Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles rem 742

My experience echoes other responses. I am a bit fanatical about keeping guns clean. Was cleaning the bolt in my 742 (308) when I dropped it outside on the patio... Took the gunsmith 3 months of looking for a replacement and then 3 more months to manufacture a replacement himself.

Jammed on my son his first high power deer hunt.

It went down the road.

We've owned a few of these over the years new from the factory during the late 60's production era in 308 and 30-06...always well-maintained and never abused, they've all shot around an inch and been 100%. No issues and no complaints.

But then they have never seen a round of factory ammo, and I fed them the same ammo I would feed a M1-A or Garand...mid-range loads with powder that produces correct gas port pressures. Some factory rounds will easily damage these substantially more rugged rifles.

For me, the M1-A is where a 308 semi starts, but an M1-A is 2x the weight and over 5x the cost of the Remy...all that after about a billion dollars in R&D in today's money and 30 years in development.

So for how little they cost, if you make wise ammo choices, the Remy's can be fine for what they are.

If you're going to try to shoot all available factory loads YMMV.

For a low cost spare or back-up rifle I'd be more interested in a Ruger American.