There is, for the fist time, Remington Classic rifle information consolidated in one place by a writer who researched Remington's records/factory codes, and several other sources (quoted in the article).
The information is in the 2008 Gun Digest, in the article " The Remington 700" by Steve Gash.
It's actually two separate articles, "Part I" being about history and production details, "Part II" about each caliber- and both cover the Model 700 Classic in detail, going back to the 1917 Enfield.
It seems there are the early M-700 Classics, and then there were the later M-700 Limited Edition (LE) Classics - and that distinction is what is missed by many, adding to the confusion about the model.
The "regular production" 700 Classic debuted in 1978 in 7 calibers: .22-250,.243, 6mm,.270,.280, 7mm Mag, & .30-06 - and was just another model, ala ADL/BDL/Mountain/etc.
Of these, only the .280 was later made in the Limited Edition Classic.
The LE Classic series was started in 1981, and ran for 25 years as a one-caliber-per-year model, but it turns out that some rifles were shipped both before and after the year of their production - again, adding confusion.
example: 1982 - Besides the .257R, that year's caliber, one 7x57was also shipped; in 1987, besides the .338 Win Mag, there were three .35 Whelan's (1988) shipped, plus 42 more in 1989.
Additionally, each year/caliber in the LE series was supposed to have a certain production total, but in fact the production totals varied widely, from 1,479 .308's (1985) to 10,779 .300 Weatherby's (1989) - with no two years being the same.
Here's the published LE Classic production table, simplified by me - as there lots more info in it:
Date code - Year - Caliber - Production Total
B - 1981 - 7x57, 2018 made
C - 1982 - 257R, 6561
D - 1983 - 300 H&H, 5846
E - 1984 - 250 Sav, 5742
F - 1985 - 350 Rem Mag, 5756
G - 1986 - 264 Win Mag, 3468
H - 1987 - 338 Win Mag, 4792
I - 1988 - 35 Whelan, 8805
J - 1989 - 300 Weatherby, 10,779
K - 1990 - 25-06, 6935
L - 1991 - 7mm Weatherby, 3092
M - 1992 - 220 Swift, 7594
N - 1993 - 222 Rem, 2021
O - 1994 - 6.5x55, 3858
P - 1995 - 300 Win Mag, 4232
Q - 1996 - 375 H&H, 3102
R - 1997 - 280, 1917
S - 1998 - 8mm Rem Mag, 2133
T - 1999 - 17 Rem, 3022
U - 2000 - 223, 3570
W - 2001 - 7mm-08, 2682
X - 2002 - 221 Fireball, 3567
Y - 2003 - 300 Sav, 4036
Z - 2004 - 8x57, 2248
A - 2005 - 308, 1479
Cumulative 25 year total: 105,981
Month Code: B-L-A-C-K-P-O-W-D-E-R-X, Jan = B, Feb = L, Mar = A, etc, etc.