A Classic Comes Home - My Old Remington M700

[Jeff Higgins]

Funny how things work out some times. Or maybe, in this case, it's kind of sad how this all worked out. Kind of a melancholy situation for me...

I sold my buddy and hunting partner my Remington M700 BDL in 7mm Remington Magnum somewhere around the mid 1990's. The rifle was manufactured sometime in the early '70's. I had purchased from a guy who worked in one of our fab shops sometime in the early 1980's. I was never really all that enamored with M700's, nor the 7mm Magnum chambering, so it was pretty easy for my buddy Bob to talk me out of it.

Well, Bob, my buddy, is the guy who had the stroke last year, his daughter took him home to Kentucky with her, and he made his "great escape" back to Washington. A mutual friend and hunting partner visited him last week, and Bob gave him the rifle to "return" to me. It's all too obvious he will never be able to shoot it again.

So, it's back with me. I still have no use for it. It is, however, the iconic M700, both model (BDL) and caliber (7mm mag). It's very well made, very well finished, as accurate of a rifle as I have ever owned. But it is absolutely 1960's "Weatherby" gaudy - plastic wood finish, high Monte Carlo comb and cheek piece, white line spacers, fleur de lis checkering, and all of that. And this one is a darned good representative example.

I guess I can appreciate it a little better now than when I sold it to Bob. It was, after all, what he carried quite often when we hunted together over the last two decades. There is that.

[crustychief]

Sorry to hear of your friend Bob, that is a nice looking rifle, i am sure there are multiple stories about both the owners.

[Superman]

Looks similar to my dad's .300 Remington Magnum, back in the day.

It has tears on the stock.

[Jeff Higgins]

Yes, it has "tears" on the stock. And many stories, shared across three decades of two lifelong friends hunting together - many of which might even be true.