I've heard the Remington 700 had better production years thatn others (similar to the famed pre-'64 Winchester) but have never heard when this was nor the serial number sequence to look for. Any help?

Many will say that this is true....in fact, many on this forum will swear that Remington quality took a nosedive in the 1980's. I can only describe my experiences. I have owned 4 Remington (rifles, that is) plus 1 Remington 870 shotgun. This has been over the last 12 years, or so. NONE of these has been any lesser in quality than any other. I have had 1 Model 7, 1 700-BDL... and 2 700-ADL (synthetics). I still have the 2 ADL's.... these, as it happens, are the BEST shooters of the lot. These 700 ADL synthetics also happen to be the CHEAPEST bolt-action big-game rifles in Remington's lineup. They are, incidently, the newest ones I have. The 870 shotgun that I have is about 6 years old.... (I bought it from a friend). If Remington quality has "taken a nosedive", as some would have it - I can only say that I have NOT seen it. ALL of my Remingtons have been unfailingly reliable... and very accurate as well.

Don't know what years are better than others. I owned a BDL made about 5 or 6 years ago and it was pretty awful compared to my other rifles. Fit and finish was poor and it failed to extract cases on a regular basis. That'll probably be my last 700, unless they change the design so that it fits what I want.

I've come to prefer rifles with the following features.

claw or Sako style extractor
fixed ejector (instead of the plunger type)
a safety that actually blocks the firing pin
one piece bolt (rather than a brazed on handle)

The Rem 700 has none of the above.

While i won't tell you how many remingtons i own to avoid being called a remington extremist i will say they IMO are the best rifles made.
Now after saying that i will say i can't bring myself to buy a remington 700 at this time. i have a personal problem with the ISS ( integrated security system) . i can't spend the kind of money they want for them and get a peice of plastic sticking out of the bolt shroud. the floor plates are cheap pot metal wit a sprayed on finish that peels off.

Older remingtons i will buy all day long. but as far as particular years or sn# sequences no i can't say what is better.

if you look at the prices of the original line of rem guns[700,1100,1187 and 870] with the nice walnut stocks,i believe you will find the same high quality that has always been there.when you get into the matte finished barrels and synthetic stocks at lower prices,you start seeing the obvious reasons why they cost less.i have owned rem guns for over 50 years and never ownrd one i did not like or trust to do the job.

I definitely think the late 60's thru 80's the barrel quality was better, by how much I don't know. All the ones and any subsequent ones I purchased were great shooters. Just little annoying things like safeties,triggers and some rough spots on the rails were problems I had with their entire lineup including custom shop rifles. I bought a 700 FS in 7 rem mag in 1988 and sent it to Shilen for "accurizing" about that time... they ran an air gauge on the barrel and told me it rivaled their own barrels.

There have not been many years since 1970 that I have not bought a new Remington rifle or shotgun. If there has been any lack in quality, I havn't seen it through last year. Alaways good shooters and have never had any kind of failure with any of them.

Ditto!