Damascus,
Very well done & interesting post. I have a 700 & a 701(both 12 bores). Excellent guns for the money & very good guns on their own w/o price consideration.
A couple of comments: They don't all have plain wood. My 700 has a very nice looking example a of properly laid out 1/4 sawn English grip stock with fiddleback figure on both sides & the 701 has very nice wood also as would be expected. I do agree that many 700's do have solid but unattractive wood with the 702's & 701's having progressively better wood. Both of my guns were made for export so possibly the importer played a role in wood selection.
Also, re. ribs. In addition to the concave smooth game type rib & the Churchill style rib, a raised level file cut pigeon style rib was offered. My 26" barreled 700 has this style of rib & I have seen others.
