Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rem 742 -- another shamanic basket case

So far no one has responded on the problematic K98 thread. Maybe I'll just put it in the back of the safe and wait for another day. While I'm back there, let me dig out an old and sore subject, my hapless Remington 742.

I have a Rem 742 in 30-06. It was my first deer rifle. I bought it off a friend back around 1982 and it worked fairly well until 2004. A freak wind blew it off the rack at deer camp and it hit the concrete scope first. The scope was trash, but the rifle seemed okay at first. However, it started to jam shortly thereafter. I sent it to a gunsmith and he said he would not work on it, because it had a fairly well-advanced case of the chatters. At that point, I decided it was a wall hanger and replaced it with a Rem 7600 in 35 Whelen.

Ahlmans has that $250 pump conversion. I'm thinking about it. However, I'd like to know what folks' experience with it is. Also, I'm fairly well subcribed in the 30-06 department. Would it make any sense to rebarrel it to something else while I'm at it? Maybe 280 Rem? I'm open to ideas.

shaman: 742's have a well earned reputation for burring (chatters) the receiver. The problem was corrected in the later 7400 and current 750. You can try to have someone deburr the receiver but it will occur again. The Ahlman conversion is still 250.00 ? Sounds like it is the way to go... Good luck with it, Mel

Wrote about this before but my good friend had a well chattered out 740. I milled flats on a piece of 3/8" brass rod and tapped it into the raceway above the damage. Tig welded and reshaped the damaged area. The rifle functions as it should and after about 25 shots shows no sign of failing in the repaired area. Hope this helps. Dale

Polish the chamber and look up about renting the action. I used to get two to three each fall that worked better after doing those things.
The welding sounds like a good cure, as weld doesn't stick to copper.
I always wondered about milling out the rails and installing new steel to replace the rails. I think an old school shaper would work to cut out the worn rails and slot the receiver to hold the new metal. Hard solder might be sufficient to secure them. Holes and screws from outside would do to help.

When I went to buy a deer rifle, my buddy had a couple to sell. He gave me the choice of the semi-auto 742 and a 760. In truth, I realize I should have taken the 760. In the intervening years, I had more times where I had trouble with jams than I ever needed that fast second shot. I am cured of the delusion of requiring a semi-auto for deer.

Mind you, I was was completely enamoured with the rifle, and it broke my heart when it fell off the rack. Still, I have to honestly say my life improved after the rifle's demise. If I resurrected it, I would only do so as a pump.

One low cost/ marginal benefit approach is to block the gas port completely. Rifle becomes a de facto straight pull action. May need a hammer type bolt handle augmentation if the brass is sticky to chamber and/or dechamber.

I've owned a couple of these years ago in 308 and not had a problem with them at all. They shot well and there was no signs of chatter.

But... I always kept the bolt and action rails well greased with Rig.

Also, I only shoot the same loads I would use in a M1-A, ie., mid-range loads with correct burn rate powders, and not full power or max loads...no factory loads at all.

I would completely clean the rifle and mag, polish the chamber and carefully smooth out the rails as best you can. Then keep it greased and it may be perfectly functional. 30-06 is the best option to stick with.

For the money you would spend on mods you could buy a rifle in a better platform.

These rifles were originally like $300. For semi, I like my M1-As but they are in a different price range.

There's truth there. I can probably get a nice vintage 760 for what I'd put into the mods for this 742.

I bought a plain stocked (no checkering and it wasn't walnut) one in .30-06 back in '85 for $269. For six years it was OK. Then the gas port plugged and it started stove piping the empties. That cost me a deer that needed a follow up shot. Next year the extractor lost it's springiness and was smaller in diameter than the case head. It wouldn't chamber all the way. That cost me a shot at a nice buck. The next year it was someone else's problem. We've had 3 in the family and my experiences with them is that they have earned the nicknames "Jammaster" and "Scattermatic". The best mine ever shot was 2"-3"

Just buy the 760 or 7600 pump. Dad has a 7600 in .270 that shoots right at 1" with 150g Power Points

Bought a 742 in the late 70's and it was a tack driver. Loved it. (Sadly I traded my nice Sav.99E for it....ugh!)
Around 1981 the action locked up and I had to drift the action back with a hammer and a 2x4 to get the live round out. The gunsmith said a pin in the top of the bolt that creates rotation of the bolt broke off and the bolt went forward but wouldn't rotate, so it jammed. He fixed it but warned me that it might happen again...it did a year later. Back to the gunsmith and then to the trading post. Traded for a new 7400 and have shot hundreds of flawless rounds through it...and tagged many deer with it. It also shoots nice 1.50" groups..which is better than I am Neither of them ever developed the dreaded "chatter"..guess I've been lucky. A friend had a 742 that had chatter wear on the rails but seemed to function ok...until that day when it failed while trying to take a nice buck. He doesn't own it anymore. My point I guess is the above gents' advice is sound IMHO. You can dump some ill-spent dollars on the 742, and everyone I know that owns 760/7600 rifles swears by them...including my son...no complaints at all. Hard to do better than "no complaints." I personally have never loved them but I'm starting to cave in. (Although forends are a longer reach than I prefer, and some of the forends rattle while being carried. Just my .02) Fortunately I've just adopted another Savage 99 and that will get my attention for years to come.
Good luck with your decision.