Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB on pump action hunting rifles

JB,

This is a 90s model 7600 synthetic. Lots of clearance. I haven't messed with it in a while, though. Maybe time to clean the heck out of it, send some more downrange with it & try various resting positions again. It may get better with a few more miles on it. More data can't hurt. Thanks for your input.

"Does anyone know who made Recoil Robs peep sight. I like it much better than the Lyman that is on my 760."

It appears to be a Lyman R14

It's a Lyman...

How reliable is the 7600? Should one rechamber to 9.3x62 and go hunt dangerous game in Africa? It seems the simple bolt is the choice for such hunts (or the double). Is it just unfamiliarity that keeps African hunters from using these?

I have an old 7400 semi-auto in 280 Rem and it's one of the best shooting rifles I've ever had. The plastic dust cover had been removed from it when I traded for it, and I have never had any feeding or firing issues with it. I have only shot between 450-500 rounds through it. It was practically new when I traded for it. It was thrown in on a swap to sweeten the deal for me, and i almost sold it without ever shooting it, as i didn't know much about the 7mm Express/280 Remington at the time, and I assumed that a semi-auto would not be accurate. I have had it for 25 years now. I wouldn't trade it or sell it at all. It don't rattle either. I really liked the old 760's. Had one in 06 that I wish I had kept, and it didn't rattle either. I have never shot a 7600 yet.

Finally got to read the article a BAM this weekend. Very nice.

My 760 was a pawnshop purchase for $125 out the door five years ago. It had no magazine, rear sight missing, toe of stock and chunk of metal buttplate gone.

Had a local trapgun shop trim LOP back to about 13 and put a 1-in. Kickeez pad from his junk pile on it. Still a bit of wood missing from toe under the pad...

Plenty of freckling, may do something about wood. Had thought about turning it into a Benoit Special, but don't feel like spending money right now.

Shot it again yesterday with Remington Managed Recoil. Put three in one hole at 50 yards on scope target. Shot it from a field position on 8-in Dirty Bird and it did about 2-inches (with no real aiming point on the center at 3X).

The MR is pleasant and 50 yards is about max in my thick patch of woods. I believe it will drop one come rifle season.

I really wish Remington would make the 7600 in .260 Remington.I don't know why Remington don't do more with this cartridge.

okay...you fellas are stirring up the ole feelings of a long gone friend...Had one in the 760 for many yrs. That aught six supplied lots of meat in my younger days along with taking many bears. Accuracies was considerably good and mags worked well..did not like the sights so put a Leupy 1.5x5 on it and what a champ of a rifle. Sold it to buy xmas presents for my children when they were young and when I was young. No regrets,,,but now am thinking a .35 Whelen 7600...just for grins.

If your 760 rattles it's because the O-ring inside the pump mechanism is worn or missing. I've replaced them before and you mostly end up taking the entire rifle apart to replace the rubber O-ring but it isn't all that bad really. It takes about an hour to do it and then the rattle is gone.

Anyone that would take a .300 Savage and convert it to something else - needs to have their head examined.
Don't you realize that they only ever made a couple of them in .300 Savage and that it was worth more money being a .300 Savage then being anything else?

The most desirable ones are in .222 Remington - very rare.

You couldn't convert a .300 Savage into a .35 Wheelen because the .35 Wheelen was a long action rifle and the .300 Savage is a shot action rifle. The clip to hold the shells wouldn't fit in the gun.

That's a very easy fix.
ON the older model 760 - the bolt cover was made of steel.
You simply went to a gun shop and had them replace the steel dust cover with a plastic dust cover and it would stop rattling. The forearm was attached to the action rods by way of a nut and the action rods rode in two groves in the receiver. Unless there was an insane amount of clearance - it should not rattle - much if at all. Like Moosemike said - there is a rubber wiper ring on the inside of the external tube that can go bad if it is really dirty - that can be replaced if it is worn out.

When you walk - your feet probably makes more noise then the gun does. One other thing that will make it make noise is if you have the sling attached to the tube for the action.
You just put a barrel band around the barrel and get rid of the pump mount and your noise should go away.

I have had over 20 Gamemasters - and the only other thing I will say is that comparing a 760 Gamemaster to a 7600 is like comparing a 1980's Chevrolet Chevette to a Corvette. The 760 was a much better gun.

For anyone that cannot understand the principals of the Gamemaster - it is a full free float barrel - probably the most accurate design - way ahead of it's time.
Probably the #1 selling and most carried gun in Pennsylvania for hunting deer at one time. If you go out west and you see someone carrying a Gamemaster - especially if it has a Redfield Widefield scope - you know they are from Pennsylvania. If it has a old Bushnell 3x9x40 scope - it was probably sold at Grice Gun Shop in Clearfield PA.

I think at one time, Grice Gun Shop did sell a couple of them in .260 Remington. I can't remember how long ago though because I threw my old sale flier papers away.
20 years worth of collecting their papers got to be too much.

A scope with more magnification and a good solid shooting bench and some sand bags and 150 gr Federal Fusion ammo should solve your accuracy problems.

Most people that I see that has problems, has their scope mounted too low. The stock does not have enough drop for my tastes and my body size to allow me to use the standard mount.

I replace most of my Weaver style mounts with Kwik Site See Thru mounts and have found the gun to be a better shooter and hunter then with the old reliable standard rail mounts.

You don't need to shoot them fast.
If you hear one bang in the wood, it usually means that they got it. If you hear multiple shots - it means that you missed and you are still slinging lead.
I can't say that I can hit a target dead center 5 times at 100 yards shooting rapid fire with any weapon off hand, but I can say that I can shoot my 760 Gamemaster quicker then you could shoot a 7600 or a 742.

That is called a fit problem.
The way to cure that problem is to make two wooden jaw protectors for a mechanic's vise and put the clip in the vise and slowly squeeze the clip on the sides a couple of thousandths at a time until it fits. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I done it many times.

I was told that the new 7600 clips with the plastic does or does not fit in the older style 760. Some packages says that it does, while Grice Gun shop told me the other day that it will not. Grice doesn't know everything though - so they were wrong.

Bob's Army & Navy in Clearfield PA has 760 Clips on stock.
I believe that they were $18.50 each...

At one time, they also sold 10 shot clips for about $40 each.

The Amish does not hunt with Remington Gamemaster rifles.

Back in the day, they used old obsolete guns, until the Game Commission made them buy hunting licenses. Now they mostly have expensive bolt action high power rifles.
That is the ones that lives around Brockway, Trade City, Smicksburgh, Munderf, Luthersburgh, Big Run, Rossiter, Marion Center...

That's not a 760 Gamemaster.

Its a model 141

Most Gamemasters would also shoot different for the first shot, then once the barrel was warmed up would shoot a consistent string until the barrel would get too hot to touch.

The one cure is to sight in the rifle before the season starts and then do not clean it again until after the season is over. The dirty barrel makes a difference in accuracy.

My first question would be what loads are you shooting out of it?

The pump action rifle does not like a lot of chamber pressure and some loads are too much for them and will cause the chamber to blow open after you pull the trigger.
We have found that the CCI Large Rifle primer, 58 GR IMR 4350 powder (CL) and a 150 gr bullet works best in most 760 Gamemaster 30-06 rifles..

The 7600 - I was told by a Remington Representative - a 3 inch group is acceptable at 100 yards and a 4 inch group is not uncommon. Needless to say, when a friend of mine bought one of those new plastic fantastic rifles and a good quality tactical scope and a couple of boxes of 180 gr ammo and couldn't hit the target consistently at 100 yards, we took the rifle back and demanded an exchange. Switched to a cheap 150 gr Hornady factory load and a lesser quality scope and the gun was better then the first. Must have been a quality issue with the barrel or the head spacing is my only answer.

So the only thing I can ask, is have you had the head spacing checked on your 7600 and does your empties show any signs of stress around the bottom half of the shell after it is fired?
Cracks, black spots on the shell, blown primers etc?

Man those 760/7600 just ooze old school cool. There is a nice 7600 in 06 at my local pawn shop i'd like to put on laway. I'd rank them right along with the savage 99s, the Marlin and Winchester levers for classic rifles that flat out hunt!

I'm no Remington expert, but weren't all those 760s and 7600 one action length (long)? And hey, if it floats his boat, why rag on him. A gun one likes and will actually use is worth way more than some price tag on a safe queen.

The amish around here hunt with 760/7600's. The few that don;t use 30-30's.