I am having trouble with a 742 Remington. It will cycle sometimes and then it will jam. It seems to have more problems on a full magazine than one with several cartridges out of it. I have tried two different magazines with the same result. The rifle shoots pretty well so I would like to know any suggestions that you all might have

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.....The Remington 742 has a fatal flaw in design that can cause the problem you describe. If you pull the magazine and look into the action from below, you'll see two rails on the top of the action. About 2/3 of the way back on the left rail, there will probably be an that looks scalloped or saw toothed. It's not supposed to look that way. The bolt rocks at the back of the travel and peens the locking lugs into the rail to cause the damage. Most 742 develop the condition. Some fail and others don't, I don't know why. Remington never found a cure for it.

Or it may just need a good cleaning.

quote:

Originally posted by M Pursell:
...Or it may just need a good cleaning.

Agree with the cleaning as a great starting place.

Since folks clean them from the Muzzle, as the Brush enters the Chamber it flings Residue and Trash all over the inside of the Chamber. Then when you run the Patch down the Bore, it will not re-open WIDE enough to wipe the Chamber clean. Eventually this Dries and causes undue drag on the Ejection Timing.

So, the Chamber needs to be cleaned through the Ejection Port. The fine folks at Hoppe's make a short "T-handle, Nylon Shaft" cleaning tool which allows the shaft to flex as it enters the Port. I made one years ago with a Rubber Gas Line which has the I.D. tight enough to hold the end of a Brush snug.

By the way, once you get the Chamber clean, put a Spent Case in the Chamber when cleaning from the Muzzle and "most of" the Trash will be flung into it. But you still need to clean the Chamber through the Ejection Port.
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If you have a large Gun Shop nearby, check the Remington Display Racks to see if they have a Rebuild Kit for the Gas System. Not expensive and occasionally helps with Feeding.

Best of luck to you.

quote:

Originally posted by hta:
I am having trouble with a 742 Remington. It will cycle sometimes and then it will jam. It seems to have more problems on a full magazine than one with several cartridges out of it. I have tried two different magazines with the same result. The rifle shoots pretty well so I would like to know any suggestions that you all might have

Sir, I don't know if this is even pertinent to your rifle's issue but I had a 742 that acted like that and I polished the feed lips of the magazine with 400 grit paper and that ended my problem. Thank you.

A good cleaning on a 742 means removing the barrel so that you can get the bolt out. It's not a job for the timid.

Remington won't support the rifle anymore. The problem noted in the above post is a very common problem with all the the 742,740,7400 etc. series of rifles. Once the bolt lugs become worn of battered jamming is almost always the case. Many gun shops won't even take one in trade anymore because of these problems. They don't want the customer to come back with a malfunctioning rifle to haunt them. As has been noted, a good cleaning after the bbl. has been removed could help.

We took the gun apart and cleaned it down to the last bolt last winter hoping to cure this problem. Your right, this is not a job that you would like to do very often. I did notice,however, that the cases were filthy when they came out of the chamber. I reload all of my own ammo. The rifle seems to like 57gr. of IMR 4350 behind a 165 gr nosler partition. The rifle does not appear to have many rounds through it. I appreciate any and all thoughts on this problem,because, when the rifle does work it shoots around a 1 inch group at a hundred yards.

I think you would be bettr off using a faster burning powder than 4350. The remington pumps and autos are pressure sensitive , if pressures are too high they won't extract easily, and the dirty cases coming out of the chamber is another indication of a too slow burning powder. Bill

I have seen the peening of the rails on these guns, last one was last week. Now this may sound stange to some but I have had several of these guns resume working by replacing the "bolt latch". Just remember to not lose the springs and plunger.

A couple of my friends have those guns.

Because most clean from the muzzle the chambers and actions get a lot of gunk in them.

Get a flexible chamber cleaning rod, and use it first with a brush and the dry out the chamber as a last step.

Also I would seriously clean out the action with Gun Scrubber, and then follow that with a couple of doses of Hornady spray cleaner and lube, which leaves some dry lube in the action.

Then maybe a little Breakfree, here and there [I cannot help it I use Breakfree for a lot of things].

Well maintained these guns usually work.

There was an article in American Gunsmith magazine within the last 12-18 months on this family of rifles and they went into this very problem. I will see if I can find that issue and get back to you.
Mike

UPDATE... I took the rifle apart and cleaned thoroughly cleaned it again. I inspected the rails that were mentioned. They were rough. I took a stone to them and smoothed them up a little. On reassembly I used some Sil-Glyde to try and get something on them and make them slicker. I also loaded up some different ammo. I loaded up IMR4320 in back of the partitions. On the rate of burn chart I went from#91 to #79. I then took the rifle out today and shot it. It never had a problem today. I did notice,however, that the brass got progressively dirtier. I only shot today about twenty rounds. My question is, is it normal to have to clean the rifle every twenty or thirty rounds. Also, I am not familiar with Gun Scrubber and Breakfree. I proably did not use the right stuff. I cleaned everything with Brakleen and then used rem-oil to reassemble.I am interested in where I can get Breakfree. It sounds like a good product.
there must be a short-cut so as not to have to tear the rifle down so often. Thank You everybody for your help and input. Any added insight would be appreciated.

hta

You should be able to find Break Free at some gunstores.

The reason I use Gun Scrubber and the Hornaday Spray "stuff" is so I do not mhave to mrtake the rifle appart. Especially since they were not mine.