Remington Model 742

It's not the gas system you should worry about it's the bolt rails getting beat up after every shot. Also chambers getting dirty can cause extraction issues. Keep your chamber clean and don't treat it as a range toy and you'll get lots of service from it.

The consensus from years of threads and posts is that if a good-condition 742 is only used for deer or elk hunting and is kept clean, it will last "forever". As said above, it's not a range toy.

Having owned a couple over the years I can't think of a single reason to buy another. But if kept clean, only used with mild factory loads and not shot enough in one string to get them too hot they can be reliable enough and should last the typical hunter a lifetime. They are however heavy with mediocre accuracy at best. They would not be my choice if I had to hunt in harsh weather conditions where keeping it clean is impossible, nor for hunting anything that could bite back.

The ability to get off rapid repeat shots is vastly overrated for hunting rifles. If "aimed" repeat shots are required I can do it just as fast with my bolt gun with rifles with 30-06 recoil levels. If using a semi-auto in 223 recoil is light enough to get back on target a bit quicker, but not with larger caliber rifles.

all the one's i had would shoot sub moa with handloads, recoil is not bad for say a 06. i like the sights and the aluminum butt plates, they are quick shooting. there all gone now, you never know when the rails will start going. i had a nib gun 50 round and the shark teeth stated on the rails, i can't say i would buy anymore of them, unless very cheap. i still think remington should do something about them, if i had a tig welder it does not look to hard to fix, just need a 1/4'' end mill and a ball mill.

I have owned a couple in 30-06. I have one in the safe still but don't use it. I killed a lot of deer with the 742s but I have more accurate options.

Got one many years ago cheap. Was lucky to get 4 out of 10 to shoot. Took bolt to gun smith to soak in vibro cleaner. Shoots everytime now. Shoits best with 165-167 gn bullet.
Proper cleaning time is after you shoot it. Anything less is neglect.

They have a purpose. They make a nice handling short range deer rifle. But they are not a range toy. They are not super accurate, they need to be kept clean and they batter themselves to death. Keep the chamber clean, keep the gas system clean and keep the bolt clean. Shoot it just enough to stay comfortable with it, and it does what it was made to do.

A friend has one in 308 that he lightly customized. He cut the barrel to carbine length, mounted a front sight from a Remington Nylon 66 and a rear peep sight with a large aperture. It made a fast handling short range rifle.

Sounds like they ain't no Garand in terms of service life.

Have two of them. Seldom hunt with them anymore for the reasons everyone else gave.

I never had a problem with the one I had (30-06) but it had more felt recoil than my 300WM BAR, that’s why I got rid of it.

I just bought one 2 months ago. I cleaned up the rails, which were showing marks from the locking lugs, and will include in my seasonal gun sale. It's a great gun but not for me. I might be more of a pump action guy. I do like how sleek and relatively light it is compared to the Model 81.

My 742 is very accurate and reliable. My grandfather bought it new in the 70's and shot alot of deer with it. I have it now and shot a deer with it for his honer. It has cracked stock and i can not find a new one with the same style. So it is a safe queen. If it was not a heirloom. I would use it every year to hunt. I always seem to do one shot kills.

Robbins290 said:

My 742 is very accurate and reliable. My grandfather bought it new in the 70's and shot alot of deer with it. I have it now and shot a deer with it for his honer. It has cracked stock and i can not find a new one with the same style. So it is a safe queen. If it was not a heirloom. I would use it every year to hunt. I always seem to do one shot kills.

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You might want to contact Almann's gun shop in Morristown Minnesota. They used to convert them to pump's and did have a lot of parted out guns. Also you can get replacement stocks in synthetic or wood.

Will do that, If it was not a heirloom, i would have bought a boyds stock and called it good. But i want to keep it close to original as possible. It has a slotted type grip on the front handguard. Have not seen replacement stocks like that.

Charlie Martinez said:

Did yours have a scope?

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Yes, the was the last picture I took of it before it went to a new home.

There is a lot of information on this site about M740's and M742's, and I recommend a read of this post, and its references.

Remington Model 740

Based on the propensity of this action to chew up the rails, I would recommend that you reload for this rifle and not shoot factory ammunition. I am going to say, unless the ammunition says "For Garand use" (for 30-06) or "for M1a use" (for 308)



you should not fire it in your rifle. It is not worth permanently damaging your rifle with commercial ammunition that does not a pressure curve appropriate to the rifle. I recommend for reloads, either IMR 3031 or IMR 4895/AA2495/H4895, a bullet weight of 150 grains, and a velocity of 2650-2700 fps or less for the 30-06, and a velocity o f2600-2650 fps in the 308 Win. These powders are the fastest you should use, tons have been burned through Garands and M1a's with perfect satisfaction. What you basically want is the fastest burning powder appropriate for the mechanism, one that will give a quick kick to the mechanism, but has a rapid drop off to its pressure curve. A high residual breech pressure will over accelerate the bolt, leading to rail wear in this mechanism. So, in general, faster burning powders are better than slow burning powder, and pressures in the low 40,000 psia range are better than pressures in the 50,000 to 60,000 range.

Charlie Martinez said:

I don't hunt at all anymore. I want a range toy that I can shoot 25-100 rounds once or twice a month without worries.
Hopefully I'll find someone that wants one too.
Thanks

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As you can probably tell by now, a 742 is not a good range toy at all. It doesn't stand up to that much shooting. I would just get an AR or Garand.

I6turbo said:

Sounds like they ain't no Garand in terms of service life.

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Ain't no Winchester Model 100 either in terms of service life-recall aside.