Jul 11, 2015 4 min read

I think I need to trade my varmint rifles for something more potent. Since Pennsylvania is converting to rain forest, the hunting scene halso has to change.

With local landowners unable to cut hay, the only groundhogs that can be seen have also to stand seven-feet tall. A groundhog is a tough little animal and a seven-footer would require at least a .300 Mag to put down.

However, while we who shoot these critters feel sorry for ourselves as we and our equipment get moldy, what of the poor farmer who depends on the weather for a good crop?

If things don’t improve soon, there are going to be a lot of hungry cows this winter or a big demand for hay. The owners of livestock will have little choice; either buy hay or sell livestock.

There are many reasons to own rifles. There is hunting and target shooting but more interesting is the person who does little but collect.

Among collectors there are those who specialize. Some look at nothing but pre-1964 Model 70 Winchesters.

These 70s collectors form what I call a cult.

Then there are those who like to acquire the old Winchester lever-actions and others who want falling blocks from the late 1800s.

While the name Winchester seems to dominate the desirable collectables, there are others. Rarity enters the picture when value is taken into account.

But this is not always a guideline. Take for instance the most popular sporting rifle ever made the pre-64 Winchester.

The value of this lever-action carbine is jumping at every gun show despite the manufacture of over 7 million.

Probably the most popular bolt-action sporting rifle is the Model 700 from Remington. Way back before the war in Europe, both Savage and Winchester sold more rifles than Remington.

Unknown to most, Remington was drawing up plans during the war to offer a new bolt-action rifle to the hunting fraternity. A top priority was cost so as not to compete with the Model 70 Winchester but instead to compete with rifles like the 94 lever-action 30-30.

While the rifle, I believe was announced in 1947, it really didn’t appear in stores until 1948 and was offered in five chamberings.

There were two action lengths and the longer one was offered in .306, .270 and .300 H&H Magnum. The shorter action was chambered for only two rounds, the .300 Savage and .257 Roberts.

Remember, this was back when the Winchester Model 70 was only built with a single-length action. The shorter rounds in this rifle utilized a blocked magazine and longer extractor, but the receivers were all the same length.

So the idea of two entirely different length receivers was kind of unique to the industry. The longer action was the 721 while the shorter one was called a 722.

Remington had misjudged the market and sales outpaced production. It was a couple of years before Remington caught up with demand. While it was a plain-Jane rifle, it was the bolt-action that was in the price range of the average gun buyer.

While introduced in five chamberings it wasn’t long – 1950 to be exact – when another round was offered. The .222 Remington was not based on any other round but was entirely a new design and could be called the perfect .22 centerfire.

Mild of recoil and super accurate, Mike Walker of Remington did the shooting public a favor when he designed the .222.

While the Remington bolt rifles were offered with 24-inch barrels, the .222 was the second offering with a longer 26-inch barrel. The .300 H&H also had the longer barrel.

Along the path of production, other cartridges were chambered and offered in various numbers. There was the .244 catalogued in 1955 and outsold by the Winchester offering the .243. I have seen Remington 721s, and 722s in other chambering such as the .222 magnum, .243 Win (very rare), .264 Mag, .308 and .280.

While the rifle was changed a bit and offered as the 700 in 1962, there was a dressed up .721 offered from 1958 to the change to the 700 and that was the Model 725, with a checkered stock hinged floor plate and three-position safety.

I once heard a respected gunsmith say the 725 was Remington’s best standard-production rifle. I agree.

If you have the bug to start collecting but can’t afford those Model 70s, why not try to put together a collection of post-war Remington bolt rifles?

George H. Block writes a Sunday outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.