Mdl 742 brain tease challange/243

[Daniel BOON]

I bought a remington 742 2 months ago, and I must say its been a challange most of which I have cured;
recently I thougt some 100gr hornady round nose would help the feeding issue; but I had some remington 100gr corlokt sft pt that I wanted to use to get it on paper; so out to the desert I went, and the corlokt fed and ejected as long as I did my part. after getting it on paper, I decided to try the hand loads. the 1st 4 seemed to work, the 16 that were left would not.
when the magazine was loaded with 4 rnds, the firing pins would not hit the primer(winchester); the same with 3 rnds, 2 rnds, 1 rnd, nada.
yes the primer pockets were clean before inserting the primer;
when I loaded 1 rnd w/o the magazine (brand spanky new, and the lips smoothed out) it would fire. I tried some more factory loads with the mag being used, with no problem
the firing pin seems to be ok, and working fine; the O A l of the factory (Iassume) was more than the reloads. I did trim the reload brass just enuff to square in up and make all reloads the same O A L.
I'm about to go in the other room and reload (with no brass trim) some Hornady 100gr rnd nose;
I'm not new to reloading the 243, but i am new to reloading for a semi-automatic, gas operated, shoulder weapon.
any clues to what the problem is? any input would sure be appreciated thanks guys.

[Bud Helms]

742 ... It's been a while since I kept up on model numbers, but is that an autoloader? [Edit: yup, just checked Remington website. Autoloader, out of production in 1980.] I'd try to determine if it's going into battery every time it cycles. With that genius input, I will now sit back and wait for the real answer. :)

[Daniel BOON]

yes its a semi-auto; it seems to work fine with the magazine filled with soft point factory loads

[.45 Vet]

Just swinging in the breeze, but were your hand-loads "Full Length Re-Sized", or maybe just neck-sized for a bolt gun. Levers,Pumps, and Auto's require full length sizing to work best..... :confused:

[3XBT]

I use to have the same problem , in my reloads I loaded them like a bolt rifle, My problem was a semi - auto needs slop for the cartridge to chamber so I sized my brass smaller , ( bump the shoulder back ). They will feed great now
My reloads would be dudes , just show small dent in primer. I got to looking the bolt would not be fully locked up , If I loaded just one round by it'self and pulled the bolt back and let go hard you might git it to fire . So just bump the shoulder back a bit and they should lock up good and fire.

[Daniel BOON]

somebody told me that center fire semi auto's need to be small base sized when reloaded.
heres a clue: when I brought it home yesterday, the right, front lip of the magazine had ittle chatter marks on it. since then, I hit the lips very lightly with a file, and smoothed it out with sand paper.
bear in mind, factory loads worked fine. but that can change at any given moment.
it also worked fine wth no magazine in the rifle. :mad:
and the reloads were full lenght resized.
if the reloads were slightly trimmed, primer pockets clean, could the magazine push the reload slightly ahead in the chamber enuff that the firing pin could not reach the primer?

[.45 Vet]

Possibly the bolt was being interfered with by the magazine. Any abnormal wear barks on bottom of bolt....

[Daniel BOON]

thats possible, but i reall don't know. the right forward lip of the mag had slight chatter marks on it, that I hit with a lite file, and some fine sand paper, and that cured the lip chatter, at least until I shoot it again; but what I don't understand is why the factory stuff worked, but not the reloads?
I'll reload some 2o rnds today with the shoulder nudged back a bit, and take it from there. any more thinkers out there with an opinion is more than welcome to write, I appreciate any input or thought. thanks guys

[Bud Helms]

So, the magazine lip interference with the bolt travel could be the reason for not going into battery? So ammo, factory or handloads, is not really the cause, but merely an indicator of a problem?

[amamnn]

I don't like to disparage any brand or model of gun, but................... the 742 Remington is notorious for the things you have mentioned plus a lot more malfunctions, not the least of which is barrel whip that makes it hard to get decent groups without weighing the muzzle down with a bipod. You may find that a lot of misfeed problems can be traced to a worn magazine or worn magazine latch, which will drop the rounds just enough to misfeed, but still seems right. Slight wear is enough to do the trick. And yes, the rifle is finicky about what it likes (in COAL) to shoot but the magazine will not allow seating the bullet very far out toward the lands. I never got to the point of actually measuring the leade on mine, though I have the tools to do it; by that time I had written it off, and I doubt any seating changes would have overcome that muzzle whip.
I was warned before I bought one but wanted to have a winter project. After fooling with it and getting the thing to work after a fashion I sold it on consignment at the store when I bought it originally. I only lost about $60.00 and 2 blood pressure points in the deal and from what I hear from other 742 victims, I got off lightly. There was a thread about 742s on one of the Outdoors Best forums, where a few more folks chimed in with their 742 stories. There were one or two favorable posts from people, and one person opined that the really bad 742s were confined to more than a few, but less than all of the rifles, made about the middle of the run for that model.

[Daniel BOON]

yesterday I took it out in the desert with reloads. 38.5 imr 4831/39gr IMR 4831; the 39 gr of imr 4831 seemed to work fine.....38.5 jammed, nose dived, bolt not closing etc. all with the magazine in; the magazine is a new factory;
the mag catch is very difficult to release; oops...each load was 10 rnds.
last nite I loaded 20 rnds of 100gr rnd nose hornady over 39.5 gr of IMR 4831 I'm hoping the hotter loads will force everything to work correctly.
This was suppose to be Grandson's first deer rifle, but I can never be certain if it will work or not; can you imagine that big buck stepping out at 75 yrds, only to have the trigger CLICK. :mad:

[rrp]

I have had a 742 since 1968 without a single problem. That said, I only used the rifle for deer hunting for about 15 years, only firing about 5 rounds a year. Remington had a real problem with this model and had a recall many years ago, where they gave a coupon toward a new rifle purchace, if my memory serves me right. I would have sent mine in to them then, but it was the first Christmas gift my wife ever gave me so I didn't have the heart. It now has a special place in my safe and will be there as long as I am here. I haven't fired it in about 15 years. If memory serves me right the factory advised us that inquired, the rifle was only designed to fire a few hundred rounds and that the rifles with cycling, problems were worn out. I'm working here on memory from years back, but I'm sure others can remember the same. I believe the biggest problem was in the bolt. Remington changed it when they replaced it with the model 7400 I think. I hope this helps or someone else can remember it more clearly.

[Daniel BOON]

I don't know what to think of this rifle; I took it out today and ran some factory rnds thru it, no problem. put some reloads in it, and it wouldn't shoot 4 rnds, but it would shoot 2 rnds. thats when it was still cold;
when it heated up after a box, it wouldn't hit a barn door, but it shot like my AR15'
also, after close inspection, it looked like it still had bluing on the bolt, and inner guts; so I pumped up the loads a bit, 39.5gr IMR 4831, and it hummed right along, with an occasional misfire, or failure to feed.
so I rounded up a 100 rnds of brass to reload at 39.5 over IMR 4831. if it doesn't work like its suppose too after that, then it will be a good project for my grandson to deal with when hes of age. it will be good training in the art of patience. thanks again folks; and to those of you who can't pass up that great deal on a 742.....good luck.