I just bought a really nice Remington 760 Gamemaster BDL in 30-06 and I'm totally confused about the date of manufacture! I read the info about the numbers and letters on the left side of the rifles barrel and thought I had the date determined to be August of 1972 but then read that they changed the buttplate from metal to plastic in 1968! My rifles buttplate is metal! The serial number is A7233xxx and the left side of the barrel has a: WI 49 on it! Anyone that can figure this out, please give me some help! Thanks! Ken
Remington 760 History and DOM
- Thread starter KBP
- Start date
It sure looks like it has never been changed. The buttplate is solid checkered aluminum. Screws have no evidence of being messed with. According to the barrel marks it was made in 1976? Maybe some of the BDLs continued to have metal buttplates put on after 1968? Regardless, It was made somewhere in the late 60s to mid 70s. This is close enough for me! The rifle is tight, the wood is just about without any blemishes, and the metal has 95% or better blueing! I can't wait for it to stop snowing/rainning/sleeting so I can shoot it! Ken 
Thanks for the replies. I am going to continue to check into this question I have about the metal buttplate because articles I read say that Remington stopped putting metal buttplates on their 760s in 1968. Mine looks original. Since its snowing and nasty outside, this is a good time to check this out. Anyone else that can explain this metal buttplate on a 1976? rifle, please let me know! Thanks! Ken
It's like this: there are 2 Phillips head screws in the buttplate (one top, one bottom. Unless you lay it on its side, in which case you have a left and a right), and 1970s plastic buttplates were very brittle. In case of breakage, you insert a #0 Phillips screwdriver into the top (or right) screw slot, turn counterclockwise, repeat on the bottom (or left) screw. Remove and replace the fragments with an aluminum buttplate (off of a Rem 760 that someone wanted a recoil pad on) out of the gunsmith's spare parts bin under the counter by inserting the screws and turning clockwise with the aforementioned #0 Phillips screwdriver. Voila! 1968 becomes 1976.
Sarcasm, one of my passions.