rem 742 fte problems

[texjack]

I have a remington 742 in 30-06 that gets stuck cases in the chamber about 1 out of 10 rounds. My extractor is good (sometimes removes part of rim) and the only way to remove the brass is to use a cleaning rod. It seems to do this with different factory loads. Is there something wrong with my chamber? How do I measure it?

 

[eliphalet]

Sounds like the 742 I had, and I think a fairly common 742 problem. My solution was to leave the chamber slightly oiled it seemed to work OK like that.
I sold it after the local smith I have known for 30 years advised me "if it isn't broke it will be". He will "almost not take one in trade because of the problems".

 

[rcmodel]

More then likely your chamber is badly fouled with hard powder fouling, or has rusted at some point.
It is difficult to clean the chamber on those rifles using common cleaning methods.

First, I would round up a jointed cleaning rod long enough to reach through the barrel without the handle section screwed on.
Next, you need a .45 Cal. bronze bore brush, some Hoppe's #9 solvent, and and an electric drill.

Run the rod down the barrel and screw the brush on the end through the ejection port.
Now chuck up the rod in the drill and squirt some solvent on the brush.
Turn the drill on and really work over the chamber to get out any hard fouling or rust.

If that doesn't cure it, the chamber is probably pitted and will need to be polished.
I'd probably leave that to a professional gunsmith.

BTW: It is a very dangerous practice to leave oil in a High-Power rifle chamber. That increases bolt thrust all out of proportion to what the action would normally be subject to.


rcmodel

 

[eliphalet]

BTW: It is a very dangerous practice to leave oil in a High-Power rifle chamber. That increases bolt thrust all out of proportion to what the action would normally be subject

Your correct and I should have brought that up RC. I had cleaned as you recommend, case rims were still being torn and found a light coat of CLP cured the problem, so that was what I did. Selling it was my smartest move IMHO as I kept the Leupold VariX II 3X9 that was on the gun when i bought it. Then selling the gun for only $50 less than my purchase price without the scope and mounts on it. Which to get a scope cheap was really why I bought the gun in the first place.

 

[glock-19]

Try it without the magazine. I've seen a couple of them that the front tabs on the magazine were bent down allowing the mag to go to far up, and the case would hit the front of the magazine.

 

[kirbythegunsmith]

Details

This situation is common to varying degrees in these semi guns. A number of years of use between gunsmith-type disassembly will allow a neglected chamber to develop corrosion, and micro-rust surface imperfections have an adhesive effect on the brass. You would not have such an extreme degree of shell-stick (evidenced by the extractor pulling chunks from the rim) without this typical type of interference.

A magazine may have an intrusion into the mechanism's travel, but this is a sign not to rest the magazine area of the rifle on the sandbag. There would not be a need of a rod to knock the shell free due to any mechanical interference. The shell is stuck independent of any outside application or else a light tap with the rod would be more than sufficient.


You may examine the other shells that eject to see that the rim has a considerable distortion from the ejector pull effort, also.

This posting has some pictures of mine detailing the rim distortion variance examples.


http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=286913

This needs gunsmith attention. I can assist if you don't have someone else in mind. Either way, good luck.

See my other postings for more information from a gunsmith's perspective.