Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Any Remington 742 owners?

They were made for the once a year deer hunter who didn't shoot much. I bought a real early .308 carbine with the grooved forearm and mine worked fine. That 18.5" barrel was a little loud, but sure a good one for climbing into a tree stand. Remington made a special dog leg brass brush for cleaning the cambers because that and not keeping them clean were the major issues with jamming. The semi-auto fit the driven and running deer crowded woods type hunting that I experienced growing up, but things have changed at least where I hunt, so the 742 is gone. It isn't a rifle for the purest, but they fit a niche and I liked mine better that an earlier Winchester M100 carbine or dad's Browning BAR.

The one good thing about PA's "manually operated centerfire rifles only" law is it spared us here the grief of having to deal with these rifles.

I know a couple of gunsmiths who won't work on them

I lot of what I read also was some used the damn thing like an AR, just rapid fire shooting and tearing em up. Seems like it and the browning Bar auto were made for a specific purpose, meat hunting. When I get back from atlanta, I'll try and send some rounds down range. I bet he didn't put 5 boxes through it. If he killed 1 or 2, put it up in closest.

I had one briefly and never had any issues with mine. But they "earned" the reputation as "jam-o-matics" for a reason. Most work OK if kept clean and only used with factory loads. Handloads, even milder loads start to cause problems. They certainly aren't intended for high volume shooters.

But even if they were 100% reliable I can't think of a single reason to buy one. If someone gave me one with family history I'd keep it, but wouldn't hunt with it.

They were the junky cousin of the fine Remington 760. Very thankful we only had the 760's around here and we had a plethora of those.

A guy I know from Minnesota was out here in Wyoming antelope hunting saw our bipods and wanted an adapter to put a Harris bipod on his Remington 742. He took the rifle into a gunsmith here and the 'smith chuckled and said...Oh, you have one of those "Colorado Magnums". I never saw one brought out here to hunt goats with that didn't jamb.

i inherited my dad`s very old Remington 740 -280 Rem. ,it doesn`t jam and its not that accurate ,but its kinda special because when i went with my Dad at 10 years old that old gun was better in my young eyes than a 30-30 i had to use in those days.

Killed my first of alotta things with one in Carbine '06,wearing a 'Cutt's.

Easy pass................(grin)

Yeah, right...



Make that three...



Well, yeah, as long as that first shot kills - 'cause you won't get a second one off 90% of the time...


Spare parts for another one? I wouldn't accept one if it WAS given to me....

It'll likely work just fine for you.....until it doesn't.

There's no question they have indeed accounted for a lot of game.
But growing up in the upper midwest, it seemed there was always at least one guy in our hunting circle(s) that had an issue during the season with a firearm not making boom, or jamming, or xxxxxxxxx. Without exception, it was always one of those flippin' 742's. Many of them operated as single shots for the majority of the season because the headstrong users didn't want to use someone else's deer rifle or couldn't possibly hunt deer without see-through mounts (which were/are synonymous with the 742).

Oh Lord...those "See Through Mounts". I "watched" some of our group try them when they finally began to even mount scopes! Around the campfire, 4-5 deep in a 6-pack, tales of how "perfect" the set up was. I never once, not once, knew of anyone who ever used the advantage!. They usually just shot at and missed ( contrary to Folk Lore and themselves telling you-Texans are NOT all born Great Shots, ha!) Seems they could never keep the scope sighted in ( that meant a hit anywhere on a paper plate at 50-75 yds btw) Now, these were men 30-40 years older than me, and I was raised to respect my elders. I "tried" to help them, but they "knew it all", especially around the other old phartz. I just made sure I hunted on a different part of the lease from them. There was one old guy, a good friend/neighboring camp of my dad's camp, who used a Mod 742 6mm Remington. Iron sights only, and it never jammed that I saw or heard of. He "might" spray it with WD-40 and wipe it out of the action and drop the trigger groups, wipe it down. Never the bore. When it was "shot out" he sold it to a mutual friend who took it to a good gunsmith in Houston. He cleaned it well, got all the old fouling out of the bore and it returned to shooting 1 1/2" groups ( Remington 100gr factory corlokts) I knew this because I had shot it some myself "before" the old gent had "shot out the barrel/he was very proud of that fact! ha) I have two BILs who have used them for decades, one in .308 and another in 6mm Remington. "Maybe" there are more reliable 742s with the shorter chambered rounds. I only know that I never heard of one of "them" being a jammomatic, like the one I got from my uncle in 30-06. I knew just a bunch of 30-06 Mod 742 users who had complaints. Now, later inlife, I bought a Model Four ( a fancy Mod 7400) in .270Win and it was both a shooter (130gr) and reliable. My uncles wife ( he had been widowed at 42, remarried a few years later) Anyhow, I had left it down in Texas at my dads ( so I would always have a rifle down there when I travelled) she saw it and liked it, so sold it to her for a song. I guess its still going with her son now. I had a Mod 750 35 Whelen that was also reliable, as mentioned. So, yes, they are a gamble, but still a nice handling rifle, to me. I really only "trust" one type of semi-auto, a good Garand and an M1A. Have hunted with both and never had an issue. But neither handled like the 'svelte" Mod 742/7400/7600! ha

Sooo... I’m guessing you all would not be impressed with the old 740 that my dad bought in the ‘50s. He loved that rifle and named it ”Lightnin”, not because it was fast but because it “never hit the same place twice”.

I recently recently got it out and loaded some 180RNs. Thinking it might be fun on a sounder of hogs.

No, it doesn’t have see through mounts :-)

Now that is a goodun'. !

"Works good until it doesn't" was the case with my brother's rifle. He probably didn't put a box of shells through it per year, either. After several years of "works good" on his northern Idaho elk hunt, it all went to hell.

I will say that when I was exploring the problem, the first shot always went the same place; subsequent shots, as stated, went elsewhere, about 6 inches away in about 3 inch patterns. Never jammed tho.

Not exactly the ideal gun for elk hunting 30 miles deep in the Middle Fork of the Salmon wilderness area.

Boy, is that nice country - I went with him, and 6 other guys once. Good times.

Now that's funny. Ha

If you want a really good 742 just have an engraver put "Remington 742" on the slab side of a BAR and all is good.

A brother on law gave me one years ago. Mine is a 1776-1976 Bi Centennial edition in .30-06. With 150 grain Federal SP ammo, it has been a solid performer. Many clean kills on hogs, and a few deer. I have a vintage Redfield TV scope on it.

If you live near a river with a bridge......deposit it at the bottom thereof!!

“Wearing a Cutts”

Laughing + ++++++P