I have a Remington 742 3006 that's 28 years old. When I 1st bought the gun it was very accurate. for the last 20 years I mainly hunted thick woods so I would just sight in dead on at 25 yds and be good to go. I recently started hunting open fields and tried to sight in at 100. The best group I been able to get is about 3.5 inches. Shooting 150 gr bullets. I've tried Winchester factory loads and Nozzler bullets behind Varget and IMR 4895. I tried moving the bullet both in and out and didn't see any difference. Any thoughts on anything else to try, or has the gun just seen it's better days. It has been road hard and put up wet.

Before you hang it up, try a week of lapping with a slurry of Bon-Amy and Sweet's 7.62 solvent followed by just the Sweet's and than Kroil. In other words get the bore down to bare metal and than lube or just go back into the woods. roger

wrightboy, After doing what Roger recommended, I'd experiment with different manufacturer's 150gr. bullets and perhaps IMR 4064. If you stick to IMR 4895 and Varget with new bullets, drop back to starting loads and work up. Lastly, check the sights on the rifle to amke sure they're not the problem.

I did clean the gun with Hopps bore cleaner and solvent. Not for a week, but a pretty good cleaning. I guess it wouldn't hurt to let it soak a week and scrub again. I also tried a different scope to make sure that wasn't the problem

wrightboy

"When I 1st bought the gun it was very accurate"

What are you basing that statement on? If it is the 25 yards groups then perhaps it is doing all it ever did. It is a gas gun and but some will provide close to mos accuracy with 3 shot groups but those are few between. However, since you "rode it hard and put it away wet" have you either gone through the entire rifle or had a gunsmith do it checking for loose parts? They do rattle loose so you might check it out. Also keep in mind the 3.5 moa will kill deer all day long out to 200 yards which is a fair distance for a rifle named "Woodsmaster".

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by wrightboy:
I have a Remington 742 3006 that's 28 years old.

I recently started hunting open fields and tried to sight in at 100. The best group I been able to get is about 3.5 inches. Shooting 150 gr bullets.

Any thoughts on anything else to try, or has the gun just seen it's better days. It has been road hard and put up wet.

As a rule the 74xx series has never been a seriously accurate rifle, but if your rifle has been cleaned from the muzzle all these years without a boreguide you may have a worn crown. A good 'smith can tell you if that's the problem and shorten the barrel and recrown it. As others have a mentioned you need to use a copper cleaning solvent, not just Hoppes No.9. Other than that the usual suspects include see through mounts (throw them away), cheap alloy mounts and rings (if a fella needs inexpensive there's no reason to buy less than Weavers), a cheap scope (there are no variables that cost less than $175 that are worth owning, let alone slapping around on a selfloader). A fella might give heavier 165 and 180 bullets a spin just to see if they shoot better. If your groups don't tighten up the slightly flatter trajectory of the 150s won't matter. Good luck to you.

In my limited experiece with 740/742 rifes, 3" groups is about right, no matter what they are fed. They are hunting rifles, not intended for target or long range work at all.

Definitely give it a thorough cleaning first. That is an area that most people neglect or don't do as thoroughly as they can or should. When I clean a long gun I give it three cycles of a foaming bore cleaner before I even begin with patches and solvent. Try it, if you haven't done that, you will be amazed at how much blue crud (copper fouling) comes out.

Then have a gunsmith check for loose screws, scopes mounts, dinged crowns, et cet. to see that there's no obvious problem.

Then see how it shoots.

LWD

Model 742 Remingtons are NOT noted for their superb accuracy, but some will shoot better than others. My experience with this model rifle in .30/'06 indicates that 3.5" at 100 yards is typical, but as I said, some are better.

Hoppe's No.9 solvent is by far the best gun perfume out there, especially when mixed with a whiff of linseed oil smell and Mixture 79 pipe tobacco smoke. But it is NOT the world's best stuff for getting your gun clean. Get a jar of J-B Paste from Brownell's, and polish your bore with that, ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTIONS.

After you have ascertained that the bore is spotless, the stock thru-bolt is torqued correctly, and all other screws, including the scope mount screws, are tight, you can start trying to develop an accurate load for it. The first variable to work with is powder charge weight. Select a very accurate bullet, such as the Nosler Ballistic Tip (I rec. a 165 or 180), start with a minimum load from a good handbook, and load up three rounds each at increments of 0.5-grain, and test them from a benchrest shooting the lightest load first, working up until you find the best powder charge. Then, you can do the same with variable bullet seating depths with that good load, etc.

try the hornady 180 BTSP factory NONlightmag load.
My 740 shoots 1.5" groups w/ a 4x scope w/ them.

On a personal note I have a later model semi-auto, a model 74, which is the "rough finished" version of the 7400, the follow on model.

My rifle really likes IMR4064 and the 165gr Nosler.

with a 4x scope it shoots as well as any other rifle I've shot with a 4x scope, generally around 1.5-1.75" at 100yards.

The thing is I can usually do that well with this rifle standing up too, and I used to keep several "bragging group" targets much smaller than that, one of which won me $20 on a bet that I couldn't shoot four shots rapid fire and keep them under 2", I snapped ack that I could fire 4 shots and cover them with a quarter, the guy making the bet said that I shouldn't push my luck. they wound up slightly under 3/4".
But I'm not betting that I could do it again "on command".

My recommendation is 49grains of IMR4064 and the 165gr bullet of your choice, with a CCI200 primer.
I will say that I personally load that load in a remington case
but if you prefer a winchester case you'll probably wind up jacking it up a full grain.
with federal cases you kinda split the difference, atleast that's my experience with the batches of cases I've worked with in the rifle As with all loading your mileage may vary.

I will also say that I've worked with two other Remington semi-auto's and a pair of 760 pump rifles (working up loads for friends and relatives) and NONE of them was
particularly accurate with 150gr bullets, and while not up to bolt rifle standards they all did better with 165's
and one of the pumps wouldn't shoot worth a damn (<4"@100yd) with anything other than 180gr bullets.
(in this case a Nosler protected point partition)

Personally If I had it to do all over again I'd get a pump.
the pump is utterly insentitive to what propellants you feed it. Gas port pressures can makes things "ugly" with the slower propellants, RL19 and IMR4350 should only be used in an auto behind 180gr bullets.

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