Funny you mention a 721. Thats the rifle in my display image. One of my hobby's is buying 721's in unloved shape and if the bore and action are in good shape, I clean them up and refinish the stock and restore them back to former glory. I have found the 270 win models with the 24 inch barrel to be really accurate. I inherited one from my father and was thinking about glass and pillar bedding it and passing it on to my son until I took it to the range and zeroed a new scope for it. No need to mess with it. The rifle was so accurate I decided not to mess with it. I have a 30-06 on the way and as soon as that is done I am going to look for a 300 H&H to add to the collection.
Hello Bruce Fletcher,
I always thought Remington should have kept their Model 30 (sporterized Pattern 17 Enfield) as well as their Models 721 / 722 in their production lineup but evidently the public wanted flashier looking rifles and the Model 700 was born.
Even when I was kid, I thought them too shiny for me, and the BDL hinged floor plate is one more moving part I do not need.
But, I am just a nostalgist and definitely in the minority of consumer taste in rifle styles evidently.
One of these days, I will run across the right deal on a Mod-722 in .222 Remington caliber and drag it home, because I have all the brass, bullets and dies for it (used to have a Model 660 in .222) and I like to plink around with that cartridge sometimes (Remington never saw fit to chamber it in the Hornet, unfortunately, probably too much hand work required to make feeding the little rimmed cartridge feed reliably).
Someday, I might even get the notion to book a prairie dog / jack rabbit trip to the Great Plains states and a scoped .222 would be fun for me, just for old time sake.
As for deer/elk size game, here or over seas, the Model 721 in .300 H&H will be hard to beat.
I have shot deer and caribou with it, plus jack rabbits, coyote, prairie dogs, California ground squirrels with the 721 I once had, plus a dozen African animals in Namibia with a Mauser I had built for me in .300 H&H.
I believe the 721 / 722 were both designed by a champion bench rest shooter, for Remington and there is the answer as to why they were rather stout barreled (sort of a "heavy sporter contour") and usually quite a bit more accurate than the Model 70 Winchesters in the same calibers.
Cheers,
Velo Dog.