Remington 740 742

[Lethemgo]

My buddy has a couple 30-06 rifles hes thinking about selling. I've been thinking about a 30-06 so trying to get some help. A 740 and a 742....reading it seems there is a love hate relationship with the 742 but doesn't seem to be with the 740. I basically only shoot at the range so thats where one would be used. Any help?

[Vopie]

If your looking for a range rifle stay away from them, they were not designed to stand up to a lot of shooting. The designers knew that the average deer hunter would never shoot 8 or 10 boxes of ammo in a life time. After a time the camming of the bolt fore and aft will in time "eat" the bolt ways and you will have a single shot... there is no fix other than replacing the receiver, that's why the 742 was replaced with the 7400.

[Bazoo]

I asked about the 740 742 and 7400 with the local gunsmith once before. I had a 7400 in 243 a while. Anyways, he said the 742 wouldnt hold up to any amount of shooting. He said the 740 and 7400 were both pretty good though. Said the 7400 didnt have any problems. I shouldnt have traded it off, it was heavy though.

[Three44s]

Roll the rifles upside down with a good light and the bolt held back. Look at the top inside of the receiver frame for chatter marks. There was a gunsmith in our region that specialized at welding these up and machining the repair back to factory specifications. He has long since retired.

If you see those wear marks developing it dose not mean a particular rifle won’t still cycle but does mean you are on borrowed time. If the rifle in question does not have that wear it means that you have a serviceable rifle for some time. But I would not view a clean bill of health as meaning that it has a future at firing great quantities of ammo.

You have a recreational hunting rifle, not a “Gatling gun”.

Personally I prefer the 760 series over the 742’s but faced with a possible purchase of the semi auto version with a clean bill of health and wanted it I would just develop a few useful load with it and hunt with it as it was intended to be used. When it dies, it dies.

Three44s

[DxieLandMan]

I have 3 of the 742 model in .30-06 and I love that rifle! My dad and I had one and then I inherited one. It is a dream to shoot and to reload for is very inexpensive (I got my cost per round down to 35¢ each). I have nothing but great things to say about this rifle. In fact, I've harvested every deer except for 3 with it.

[pietro]

.

IME, these days, the only folks who buy those rifles are folks who are enamored of their looks, and/or uneducated about them.

The Model 740 had verified accuracy issues - why the Williams Gun Sight Co. offered an "accuracy block" that was to be installed at the front of the forend.

As noted above, the Model 742 had wear issues - why they have many birthdays on used gunracks (aka: a White Elephant), and most FFL dealers will refuse to take one on trade-in.

In any event (also noted above) neither rifles are accurate or reliable enough for any extended shooting, shooting range or other.

.

[FergusonTO35]

The 742 can be converted to pump action or straight pull bolt action, here is a thread on it:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?70491-To-those-that-have-malfunctioning-740-and-742-s-and-even-7400-s

[Drm50]

When I was a kid my 1st Deer rifle was a Rem 8/35cal which were dirt cheap in used racks at the time. All the older guys were buying 742s and I busted my butt to save up for one. So did a Buddy of
mine and we went together to get our 742s. I got the carbine model & buddy got the rifle, both the Deluxe grade. Right of the bat we were disappointed with the accuracy. Most of our CF shooting was
with Bolt action varmit guns/scopes. I would say 3" at 100yds was average group. We were both running K4 scopes. We bought the accuracy blocks and they had no effect for us. We both got rid of
the 742s quickly. They accounted for a lot of woods deer , they are meat guns not target rifles. I only
bought that one new but have taken several on trades. Because of their rep for accuracy and being
jam prone the used price on them has dropped out. I've had the newer models 7400, they might be
more durable but accuracy is same as 742.

[376Steyr]

The first big game rifle I bought was a 742 in 30-06, which killed its share of deer and elk. Having said that, the 742 isn't a battle rifle or a target rifle, and it wasn't designed to be. If you're only going to shoot at a range, there are lots of better choices. Remington quietly discontinued production of the 74xx series a few years ago, though the 7600 pump is still available.

[Texas by God]

It's strange how the 760 pump rifle is usually fairly accurate and the 742 auto is not. My brother had a 742 BDL 30-06 for a time in the 80's. It was unscoped and we had a case of M1 Ball ammo that we used. It was big fun and we would shoot till it got sluggish and then clean, resume. Usually it would go around 100 rounds before that happened. It was a natural pointer and below 100yds nothing escaped it. Not a handloaders gun for sure.

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[AggieEE]

Got a used 742 once. Barrel was full of copper fouling so unscrewed barrel nut and filled the barrel up with ammonia. Cleaned it right up. put it back together and didn't want to groups only patterns. I finally found a load that if I fired a shot, waited at least 5 minutes, fired again would cut a one hole group. Some load fire a shot and fire another in about 20 - 30 seconds and the 2nd round was somewhere within a 6" circle of the first. After many hours of work it went to the gun show.

[FergusonTO35]

Ive always thought that the 742 was awfully thin and light for the cartridges it used. Every shot would shake it pretty hard. The problem would be magnified with those miserable see through rings most of them wore. The 742 would have done allot better with a mild cartridge like .30 WCF or .250 Savage.

[wv109323]

A heavy hunting rifle.
Cleaning for functioning is paramount.
Accuracy is less than a bolt gun.

[bassnbuck]

Back in the early 70`s a box store in town sold 742`s for cheaper than average retailer could buy them for. I bought one in 06 and my hunting partner got a 270. I fired 4 shots to check the sights and one shot to kill a buck and traded it on a bolt rifle (I still have the bolt gun). My buddies had a lousy trigger and his 870 had a better trigger so he swapped them. He hunted with that gun for 20 some years but I don't believe he put a total of 4 boxes through it. Their alright for a woods gun but not a target range gun.

[FergusonTO35]

For someone like my grandfather the 742 was good enough. He always used auto shotguns and so the 742 was a natural choice for those occasions when we would coax him into going deer hunting with us. I doubt he fired it more than a dozen times total, if it made six inch groups he would not have cared because it did the job when he needed it to. He did take a couple of deer with it under 100 yards, he wouldn't shoot at anything very far away.

[Lethemgo]

You guys have given me my info and I'm going to wait for a bolt action. The price was just very alluring as i could buy both for about the price of a nice older bolt action. Guess theres a reason why.

[FLINTNFIRE]

And on it goes where as some of us have reloaded for them since late 70's and all the family owned 740 or 742 and they are still shooting and do not kid yourself about some of them not being accurate , I have shot mine with tight groups and my dad at 89 is planning on using his old 740 this year again and I have seen him shoot some great shots with it , Yes I have bolt actions and if I am planning on shooting long distance I use them , but those remingtons were and still are good woods rifles . Use what you want and every rifle out there has its fair share of detractors and fault finders and even the vaunted M1 garand has issues after hard use or sloppy careless cleaning and or lack of and even it is not good with hot ammo , where most of these issues come in at on all semi auto rifles. As for sitting on racks unsold I also see the savage 99 and winchester levers there , as the generation who used these rifles die they come in and the younger generation wants the magnum long range with calibrated scope to shoot as far as their range finders can range and never check to see if they hit. Still have my first 742 and its still shooting .

[jmorris]

I had a 742 in 30-06, never had a problem with it except the felt recoil it had was more than a 300 win mag BAR I came across so I sold the former and kept the latter.

That said I used it for hunting, so shots fired were confirming zero or killing, not a “range toy”.

[roverboy]

I've got a Bicentennial edition 742 in .30-06. I've not shot it much. I inherited it from my wife's uncle. Overall not in bad shape.

[murf205]

I have owned 5. A .244, a .243. a ,.308 and 2- 30-06's. All of mine were junk, period. I sent the 244 back to the factory and they put a new receiver on it-still junk. If there is a love/hate relationship with them, count me in the hate column! BTW, 3 of the 5 were bought new, before I finally caught on to what was wrong. I got out of the Remington 740/742 business and bought 2 Winchester model 100's. Both of them had the firing pin issues and I, basicly, had a 5 shot machine gun with the Winchesters. Went to a bolt gun and never looked back. My 2 cents

[labradigger1]

Something I haven’t seen mentioned is the magazines not going into the gun when either was hot or cold. If both the gun and mag were around the same temp then no issues, if they were different temps then good luck.

[upnorthwis]

Around here they are called either Jam-Masters or Jam-Omatics. My brother and his friends used to discuss all the things they tried to get them to function. All were unsuccessful and all were sold.