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Help with Rem 740 30-06

3K views 19 replies 7 participants last post by  daffy... 
#1 ·
Looking for some advice regarding a Remington 740 autoloader in 30-06. This is my Grandpa's old gun that my cousin recently had. The gun used to have a sidemount for the scope which my cousin had replaced with peek-through rings (which suck but I don't think it's the issue). A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with my cousin and he told me that since he has had the gun back from having the new rings put on it he can't get it sighted in or even keep it on paper. Well I have the time and place to mess with it so I said I'd take a look at it. Today I took the gun to the range. First two shots @ 25 yards were touching (150 grn Rem Core-Lokt PSP) so I put the target out to 100 yards. 3 shot group just over 1" .... perfect. Well, I also brought along a box of Hornady SST Interbond 150s. Shot 3 times, group was the size of a basketball @ 100 yards. I let the gun cool for 20 minutes or so, shot another group....again size of a basketball. I was initially thinking it just didn't like those bullets so I shot another 3 core-lokts....group was again all over the place.

The only thing I didn't do was brush the barrel out or run any fouling cleaner down it, but I can't imagine it got that fouled after just 10-15 shots. I know I'm not flinching...the gun is extremely soft shooting (softer than my model 94 30-30), plus I was shooting off bags and had a heavy coat on so the recoil was barely felt.

The plan is to clean the gun and take it back to the range and fire a 3 shot group again and see what happens, I don't understand why the group opens up so much after the first 5 shots or so, even when I let the barrel cool way down.

Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to be as thorough as possible.
 
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#3 ·
Kurt said:
Fouling is not a issue. Are the rings and bases tight. If you have another scope that you know is good put it on and see what it does. What kind of scope do you have on it.
The scope is a Leupold VX-II 2-7x. It is older but in good shape. I have other scopes but I don't know that I want to take them off of any of my other guns to do this. Everything on the bases seems to be tight. I was going to measure the tube dia on each side of the mounts to make sure that is consistent but I'm not convinced the scope is the problem, if I had to guess it is the mounts. AFAIK the gun shot fine before my cousin had the scope re-mounted.
 
#5 ·
That is quite a spread...............

However some rifles are very tempermental on the bullets that they are feed.

Round nose, spitzer,boat tail, lead,copper, Moly, 130 to 200gr, max vel, target vel., crimp ,no crimp, fac oa or tuching the lands...etc.

I almost gave up on 150 grain til the Sierra BT with IMR4320 fac oa, or the Rem 150 and IMR 4350 with a Crimp at 3.17 "!!

Don't ever give up..............

There are loads out there that are tac drivers, it just takes time to find them.

If in doubt, you can go with the 180gr for everything and never look back !!

Good hunting.
 
#7 ·
Usually an '06 will shoot pretty good if the mounts and scopes are tight and in good shape , along with stock screws.

Rest the gun on the stock and not the barrel when shooting and don't let the barrel over heat......I test it by grabbing the muzzle
lightly to feel the temperature. (clean area before storing ) Most semi's will only shoot three rounds with any acuracy with the
others as "Flyers".

Might also try the Factory " light recoil loads " if they are in your area , since my rifle likes 88% loads and the deer fall , just as dead, with less meat damage, from these loads.

Hope you get something for the freezer.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, spent some time at the range Saturday shooting some 180 core-lokts that I found. Determined that the barrel is very sensitive to temperature. If I let the barrel cool for 10-15 min every 3 shots or so I could hold about a 2" group at 100 yards. Still not great but much much better than what I was experiencing.
 
#9 ·
I have a model 4 which is just a newer model semi auto and it allways shot good, but then gradually got worse. I used copper solvent on the barrel and it started shooting better than ever. The copper solvent is a process, not just running the brush down the barrel, it took 2 or 3 days of soaking to get it clean. Get a good copper solvent and follow the directions, I bet you'll see a difference. Tear the whole gun down and give it a good cleaning, take off the fore end and clean the gas port and springs. I know what you mean about the see thru mounts, mine had them when I bought it, first thing I did was take them off, put low rings on, take the open sights off and put plug screws in the holes. I also took apart the action and stoned the hammer and sear to get rid of the rough spots, it still has some creep, but it's nice and smooth.
 
#10 ·
cjg said:
I have a model 4 which is just a newer model semi auto and it allways shot good, but then gradually got worse. I used copper solvent on the barrel and it started shooting better than ever. The copper solvent is a process, not just running the brush down the barrel, it took 2 or 3 days of soaking to get it clean. Get a good copper solvent and follow the directions, I bet you'll see a difference. Tear the whole gun down and give it a good cleaning, take off the fore end and clean the gas port and springs. I know what you mean about the see thru mounts, mine had them when I bought it, first thing I did was take them off, put low rings on, take the open sights off and put plug screws in the holes. I also took apart the action and stoned the hammer and sear to get rid of the rough spots, it still has some creep, but it's nice and smooth.
Thanks. I'll have to look into the copper solvent. The trigger on this gun is a joke @ 6-8 lbs with quite a bit of creep, I may have that worked on after deer season this year.
 
#11 ·
WipeOut is a foaming cleaner that does very well in taking out copper with the minimum if elbow grease. Just use another product for carbon. A good cleaning of the action, ports, etc. ain't a bad idea, neither.

Had a 742 when I was a kid, and feel your pain. Just don't expect a miracle out of 'em and watch your temps.
 
#12 ·
bgoldhunter said:
WipeOut is a foaming cleaner that does very well in taking out copper with the minimum if elbow grease. Just use another product for carbon. A good cleaning of the action, ports, etc. ain't a bad idea, neither.

Had a 742 when I was a kid, and feel your pain. Just don't expect a miracle out of 'em and watch your temps.
Now that you mention it, I do have some foaming bore cleaner sitting around that I forgot about, I'll have to check to see what it is though. I ordered a spring kit to reduce the trigger pull down to about 4 lbs which should help a little. I never had huge expectations for the gun but I figured I should be able to hold at least a 2" group at 100 yards if not a little better.
 
#14 ·
bgoldhunter said:
Had a 742 when I was a kid, and feel your pain. Just don't expect a miracle out of 'em and watch your temps.
Keep it clean and use good ammo and temps won't matter, been using mine here in northern Maine for years, usually have snow/cold weather and never had an issue. It shoots consistant 1 1/2" groups. the trigger isn't even close to a good bolt, but it's a semi auto and it's about what I would expect. I wouldn't consider them long range weapons, but most of my shots are well under 100yds so it works for me, got my buck this year at about 25 feet, 2 shots through the lungs, he didn't go far.
 
#17 ·
Problem is the design. The barrel is pressure fitted into a the receiver and the bolt doesnt full lock up. Many gun shops around here will not accept them on trade and sell them "as is". I have 2 friends who have had several issues with them. Neither of them get much better accuracy than 3-4 inch groups.
 
#18 ·
TopGunMich said:
Problem is the design. The barrel is pressure fitted into a the receiver and the bolt doesnt full lock up. Many gun shops around here will not accept them on trade and sell them "as is". I have 2 friends who have had several issues with them. Neither of them get much better accuracy than 3-4 inch groups.
I refuse to believe that it is the gun. Yes the design is flawed in many ways but this specific gun has never had that problem in the past. The 742 that I just bought will shoot 1" all day at 100 yards (so will my other grandpa's and 2 of my uncles) so it isn't the design.
 
#19 ·
#20 ·
i have a 740. passed down by my grandfather. and a 742 passed down by my other grandfather. like someone else said the bolt, reciever and barrel lost there connection. i took it to my buddies smithing shop. he had 15+ 742 recievers on the wall. so those proved to be a lesser quailty rifle out of the 74 - 7400 models. he told me a guy was converting 742s to pumps. didnt investigate cus i have already more then enough rifles. as for the 740 i break it out once or twice a year when a buddy wants to go hunting. ill let him take my more prefured rifles BAR or model 99 but i was having the same problem when i was trying to get a scope to hit on the 740. could shoot a mag, then it was well over 15 minutes to cool it back down to fire another set again, cleaning wasnt the problem and i tried ever round aviable in a 50 mile radius. my BAR for the first time this year was doing it. not to worry though, ever used 15 rounds in a hunting situation? just a pain in the ass to get sighted in
 
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