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Fun Facts About America's Most Beloved Bolt-Action, the Remington 700

Even if you own a Remington Model 700, we bet you don't know these fun facts from the immensely popular rifle's 54-year life story.

Are you a firearm history buff? Here's a guided tour of the historic rifle that's been used to take every species of big game, predator, and varmint on the planet: the Remington Model 700.

Naturally, the first advertisement for the Model 700 ever was placed in the classic publication American Rifleman. Here's what the ad for the "new" Remington Model 700 looked like in 1962:

remington model 700

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Gotta love the spot where it reads "We think it will become one of the finest rifles of all time." In hindsight half a century later, it does look like Remington has been committed from the start.

Since then, it's been offered in every variation you could dream up, including 332 configurations of 56 chamberings. 25 of those chamberings are still sold today, which no doubt contributes to the rifle's tremendous popularity among hunters. Placed stock to barrel, all the Remington Model 700s ever sold would span the Atlantic! Model 700s are also standard issue for armed forces in 7 countries, including the U.S., Canada, and Australia.

remington-model-700-infographic

The Model 700 is equally beloved by the media: the Model 700 has been featured in over 70 feature films, from The Deer Hunter (1978) to Jarhead (2005), American Sniper (2014), and beyond.

It's had roles on the sets of iconic TV shows including The X-Files, Criminal Minds, NCIS, CSI: Miami, and Burn Notice, not to mention plenty of video game series such as Counter Strike, Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.

That's a Remington 700 MR-700 Conversion rifle in the Comedian's closet, from the 2009 film Watchmen.

That's a Remington 700 MR-700 Conversion rifle on the top left in the Comedian's closet (Watchmen, 2009).

On the more practical side, the Model 700 has some fantastic distinctive features across the board, including an impressively quick locktime: 3.0 milliseconds for the long action and 2.6 for the short action. It is also positively one of the best deals around: just ask your friendly YouTube firearms expert nutnfancy, who gave it flying colors for both affordability and performance in his review.

NEXT: CHECK OUT THIS NEAT INFOGRAPHIC ABOUT REMINGTON'S HISTORIC SNIPER RIFLES