Re: 5 digit 700
If it is actually a carbine with the 20" barrel it is worth a bit more than the 22" rifles. Remington only made them the first 2yrs or so of the 700. LA was 270 and 06. The short actions carbines are pretty hard to come by in descent shape and fetch a hundred to $200 more. Especially in 222, 222mag and 6mm. I had a 4 digit 222 carbine in excellent condition but the ex shot it for coyotes so when she left I sold it out of principle. Wished now the principles weren't so importan. It was a nice rig and super accurate except original owner thought his DL# should be on barrel ahead of receiver, on stock behind grip on bottom and on the scope tube.LOL
The "semi clip slot" was actually a cut to use a screw on adapter for clip loading. It was on the 721/722 receivers and the first 4-5yrs of the 700's. I have seen some late 2XX,XXX receivers without it and some real early 3xx,xxx receivers with it. My guess is Remington had a bunch of receivers machined but not serial numbered when they decided to quit cutting the rear bridge out.
The M40 actions WERE all 6 digit. The later M40A1's were built on the serviceable M40 receivers and later in late 80's about 100 C prefix receivers were bought from Rem. Later yet some G and E prefix receivers were used in the 90's.
