BSA Monarch & Remington 701

Throttle_monkey1

Throttle_monkey1

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Hey guys, my dad went to an estate sale and picked up a bunch of rifles for next to nothing. I ended buying a BSA monarch in 270 from him and my buddy bought a Remington 701 in 270 and a couple of other rifles.

Both of the rifles had stocks that were heavily beat up, but mechanically they are fine and the bores are pristine. So last night we decided to re-finish them. They both turned out way better than expected. Here are a couple of pics. It turns out the BSA stock is tiger maple. Anyways, do any of you guys have any info on these rifles? Will a remington 700 mag work in a 701? There's not too much info around about the 701 & the BSA seems to be a good rifle from what I've read. For what we paid for these we're laughing.

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I can do that tomorrow, my buddy has it at his place. It has a detachable magazine, and google doesn't give much info on the model 701. I'll definitely give you some more detailed pics tomorrow.

We're heading to the range tomorrow to see how these things shoot. From what I gather the 701 was made in the 50's and the BSA monarch was made in the 60's. The machining is superb and the bolts are smooth as butter. It seems they put a lot more pride into these old rifles versus my newer rifles.
 
That is an interesting stock on your BSA Monarch.
I have an almost identical stock on my BSA 458 also made in the '60s, but since there is no model name as such on my rifle I do not know what it was called..
 
Kevan- does your bolt have 5 stars on it? I guess the monarch has 5 stars on the bolt, and the majestic has 5 stars and the word majestic on the bolt. I'm still learning about them though. I was pretty happy when the tiger striping showed up after sanding and dark staining.
 
No, my bolt has nothing on it, no writing or stars.
And the barrel / receiver has nothing to indicate a model.
I also have a BSA 222 that is lacking in model identification..
 
I have a Monarch in 30-06, very nice IMHO. For some of you that have "unmarked" BSAs it just could be a Herters U9 / J9?? I'm not certain of the nomenclature
- its been a few years. I believe Herters sold complete guns, barreled actions, actions only, their stocks were a bit different. FWIW --- John
 
No doubt most here know that BSA made rifles based on the P14, Lee Enfield, Martini - have I missed any???
Kevan could you post a pic. of each, it would help a lot? --- John
 
John303 said:
No doubt most here know that BSA made rifles based on the P14, Lee Enfield, Martini - have I missed any???
Kevan could you post a pic. of each, it would help a lot? --- John
Click to expand...

I'd like to post pics but that is beyond my ability,
My two are neither P14 or LE or Martini, but they precede the Monarch series.
Wayne van Zwoll described them in one of his books on rifles, can't remember the title.
 
H4831 said:
This Remington you are calling a 701, are you sure it is not a 721?
Bruce
Click to expand...

I was thinking that also, but I have never seen one with a detach mag, unless its a 700 bottom metal.

Have also never heard of a 701, and the only thing i see online is ads with illiterate typos.
 
It's a weird one for me too. The remington is stamped 701 and has a detachable mag. Google doesn't say too much. I'll google remington 721 and see if it looks similar.
 
The early BSA were called "hunter" or "big game hunter" and there was the Royal serie, too. I'll post some stuff later.
 
No mention of a 7012 on Remington's 'Firearms History' page. There's the 710 and 715, but no 701. However, that doesn't mean much as there was one on iCollector that sold for $325US last year. Appears to be a 700 with iron sights.
The BSA is a modified Mauser action of high quality. Made between 1965 to 1971 in long and short actions. Worth about $1500ish Stateside.
 
Here are the first generation of BSA rifles.

First, the Varmint short action was introduced in 1954 as the "Hunter", then, in '56, they introduced their medium action and called the "Royal" line, then, in '57 they introduced the long action.
The "Royal" line was named as such; the short action was the "Regent", the medium action was the "Viscount" and the long action was the "Imperial", while the sole .458 Mag model action was called "Emperor". Unlike for the "Hunter" line, none of the "Royal" line were marked with the name of the action.

These actions have a bolt mounted safety and a Mauser type claw extractor and a visible cocking piece. There are at least two different generation of breeching systems with this line.

In 1960, they introduced a revamped version and called it "Majestic" and this action use a recessed "C" shaped extractor in a counterbored head, the cocking piece is now enclosed in the bolt shroud (no more visible) and they added a red dot in the stock to show "Safe" or "Shoot" modes.

Then, about '72, they introduced the CF-2

If some are really interested to know about these rifles, try getting a copy of "The Golden Century" by John Knibbs

Here are the "Hunter/Royal" versions

From 1957 Gun Digest
BSAGameRifles1957.jpg


From 1958 Gun Digest
BSARoyal1958.jpg
 
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