Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Inheriting a Rem 742 Woodsmaster 30-06 ...

That might end up being what happens, but I'm not really interested in how it will perform as a .30-06 deer rifle. I'm interested in how it might perform as something else and how to get it there. Does anyone have experience with a conversion to a smaller caliber?

Yep, 70's & 80's around here you had a 742,760, Marlin 336 or rarely a BAR.
Very few bolt guns. One uncle used a Sako 22-250, guess he was a stunt shooter.

I don’t think it’s accuracy issues are related to the barrel design so I wouldn’t expect any improvement just by putting a new tube on it. Obviously any -06 based cartridge should function without issue. The triggers on the are atrocious and there isn’t a whole lot to do to improve them. If you’re ok with a gun thats minute of deer to maybe 200 yards then it should be ok but you might as well leave it as a 30-06

Minute of coyote to 300 is why I'm trying to reduce the recoil and flatten the trajectory. If the trigger is that rough, I probably just won't bother.

You cannot simply "rebarrel" a 742. There is a gas block on the barrel that would be very difficult to duplicate on a new tube. Leave it as is. If you want a different caliber, trade it for another gun in the chambering you want.

Other option would be to rebore to .338-06 or .35 Whelen.

You could rebarrel it if you use a barrel from another 742.

When I was a kid, my dad had one of those suckers on his 742, 30-06. He loved it.

No, I don't have any experience with it. But, it sounds like it would be unique anyway! What caliber are you thinking?

THAT... But then, ya still got a 742...


Look - those performed "OK" for many years, but realize these rifles are now some 60 years old.. Even Remington acknowledged the life of that rifle is something like 600 rounds.. Using those old rifles now is fine as long as the owner understands he might very well have ONE shot. Anything after that is a crapshoot (pun intended)..

If one is desirous of a centerfire semi-auto deer rifle the only one produced today worth a hill of beans is the Browning BAR... Keep in mind this is coming from a gun owner who does not own, nor never WILL own, a Browning.. And as a rather experienced gunsmith who's worked on/serviced these items for more than 18 years, the one semi-auto rifle I get in with the LEAST issues is the BAR.. Once in a while the timing latch pin breaks and it jams it up.. About 45 minutes of repair, the rifle's back into service and should keep right on a-truckin'...

FWIW. YMMV.

The smaller the better down to .223 if it would still cycle the action. I think the smallest that Remington made is .243 Win and 6mm Rem. But it would have to be a barrel made for the 742, either by Remington or some aftermarket barrel maker.

And again, the purpose of this conversion would be to have a flat-shooting lower-recoiling semi-auto 300 yd coyote shooter, not a deer rifle. I can save the .30-06 barrel and hang it on the wall some time in the future when multiple shots at coyotes becomes undoable for me. I realize that I can just buy an AR-15 variant for that purpose, but if this is possible for a reasonable price, that's the purpose. The way I see it, I have a semi-auto action that has a scope mounted on it that I can try to make useful. It might have less than 100 rounds through it, but it might be trashed. I don't have it in my possession yet, so I'm just contemplating a possibility.

Ive got a 243, 270, and 30-06 in the 742/7400.
I hunted for years with the 270 7400 with only having 100 yard shots in the thick woods.
Dad has used the 30-06 742 Woodmaster since the 70s? has taken quite a few deer but again only under 150 yards.
My GF Grandpa gave her a 243 7400 and we went to check zero before deer season. It was all over the place at 200 yards with 100 grain soft points.
Scrubbed the barrel and got a ton of junk out of it. Put around 250 rounds thru it with everything from 55gr to 95gr with no luck.
The best i could do was 85gr Sierra Game Kings and never could keep 5 rounds on a 8" gong at 200 yards.
I remember having fits with my 270 in high school and trying to zero it.
Went thru a few scopes before i figured out they just dont shoot worth a flip.
Still got all of them in the safe cleaned up and oiled.
Moved on to better shooting stuff. The places we hunt now its hard to find a shot under 200 yards with large farm fields.
Got GF a Stevens 200 .25-06 and she shows us up all the time shooting paint can tops at 300 yards with 100gr SMKs. Deer hunts with 110gr Accubonds.

The only practical way to accomplish what you seek to do would be to take a .243 barrel off a junker 742 and have it fitted to your .30/06. You would end up with a .243 that cost twice as much as a new one originally made in that caliber.

You would have a devil of a time trying to convert it to .223, because 742's were never made in that caliber, so there are no existing bolts or barrels. There were 760's made in .223, so I suppose you could use a 760 magazine and possibly a modified 760 bolt. But the barrel would have to be fabricated and it would be very expensive to make and install a gas block.You would also have to cannibalize a .223 760, which is a collector's item.

In any case, you would be spending much more than the rifle is worth on the conversion, with no guarantee it would function properly, and you would end up with a gun that would probably be worth less than the original.

Personally I would just load the .30/06 with 110 grain ammo and go out to bust a few coyotes.

That might be just the solution that I'm looking for. Dead is dead, it doesn't really matter how the coyote gets there. I remember something about plastic saboted bullets that shot well from .30-06s. I don't know if they are still available, though.

Are you looking to save the pelts or something? Is there a reason that a standard 150 grain load won’t kill a coyote?

I want flat shooting and lower recoil. Accurate out to 300 yds would be a plus. I don't care about the pelts. If I could shoot them with a guided RPG that would be quite satisfying.

150s shoot plenty flat and the recoil is not objectionable.

I just found sabots for 30 caliber rifles that allow you to put .224 bullets in them. $15 per 100. Plus $15 for a sabot seater die. Supposedly can achieve 4500fps from a .30-06. Seems like it would foul the barrel with plastic, but I guess that can be dealt with.