Those who know their stuff about Remington 7400 some help please

[DMTJAGER]

I have ALWAYS wanted a large caliber than my 223/556 semi automatic rifles so I can deer hunt with it as long as I can remember long before I bought my first AR-15.
Have shot A LOT of AR-10s, a few M1A's and BAR's and three Remington 7400's.
Really like the Remington 7400. All three I shot were shock the sh*t out of me accurate. Talking see with my own eyes 1'-1.5" 100 yard groups with factory ammo no less.

Two days ago my landowner I hunt with asked my assistance mounting a new scope on his literal mint condition Remington 7400 in 30/06. After I did so he then asked I help him sight it in as he has a nice rifle and HG range on his property. In truth I wasn't expecting anything much better than three shot 2.5" groups at 100. He had very old Federal 165 grain and Remington 180 grain factory ammo and a rather awkward semi-adjustable one piece rifle rest.

Dry fired the rifle 6 times to get a feel for the trigger and all though it had some creep it wasn't that heavy I guessed it at <6lbs and it was consistently predictable.

Using the Federal ammo, I took two shots at 25 and luckily was on paper and only 2" left and 3" low. Adjusted the scope and next shot was essentially a bullseye.
Moved to 100 yards took two shots, looked through my B&L 47x spotting scope and thought "great one round is off paper" He and I rode his side by side down to look at the target and found actually both rounds made one hole. Asked my land owner where he wanted his zero at 100 yards, he replied "2" high" I adjusted his scope took three shots and it was two in the same hole with one outlier but still the group was 1.2" not 1.25"but honest 1.2".

He then took three shots and 90% same POI and again a <1.25" group which IMO is exceptional accuracy especially considering his Federal Factory ammo was according to him 8-10 years old. Told me that Federal ammo shot really well so he bought all the store ahd which was only a few boxes short of a full case.

So this really relit the fire of desirer of me buying a Remington 7400 preferably in 30/06. Been looking at all the used gun WS and there are a significant number of very nice condition used 7400s available in 30/06 for $600-$900.

My questions for those with an exceptional level of knowledge of Rem 7400's is this a good idea and what kind of accuracy should I expect from an in excellent condition use 7400 in 30/06 shooting carefully crafted reloads. Are there any negatives about a 7400 I should know about, and how is a 30/06 7400 to reload for as I will likely never shoot factory ammo from it should I buy one.

Lastly would say a 20" barrel Ruger .308 SFAR be a better all around choice
This will be for short to medium range deer hunting only as the farms I hunt 90% of my shots will be 300 yards or under.

 

[Kyguy]

I ran a 7400 30-06 Synthetic for several years, 25 years ago. It didn't shoot very well at first, then I discovered a big chip in the land about inch from the muzzle. I had it cut off at 20" and recrowned, and it became a shooter. I also put a lighter trigger spring in it (can't remember the company) and I drilled and tapped the trigger guard with a set screw for overtravel. It would shoot most factory loads into 1.5" or better, and its favorite factory loads, Hornady 180gr SST and Winchester 180gr Failsafe, were consistent honest 3/4" three shot groups.

It handled very well. People say that you have to keep them meticulously clean, but that wasn't my experience. It ran better than some of the AR's my friends had back then. The make or break on them, in my opinion, is good magazines. I had three. Two were 100% perfect function, one was jam-o-matic, and I never could figure out why. Neither could the one gunsmith that I took it to.

The problem with them today is finding one that was taken care of and not beat to hell. There's not really any good parts availability, and unless RemArms decides to reintroduce them, there won't be. There's not enough market for a hunting style semi-auto nowadays. People prefer the AR for the modularity.

I sold the rifle (all my rifles) during a bad financial time back in the mid 2000's. Even though it was a present from my ex-wife (LOL), I wish I still had it. It's a great still hunting/tracking gun. Not that there's much of that kind of hunting still going on other than up in the Northeast. I hunt with mostly bolt actions now, but there's a place for the semi and the pump. A prime example was one time, on a family farm, several people wanted meat. That morning, 4 does walked out, and I dumped all 4 of them in seconds, before any could spook or run. That's probably not happening with a bolt action, just because of all the movement to reload.

 

[Choupique]

Remington 7400 in 30/06

The ultimate redneck spear of deer destruction!

I know several people who have them. They're very popular in Louisiana, particularly with dog hunters. None of the ones I've shot are better than about 2.5 MOA rifles but they do all function well. 2.5 MOA is plenty good enough for swamp donkey blastin.

Just my opinion, the BAR is a much nicer rifle. Only shot one, a safari longslide, but it was a nice rifle to shoot. Benelli R1 gets good reviews as well, but I've never seen one in real life.

 

[JPeters218]

I grew up hunting with 7400’s. We had two 30-06’s. One had the stock cut down a bit to make it a “youth” size. They worked great until they stopped working great. I had one jam on me after a shot on a whitetail. I was able to hand feed a second round and get a follow up shot, but I haven’t touched them since. Bought a bolt action that year and never looked back.

The 30-06’s have enough recoil, that by the time you get back on target, it’s not any slower to rack a bolt.

 

[Choupique]

there's a place for the semi and theblasting.

I have a 7600 in .270 and its a really good shooter for what it is. Its a cool design, and a practical idea for a guy who only has 2 guns when the other one is an 870.

 

[onlybrowning]

I'd suggest a BAR MK3 or ShortTrac instead. You can find .308's with 18" barrels if you are patient, or you can grab a 22" model in your caliber of choice and cut it down if that suits you. I prefer the short action models regardless of barrel length, and do not like the DBM model because I find them terrible for one hand carry.

 

[Slickhill]

After working in a Remington service center for a decade and taking all the in person service training I wouldn’t walk across the street to pick up a free Remington auto of any sort made after the Model 81.
The 7400s and 750s are far better than the 740/742 but that’s not saying much.

It’s possible you may get one that’s accurate but you will eventually have function issues if you shoot it much.

If you are really in love with the way they handle get a pump. They don’t have the feed and function issues of the autos and they handle identically.

 

[Kauaihunter]

My friend still has his jam-o-matic.308 7400 and I don’t even know why? 4” at 100 is a good day and fails to feed all the time. We’ve been hunting together for over 30 years.

Bought a brand new 7400 about 25 or so years ago. Out of the box, first time sighting it in, would not fire every other round or so. Called Remington, they told me to mail it to a gunsmith that was an authorized Remington repair/warranty shop. Called the shop, guy told me I was doing something wrong. He received and shot the rifle. Called back and said it would be repaired under warranty. I got it back and took it to the gun shop and put it on consignment.

I put several hundred rounds through my .308 20” SFAR. With five different factory ammo and Pmags it is awesome. I did put in a CMC drop in trigger, H2 buffer and put on an A2 flash hider right out of the box. I regret selling it to my friends son, he wanted to upsize from a 5.56 for hogs.

 

[Kyguy]

Remington 7600 rifles are selling for outrageous premiums because of the demand from states in the northeast. I'm talking in the thousands of dollars. Great rifles though.

 

[DMTJAGER]

I'd suggest a BAR MK3 or ShortTrac instead. You can find .308's with 18" barrels if you are patient, or you can grab a 22" model in your caliber of choice and cut it down if that suits you. I prefer the short action models regardless of barrel length, and do not like the DBM model because I find them terrible for one hand carry.

Yes I was considering a BAR and will look into buying one.

 

[Choupique]

Remington 7600 rifles are selling for outrageous premiums because of the demand from states in the northeast.

My old man wants to sell his for $4500

 

[Chris in TN]

If there's any way you can stomach it, get one of the pumps (model 6, 76, 760, 7600, etc) instead of the semi-auto. The semi-autos will eventually beat themselves to death if shot enough. That's not to say they can't be accurate, it's just a design that has a finite lifespan.

 

[Kyguy]

My old man wants to sell his for $4500

No joke I watched an old stock new in box limited edition one in .35 Remington go for $3700 last year

 

[Choupique]

That's nuts. They are really cool rifles but ours rarely come out the safe anymore. I do still see quite a few 7400's around here though. We call them jam-o-matics or woodsblasters

 

[LFC911]

I have a factory 7400 carbine in 30:06. Not sure if it is a unicorn or not but I could never to get it to shoot a sub 2" group at 100 yards.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I have an old 742 that I'd sell on the cheap.