Remington 742 Carbine did I get lucky???

J

Joey V.

New member
hey all

I bought a Remington 742 Carbine in 30-06 last weekend at a gun show. It was in pretty good shape and the lug teeth looked good still so for $300 I said what the heck... It shoots real good and didn't Jam a shell or anything but I only shot 20 rounds so far. One thing that did happen is that I fired a round and a second round failed to "pick up" and chamber from the magazine just once. This does make me nervous because that is the last thing I need on a hog hunt if i need a fast second shot. I wish I could totally de militarize my AK 47 to look like a BAR hunting rifle so I wouldn't be "odd looking" hunting with it. Never had one jam, feeding problem, or failure of any type and I have shot maybe 1500 rounds out of it. Its A Norinco MAK 90 by the way.
 
U did good.....Get a new magazine..It will probably solve problem.....
I have a carbine that I replaced stock with a realtree camo one and add a realtree camo scope also(1.5x5).....The stock is lighter and slimmer.....Soft pad too....Shot several hogs with it.....180 grain corelocks........
 
check the guide rails in the action as well. As these wear so do the other internal parts that are soft. If you shoot it a few time a year you should do O.K.
 
Saw one in my local shop for $350 a few days ago.. it caught my eye for some reason, but I didn't ask to see it. $300 sounds like a good deal.
 
Sounds like a good deal!
I purchased one new back in 1975 it shot well every year deer hunting until 1991.I could've had it fixed back then for around 180.00,it was so close to deer season I traded it for a new Remington 7400 30-06' I still have that rifle
 
As near as I can tell from the 742K I had, and a bunch of Internet comments, they're good hunting rifles but they're not good range toys. The problem of wear is moreso than for other rifles.

As far as any feed problems, sometimes the lips of a magazine merely need a bit of adjusting with needle-nose pliers. I've fixed many a "bad" 1911 mag which then became quite reliable. But a new one and the "tweaked" one as a spare is not unwise.
 
They sure are pretty and comfortable, but Remington never put the quality parts in them. They pretty much beat themselves to death in under 2500rnds. My dad had the 7400, man was it a pretty gun. It didn't last 3000rnds of mostly surplus ammo, he sold it at around 2700.
 
As most have said......They are good hunting rifles........Take an AR to the range not this one.........The carbine version is really cool.........
 
Art is right as usual. MOST feeding problems are in the angle of the lips on the magazine. They should lie flat on the cartridge; not angling the round downward so the bolt won't pick up the next round. BOTH sides need to be even also. $300.00 is a fair price. Keep the chamber, rails and barrel spring slide clean and you'll have a great meat rifle.
 
If you got one that works for $300 i say you did pretty good. What's the problem with the way the AK looks though? I use my AR and SKS pig hunting all the time. Pigs don't care what it looks like and I don't care what other people think about them.
 
I sighted a 742 in for a friend once. That thing would group as tight as any bolt action made....

Didn't know about the soft rails. Guess they never heard about nitriding back then...
 
with remington 742's all you gotta remember is too clean the action and the assembly's under the stock for your recoil....magazines are one of the only issue these guns ever had other than people not cleaning them good enough
 
Further Rem 742 gun testing update.

Well I have fired a few different kinds of ammo from it and it all worked real well. I love the 180 Core lokt round nose so that is what I will use and the gun was designed to use that anyway. So what I did notice from a wear standpoint is that when the action slams back at the rear most position the teeth of the bolt "kiss" the rails on the receiver way in the back. Mine being the 742 model the bolt has a latch that stops the bolt spine during rear travel the old models I hear stop the bolt by hitting the rails..... From a tolerance standpoint the sliding bolt at is rear most travel gets just a touch canted and that is why the teeth hit the top and side rail a little. I think with lots of round this will certainty cause a problem for sure. So the fix was simple and I will outline what I did below.

I first JB Weld Epoxied the small teethmarks the bolt made not as a permanent fix but to give it a little bit of cushion to eat into instead of more steel. well that got me thinking if I limited the travel of the slide it would eliminate the canting of the bolt on the rear travel. I took the forearm stock off and looked at the action. I simply cut out a round piece of rubber gasket material I bought from a hardware store (the reddish orange stuff 12x12 sheet 1/8th" thick) and cut a washer out of it. I wedged it under the spring to hold it good and pulled the bolt back. It was perfect and still cycled rounds without a problem but didn't let the bolt cant incorrectly into the miss aligned receiver hole. I fired around 10 rounds and nothing hit the JB welded rail marks and the gun fired perfectly. I will check / replace the rubber gasket I made before each hunt and try not to shot this much at all unless I am hunting. Gun should last longer than I will :).

BTW I saw the new 750 autos from Remington and they are made very well IMHO. All of the flaws of the 742 where fixed. If I ever do blow this gun out I will buy the new one hands down. I am handicapped so for me it is awesome to be able to use this kind of action. I have a hard time using a bolt with my right hand due to a spinal cord injury.
 
742 Fix

Joey V.
After reading your post I checked my 1961 742 carbine, same marks (DA). Used your fix only I used 1/8" Teflon to make the washer out of. Just returned from the range and test fire, 20rnds 147gr FMJ's and 2rnds Remington 180gr Core-Lokt, worked great. I think if you try Teflon in place of rubber it might last longer, not even a dent in the Teflon, spacing was perfect, fed great.
Thanks for the insight.:D:D
 
I since made it a pump

Thx for the tip.
I have made this a pump action now by blocking the port and attaching a new grip. I saw online how to do it. It shoots good and in pa I can't hunt with a semi auto so this way it is useful. I can easily convert it back to semi if I ever wanted to so pretty neat multi purpose rifle.
 
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