .22-250 with a cheapie 10x scope. Bought it in 1967.

Be advised that those guns were typically shot off a bench, and it could look perfect and still have had a lot of rounds through it. I’d guess it’s worth at the very most maybe 1/3rd to 40% of what he is asking, and only if it’s a really low round count.

Personally, for that money I’d be looking at a Sako. For 1/3rd of that cost, I’d be looking at a CZ. They don’t have the look of that old rifle, but you’d be getting something new. The .222 was a great round, but I’m not sure there’s enough practical difference from a .223 to justify the extra cost and hassle of getting .222 ammo
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I handload so no worries on ammo as long as I can get components! I do handload for my savage .223 model 12 vlp it’s very accurate I just want a Varmint special for all the panache and character I love the aesthetic of it
 
Earlier VS rifles were drilled and tapped for barrel mounted scopes. A Unertl or Redfield 3200 on top of one makes for a classy looking rig.
 
ColtPythonElite said:
Earlier VS rifles were drilled and tapped for barrel mounted scopes. A Unertl or Redfield 3200 on top of one makes for a classy looking rig.
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The VS I purchased in 1979 came with the scope blocks. I remember looking at Unertl and Redfield scopes but friends talked me into the Leupold M8. I still have the M8 (42 years old) but the VS now wears a Weaver T24. Also replaced the original barrel in 2005 with a Krieger.
 
Mine is a later gun that's not drilled and tapped. I wish it was. I have both a Unertl and 3200....I'd like to find a nice M8 like yours for my VS.
 
Remington's 700 BDL Varmint Specials are my favorites of all the 700's. Especially the first VS series with target style scope blocks on barrel and receiver because I like shooting with the wonderful old style varmint scopes like the Unertl Ultra-Varmint on rifle at top. The stock on this first Varmint Special has impressed checkering but later era VS's had different patterns of cut checkering. Rifle at bottom rifle has the later checkerboard pattern. Probably the rarest of the Var Specials are in 7mm/08. BDL-1.jpg BDL-3.JPG
 
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Offfhand said:
Probably the rarest of the Var Specials are in 7mm/08.
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I don't buy that, you never see .25-06 in a VS from that era and they were only available for a few years. To my knowledge the only VS long action back then was the .25-06. The .25-06, 7-08 and .308 were made for silhouette shooting back in the day. The 6mm could not reliably knock over the targets.

Those are some sharp looking rifles. The top checkering is referred to as fleur de lis and looks sharp. The bottom skip line checkering which is what my rifle came with.
 
1979 R700 BDL VS in .243 Winchester.

T'was my first deer rifle. Paid close to 8 or 900 dollars back around 2002 for it and the Leupold scope. It has a bedded receiver and free-floated barrel. I dont care for the high gloss finish but it sure does make moisture just roll off it. It will put 3 holes in a nickel sized group at 100 yards, and im admittedly not all that good of a shot.

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