Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rem 740/7400 accuracy?

A friend let me try his 30-06 Rem 740 at the range recently. I used 178 grain Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. I know that bullet is quite accurate from my Remington 700. I didn't shoot very well with his rifle... It was only a 4x Leupold, but everything felt pretty good. I like Leupold M8 scopes and have a few.

I figure it's just me, not used to that semi-auto rifle.

Is the Rem 740/7400 typically pretty accurate? I wasn't expecting groups to rival a good bolt action, but 3" - 4" at 100 yards seemed a bit much.

Thanks, Guy

The ol' man had a 740 30-06
That thing was horrible for accuracy, but good enough for minute of whitetail boiler room.

Buddy has a synthetic 7400 in .270.

Like Direct Drive states, not really accurate but he gets his deer every year here in Michigan where shots aren't real long

My 742 Woodsmaster in 308 will put a full magizine around an 1.5" at a 100 yds.
Came with a vintage Leopold 4 x .Once i shot it ,i left it alone.
My cousin has an older 740 Woodsmaster carbine in 308 will do the same,both with 180 gr.

My experience with them has been hit or miss on grouping but never worked with them much as far as different loads to try and shrink groups if one didn't shoot like I thought it should.

Have seen 2 that would stay around an inch, a 243 and a 270. Several more were 2" guns but that would kill a deer a long ways out. Most of these never saw a shot in the woods over 75 yards.

They are notoriously inaccurate. 3 inch groups are not unusual.

Inconsistent accuracy,Inconsistent quality. Look for a Safari II not the all Belgium made one . You will be happy .

The 740 is the most inaccurate of all the Remington semi auto centerfires. I don't remember what Remington changed to make it the 742, but the replacement was much more accurate. The 742 was the rifle of choice among most of my family when deer season was introduced. They were dogging deer and wanted firepower. I have tinkered with and sighted in many 742s and successive model upgrades. I found 2 were accurate to within 1.5 inches. Most got 3 inch groups.

No, it's the rifle.. Especially when considering the Rem semi-autos come with probably the worst trigger in history..

Depends on how many rounds have already gone down the tube.....AND if the owner has done a proper cleaning procedure.. Glad he let you 'try' it - because now you know to stay far, far away from those models...

I had a 742 in 30-06 once upon a time. I struggled to get a 3" group @100

3"" groups if the gun actually went off when I pulled the trigger. Sold both of them.

They have lots of aliases: Jam-O-Matic, Jam-Master, Splatter-Matic. I know there are exceptions, but for the most part, shooting groups with them is an exercise in futility. Stick up a "deer target" at the longest range it'll be used at and try to keep them in the vitals.

Accuracy ain’t why folks like these. If I was looking for a semi-auto deer rifle, I’d go with a Browning, or more likely these days, an AR10 of some sort. All of them really go over my preferred weight these days, and since I can’t recall offhand the last time I needed a second shot, let alone a fast second shot, I’ll stick with other platforms.

A possible exception might be an AR15 or variant chambered for 6.5G, 6ARC, .350 or .400 Legend, or .450B, the last three for possible use in the straightwall regions.

A long time ago, Williams sold an "accuracy block" for the Remington 740s. I don't recall what it did that was supposed to improve the accuracy of those rifles, but Williams is a reputable company, so if they sold it as an accessory, they must have tested it before putting it into production.

A lot of WW2 and Korean War vets who had used the Garand bought semi-automatic hunting rifles in the 1950s and 60s. My Father's deer hunting camp was made up mostly of WW2 Marines and all of them shot semi-autos, mostly Remington 740s and 742s in 30-06. My Father and Bearrr264's Father were the outliers, as they dumped their 740s in favor of Ruger 44 Carbines once they became available. Remington 742s with Weaver K2.5 or K3 scopes installed in Weaver tip-off mounts were very common deer rifles in the area that I grew up in.

Bingo 260, I got laughed at with my 270 Mountain rifle. It was a 06 742 with 220s or get lost.

With different ammo you'd probably find some better groups. They usually have one or 2 they like better than 3."

But for 740/742/7400's 3" groups aren't uncommon. Before I knew better, I was plenty happy with the 2" groups my 7400 shot. Have had some do better, have some do worse. I mean...what are you looking for? If you were looking for a long range rifle, you'd be shooting something else anyway. I can tell you this, In MN, WI, MI, there are 100,000's of deer dead from them.

I have my grandpa's 740 in 30-06, which I do shoot. It will lay Federal 150gr and Hornady Interlock 150gr into 1.5" groups at 100 for 3 shots.

Some guys get worked up about the trigger. But again, if you were worried about the trigger, you'd be shooting something else.

Redneck likes to bash on the Rem's trigger and magazine. But he's a gb packer fan. So, take that for what it's worth.

You and the 4x scope are not the weak links.

I have a 742 in 30-06 in the safe. I shot a lot of deer with it over the years but it isn't a target rifle. I shot 180 gr Corelokts but it was designed to shoot 150 gr bullets from what I have read.

I like my .308 PA-10 a lot more so the 742 will stay in the safe.

There are better and worse rifles out there. I'd stay away from the 740 as I have heard they could possibly have a headspace issue if taken apart and not reassembled correctly (I'm not totally sure of this but have read this-Redneck can probably clarify this). They will wear out eventually and they do have their issues too. What I do know that is for every deer killed by a Model 70/700/77, etc. there have been thousands killed by a 740/742/7400 with a $20 scope in see-thru mounts. In the 70's I saw them everywhere, usually in 30-06 but I have an elderly friend that swears by his in 6mm Remington.

The biggest weakness of the 740/742/74/7400 line was that when, not if, the guide rails became damaged there was nothing that could be done to repair them and the rifle would never be 100% reliable again. For years, Ahlman's would covert 740/742/74/7400 series rifles with damaged guide rails into pump actions by using 760/76/7600 parts. I don't see them listing that service anymore, so either the demand dried up or the supply of pump action part needed for the conversion dried up. The manually operated 760/76/7600 series operated slowly enough that the damaged guide rails would work okay once the burrs were filed off.