Remington 700BDL

If the barrel is the original, you can date the rifle using the barrel marks found at Remington Society.

Congrats on the rifle...I'm on the search for a nice 700 BDL VS in varmint caliber. They are getting scarce.

John,the last letter P if it's on the barrel near receiver that can mean a year build date of 1967 or 1995.
Two things.
What does the stock look like and second with the safety on can you open the bolt or does it stay locked down?

Edit to add...John,any chance you could post a clear picture of that barrel date code and of the stock.
The lettering sometimes on these barrels can be spread out.
In otherwords does the letter coding go like this 9 BS P or is it 9 B SP ?

The checkering is usually a tell-tale sign between early 70's and 90's guns. I'm not talking about the actually checkering, but the pattern. The pattern on the early guns seems to be round on the ends. The later guns have points like the tips of a triangle...If this makes sense.

John the fact that the bolt stays locked when the safety is on usually means a rifle built before 1982 as this is when Remington made this change to the rifles.
Your stock probably has the Fleur De Lis checkering on it if it is the original stock.
I do believe you are right that the rifle is a January 1969 build as the way you the barrel code is and the fact that the month code is..
B-L-A-C-K- P-O-W-D-E-R-X which stands for and starts the calender January through December.

JohnM,

Welcome, glad to have you onboard. You've got a dandy when you get the "Green Crud" removed, hope it doesn't take too long to rectify that! Try some carburetor cleaner on the inside of the barrel, spray and run the bronze brush thru it while wet, may take some work, but this is the best offer I can give. Don't forget to put some kind of lube inside when done!! Just another thought: might take the bolt insides out and clean, then apply some Mil-Tec {Or whatever your choice} on the spring and firing pin assembly, sure can't hurt. Let us knowhow things look later on....... I've got one identical, got mine in '82.

Yep,You got an old good one and better than what Remington is making today or has in the last twenty years.
Hang onto it.

I am as big on history as most folks, but with a gun like that my question would not be "when was it made?" but "how small is the group?" If it puts them into 1/2" at 100, who cares when it was made?

Jim

Those guns usually shot 1/2" 5 shot groups easily...The only trouble I see with one of that vintage and that caliber is that the barrel could be pretty worn.

Looking forward to hear how it does.

I'm jealous...

JohnM,

Well............. how'd it shoot? Were you able to get the bolt apart and cleaned? Good luck with your new long range toy!

Thanks John, seeing your location, and the wind holding off....... might be quite a challenge. LOL Nice looking piece.

That looks like a heavy barrel model.
Is that a Varmint Special with a 24 inch barrel??

That rifle is worth many hundreds of dollars.
I'm jealous.