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Ads listed in discussion areas are prohibited. I recently inherited a Remington 742 Woodsmaster in.30'06 from my grandfather. He had this rifle for decades and didn't shoot it much as he was mostly a rabbit hunter. According to the serial number it is a late production gun from 1975-1978. I have read that if you shoot the 742 enough you can actually wear out the receiver; I know Papaw didn't shoot it enough to do that and I doubt I ever would. I suspect the 742 was overgassed like alot of older auto rifle designs including the Mini 14.
Please note that many rifles, particularly.22s, did not have serial numbers pr ior to the Gun Control Act of 1968 rifles were not required to have serial numbers on them. Remington started numbering Nylon rifles in 1967 starting with #11. 'The Model 742 serial number sequence was changed on November 26, 1968 as a result of the 1968 Gun Control Act that required no two guns from the same manufacturer have the same serial number. The initial Model 742 serial number sequence began at 1001 and ended at 396562.
The 7400 was supposed to have had some design changes to correct that. In any event, I bet this rifle has had less than 100 rounds through it. When I opened the case the mag was out of the rifle and still had three rounds in it.
They had probably been loaded since the last time Papaw took it hunting. Anybody have experience with these rifles? My plan is to put a Williams WGRS receiver sight on it and cobble up some low pressure heavyweight rounds for it, something like a 180 grain at 2300-2400 fps. Make it a real Woodsmaster, so to speak.
I figure these loads will be easy on the receiver and my shoulder and still kill anything that needs killing in the Bluegrass.10 round mags are now available for the 742, if I like shooting it enough I'll get one. If anybody has a WGRS they would like to sell give me a holler. Yup-as a gunsmith I had a lot of experience(s) with them. Worked on several, and just as you learned in your readings, they wear their receivers out. They have a bolt design where by the front half of the bolt which has the multiple locking lugs telescopes back into the rear portion, and the two parts are connected with a cross pin through slots. It takes a lot of shooting, but these parts eventually wear and the part with the locking lugs turns past the position where it should stop and begins to cut matching slots in the left wall of the receiver (as viewed from the rear).
The lugs are harder than the receiver and the violent turning motion acts much like a machine tool cutting slots. Eventually the problem becomes so bad that the gun will jam open after every shot and it usually has to be disassembled to get the bolt unlocked from the rear. This is a well know problem in the gunsmithing world and was acknowledged as such by Remington who for many years had a compensation program where if you sent in the bad receiver they would give you a substantial discount on the 7400 model. That program has been over for years now, and if your gun goes bad you have no recourse other than to try to find an unworn receiver. That's a very difficult proposition because if used enough eventually they will all have the problem. The good news though is that if your granddad's rifle saw little actual use and you just intend to shoot a box or two of cartridges through it per year it will likely last the rest of your lifetime. IMO, that rifle's a very nice remembrance of your Grandfather, and your plans for it are sound.
Please realize a couple of things. Once upon a time, I was the rangemaster @ my gunclub (10 years), and at every year's public sighting-in day, the fella's that had the most trouble zeroing their rifles were the those with the Remington 742's - so be sure to recheck the zero after every time you transport the rifle to a hunting destination. Also, realize that, while the WGRS is an excellent set-n-forget hunting peep sight, installing it will raise the rifle's line-of-sight much higher than the issue open sight's lne-of-sight, thus requiring a new front sight blade that's about 1/10' taller then the issue front sight blade (swapping it out is E-Z-Peazy), in order to zero the rifle. Switching out the front sight is an excellent opportunity to install a different style front sight bead (Ivory, Gold, fiber-optic) that you may find better than the issue blackened brass front sight. Also, Best Practice, for a clean sight picture through the peep, indicates that the rear open sight be removed from the barrel.
Remington ramped rear sight bases unscrew, & the receiver top filler screws removed to mount the WGRS can be used to fill the rear sight ramp holes in the barrel; rear sights mounted directly in a barrel dovetail can be replaced with a slot filler blank, bought (commercially-made) or filed up from the male dovetail section of just about any old real longleaf rear open sight. FWIW, my very best DRT deer smackdown rifle was a.30-06 Remington Model 7400 with 180gr Core-Lokt RN slugs. Thanks for the good advice everybody. This rifle has the later style sights which are pretty tall and screwed on to the barrel front and rear. I've been using Williams receiver sights for a long time and will probably upgrade the front as well. The rear sight holes can just be plugged with set screws. I printed the original instruction manual off the Remington website which includes disassembly instructions.
Remington states quite plainly that this manual is the full extent of parts and service they offer for this rifle. First order of business will be a careful disassembly and cleaning, afterward I may shoot it some with the issue sights and some factory ammo I have sitting around to see just how well it does in stock form.
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Evidently, alot of these rifles have been junked over the years because there are tons of used parts on Fleabay and GB. That is a concern about the guns operation with enough power to function. That's an 06, you can get shooting a little harder than that 30-30 load. With its weight and gas operation something a little stouter would be about the same recoil as the 30-30 load in a 94. For an idea why not a HP 210 gr or a bit heavier @ about 1900 fps or so, good mushroom, deep drivin with wind bucking. If you shoot one of jcoat bullets why don't you go to ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase and read up on the 300 Savage for a bullit that would go good with that velocity. If it is too stout of jword it will not be very effective.
If you can get that semi to shoot into a couple of inches @ 100 yds then maybe the Speer 180 BT would work good for those velocities, buck the wind and be a good performer out to a couple of hundred yards. Don't hit a deer with them less than 100 yds doing 3000 fps. I remember when I was young that most guys didn't shoot their deer rifles all that much.
A box of 20 rounds would be good for several years. So I can see where a rifle could be quite old and have very little actual shooting use. Now it might get carried around a lot, etc. But not shot much. Heck I think I used my deer rifles a lot more that most of the other guys, as I would shoot them a lot more, to make sure I had it down pretty good about where the point of aim, etc would be. But most everyone else would use three to five rounds to make sure their rifle was sighted in good. Then they would use one possibly two rounds to shoot a deer every year, or none if they had bad luck and didn't see any.
Then the rifle would get cleaned and oil and put back up until next year. I am probably the first person on either side of my family lineage that actually embraces shooting and reloading as a stand alone hobby, not just something you do to make things go dead. I come from a long line of hunters for whom guns are just tools, if they are reasonably sure that they can put the bullet in a lethal spot then no need for practice.
The more experienced I become as a shooter the more I realize how grossly overconfident we can be, myself included.This paragraph also applies to me. Well stated Sir.
. Related Post:. About Remington 700 Rifles Remington 700 rifles are a series of bolt action rifles that came out in 1962. They were manufactured by Remington Arms, which is a reputable weapons manufacturer that primarily makes rifles, shotguns and handguns.
The 700 series uses a centerfire bolt action, which contains ammunition that has the primer in the center of the cartridge case head. You will often find model 700s to have a 5, 4, or 3-round internal magazine. It all depends on the caliber of the rifle because some have a floor plate that allows you to load quickly while others have no floor plate. There are some Remington Model 700s that can be purchased with a detachable box magazine, which allows you to fire more ammunition. Model 700s can be ordered with different barrel, caliber and stock configurations. If you understand these configurations then you can request them from most gun dealers.
Otherwise, you should just leave it alone. The Remington Model 700 was based on previous Remington models that came after World War II.
These were the Remington 722 and 721 models from 1948. The 700 contains three different lengths for its action. There are short action versions that use 2.8 inch cartridges. Next there are standard action versions that use 3.34 inch cartridges. Finally, there are long action versions that use over 3.34 inch magnum calibers.
The type of action you choose will depend on the damage you want to inflict. The long action will be the most powerful, so use them if you want to take down big targets. Many hunters will use long action rifles for this reason because they hunt deer or other big animals. But if you are just looking to defend your home then short action should be suitable this particular need.
Like with many Remington shotgun models, the Remington Model 700 rifle also has variations for the police. The 700P is the police issued version that has a 26 inch heavy barrel with telescopic gun sight, a carrying case and bipod. This variant was influenced by the M24 Sniper Weapon System, which means that you can use it for sniping enemies. So if you ever see a major crime scene where police officers are pointing rifles from the roof of a building then they are probably using a Remington Model 700P. As for the military, they are starting to modify their own M40 sniper rifles and M24 Sniper Weapon System from the parts of the Remington Model 700 rifle.
They see how well it works in the civilian world and they want to use it in combat situations as a result. Remington 700 Serial Number Lookup Remington 700 Serial Number Lookup is based on information from Remington company. It is possible to find out Remington 700 age by serial number.
You just need to find two letters on the barrel. Remington 700 serial number decoder will automatically decode the barrel numbers.Please note that Remington repeats the alphabet approximately every 26 years, therefore you may see several possible manufacturing dates.The first letter on your barrel is the month your firearm was manufactured; the second letter is the year it was manufactured.
Information confirming the manufacturing coding used by Remington can be found online. Decoder is based on following information: Remington Year of Manufacture Codes maybe found on the barrel of your Remington rifle or shotgun on the left side, just forward of the receiver; the first letter of the Code is the month of manufacture, followed by one or two letters which are the year of manufacture. For shotguns with removeable barrels, the code will be valid for the manufacture of the barrel; maybe for the receiver, as barrels do get switched around.