A Model 700 European

I like the Remington 700.  That’s been true for every one of the several Model 700s I’ve owned over the years, starting with a left-hand 30 06 BDL I bought in the late 1970s in Fort Worth, Texas.  I’m right-handed, but the price on that 700 BDL was too good to let it get away.  That rifle would put five shots of just about anything inside an inch at 100 yards.  One of my good buddies had a teenaged southpaw son who was looking for a rifle and that BDL found a home with him (and the following month he used it to bag a deer, so it was a win-win for everyone except Bambi).

Three decades later I saw the subject of this blog, a Model 700 European in 30 06, new in the box and I had to have it.  It had nice figure, it was unfired, and it was the rare European model.  The Remington 700 BDL normally came with a high-gloss urethane finish, but in the early 1990s Remington offered the rifle in limited quantities with a satin oil finish.  The European 700 BDL model was available in six chamberings:  .243, .270, .280, 7mm-08, 7mm Rem. Mag., .30-06 and .308.  I’ve never seen another European in any caliber.  In 1994, the second and last year of production, the Model 700 European listed for $524.

I kept the rifle for about 10 years without firing it, taking it out of the safe to admire it occasionally.  There were a couple of things I didn’t like about the rifle.  Remington apparently put only one coat of tung oil on the stock, and the wood was fairly porous.  I knew that the stock would be a magnet for moisture in that condition.   And, the inletting around the floor plate was sloppy…it touched the metal on one side and had gaps on the other.  I needed a project, and the Remington European 700 BDL was it.  I glass bedded the action (and the trigger guard/floor plate area) and I went to work on the stock by adding 10 coats of TruOil.  Then I found a good load for this rifle using IMR 4166 propellant (that blog is here).

As I added each coat of TruOil, I keep flipping back and forth between leaving a gloss finish on the rifle or knocking it down with 0000 steel wool.  I liked the look of the gloss finish, but I liked the satin finish better.  I think this one turned out well.

It’s easy enough to put another coat of TruOil on if I want to return to a gloss finish, but for me, the satin look is much more elegant, and that’s what I went with.

I’m going to sell the European (through an FFL, of course).  I have other toys and the European BDL doesn’t fit the rest of my collection.  It’s a sweet shooter and it needs a good home. If you’re interested, drop me a line at info@exhaustnotes.us.