Remington 7400 in 308 Winchester

I have a chance to get a Remington Model 7400 in 308 Winchester for a friend. I was told it is in good conditionand comes with a Redfield 3X9 scope. It is being sold for $400.00. Are there any issues I should be aware of and is it worth the price?

IMHO it's only worth the price if you REALLY want one, AND you intend to never sell it - since you'll most likely never get a decent return for it.

In my part of the country, not only areused Remington semi-auto's languishing for years (unsold) on many store's gun racks in the $350 range, FFL's won't even take them in on a trade because they know they're such slow movers.


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The Remington autos are not target rifles, or battle rifles, or collector items. They are very good deer killing machines and will last a one-box-of-ammo-a-year hunter a lifetime and more. There was a thread here awhile back about converting worn-out ones to straight-pull bolt actions. If all I wanted out of a rifle was to put a deer in the freezer every year, the Remington would get my vote.

There is usualy a slight shift in the point of impact between a round chambered by hand, and one loaded by the rifle cycling.
Not enough to matter in a hunting rifle.

I belive this was the model that had the "soft" receivers that eventually led to headspace problems.

Someone here may be able to verify this.

The people that have them and like them are the guys that shoot factory ammo and very little of it, say a box every few years.

There is fellow, in Washington state I believe, that has made a career of rebuilding them as they tend to batter themselves to death. Like any gas operated gun they need a diet of the right ammunition, read that as factory or factory equivalent, to function properly and not jamb or beat themselves to death too soon.

I had one in 30-06 that I took in trade, it looked brand new, I tried to sell for several years, I finally gave it to a friend and he traded it for a used pellet stove to heat his shop.

The 742's have the soft receivers, the 7400's were created to address that issue I believe. My son has a 742, we shoot light cast loads in it and keep check on the rails in the receiver.

It is a good (not great) shooter.

Another disadvantage to the Remington 742,7400,760 and 7600 line is that they are heavy compared to say a bolt action rifle of the same caliber.
I would much prefer a bolt action rifle for the reasons of weight, accuracy, reliability and resale value.

My 742 Carbine is accurate and weighs less than a 700 in 30'06. It gets a diet of 180gr. corelokts and has since 1980. It especially like the Old RN corelokts so I save all those for that rifle. It killed My first Grizzly Bear (shot right between his eyes)and My first moose but I graduated to a .300 Mag for Longer shots. The 742 is always loaded and ready in case I need a quick shot in my yard with open sights. Good lube on the locking lugs has helped mine stay tight.

My Uncle Llyod, who lived in the Adirondacks only possessed 2 deer rifles, one of which was a 7400 in .308
He kept it immaculately clean and it never failed him.
I would suggest if well maintained it's worth $400.00 with the redfield scope.
YMMV

You'll want to watch out for damage to the muzzle and crown as well since those rifles are usually cleaned from the muzzle rather than the breech.

Bore snakes solve that problem now...

I had a Model 4 (same as the 7400 but with fancy non-sense on it) and it served me well. I only shot factory Rem coreloks at the time and it was a meat-maker. Had no porblem with selling it to a friend who has used it for decades with no problems. It's not a target rifle. There is no hold open for the bolt. It swings fast and shoulders well. I would feel well heeled if I were to take it back in the woods. If you want to hunt with it, I think you will enjoy it. $400 in good shape with a Redfield sounds like a good deal.

I cut my teeth on these rifles and we still own several to this day: they can be very accurate
if the fore end is floated correctly, my father's old 742(30-06) will shoot as small as 3/8"
group at 100yrd w factory ammo(federal supreme 165s). For what it's worth back in the
day, the long actions had a better rep for feeding than the short actions did..don't know that
it's true or not ? they are deer killing machines ..if they don't jam on you.:Fire: