An old Remington Model 721

by Sarge , Central Misery, Monday, July 20, 2020, 10:27 (1588 days ago)

I picked up a first year of production (1948) Remington Model 721 in 30-06. It has the typical plain walnut stock with a Pachmayr Decelerator already installed. The metal is very good with the finish wear you'd expect on a hunting rifle this old.

It came with a nice Redfield steel mount and 'cam lock' rings and an old Bushnell Wideview 4 or 6 power scope. My Leupold Rifleman 3-9 will replace it.

The old gun has a 24" barrel with a nice bore. The rear sight was missing but I had a Marble's 68W fold down rear sight w/windage adjustment and a 1/16” gold bead to match. I easily achieved 100 yard zero. With that out of the way, mounted my Leupold 3-9x40 Rifleman; but the existing Leupold 700LA mount & rings wouldn’t allow the ocular far enough back for quick acquisition.

I already had a set of aluminum Leupold Rifleman rings and I wanted an aluminum rail with cross slots, to keep the weight down. I found a Leopold Back-Country rail locally. So my problems should be over, right?

Not quite. These old 721’s have a low comb stock, which to me means low rings. With those rings in place my objective bell kissed the front lug of the rail. So I hacksawed it off, squared it up with a file and gave it a dose of Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black. Didn’t turn out half bad and provided plenty of room for the objective bell.

All went well and zeroing was accomplished with seven rounds of Winchester 150 grain Power Point. This is easily one of the best shooting 30-06 rifles I’ve ever owned. Three shots at 196 yards (that’s where the shade was) including an adjustment, 1 ¾”.

I’ll be watching the back pasture for a coyote the next couple of mornings.