Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington 742 Accuracy?

Recently inherited a late 70's vintage 742 ADL..in .30-06. Gun is very clean..in excellent shape. After sometinkering it seems that accuracy is not its stong point.Any ideas for help on it or just enjoy my bolt guns?

Remington sez groups under 6" is 'acceptable' for the 742...

Most will get around 2.5" or thereabouts.. It's a rifle handy enough for short-range shots on deer or similar when in woods settings.. As long as it's kept squeaky clean, well-lubed and with a magazine that actually feeds well...

Other than that I'd stick with something, anything, else...

Just my .02..

Worst thing about the 742 in 308 I had was the slack in the trigger. Don't believe there is a fix for that either. The only auto I own now is a Beretta 391.

My dad and I have had many Rem autoloaders over the years.

I think it comes down to.... Some shoot and some don't.

My dad's older 742 308 was actually the most accurate of all the 740's, 742's, and 7400's we've had.

But no, the Rem autos are not known for tackdriving ability. Ya get what ya get, and you might be able to find some loads it likes to improve the groups a bit but I doubt it's worth the effort. They have been (for us) good reliable hunting guns that have always put venison in the freezer. But not something to take out west for 400yd pokes.

Everyone I have purchased and that would be 3 of them shot well. I had 2 742 30-06 models and one 7400 in 270. The 270's extractor broke after 2 boxes of ammo and at the time I brought it back to Walmart and had it replaced since I had owned it exactly one week. That was the last of those type deals at Walmart you can be sure of that . Ifn I was going to buy a semi-auto then it would be a BAR ..the safari grade steel receiver model that is no longer made by Browning.

You like 'em that much 'eh?

....I had a 742 in 30/06 that decently well (1.5-2" groups) considering the sloppy trigger. The triggers CAN BE improved considerably with proper machine work and polishing. They feature the same trigger group used in the Remington 760/76/7600 pump guns, and the 870 shotguns. For 30 bucks there is a gunsmith who advertises on the Gun Broker auction site, who specializes in cobbling the creep out of these triggers and sets thier pull weight at 2.5-2.75 lbs. For an extra $20. he'll work all the creep out!

.....Still if you're a re-loader these guns can still be problematic, small base dies help with function if not accuracy.

Ken-14, you have a gift of a loved one and I would just leave it at that ok. Those Remington 742 as a whole mind you, were not the greatest hunting semi-auto in the industry. Now as matter of fact they were pretty poor in many cases. Most of them that I happened to be around, shot between 4 to 6 inch groups, all except my 742 which shot 14 to 18 inch groups at 100 yards.

Now if you were lucky to pick up one that didn't Jam up every 3rd shot or would shoot groups of two inches, then you got a darn good rifle. In most cases, many of the gun dealers won't even take one in or trade period.

I used to have one back in the late 60's right out of the Army at that time and being used to shooting the M-1 Garand and M-14, I just figured the semi-auto 30-06 was the route to go. In those days, Remington push those guns out the door as soon as possible. Mine had a bad barrel and wrong height sights as well. I traded it off after a jamming session on a deer hunt that same year. I got a .300 Win mag in a bolt action FN Browning! I then became a very happy camper.

These guns are very sensitive to forend pressure, and tweaking the forend screw can have significant effects on accuracy. If you have a gun that isn't grouping well, try loosening the forend screw to see if it helps accuracy.

Talking about the 742 family, shouldn't we say "patterning" rather than "accuracy" ?

The 740/742/7400 guns are basically the same rifle as the 760/7600, and in fact it's not all that uncommon for one to be converted to a pump.

Tighten it up, clean up the bolt and matching slots to lock it. Fiddle around with about 51 grains of Varget and 150 grain bullets and you ought to be able to get it to where you can shoot deer at 150-200 yards. I wouldn't expect much less than 2 inch groups, but I wouldn't abandon hope for less than 2 inches until I had a good run at it. It's not at all uncommon for the pumps to shoot decent handloads into an inch.

My father purchased his in the mid-70's and he mounted a higher end Leupold I loaned him last fall. He was able to put three round groups with Remington ammo into 3/4" groups on a regular basis. We collected 742's in the mid 80's and ended up with a closet full. I found most of them would do 1"-1.5" on a regular basis. MOA deer heart for most ranges deer are taken in my parts.

I'd just be happy they don't jam whilst shooting at a critter..........





Casey

WHAT ???

Hey.. I was being nice for a change..

I killed a lot of deer with these rifles, and still own 4 of them, Amazing how many people have trouble with them, just keep the chamber clean, get a stiff chamber brush and work it with a good solvent, accuracy is not their strong point but as stated 2 to 2 1/2 inch groups are the norm,, big thing on these rifles as any is keeping the barrel clean of copper fouling, hard to do when cleaning from the muzzle, the new foaming cleaners will make this a snap and can make a differance in accuracy,, I cant say I have ever reloaded for a 742 that outshot regular factory stuff, I have an 06 that will shoot Rem 150 factory corelokts into 2 inch or less consistantly and the bluebox federal 150's a tad bit more, I get a kick out of all the experts in the hunting net. All I will say is you might be very surprised at how poorly most can shoot in actual field conditions, an expensive rifle/scope combo will not outshoot a 742 unless shooter has done some shooting/practice, I have been around to many wanna be hunters that spent 3 grand on a rig but cant shoot better than a 5 inch group sitting,kneeling or anything else, Americans wanna buy success,Give your rifle a go, they are great woods rifles and offer the quick follow up shot, which was their design, sorry for the long winded post.

if you hunt in the rain with it, clean and dry the barrel and especially the chamber.

I've owned some that shot well and others that didn't. The only Remington autoloader I still have is a 7400 in .243 that I bought from a friend to help him out. My boss was coming into town the next weekend to deer hunt and needed a gun so I figured I'd let him shoot it and then sell it. I sat him down at the bench to make sure it was sighted in. He's an ex-Marine sniper from the Vietnam War and hadn't shot a gun since then, and this was 2003. He proceeded to shoot a .5" group. I didn't believe it, so I got behind the gun and discovered he had it on 3-power. I asked him why and he said, "You mean it's adjustable?". I shot a .75" group with it. From that point on it's been on the "keeper" list - even though I've never shot it since.

RR