Remington 700

[redbone]

Just picked up a used, but excellent Model 700 in .30/06. S.N. is B6661XXX. Plain wood (i.e., no foreend cap or grip cap, no white line spacer at the hard rubber buttpad). Just they way I like 'em.

Can anyone help with determining the age? It seems to be pretty new.

Thanks.

RBH

 

[Mal H]

Remington has a 2 or 3 letter date code. See if you can find a combination of letters somewhere near the serial number on the barrel. The first letter is the month and is one of these letters B L A C K P O W D E R X (clever eh?) B is Jan, L is Feb, etc. The year is one of these:

M - N - P - R - S - T - U - W - X - Y - Z - A(1932) - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - J - K - L - MM - NN - PP - RR - SS - TT - UU - WW - XX - YY - ZZ(1953) - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - J - K - L - M - N - P - R - S - T - U - W

Where the first M is 1921 and the final W is 1972.

If your rifle doesn't fit in those dates, post here and I'll see if I can find my set of codes for later years.

[Added]
Found it in the Blue Book. The series above continues with X Y Z (1975) then 1976 is I, 1977 is O, 1978 is Q, 1979 is V
Then the series is regular with 1980 = A
B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z (2004)


As an aside, I wonder what significance the IOQV has for 1976 to 1979?

 

[redbone]

MAL H:

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. I just locked the safe, so I'll look for the date code tomorrow. I hope to get out and shoot it this weekend. No scope yet, I want to try the iron sights first, then put some glass on.

Thanks again.

Rick

 

[SteelyDan]

Mal, I'm probably stating the obvious, but the I,O,Q and V were skipped the first time or two through the alphabetic sequence. Which, of course raises the question you were probably asking: why were they skipped in the first place? No idea, but it's probably a black project conspiracy thing...

 

[redbone]

Okay. I found a "DL" and an "XE" near the serial #. DL = Sept 91, and XE = Dec 85. When I removed the trigger guard, the stock was branded "2/92" in the trigger guard recess. The barrel is stamped with the usual "read the instructions" caveat, so I'll rule out the much earlier options (i.e., 1930s and 1940s). I think it must be a late 1991 barrelled action with an early 1992 stock. A bit older than i imagined, based on the condition.

Mal H: Thanks for the help! I'll post a range report. A colleague at work just purchased an SKS, so it should be a fun weekend if I can get him out to the range.

SteelyDan: I can see some rationale for skipping "I" and "O", due to the similarity to "one" and "zero". "Q" and "V" escape me, though.

RBH

 

[Mal H]

"... the I,O,Q and V were skipped the first time or two ..."

That's probably it, but I wonder why they felt the need to do them all at once. They could just as well have started in 1976 with 'A' and gone on from there. To show how I was trying to make it complicated and cryptic, I was thinking, "Hmmm, 1976 so I is for 'Independence'". Couldn't come up with a similar word for 'O'. QV = Quo Vadis?
IOQV = Independant Of Queen Victoria? (Yes, I know it was G III.)