Good move or dumb move?

[Michael M]

Yesterday I was at Dick's to take advantage of their ammo sale they had on black friday. I ended up walking out with the ammo and a new Rem 700 ADL Varmit, composite/camo in a 308. Came with a 4x12 scope that I know is not the greatest but how could zI go wrong at $419.00. I usually buy all my guns at Ace and I think I only ever bought 4 at dick's. Can someone give me any info on this rifle and why it was so cheap?

[Michael M]

I added a bipod, sling and ammo holder that I had. Here is a pic
[IMG][/IMG]

[Tomcat088]

First off, when you can buy a Remington 700 brand new for $420, you're not doing bad. I assure you that you could take the scope off and sell the rifle for $450 if you're patient. Either way, the specs that you're telling me on the rifle have me a bit confused.

ADL was a designation that Remington used quite a while back for their rifles that did not have a "drop plate" (bottom metal). This means that you could not remove the cartridges from the internal magazine unless you cycled them into the action and then ejected them. It's interesting because Remington discontinued ADL's from their line up many years ago. But recently (within the past 5 months or so), I've heard TWICE that someone bought a brand new ADL rifle. This doesn't mean that you're wrong, it just means I haven't seen one, or anything from Remington saying that they are offering them again. The ADL was around back in the day when synthetic stocks weren't around, and there were a few other small differences in the ADL and the BDL. The ADL's didn't have quite as fancy wood and checkering as the BDL's, and the BDL's had a jeweled bolt, and the ADL's did not. The BDL stocks also had a black foreend cap, and a cap on the grip; the ADL's were just plain wood. The BDL's were also high gloss finish, and the ADL's were not as high gloss. Nowadays when most checkering isn't all that great on Remington 700's, and they don't jewel most of the bolts anyway, ADL and BDL would be more of a designation about bottom metal.

So this brings me to an important question. will you take a picture of the bottom part of the stock of the rifle and trigger guard area? If you're familiar with a Remington 700, just letting me know if it has a drop plate or not will also suffice. Either way, the rifle is definitely of the varmint style, I can tell from the barrel contour. The rifle looks just like an SPS Varmint only it has a camo stock, and you say it doesn't have bottom metal. It's hard to tell perfectly from the angle, but it appears like what you're saying is true, I don't see any bottom metal showing, and I don't see the drop plate release in the trigger guard. If that is in fact true, then you got a ADL Varmint; which I've never seen or heard of before.

It could be cheap because it's an ADL, that used to be Remington's cheapest rifle because it didn't have as many "features". This means Remington may be trying to expand their market on the "cheaper" side, but still offer a GOOD rifle and get away from the Remington 770. I think this would be a GREAT thing. Aside from the fact that it doesn't have bottom metal, the rifle is IDENTICAL to every other Remington 700 action. Eventually if you ever wanted to change out the stock, all you'd have to do was get a stock that was inletted for BDL and get you some bottom metal or a DM (drop magazine), and you'd have one with all the features of their other rifles. This is a nice find, and it has me curious about what's going on in Remington.

[Tomcat088]

Hmm, I did a little searching, and I'm wondering if this is maybe a special run for Dick's or maybe a few other big retailers. Someone else reported basically the same rifle with the same designation at Dick's, but this was in August. http://www.survivalistboards.com/sho...d.php?p=887387 . There is some misinformation given about the SPS, just as a warning. Every SPS rifle that I've ever seen has been BDL, until this new find that we're talking about here. If anyone else has a SPS rifle that does NOT have bottom metal, I'd like to hear about it or see photos of it as well.

[Michael M]

Thanks for the info, and you are correct. It does not have the drop plate which I knew that the older adl's didnt have them either. Just the BDL

[Michael M]

B.T.W. I do have an older 700 BDL in 30-06, bought it in 1980

[tdyoung58]

Dick's here (Hbg, PA) had some really good prices on Remmies this past month, hell, their new gun prices are cheaper than Gander's (across the street) everyday even when not on sale.

I was going to get one but wanted the 20" barrel instead of the 26" ones they had

[Tomcat088]

Thanks for the info, and you are correct. It does not have the drop plate which I knew that the older adl's didnt have them either. Just the BDL

You're welcome for the info, sounds like you got a great deal. It sounds like you have a real ADL, which haven't to know knowledge existed for a while. It makes me excited for lots of people and some friends, because it sounds like Remington is considering bringing back the ADL. If it was a fair bit less than the BDL (probably wouldn't be ) it would be a great starter rifle or bargain period. Thanks for sharing what you found, it's something new. For some people that were wanting to get into the Remington 700's but couldn't afford some of the other models, this is probably about at cheap NEW Remington 700 that they're gonna find.

[39flathead]

Just like Grices in Clearfield had some butt ugly maple stocked 1 of 50 M700's and 7600s made for them, Dicks has done the same with the gun you bought.

You got a fine deal, the cheapest standard 700 is the SPS synthetic/black matte finish and it comes in at around $470 dealer IIRC.

Good move.

[Michael M]

Just an update on an old post. I only have about 30 rounds through this .308 and I'm very pleased with it. But what I'm just as happy about is that I was at Dick's today and the exact rifle is now $569.00. Well I guess I'm not happy with the new price just happy that I got mine when I did for $419.00.