rem. 7400

[Kato_Guy]

A friend has a rem. 7400. He says its a single shot semi auto. He put it in the corner after it malfunctioned in the woods. It won't throw the case completely out......it will get jammed in the action. It also misfires.

Has anyone had any luck turning these things around?? I have read a few things about people having troubles with them but never anything about turning them around.

Would it pay to strip it down and try to clean and buff a few of the parts?

He is set on turning it into a pump...

thanks for any help
kyle

 

[Trapper L]

Kato_guy, your friend is a little off. The 7400 is a semi-auto self loader. They are not a favorite at my house because of reliability issues but I'm sure there are some good one out there. I have no idea how he thinks he is going to make it into a pump. I'd give it a good cleaning or better yet, have a gunsmith clean it, that way it will get put back together correctly. It may just be dirty.

 

[Kato_Guy]

i wasn't sure if making it into a pump was possible either but he hates it and I thought I would just ask to see if there is anything that would work for it before he screws it up!!

He wasn't sure if it was the 740, 742 or the 7400 he wasn't around the gun when I talked to him.

 

[USMCGrunt]

I think what he meant was a bit of sarcasim in calling it a semi-auto single shot in reference to how often it malfunctions. That's my guess anyways. As far as the Remington autos go, I avoide them like the plauge. They aren't very reliable when they are dirty and to disassemble them for cleaning is a PITA. In order to get the bolt out, you first have to take off the barrel. In order to get the barrel off, you first have to remove the barrel nut that is hard to get at without the special wrench (I've seen quite a few that were buggered up by shooters trying to get at it with a regular open-end wrench) and when you do, you find out that Mongo on the Remington production line torqued it on VERY tight! No, Remington makes decent shotguns and bolt action rifles but when it comes to their autos, I'm going to pass on them each and every time.:barf:

 

[Kato_Guy]

yea I did mean the whole single shot semi auto as in it jams after each shot so you have to cycle it yourself. Thats what he had called it.

 

[davlandrum]

Kato - I am going to lurk this thread as I am in the same boat as your friend. I fully intend to trade my 7400 in on something, just haven't got around to doing it yet.

I bought a Rem 700 SPS in 30-06 to hunt with when I finally admitted the 7400 was going to make me crazy.

You will get a lot of responses that will tell you it is all because you don't know how to clean it. My feeling is that if it has to be cleaner than my M-16 in the Army, it ain't going to work for me as a hunting rifle.

And I fully admit that I did not do my research before hand, else I would have anticipated problems.

 

[biglabsrule]

They most definetly are very touchy, I bought one brand new a few years back. .30-06 carbine 7400 exc. Second season I took it out I shot a coyote at about 40 yards. I had to lauph as I read your post, yup single shot it was, the case didn't extract and became stuck in the chamber.

Do everything you can to try and get her to work, they can be nice guns if kept spotless. Chamber can't have any sand or grit in it!!! The front hand grip slides of after one flathead screw is removed, clean this area very well!! and use some good oil here. To me the 7400 is almost identical to the 7600, just one uses a bit of gas instead of your hand. I have 1 7400 and two 760's, all take the same mags(7400 mags just have an action release, otherwise the same). Good luck I think you can make her work... otherwise I'll give you $200 for her


PS you said 7400 but maybe 742?, the older ones have a problem where the recoil is so violent it "eats" at the receiver. Eventualy it becomes bad enough that they begin to stick. If you search yahoo you might find the article about them. Can't remember but was after like 1000 or 1500 rounds they started to "stick" They said you could take it to a smith and have the receiver plated to aleviate the problem...

 

[Bottom Gun]

My 742 carbine in .30-06 is one of the most reliable rifles I have ever owned. I have never had a jam or malfunction in the 28 years I've used it. This one has been shot a lot and cleaning has not been meticulous.

I would suspect your problem may be dirt related or you may have a piece of debris lodged somewhere.

 

[crowbeaner]

I've never had a malfunction as long as I take time to dry the action and slide rails if I get very wet. Keep the locking lugs clean and put 1 (ONE) drop of Rem Oil on the bolt lugs. Any more will invite grime where it should not be. Keep the chamber clean and check the magazine lips to be sure the feeding problem is not the mag. Try some nickel plated ammo if you don't hand load, and only use 180s if you need the bigger whammy on the game. I only shoot 180s if in bear country as a 150 or 165 will put down anything that doesn't scratch and bite. I sight in for the FIRST shot and clean only after a range session that I shoot. I always fire a fouling shot before hunting so the first shot is dead on with a cold barrel. More people have mag problems with 740s, 742s and 7400s than anything else. If you can, get mags for the 760 if the ones you have are defective; they don't have the bolt hold open feature to batter the follower end and wear the follower out. My old 742 hunts only big game, and I don't shoot it unless I have a new load to try, or I am shooting LC ammo for the brass to load. With proper care and feeding the Remington semis can be great guns but they have little quirks to be aware of. To cut your group down, load the first round normally (let the bolt go to pick up the first round) then pull the bolt back about 1 1/2 inches and gently let the bolt forward until it stops. Then push the bolt into lockup with your thumb, as in "forward bolt assist". This puts your first shot right where the rest will go, and helps eliminate the flyer out of the 4 shot group. Hope this helps and don't sell the gun until you try a couple things to make sure everything is up to snuff. Enjoy. CB.

 

[wolverine350]

Have a gunsmith pull the barrel and hone the chamber and install a new extracter and clean out the gas ports with a small drill bit, may fix the problem

 

[Randy_che]

Chances are very good that the gas system in the forend needs to be cleaned and/or he has a dirty/rusty chamber. Use the chamber brush to scrub the holy heck out of the chamber, then check the gas system for any crud, especially the orifice. It all has to work together to work at all. See page 12 of the owners manual.

Smoe feeding problems can be cured by careful examination of the magazine and slight bending/polishing of the magazine rails.

 

[45SuperBob]

I bought a 7400 in 30-06 a few years ago and could never get it to work. I also had heard about getting someone to ream the chamber. I never bothered, just sold it cheap to a smith, I bought a Saiga 308 to replace it and it has been great.

 

[Brad Clodfelter]

I have heard of Rem 7400 owners who have had the problem of jamming and not cycling the next round into the chamber. They did make some good ones though. But I can tell you from my experience, the Browning Bar is by far the better working auto. They are just made to work and keep on working. The Browning Bar or at least the one I had and the one my buddy had would out shoot the 7400's consistantly hands down. The one I had with the BOSS would rival most factory bolt action rifles on consistant 5 shot groups at 100yds. I would say if I had the same power scope on my Bar with the loads it liked that it would give my Rem Sendero all that it wanted and then some.

Brad