Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping System

Rem 742

prhunter

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 2, 2014
Messages
1,269
Location
West Texas
Hello all,

I recently acquired an used Rem 742 in 30-06. According to the serial# it was manufactured in 1979.

Took it out to the range the other day and it worked just fine.

What can anyone tell me about this firearm. Thanks in advance.
 
My grandpa loved semi automatic rifles. He had several 742s in the gun cabinet.

If you handload for it I’d be a little conservative.
 
Affectionately known as Jam-o-matic. I was told by a gunsmith that Remington used too soft of metal on the action slides causing chatter marks that after time leads to jamming. I proved it on a bear hunt in Saskatchewan, killed bear that was charging...yes I said charging.. me at 7 yards. After all the droppings fell out of my pants I found the spent casing jammed in the action, last time I used that rifle.
 
They can be prone to jamming as stated above. I have heard of the "chatter marks" also but in my experience with them I think a lot of the jamming can come from older magazines and not being throughly cleaned. I have an older 742 carbine in 06 that is a family heirloom. It was jamming and a new magazine and cleaning fixed the issue. Mine is accurate enough to be useful. I have seen a few that are jamming machines and a few that are tack drivers but most are somewhere in between.
 
My Dad had one when I was a kid in 30-06. It jammed on him when he was trying to get in a second shot on a nice 10 point whitetail. He got the deer, but sold the gun. They are cool pieces of hunting history. I wouldn’t mind owning one just for that reason.
 
I had one for 3 years back in the 1970s and never had a jammed round but I only used it a few times.
 
Used one (30-06) for years my dad bought in 1963. He killed a lot of mulies with it. My sons and I have used it on whitetails to good effect. Have had one jam while in field. Not bad for a 50 year old gun!
 
I shoot one in 6mm. Mine fits into the tack driver category.

My grandma killed her first deer with it, my dad killed his first deer with it, I killed my first deer with it. I killed a whitetail with it last year. For a lot of years it was fired twice. Once to double check the zero (which never moved) and once to kill a buck.

Never jammed for me, never jammed for my dad. If I run a lot of rounds (2 boxes) through it without cleaning it’ll slow down a bit cycling.
 
Keep it clean and experiment with a couple different brands of ammo and things may be just fine for you. I viewed mine as a single shot with an optional follow up - timing based on the gun's choosing, not the shooter's. My son really enjoyed shooting mine and he had pretty good luck with it, now it just sits in the safe.
 
Affectionately known as Jam-o-matic. I was told by a gunsmith that Remington used too soft of metal on the action slides causing chatter marks that after time leads to jamming. I proved it on a bear hunt in Saskatchewan, killed bear that was charging...yes I said charging.. me at 7 yards. After all the droppings fell out of my pants I found the spent casing jammed in the action, last time I used that rifle.
I agree with Jam-O-Matic, I took an older guy to Nebraska last fall he wanted to kill a deer with a rifle, so he drags this 742 chambered in 280 along with us, awesome caliber crap platform. Whitetail doe gave him wonderful 60 yard broadside shot, (he suffers for bad blood pressure, onset’s of demintia, his eye sight is on the rapid decline) he missed and of course the 742 jams so no follow up shot. I take it apart clean it put it back together shove a mag in it 7 out of 10 shots jammed.
 
Any scope recommendations for this 742? I was thinking of a low power scope like a Leopold Vari-X 2.5-8x36 or similar. I don't plan on doing any long range shooting with it. Just want to sight it in at 200yds and use as a back up gun. Thanks
 
A fixed power would do the rifle good or a smaller framed compact scope. Leupold makes a few really good ones.
 

Attachments

  • scopes.PNG
    scopes.PNG
    124.5 KB · Views: 1
  • sde.PNG
    sde.PNG
    76.6 KB · Views: 1
This is the rifle in question. I'm undecided on either having the stock refinished and bluing the metal myself or just leave it as is. It should be a fun project. Please feel free to comment.
 

Attachments

  • WIN_20191123_174511.JPG
    WIN_20191123_174511.JPG
    1,007.2 KB · Views: 9
  • WIN_20191123_174528.JPG
    WIN_20191123_174528.JPG
    847.5 KB · Views: 9
  • WIN_20191123_174552.JPG
    WIN_20191123_174552.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 10
  • WIN_20191123_174636.JPG
    WIN_20191123_174636.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 8
  • WIN_20191123_174653.JPG
    WIN_20191123_174653.JPG
    935.1 KB · Views: 8
My dad bought a 742 in .30-06 around 1980 or so and used it sparsely. I have the rifle now. As long as I stick to factory ammo of 150 grains, the rifle functions very well. At >150 grains, the bolt tends to get jammed in the little rails, and my gunsmith has to smooth the rails a little. Supposedly when the rails finally wear out, you can convert it to a pump action like the 760 line and it will be fine.

I put a vintage Weaver fixed 6x scope on it and killed deer and hogs with it. But when it came time to choose a rifle for my bear hunt, I took my old Springfield instead.
 
GOHUNT Insider

Forum statistics

Threads
110,808
Messages
1,935,222
Members
34,887
Latest member
Uncle_Danno
Back
Top