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Best Ammo For Remington 7400 In .30-06 ??

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.22LR
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Location: Lake Havasu City, Arizona
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:30 am
I have a Remington 7400 in .30-06 that I purchased new back in the mid 80's. I scoped it with a nice Leupold Vari-X III 3.5 X 10X and went to the range with a couple of boxes of Winchester Silver Tip 180 Gr. Ammo.

After about 15 rounds the bolt was having trouble locking up. I'll admit to not cleaning or lubricating the gun before I went to the range. That was almost 35 years ago, and I was younger, and a lot dumber. I stopped shooting, went home and cleaned the rifle. Everything seemed normal.

Not long after that we moved out to Arizona and I lost interest in the gun, and it's been languishing in the back of my safe ever since. I just purchased a new 200th Anniversary Edition Remington 7600 Pump in .30-06, and my interest has been renewed in these rifles.

So I dragged the 7400 out of the safe, cleaned it up real good, and gave it a good lube job, greasing the bolt lugs up, along with cleaning both the chamber and barrel with the bronze brush, and giving it a light coat of oil. I'm trying to decide what is the best ammo for the 7400 auto? I have a bunch of the Greek XTP Garand ammo I purchased from the CMP. It is supposed to be the best ammo for the M1 Garand. So I'm thinking it should be good for the 7400 as well. Both are gas operated autoloaders in .30-06. And they should operate on similar pressure curves.

Those of you who own and shoot the 750 / 7400 series of Remington auto rifles, what do you find to be the best ammo from an operational standpoint. I'm concerned with good cycling at the range, not hunting. Thanks in advance.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:33 pm
Good evening BillT. Glad to see you on Remingtonowners forum.

I typically stuck with 155-168 gr ammo. I never really had a problem with cycling. Not even with the extended 10 round magazine.

But mine would often suffer from vertical stringing after about 6 or 8 shots once the barrel heated up.

I wish I could find some old pictures of that gun. It was pretty unique once I added a Remington 870 pistol grip stock on it and hand painted tiger stripe camo pattern on it. I'm pretty sure it was either ATI or from Knoxx.

Hey, it was during the ban years and that gun wasn't listed on the federal evil gun list, so I enjoyed poking Clinton and Feinstein in the eye every chance that I got. :lol:
When people ignorant of guns make gun laws, you end up with ignorant gun laws.
-Me

Now I know they're not so ignorant and it's ATRRITION

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:22 pm
Well I have a Model Four in .270 from 1981 which is about the same and have used nothing fancy just the Remington 130 grain Core-lokt. Never a problem with cycling luckily so I stuck with it. Nice looking guns.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 3:57 am
That's good to know. I think I'll stick with the lighter bullets.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 2:27 pm
I took the Model 7400 to the range yesterday, but had some difficulty. The rifle would fire and eject fine. So there is nothing wrong with the bolt, extractor or ejector. The empty cases would kick out about 4 or 5 feet to the right, and about 3 feet to the rear. It ran good with both 125 Gr., 150 Gr. ammo. And with 165 Gr. Garand ammo.

The issue is with the bolt stripping off a new round, and locking up. So that is telling me something isn't right with the magazine. I've read that the magazines for these things can be very temperamental. Some work fine, while others can be a PITA. Even if they look good, and don't appear to be damaged, they can cause problems. So I ordered 2 new magazines from Midwest Gun Works.

One is a original Remington 4 round. And the other is a 10 round from Triple-K. My original magazine has the bolt release built into the magazine itself. (It's a little lever on the bottom of the magazine you push forward). Which is a bit of a PITA, because you cannot remove the magazine with the bolt in the rearward position. Unlike an auto pistol like a Glock that locks the slide back on the last round. Then you can drop the magazine and the slide will remain locked back.

With the 7400 there is no way to hold the slide back without the magazine inserted into the rifle. There is no mechanical slide lock. With a live round in the chamber, and the magazine out of the rifle, if I let the bolt go, it locks right up. So there is something on the magazine preventing the bolt from locking up...... Sometimes. Other times it will. It just depends.

Perhaps one of the feed lips is not formed right. I don't know. But when I get the new magazines I'll try it again. The gun shoots right on the money, and is very accurate. I just have to get the damn thing to feed right. All total I put about 25 rounds downrange with it. I would really like to get it running right.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 5:48 pm
Am sure you ain't the first with this problem bilt. Could be a iffy spring in the mag but maybe not. My Model Four I mentioned has not experienced any feeding or ejection issues but in all honesty does not get a lot of use as I have to travel out of state to use it for whitetails. Hopefully it is a faulty spring issue. The 7400-Four rifles seem like an improvement over the older 742. Think I should get mine out more often for some range work at least. Quite a sharp lookin gun for sure.
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:26 pm
My guess would be the either the spring in the magazine is weak, or perhaps got installed backwards by somebody cleaning the magazine. Do you have some .30-06 action proving dummies, because you never want to test with live rounds. But fill the magazine, chamber a dummy, then cycle the action by hand but see if the rear of the magazine is dropping downward, which would lead to faulty stripping off of the next round. Sometimes on other semi-autos the recoil causes the next round to move forward a bit and get the point of the bullet up over the magazine lip, thus pushing the rear of the round downward also.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 3:36 pm
So both of my new magazines arrived from Midwest Gun Works today. A OEM Remington 4 round long action that states it will fit the Model 7400 in .30-06. And a Triple-K 10 round model that states the same. DISASTER! Neither one even fits in the gun! I've had it with this rifle. I can't believe a company like Remington can't manufacture a magazine to fit it's own rifle. Let alone make one that fits and runs. The Triple-K I can understand. They have a history of spotty reliability, but I thought I would take a chance. But not Remington.

Not only that, but the inconsistency of the dimensions are unbelievable. The original magazine that came with the rifle, (and doesn't feed properly, which is what started this whole turd hunt), measures .550" across the front of the feed lips. The replacement Remington OEM magazine measures .650" across the same. A full .100" difference in the same make and model magazine. Not to mention it won't even fit in the gun. At this point I'm ready to give up on this whole thing, and chalk it up to experience. If you ever get the urge to buy one of these rifles, slap yourself, and go get drunk until you forget you ever had such a damn fool notion!
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 5:42 pm
billt wrote:DISASTER! Neither one even fits in the gun! I've had it with this rifle.


Time to call Remington customer service. It may be that there were dimensional changes between the 7400, 742 and a others in this family of Remington rifles. But don't give up. Look at Numrich (https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufa ... 400?page=4) and see if any of the pics more closely match your original. Or better yet, take the gun into your LGS and see what fits before you buy.
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 7:30 pm
Can't blame you for the frustration. Make sure I don't lose my original. Only thing I recall reading concerning the magazines for these rifles is that the Model Four/7400 series had thicker gauge metal than mags for the Model 742.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 4:07 am
Scorpion8 wrote:Time to call Remington customer service. It may be that there were dimensional changes between the 7400, 742 and a others in this family of Remington rifles. But don't give up. Look at Numrich (https://www.gunpartscorp.com/gun-manufa ... 400?page=4) and see if any of the pics more closely match your original. Or better yet, take the gun into your LGS and see what fits before you buy.


I'm going to call Remington first thing Monday morning. And tell them what's going on. I'm sure I'm not the first guy with this problem. Perhaps they have a 7400 laying around there, that they can try a new magazine in before they send me one. But I will take a look at Numrich if that fails.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:24 am
Worth the effort billt. Again sorry for the BS and I would be pissed myself. Guess I have been lucky so far with mine. Seems easy to run into more problems with these unlike a bolt.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:36 am
I just checked Numrich. They have the old style magazines, but are out of stock. I'll keep an eye open so I can order one if and when they ever get them back in stock. All the used one's on E-Bay look rusty and overpriced. Plus you have to ask why are they selling them? I'm sure it's not because they worked so well in their rifles.
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.22LR
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Location: Lake Havasu City, Arizona
PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:39 am
Well it's been a while since I posted last on this issue. To be honest, I couldn't find an old style magazine like my rifle requires, (one piece bottom and sides), and I didn't see any point with the newer magazines after buying one and have the thing not even fit into the rifle. So the gun was cleaned, lubed, and sitting in my safe.

Then the other day I was having my morning coffee, searching the Internet looking for an old style magazine, and low and behold I came across this little mom and pop operation in Galesburg, Illinois, (Simpson Limited). And they had 3 brand new old style, one piece magazines for sale, that were still in the original Remington packaging! The price wasn't bad for $110.00 for all three. ($124.00 shipped to my door). That's only $41.00 each. I paid that much for the new style that didn't fit.

They are supposed to arrive today UPS. I now have a bit of confidence that this thing may finally run right. You can see from the picture all 3 magazines have the oval DuPont company logo printed on them. DuPont purchased Remington in 1980, and sold it in 1993. So that means these magazines were manufactured in that time span. My rifle was purchased new in 1985, right in the middle.

One other thing I noticed is that the older magazines are stamped .30-06 only. The newer model I bought was stamped .25-06, .270, .280, .30-06, .35 Whelen. That could very well have been creating problems as well. "One size fits all", might work for some things, but not so well for rifle magazines.

I'm hoping to get to the range next week some time. And hopefully enjoy a bit more success. Since my last post we have moved from the Phoenix area to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and they have a really nice gun club here. So we'll see how everything goes. These are the magazines.

Image
Last edited by billt on Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 11:22 am
billt wrote:One other thing I noticed is that the older magazines are stamped .30-06 only. The newer model I bought was stamped .25-06, .270, .280, .30-06, .35 Whelen. That could very well have been creating problems as well. "One size fits all", might work for some things, but not so well for rifle magazines.


Great, make sure you let us know. Actually since all of those cartridges listed are based on the same case, they should work fine. None is substantially shorter or longer than the parent .30-06.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 12:11 pm
Yeah hope the problem is solved. Usually mags from other makers are made to fit period. I like the Four/7400 series of rifles myself. Sleek looking with walnut and decent polish bluing. I'll make sure I hang onto my one and only mag for mine.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 5:11 am
Well the big brown truck arrived yesterday morning, and delivered my magazines. I'm happy to report they were beautifully boxed and packaged, in both bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts. And all 3 are in brand new, perfect condition. Simpson Limited gets praise from me for a rapid, well packaged shipment. (They shipped them out just a few hours after receiving the order). I would definitely recommend them, and would have no problem ordering from them again.

For being over 30 years old, you would never guess it by their condition. They look like they were manufactured yesterday. A lot of times old product that lays around on shelves, or in basements for that long of time collects rust. Not these.

All 3 have the bolt release on the magazine, exactly like my original has. (I was a bit concerned about that because you can't see it in the photograph). With Thanksgiving coming, (along with some rain and wind), I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to get to the range with these magazines.

But in the meantime I'm going to drag the gun out, and take some comparative measurements across the feed lips, and check the fit of all 3 in the gun. I'm not too worried at this point, as they look totally identical to the original.

I have a feeling when Remington went to the new tooling for the newer style 2 piece magazines, some dimensional stability was lost. Building multi operation, progressive stamping dies is a tricky business. And unless everything is absolutely perfect, the end product will not function as intended.

We see this across the board with both original, as well as aftermarket magazines for many other firearms. The 1911 among them. Magazines produced for that weapon run the gamut from having stellar reputations for proper fit and function, (Wilson Combat), to not working at all, (Pro Mag & several others).

Anyway, as soon as the holidays are over, and the weather clears up, I'll report back on my results. Until then I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:14 pm
Ok billt let us know. Never know I might need a spare someday for the Model Four.
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.22LR
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:47 am
Well yesterday I was finally able to make it to the range with the 7400, along with all 3 of the new, "old style", 1 piece magazines. The weather was beautiful with no wind and mild temperatures. I brought along 3 different types of factory ammunition.

A box of Winchester 180 Gr. Power Points. Some Federal 165 Gr. And 2 boxes of 150 Gr. Remington Core-Lokt. 1 of the 3 magazines was a little tight going into the rifle. So I gave the outsides of all 3 a very light coat of some Super Lube Teflon Grease.

That did the trick, and after working the magazines in and out of the rifle, all 3 were slick as snot going in and out. I loaded 3 rounds into each one, starting out with the Remington 150 Gr. Core-Lokt, because I had the most of it.

I'm very happy to report that all 3 magazine fed, fired, and ejected flawlessly! Zero issues. I did keep the bolt lugs, along with the receiver rails very wet with Weapon Shield CLP. Admittingly I probably was overdoing it a bit. But I didn't want to come away from this test with even the slightest possibility that any stoppage were from the lack of lubrication.

I then shot both the Federal 165 Gr. loads, as well as the Winchester 180 Gr. Power Points. All ran the weapon fine. The Winchester 180 Gr. loads did eject the empty cases considerably farther. This was most likely because of the slower burning powder the heavy 180 Gr. bullets were loaded with. The rifle did also have a bit more recoil with those 180 Gr. loads as well.

After about 40 rounds with all 3 magazines and 3 different loads, I was convinced the rifle is reliable. At least as reliable as it needs to be. Accuracy was really quite good. The Remington 150 Gr. Core-Lokt loads grouped the best, with a couple groups going right under 1-1/2" at 100 yards. Not bad for an out of the box, semi auto hunting rifle.

The gun was filthy by the time I was finished. But by keeping it well lubricated, all of the dirt, carbon, and powder fouling washed right off with a good wet cleaning with clean Kerosene, and a blow dry with compressed air. I gave everything a light coating of oil, and she's nice and clean, ready to go again.

Overall I couldn't be happier. All I can suggest for anyone who owns one of these rifles that came with the older style one piece magazines, is don't even bother trying to use the newer 2 piece magazines. You will most likely accomplish nothing but wasting your money, and frustrating yourself in the process, like I did.

Try to hunt down a couple of one piece mags. Then give your rifle a good cleaning and lubrication, and you should be good to go. I'm usually not this lucky. But this time I'm glad I was.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 10:28 am
Glad to hear your ordeal is over bilt. Wishing my Model Four I bought new in 81 would have come with 2 mags instead of one. Hope yours continues to feed and eject OK. The 7400-Four action sounds like an improvement over the older 742. Pretty decent group for a semi ya got too. Good scores and good hunting.

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