I'm a gun sales guy for a shop in the Northwest, avid Remington 700 fan, as well as anything historical about the oldest running company in the US. I figured now is a good time to join the forum as I have a question that seems to have even the folks in Illion stumped.
I own a nearly mint condition, single shot, 40-XB in 30-06 with a heavy barrel. If I understand things, prior to '65, all 40-X rifles were based on the 722 action; after '65, they became the 40-XB and were then, built around the 700 action. I have serial number 187XX. Remington ran the number and came back with a build date of sometime in 1963.
What I don't understand is that the receiver is very definitely a 700 type with a bolt having a swept-back and checkered handle (which would indicate post-'65 production??). The stock has the short hand-stop rail and the barrel reads "30/06 SS" (huh! I may have just answered my question... could it be a stainless barrel??) I had been trying to find a production date using "SS" which would assume a 1947 build date - way prior to the 40-X series. Thing is, aside from the "SS" after the "30/06" stamp, I can't find any other letters to indicate a month/year code. The typical proof marks are there (REP and so on) so I know it has to be a factory barrel. If it is stainless, absent any other date coding, can anyone shed any light on when this thing left the factory? If Remington says 1963, why would it have a later action? Why no date code? Any estimate on a general value for 96 to 97% condition on this rifle? Also, when were the short and long hand-stop rails used? Are they specific to a particular vintage of the 40-X or were they both available at the same time?
I look forward to browsing here and learning.
Thank you.
New here and dumbfounded
Re: New here and dumbfounded
I'm no expert on the 40X rifles, but reading your post, some things jumped out at me.40-XBHeavy wrote:I'm a gun sales guy for a shop in the Northwest, avid Remington 700 fan, as well as anything historical about the oldest running company in the US. I figured now is a good time to join the forum as I have a question that seems to have even the folks in Illion stumped.
I own a nearly mint condition, single shot, 40-XB in 30-06 with a heavy barrel. If I understand things, prior to '65, all 40-X rifles were based on the 722 action; after '65, they became the 40-XB and were then, built around the 700 action. I have serial number 187XX. Remington ran the number and came back with a build date of sometime in 1963.
What I don't understand is that the receiver is very definitely a 700 type with a bolt having a swept-back and checkered handle (which would indicate post-'65 production??). The stock has the short hand-stop rail and the barrel reads "30/06 SS" (huh! I may have just answered my question... could it be a stainless barrel??) I had been trying to find a production date using "SS" which would assume a 1947 build date - way prior to the 40-X series. Thing is, aside from the "SS" after the "30/06" stamp, I can't find any other letters to indicate a month/year code. The typical proof marks are there (REP and so on) so I know it has to be a factory barrel. If it is stainless, absent any other date coding, can anyone shed any light on when this thing left the factory? If Remington says 1963, why would it have a later action? Why no date code? Any estimate on a general value for 96 to 97% condition on this rifle? Also, when were the short and long hand-stop rails used? Are they specific to a particular vintage of the 40-X or were they both available at the same time?
I look forward to browsing here and learning.
Thank you.
Maybe "SS" means "Single Shot".
The 722 was a short action. The 30-06 would need a long action.....which was the 721. However, once the 700s came out in 1962, they were just long action and short action.
If the barrel is "factory", I would think it would have some "Remington" information stamped on it other than the caliber.
What's stamped into the left-hand side of the action? Is it 40-XB?
Den
-
40-XBHeavy
Re: New here and dumbfounded
The receiver reads "40-X" right under the Remington logo. It is a short action receiver (well, in other words, it's ejection port is really no larger than my PSS in .308 and definitely not the size of my 25-06 BDL). I understood that all 40-X rifles were short action no matter what.
-
40-XBHeavy
Re: New here and dumbfounded
I think I recall reading quite a while back that 40-X rifles built after '65 and on the 700 action would have the letter "B" after the numbers in the serial number. Mine does not. Maybe that helps for anyone thinking this over.
Re: New here and dumbfounded
Its my understanding that the 40's were built in the custom shop. There, the receivers could sit for a while before being utilized. Not sure on the action lengths-have to refresh on that. Also read somewhere that custom shop rifles are NOT date-stamped. The stainless barrel is highly possible.
-
40-XBHeavy
Re: New here and dumbfounded
I spoke with Mr. Keith Dye, director of the custom shop at Remington and learned an awful lot about how things went back in the day in terms of record keeping, serial numbers and so on.
I came away from the conversation with an understanding of just how unique my 40-X really is given the stainless barrel and 2 ounce trigger.
Essentially, the custom shop never used date codes on firearms until very recently. Mr. Dye is also the fire marshall for the custom shop building. He said that all of the records going back into the 60's, 70's, and 80's are not in a computer database and that records for a specific serial number don't exist as they simply didn't keep records on what they built. Believe it or not.
In any case, the serial number on my rifle breaks down to a late, 1963 build according to Keith. This is interesting news because this is contrary to what is published in a couple of books and online. What I have read is that in 1965, the 40-X became the 40-XB and that the 700 type action on a 40-X began to appear in '65 thus, making it the XB. Mr. Dye (who has been in the custom shop for forty years) said that that can't be because the 700 appeared in 1962.
I came away from the conversation with an understanding of just how unique my 40-X really is given the stainless barrel and 2 ounce trigger.
Essentially, the custom shop never used date codes on firearms until very recently. Mr. Dye is also the fire marshall for the custom shop building. He said that all of the records going back into the 60's, 70's, and 80's are not in a computer database and that records for a specific serial number don't exist as they simply didn't keep records on what they built. Believe it or not.
In any case, the serial number on my rifle breaks down to a late, 1963 build according to Keith. This is interesting news because this is contrary to what is published in a couple of books and online. What I have read is that in 1965, the 40-X became the 40-XB and that the 700 type action on a 40-X began to appear in '65 thus, making it the XB. Mr. Dye (who has been in the custom shop for forty years) said that that can't be because the 700 appeared in 1962.