New-to-me 700 in .243... Help Me Date Please.

So I was going to blue print and re-chamber sight unseen. When I saw it in person, I couldn't get the cash out of my pocket fast enough. Original plan put on hold.....

I need help determine just what I have, please.

The front and rear sights are not present. There are tiny screws where the sights would be mounted. However the petal on this rifle is perfect. There are no marks to suggest there were ever sights mounted. It seems unlikely the factory would ship a rifle with no sights yet tap the barrel for sights. Am I correct in this assumption?

There is no lawyer mandated safety markings on the barrel, which makes me believe it is at least 20-30 yrs old. Am I correct in this?

See the left side barrel markings. It that 'WW' or 'W W'? what is the '64' to the rear of the WW? What is the marking in front of the WW? I'm guessing its Aug 1972, not sure about the rest.

See the Right side barrel markings I recognize the magna flux and proof stamps, but what are two marks forward of those?

http://s79.photobucket.com/user/Lobo_50 ... 4.jpg.html
Right Side
http://s79.photobucket.com/user/Lobo_50 ... 3.jpg.html
Left Side


Possible value?

Thank you for any replies!

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The "64" looks to be the "assembler" code for that rifle. Remington barrel date-codes are available at lots of places. http://www.leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20A ... _code.html. Any vintage 700 is a keeper in my book.

Most don't seem to have a terribly high collector value. Unless it was a varmint special then it's probably not worth a whole lot more than any other rifle. I had a 1964 adl in 243 that showed no metal wear where the sites had been removed either. However my 2012 bdl shows wear on one side under a sight because they forgot how to drill holes properly at remington. The rear sight wasn't straight and I gave up on having the factory fix it. I'd jeep it and shoot it until the barrel wears out and then get a new one. The older actions had better machining and the factory trigger was a little better to tune than the newer x mark triggers.