Remington 74/742/7400 thoughts.

scanner said:
The Rem 74, 740, 7400, etc are very good guns. They are perfect as a bush gun for large game, and accurate enough for your typical bush shots of about 50 yards and under, but still accurate enough for a 100 yard shot if needed. 180 grain soft point ammo (silver tips) function through these guns nicely, and are a good round on large game.

The main problem with these guns is the chamber. You must clean the chamber using a chamber brush at the end of a day of shooting at the range, or when you get back home from hunting. Scrub it with the chamber brush, and then apply a light coat of gun oil directly to the walls of the chamber using a cleaning mop or some cleaning patches. If you don't do this, the chamber walls will start to rust over the next few weeks, and then pitt, and this is one of the reasons these guns jam. The jam is caused when the brass cartridge casing expands when fired, and forms into the rust and pitts on the walls of the chamber. This causes the empty brass casing to get stuck in the chamber enough that the extractor is unable to remove it from the chamber.

The other reason these guns jam is because of too much oil in the chamber, and in the action parts located under the forend (this goes for all semi-autos). Too much oil turns into dirty, sticky, carbon upon the first shot, because of the flame and heat from the round being fired. Carbon mixes into the working parts and causes them to not function smoothly, especially if you're hunting in cold tempurtures.

Oil is good on these parts after you're done shooting at the range for the day, or when the hunting season is over, and your rifle is going back into the safe. However, you need to remove as much oil as you can from the chamber and bore, and from all the action parts located under the forend a day before you start your next hunting trip. Just leave about 2 drops of fresh gun oil on the coil spring, and always best to make a test shot at your gun range before starting the big game season just to make sure all is working good and the sights are true.

So, if your buying a used Rem 74, 740, 7400 etc the first thing you want to do is lock the bolt back (mag must be inside) and look at the chamber walls with a strong flash light. If you see a lot of red specks of rust on the walls, and/or dark spotting (pitts), then I would not buy it. All though, It can be fixed by a proffesional gunsmith, but if the pitts are too deep, then it will need a new barrel at a cost of a few hundred bucks by the time the new barrel is bought, fitted, and installed.

I hope this info helps.

All the best.
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All you have to learn is there:D
 
Hi:

My hunting partner's 7400 firing pin froze-up on him during a november deer hunt, missed a nice buck. The cold wet day the day before may have contributed to a moisture in the bolt and the cold snap froze it in place. We cleaned it up and it cycled fine.
 
wonksy said:
Yes They Only Give 100 Out For You Guys!! But then again theres 60000 of us that apply annually for roughly 3500 tags...You Do The Math!!:rolleyes::(
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Your odds are real good with how they pool you guys. Our tags go to everyone but locals, 4 in our group putting in for 32 years and never got a tag. Some out of province hunters have had 3 or 4 in that time period. HUMMMMMM
 
StevieK said:
then what the point of having a semi-auto? Why not save yourself some money and just buy a single shot?
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Honestly in all of the big game you have taken over the years how many did you need a second shot right away to put them down on the ground?? Growing up a right hander and then being forced to learn to shoot left after a car crash or stop shooting I could not get comfortable with any bolts or levers on the left side. All of my guns are pumps or semi and other than a 1187 super mag remington I have never had problems with any of them jamming or cycling but I am a nut about cleaning and totally strip the gun every night after a hunt fired or not fired.
 
ninepointer said:
.....The only time I saw a guy who practices proper maintenance have a problem was because one of the models (I forget which one) can be prone to chipping (chatter marks) that develop over time along the rail that is machined into the inside of the receiver.....
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If bad chatter marks develop in the 740/742 receiver, the receiver is pooched.
I do not know if this problem develops in 7400 series rifles which do not have the interrupted thread locking lugs. Perhaps this is the reason for the redesign of the locking system.
The receiver chatter situation does not seem to plague 760s.
If a Remington auto works reliably, its a good rifle. If it doesn't its an aggravation. They have sold a LOT of them, so obviously they have a following. Personally, I wouldn't buy a 740/742 without test firing it.
I do not think it is reasonable to expect a rifle like a 742 to match the reliability and durability of a military pattern semi auto.
 
We've had a few in camp over the years, all of them jammed at some point, including mine.
What has been said about cleaning the chamber, and the other issues is true. My feeling is that these rifles deserve the moniker jam-o-matic. They are cheap for a reason. Other semi's are far more reliable IMO.
It's true that there are rifles out there that do not jam, but many do. If you must own one of these, I recommend that you do NOT buy used. If it was sold, it's likely a jammer. Keep your new rifle immaculately clean, and lightly oiled paying much attention to the chamber, IMO it seems to be made of some super rust attracting steel. Do not use anything that might leave a gummy residue when cleaning.

My rifle, I inherited from two previous owners.
It started jamming with the first owner. Hell of a nice guy, but a dedicated Fudd.
On his demise, it was inherited by my uncle, who was a dedicated gun enthusiasts he could not solve the jams, took it to two different shops, one the Remington service center. The biggest issue was that it's jams were inconsistent. It would jam on extraction, it would stove pipe, it would jam on closing, it would fail to strip rounds.
Both shops said they had it fixed, both failed when it came time to fire the beast in the cold. It could fire two mags full without a miss, then jam every shot for the next ten, or, it might jam right at the start.
Maddening.
We changed lubes, tried it dry, stripped it cleaned it, polished the chamber... NUts!
Over the course of my ownership, and that was short, I replaced every part but the barrel, and that's probably where I should have started switching parts.
I think the problem was the chamber, caused by owner 'number one'.
The rifle even developed a name around camp, we named it after the first owner, and called it "*****'s curse".
I sold it a good number of years ago. Watch out for it, it's out there.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
We've had a few in camp over the years, all of them jammed at some point, including mine.
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I have owned a number of them(10,or so) over the years. Only one never had an issue with jamming. It was a 742 chambered in 243.

I have also owned/still own a few Browning BARs, where none of them have ever jammed. They are a bit heavier, but reliable.

I prefer a pump, or semi for hunting where I hunt deer. I have taken a number of doubles, three tripples, and four deer at one time while on watch. I doubt I could have pulled these off with a bolt, or lever gun, because I am not very good with these actions.
 
Not doubting you at all, and I'll certainly agree the Browning, although heavier is a reliable rifle. We had another Fudd in camp at that time with a Browning he never cleaned. It also never jammed. Last I heard it still works fine, and he's owned it (Belgian version) for many years, since I think the late 70's at least.
But I'll never buy, or recommend a Remington semi again.
 
I had a model 742 in 308 win. The only problem that I had with the rifle was the mag release. I found it really hard at times to get a good grip on it.Even worst when your hard are cold. I never had any problems with it jamming. Then again I keep all my firearms really clean.
 
I prefer a pump, or semi for hunting where I hunt deer. I have taken a number of doubles, three tripples, and four deer at one time while on watch. I doubt I could have pulled these off with a bolt, or lever gun, because I am not very good with these actions.[/QUOTE]

Here we only get one tag so can only shoot one where do you get 4 tags per person ;)
 
742 rem

re post #21 the magazine for the semi autos have a release lever on the lower left side. pump guns do not. i have used handloads in mine for 20 years with no problems. use small base rcbs dies and round nose bullets and you will be good to go.

allen
 
I was the second oner of a 742 in 308 that had only seen a box of shells through it.
Traded a decoy for it. Used it for nearly ten years without a single malfunction and sold it to a young fellow at work ( I asked him last year ... he's gone 16 seasons with it without a malfunction as well )

I switched to 7600 in 35 Whelen nearly 20 years ago. The 7600 is surprisingly accurate with handloads ... the 742 was not (either factory or handloads) ... but shot well-enough enough for deer/bear/moose in our neck of the shield where shooting is seldom over 75 yards, and usually only half of that.
 
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