722 .244 Rem resurrection project, Finished with PICS

Sgt_Mike

Sgt_Mike

Well-known member
I have lamented over this 722 on this site as well as others for over decade, and longer over the barrel originally chambered in .244 Rem (1-12" twist) dated Aug 1957.
Not a collector but a shooter I have worried to a great extent such as @William Suter describes in his post. Which I actually did a lead in within his post mentioning the barreled action.

Not a coyote hunter, rather prefer the gopher and PD for my fun. Not saying I wouldn't slay one or two + if they presented themselves. I do enjoy all whom post their knowledge and tales, really like the stories of the Yote adventures you fine Gents do. I've only mention this to say where the direction of this resurrection is going. Gophers and PD's , light weight and fast bullets.

I had the factory .244 Rem barrel scoped basically fire cracked / gator checked over half the way down the pipe. Not really uncommon for the .244 Rem it's not gentle on the bore by no means. There is a price for the speed of those 55grs bullets humping along at 4000 + fps. Erosion, and the defects I listed.

I've went over and over the caliber choices , 6mm BR, 6mm Dasher, etc, etc including wildcats. Then a 6mm CM barrel landed in my lap already threaded for the 721/722/700 family. Bartlein 5R with a 1-8" twist at 26" .920" at the muzzle (5lbs 14ozs just barrel). Although the twist is fast for my purpose, I would feel better with a 1-12" or even as fast as a 1-10".
I can't knock what $$ money I have in the barrel. And don't really want to be on the waiting list for a new properly twisted barrel, which would lead me to contacting a reamer maker and altering the freebore angle to set up for the lighter weight bullets. Again time waiting.

The other side of this coin is while I could have it chambered in the .244 Rem (6mm Rem) quality brass issue raises it's head. The CM does keep up with the original chambering with the lighter side of bullet velocity wise capable, also offers quality brass, and does do it at less powder. So yeah while not my nostalgic first choice, it does make the best choice going forward. I briefly held a PM with @hm1996 telling him basically the direction I was going on this.

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Now weighing in at 7lbs 13ozs barrel action (not torqued or head spaced yet just a layup, yes I take notes on the masking tape memory not as good) ..........

This drove me to the stock, the factory 722 stock just doesn't have the "meat" to open up the barrel channel and remain rigid, this would be the easy button. I do have a 700 ADL SA factory stock that would support opening the barrel channel. But as most on here knows the rear tang area and the bolt handle would need some attention. Couple that with the fitment issues of the magazine components.

I entertained the MDT Field stock, in my searching I ran across a stock on Gun broker it was a chassis from extreme hardcore gear out of Wy (never heard of them and they have discontinued those chassis stock citing material cost) . I won the bid then called the seller we discussed the stock, noting the 700/722 differences. It appears to be that milling the rear tang area will be none to minimal to accommodate the rear tang and safety. I did ask about weight he guessed it at 2Lbs or less (another plus, only down side right now is waiting for it to get in)

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inletting view...
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Edit to add this Picture which shows the height at the safety and bolt area better didn't catch that it wasn't visible in my first post.
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Side view of the stock. Not crazy about that M4 buttstock, I'll dig around in the parts bin, pretty sure I can come up with a better solution to have a adjustable riser cheekpiece. I do have the pistol grip that I'm think of on hand so that is one less hurdle.
It is AICS magazine compatible, while there maybe issues with feeding right off the bat, I'm sure a SLED will solve that until I can put some attention there.

Right now just a preview... once everything comes together I'll update photos and progress, and possibly Pandora's box will be opened on the quest. Will she make this end of May's trip back to Wy/Montana gopher killing IDK ? But I have rounded up some brass for her already.
Thank you for your reading this in advance.

Respectfully
Mike
 
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The inletting on the 700 to 722 isn't a big deal, I did a 722 300 Savage to 22-250.

That's going to be quite a looker when you get it done.
 
AWS said:
The inletting on the 700 to 722 isn't a big deal, I did a 722 300 Savage to 22-250.
Click to expand...
Your absolutely correct Sir, inletting for the trigger's safety in a wood stock at the rear tang is pretty easy peasy. The magazine however does pose some issues (not really bad). The 700 ADL stock honestly was in reserve in case I did not win the bid on the one I did. Plus, I don't know where the .308/.243 mag parts are to that stock which "should" work. Which would have turned it into a easy button. The part I did NOT mention was the recoil lug yeah,, it's the EGW .250" thickness (factory is about .181" thickness), so yeah the wood stock would need some work there too. Still overall not a hard job, just stacks up.

And could be done with the parts I have on hand using a thin spacer of Aluminum or a soft wood vs the weld (tig actually) job I seen on the 721.

The 721 LA that I picked up couple of months ago was done in 6mm ackley (they had used the exact same ADL 700 stock I have except Long action version). I seen how they handled the mag conversion it wasn't bad but it's not what I would have done.

From what I can see the chassis should be a drop - in (almost ?? maybe, The seller is a retiring Gunsmith he seemed to be of that opinion, without actually dropping a 722 action in)

@crapshoot , yes sir that .300 savage should be gentle on the bore, so is probably still a good shooter. Good cartridge.

(huh just got notification as I was typing this won another bid on more SRP 6mm CM brass ... good deal)

Now for me to shut up and quit posting until the job is done.
I need to text Tim my buddy Gunsmith tomorrow, and see if he want to torque the barrel in. Did a quick check with some fired brass, a little bit ago. We might not have to run a reamer, it looks like she will headspace or be very close.

Quick Update 3/15/2026 @3:45 CST
Barrel is torqued and headspaced , just as I suspected no reaming or milling the recoil lug was required she fell right in to acceptable specs.

3/17/2026:
now that the stock is enroute, I'm looking at the base rings and Optics. Attempting to debate the course of action.
I have several one piece and two piece Leupold/Redfield standard bases for the 700 series on hand and some corresponding rings. Which I do like the setup of those a lot.
However the weaver/picatinny one piece keeps popping up for a solution.
And then the optic buy new, or simply borrow one from another rifle, then later replace??

3/18/2026
I had decided to go with the STD mounts, when I went to torque the first screw for the base snap goes the head. Huh bad sign. Got the screw out of the action no issues.
Thinking this might be a omen (LOL) I went then went with a Leupold Back country 20 MOA rail. No issues, everything torqued in perfectly. The 20 MOA should help if I ever decide to stretch it's legs anyway.

3/19/2026:
Did some setting up for the bullet lengths measuring (using a bullet comparator) to find the jam length (many refer to this as lands) for this action barrel combination
Barnes #30205 68gr Match Burners - CBTO length 2.253"
Sierra #1530 85gr Game King - CBTO length 2.253"
Hornady #2442 87gr Varmint BTHP - CBTO length 2.251" (this isn't the V-max bullet, but I may try those maybe)
Hornady #24561 108gr ELD-M - CBTO 2.216" (just for giggles and to know seriously doubt shooting much of these).

I did pick up some Barnes #30207 58gr HP FB Varminator's could not find the jam length , so these maybe just collecting dust. Plus when I called Barnes after purchasing them I asked them what they tested them in RPM. The answer I got was 300,00 to 320,000 rpm before failure which means in the 8 twist I'm on the start side of data for them.

-----note these are making contact into the bore, so the listed measurement above will need to be 0.006" to 0.012" shorter for pressure testing first-------
All of my brass will be SRP, Lapula, Federal, Peterson. With Win #41 5.56 primers, keep primer flow down a bit.
Initial powders will "probably" be Win 6.5 StaBALL (performed very well in the 6.5 CM I have), Win StaBALL Match (very close to WIN 748 on the burn charts), maybe some Varget, finally last but not least IMR 8208 XBR (which performed well in the .244 Rem with light wt bullets) to try
 
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On the. 721 I just used the 721 bottom metal with a 700 BDL stock and filled the cut out for the 700 bottom metal(30-06 to 35 Whelen). The hardest part was hogging out the 700 stock for the 721 barrel lump.

Sorry no pictures of the 721, it is at the back of the safe.

Here's the 722 I did to 22-250 and upgraded to 22-250AI and dropped it in a LVSF stock. The extractor was rounded over so it was changed to a Sako extractor.
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Just a update with not much progress really to report. The (my) thought is to just keep this post on the first page so I can find it easily when a real update occurs.
Being a FUD (or is that FUDD) as some would say, preference to use USPS MO, cash, vs EBT methods of payments delays some items.
The auctions of brass and stock, the brass has made it here. For some reasons I had thought was a differing headstamp than the Federal I got. The seller didn't specify the headstamp I merely assumed.
The stock finally the MO made it to Wy, and the seller has shipped.. And for some unknown reason I seem to like watching the status of a package. As I write this it's in Denver CO . Which from past experience means it will display there for two days or so then "Boom" it's here. Anyway the projected date is this Friday (tomorrow) for delivery. But could easily be Monday.

So I've been kind of uniforming the brass that I got, in preparation. for the load development. Which some point today or tomorrow I'll set down and start the loads so they are ready. For when the action is married to the stock and torqued in, action screws will be a minor issue which will resolve itself in 30 min or less.
I know the thread size and pitch it's the length that is the unknown (sort of) along with if the stock will need relief around the safety.

Honestly it's basically saying TTT for this post. Even though I've been somewhat updating progress in my second post vs just a lot of post doing so.

Updated after Bill's post below:
While I'll admit I do watch the priority mail package tracking this one has been challenging to say the least. According to the tracking it's now doing the infamous "Denver loop". It was "supposed" to be here today but still showing in Denver, I know not uncommon and the only answer is wait.
 
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I've seen what some of the 722's are selling for. There's one on Accurate Shooter for $750ish right now. My gunsmith that recently passed away had one and it was at the estate sale we had at out club a few weeks ago. I had pretty much spent my $$ on the Cooper and some bullets and a scope so I was out. Another member was looking at it (722 in .244) and a Model 70 Winchester in 222. He paid $1000 for both rifles. He's a dealer so someone will get a couple of nice rifles. I think I was told he bought 7 in total. There were 70 rifles, shotguns and a few pistol and tons of reloading. They sold all the firearms but 3.
 
Well Gents the stock has finally made it in.
Yep some milling will be required.

Trigger safety area: just some touch up here, reduce the height and maybe ?? relieve some clearance. With safety on the action wants to seat to the stock.

Recoil lug cutout: yeah some work here as well either in the stock or the lug itself. Or both maybe areas (?) I'll let the Smith handle that and see which way they want to do that.

Barrel channel, here I did not think any work would be needed. I was wrong. : it appears it was setup for a .920" barrel at the stock's fore end. LOL, actually measured my barrel yeahhh 1.200" at that location.

I am glad I did wait on the stock to get in before getting the action screws (didn't come with the stock). If I had listened to google AI or measured the Remington 700 Chassis The front (?) action screw would be 1/4" short. Wound up that front and rear is the same length on that chassis.

Hopefully I can get this done soon.
Again Thanks to all for reading.
Mike
 
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Well finished for now..... until something else is needed...
Items swapped out:
installed a Ergo PSG-1 pistol grip (spare laying around) .
Pulled the USGI style M4 buttstock that shipped with the stock, and placed the Luth-AR MBA-3 on it ( I pulled it from the PD AR-15, just waiting on the replacement for the AR-15 in Black).

Took about 1/2 hour in the mill to address the areas, that I mentioned in the previous post. (at some point as the anodizing is off I need to spray some zinc chromate on the bare metal areas that was milled ).

Only thing left for this Wednesday / Thursday load testing .

I pulled the Leupold off the .308 Win, 6-18 x 40mm for now. For temporary use.
 
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Mi-ty fine, Mike. If it shoots as good as it looks, and I bet it will, ya got a keeper. Now ya better get with that load development so you can take it out west with ya. ;)
 
That’s an awesome build. I did the same thing with my rem 700 26” shilen 1-12 #4 contour. Kwik klip mag,bell Carlson stock. Mine shoots 58gr vmax at 3950fps groups .750. Had the barrel scribed .244 for nostalgic reasons.

I built it for a wolf hunt but that’s on back burner for awhile. It’s a gun of love but stupid hard to sell being I’ve been trying to sell mine for almost 2years.
 
I did take it out today...
Which I took two differing powders for the "pressure" testing using the Barnes 68gr Match burner bullet. Igniting with CCI 450 primers. My Intent was to find upper limits and try and capture some nodes. I experienced the following:

1. Limited by my range... I couldn't get a wide enough dispersion to see a ladder.
I did notice some possible nodes with the chronograph though via velocity plateau. So I am standing there looking at the bug hole in the target going "huh, not enough dispersion" The Gent to my right on a bench goes That's a problem ? holy cow.
I wind up explaining that each shot was a differing charge and what I was expecting to find the node.

2. Never did find find the upper end with either powder, which I was 0.4gr over what Hodgdon recommends, this is the point where I stopped at. With IMR 8208XBR I was 100 fps faster than Big "H" stated, with the Win StaBALL Match it was dead nuts in alignment with their velocity data.
IMR 8208XBR gave me three nodes, Win Staball Match only one.
Having used IMR 8208XBR quite a bit I actually expected what I seen. I the past that powder with 55gr in the .244 Remington is just a hammer, so yes I was expecting what I seen.

My seating depth was only 0.050" into the neck / 0.033" from jam for this part. I think I'll settle at the 39.7gr node while not the speed demon it gave a good indicator of stable performance with that bullet. This leads me to get more Barnes 68gr Match Burners, and a pound or two more of IMR 8208XBR powder?

Although I do wonder if 6.5 Staball might edge IMR 8208XBR out, or hang with it.
 
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