RARE Remington 700?

[hittman]

If there’s any such thing as a rare Remington 700, I think I shot one today.

Date code puts it to late 1962. 20 inch barrel and chambered in .222 Remington Magnum. And a Weaver scope and rings the original owner put on it when new.

Today was a bunch of “firsts” for me as I’d never shot a Rem 700 or knew of that caliber. Seemed like quite a tack driver to me.

Anybody else know of the carbine length barrels on these or about this now obscure caliber?

Oh, and I think it’s what they call the ADL Deluxe model.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Nice! Love the .222 mag. I have a 1962 700 with factory 20" barrel in .243.

 

[Sagebrush Burns]

For what kit may (or may not) be worth, the 222 mag is the parent case for the 204 Ruger.

 

[hittman]

I remember the old gentleman saying that today about the 204.

Cool info and lots of history on this caliber too. Always good to learn new stuff.

 

[Rumrunner]

Funny thing happened when I ran a gun shop in the late 70's. The gal who did a lot of our ordering meant to order 10 boxes of 222, and ordered 222 magnum by mistake. Sad thing she did this twice. so we sat on 20 boxes for over a year. One day a guy come in looking to trade his 222 mag Remington. He was surprised at the deal I made him for that gun. Made a regular customer a hell of a deal on gun and 20 boxes of ammo.

Timing was bad for the 222 mag as the 223 became the more popular of the two.

 

[krw]

You see quite a few older nice Sako’s chambered in 222 Rem Mag that are very fairly priced.

 

[Mobuck]

I think it was sometime in the mid-80's I saw a 20" 700 in .222. Only specimen of this type I've seen. I tried to buy it with the intention of re-chambering to .223. When the seller heard this, he refused to sell it to me. Guess he knew more than I.

 

[daveg.inkc]

Wasn’t the Mini 14 chambered in .222?

 

[krw]

Wasn’t the Mini 14 chambered in .222?

Yes, but kinda rare in US. They were built for South American countries that dont allow civilians to have firearms chambered for military cartridges

 

[gramps]

Yep, the .222, and the .222 magnum were very popular in the 60’s and 70’s. As noted very accurate. My mentor in sheep farming kept one by his back door, and wasted a bunch of coyotes with it!
gramps

 

[jgt]

The 222 rem mag would shoot rings around the .223. If I ever got into .22 centerfire guns, it would be my choice .

 

[contender]

I had a buddy who at one time owned a Mini-14 in .222 Rem. After he sold the gun, he later on found the box. I have the box.
Rare version in the USA for sure.

There are actually (2) different calibers of the .222.
The .222 Remington, and the .222 Remington Magnum. basically, the case body length. 0.150 difference. The .222 Rem has a OAL of 1.700 & the .222 Rem Mag has a OAL of 1.850.
For reference; The .223 Rem is almost identical,, and falls in between them, at a OAL of 1.760. The other dimensions are all identical, except the .223 Rem has a 0.001 difference at the case web.

 

[Snake45]

The 222 rem mag would shoot rings around the .223. If I ever got into .22 centerfire guns, it would be my choice .

I seem to recall from the charts back in the day that the .222 Mag and the .223 were ballistic twins.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

The 222 magnum is a superior cartridge design to the .223, in my opinion. It was initially designed for the newly developing service rifle, but they eventually settled on the ..223 design case as better for automatic rifles. The .222 mag has a longer neck, about 5% more powder capacity, and can achieve 100 to 150 FPS higher velocity. Only drawback, if it is one, would be that rifles originally chambered for .222 mag would have a 1:12 twist and probably won’t stabilize bullets over 60 grains, better with 55 grain or less. I wouldn’t consider that a big drawback, though I do like my .22 cal. center fires to shoot 60 grain Nosler partitions fairly well in case I want to shoot a deer with one. I had a .222 mag for a while, but it had been rechambered from .222. It was an early 700 as well. A friend bought it at a gunshow thinking it was a .222 (it hadn’t been re-marked). When he tried to shoot it with .222 ammo, it wouldn’t fire. First thought was it had been rechambered to .223, but that didn’t work either. Finally figured out it was a .222 mag. It shot pretty good but he really wanted a .222, so he sold it to me with brass, dies and all at a good price. I should have kept it, but keeping .222 mag and .223 from getting mixed up was a pain, so I eventually let it go. A .222 mag with a 1:9 or even 1:10 twist would be killer.

 

[golferboy426]

In the safe is a mini nib in 222 with the best wood I have ever seen on a mini.. waiting for prices to skyrocket before I sell it LOL

 

[hittman]

One of my “gun regrets” is NOT buying a Mini 14 in 222 when I spied it used in a local shop. This had to be 15 or more years ago. Looking back, I sure wish I would have cut loose with the (I think) $400 asking price.

 

[xtratoy]

I received a letter from Remington in the early 90's in regards to a model 700 30-06 with the 20" barrel. They said these were made if I recall correctly in the first two years of the model 700 production. They also said that less than ? 3% ? of these rifles including all calibers were made with the short 20" "carbine" barrel. I wish I could find that letter. I do remember that the " carbine " versions would be priced at double the price of a standard 700 in local gun shows in the 80's.

 

[golferboy426]

One of my “gun regrets” is NOT buying a Mini 14 in 222 when I spied it used in a local shop. This had to be 15 or more years ago. Looking back, I sure wish I would have cut loose with the (I think) $400 asking price.

5X that price could get you one LOL

 

[GLASSMAN]

I have a M77 in .222 Rem with a heavy target barrel that I bought used.
Never got around to shooting that rifle.

 

[JackpineWillie]

My brother bought a Ruger 222 new from a small gun store because he had never seen another. When he had time he called Ruger and was told that it didn't exist. When he told them where he bought it, the recognized the name of the shop, checked the books one more time and told my brother what others have said. It was part of an order that went to a country that doesn't allow civilians to own any thing in military calibers.

 

[Rick Courtright]

For what kit may (or may not) be worth, the 222 mag is the parent case for the 204 Ruger.

Hi,

Didn't the .222 Rem (pre-mag) serve as the original parent of the .223?

This article even talks about making .222 cases out of full length sized and trimmed .223s...

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/7/27/the-222-remington-story/

Rick C

 

[buckeyeshooter]

If there’s any such thing as a rare Remington 700, I think I shot one today.

Date code puts it to late 1962. 20 inch barrel and chambered in .222 Remington Magnum. And a Weaver scope and rings the original owner put on it when new.

Today was a bunch of “firsts” for me as I’d never shot a Rem 700 or knew of that caliber. Seemed like quite a tack driver to me.

Anybody else know of the carbine length barrels on these or about this now obscure caliber?

Oh, and I think it’s what they call the ADL Deluxe model.

I bought a 700 Classic in 375 H+H in 1981 that factory lettered as 1 of 237 on a special run. It was quite light at under 7 pounds. I sold it in my Remington purge.

 

[hittman]

Thanks for all the replies, info and comments folks.

God really smiled on me today. Just for kicks one day last week I asked at a local store I frequent if they have any of this ammo.

Today I was there again and the owner found TWO 20 round green and yellow boxes he had stashed away. He said years ago he had one of these and finally took the ammo home ‘cause there was no call for it. I was able to buy them both at non-panic / non-pandemic prices.

 

[contender]

To further the fun discussion.
I have owned a couple of Remington rifles in .222 Rem. My first, was a model 788. It was a shooter. I wasn't the first or even the 2nd owner. But,, it had been owned by the former Chief of Police in my town. When he found out that I owned it,, he told me a few stories of the gun. First, it was extremely inaccurate. But a deputy of his, found that the stock was pressing on the barrel. He literately took a pocket knife & whittled away wood, to free float the barrel. It quickly became a tack driver. In fact, once that was done, he shot at the letter "o" on a "No Parking" sign from about 200 yds away. The deputy checked his impact, and told him to shoot a second round. They met at the office & the Deputy handed him a penny, that he'd taped over the first hole. The penny has a hole in it. he kept the penny even after he'd sold the rifle. he gave me the penny & I still have it.
He also told me that; "That gun is so accurate, I'd bet my house on one shot with it."
I took that one, and cleaned up the barrel channel, & glass bedded the action.
After I did that, it looked better & was a seriously accurate rifle. Sadly, I let a friend talk me out of it in a trade for a Ruger.
BUT,, I let it go because I'd found a Remington 700, BDL, in .222 Rem. I was in a gunshop, saw the gun stuck in a corner, with a big orange evidence sticker on the stock. I inquired about the gun & was told; "Yeah, it's for sale, but it's in that damn .222 caliber. You want it for $150 you can have it." It still resides with me.
I made my longest hit on a critter with that gun. A prairie dog, at a ranged 646 yds. It too is a shooter.
The .222 Rem is an under appreciated caliber by many. But to those who chase serious accuracy,,, understand it's abilities.

 

[hittman]

I only fired 16 rounds through this gun but can see how it’d be easy to sit back and relax and blow through a bunch more!

Been fun listening to stories here and researching the caliber.