entropy
Member
Just out of sheer curiosity, what makes you think so? In essence we're not talking about anything else than a mechanism that has proved itself time and time again in semiautomatic rifles, with the exception that the force required to operate the mechanism is delivered by the shooter instead of gas pressure.
I know, it might be a more appropriate to digress with a thread of its own, but I'm quite interested in an objective, well dissected explanation to this point of view.
The Remington 740 and 760 series had several flaws, the most glaring of them being the weakness of the receiver relative to the bolts' hardened steel. The bolt would damage the internal rails it rode on due to vigorous pumping (760) or hot loads and vigorous hand operating (740). This would cause damage to the bolt head with it's 14 lugs. (Corrected in the 7400/7600 series-they went to more conventional lugs)
The 740/742 developed a reputation as a "jam-o-matic", and poor owner maintenance often exacerbated the problem, as the gas system must be run dry. Many owners lubed it, then wondered why it jammed. Quite often hot handloads were used in them resulting in the aformentioned rail damage. It is rare these days to find a 740 or 742 without some damage to the rails. It's less common with 760's but they often have it too.