742 Morf's from a Sow's ear to a Silk purse.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

A friend on mine bought a used Rem ADL 742 rifle. Really a nice clean looking rifle I have to admit. Little did he know at the time of purchase the rifles Bolt Rails were badly worn. He found that problem out upon his first outing with his new / (lightly) used rifle (first day of MN deer season opener.) _
Well gents at my behest I prompted my friend to call Rem Repair. {Hello Cell Phone!!}_ And for a second time He suffered another disappointment. {He was told Rem Repair don't work on 742 models any longer.}_
So he basically thought he was stuck with a single shot $350.00 Rem sow's ear._
I did a little checking on the Web with the help of my Son's Lap Top the following evening. I came across this site. (link)
Ahlman's has a conversion available for those fellows with worn out rail's or rusty chambered 742s. For $229.00 their favorite 742 semi rifle's can be retrofitted. WOW! _alright!!
So to speak my friends rifle went from a $350.00 sow's ear to a $579.00 silk purse that following Winter. But he's happy and that's all that really matters.

www.ahlmans.com

 

[jmr40]

If he likes it that is what matters, but there are a lot better options for the $579 he has invested, there are far better $350 options. I could probably justify the $229 to get an older gun with family history up and running again, but I wouldn't have gone this route. I'd have tried to get $100-$150 out of it as is and put that money with the $229 and bought something else.

 

[Mobuck]

The thing I see wrong here is: I've not seen a "new/lightly used" 742 with "bolt rails badly worn". I'll admit there are lots of 742's that I haven't seen. It's unfortunate that some 742 owners were too stupid, negligent, or simply uniformed as to let their rifles eat themselves up.
I can't even offer much consolation for anyone buying a used 742 w/o knowing about the problems and determining that their prospective purchase is usable.

I do have a question. Has anyone seen a trashed 742 in a caliber other than 30/06? I realize that 30/06 was the predominant chambering and as such, will also show the higher percentage of damaged rifles but it would seem that at least some of the other chamberings would be included in the wall of shame.

 

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Mobuck

"New" to to my hunting friend. As it indeed was his (first) semi-auto Big Game rifle. And according to what was said by its gun counter salesman. >"Lightly Used"_ is how I came to such a description in my write. "New// lightly used."
And yes. It indeed is a 30-06.

(Personally) I would shy away from buying any (used) semi-auto period._But as I commented prior. This particular 742 was in very good (exterior) appearance. And as you and I both know. Exterior appearance is quite often a misguiding factor by those uninformed (used) gun buyers. i.e. "Not always what you see is how the weapon was kept."