Also just in at Collectors is the rifle for those who are leery of owning an “assault rifle”, or whose state government provides the leeriness: the semi-auto hunting rifle of all time, in the all-time hunting cartridge.
I once had one of these exact guns, traded it for something else, and regretted the trade almost immediately afterwards. (The fact that I remember this gun and not the gun I traded it for speaks volumes.)
I know, it only has a 5-round magazine, but 10-round mags cost only $30 or so. And the gun itself is a decent buy at just under $800 — remember, Collectors has premium pricing so if you find one elsewhere cheaper, be my guest; but Collectors doesn’t sell crap or broken guns.
I remember seeing lots of Remington 7400s when I hunted white tail in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. At the time my semi auto was a Ruger Mini 30 so I may have been a little undergunned for the big U.P. deer but that’s another story. Anyway the 7400 – at least in the hands of the guys I hunted with – seemed to have a bad habit of dropping the magazine From the recoil of the first shot. It might have been dirt, wear, poor maintenance, or too much peppermint schnapps but holding an empty rifle after you fired a round wasn’t a good thing. Joe Biden tells us that good hunters only need one shot but I’ll leave that to muzzle loader season thanks.
Mr. Kim, You always have the best articles and bring things up that I never knew about at times.
The 270 is an awesome cartridge. I have a bolt action rifle in 270. I never even thought about a Semi Auto in 270. This Remington 7400 looks like an awesome rifle!
Doesn’t look evil to the libtards, has way more power than any evil looking rifle, and still it is under $ 1,000 bucks on average?
Wow. This thing is cool!
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for posting another mighty fine rifle! It’s a beautiful work of art and very useful too!
The 7400, 740 series are very nice rifles, the former self loading and the other is a pump action.
JQ
Kim:
The predecessors to the 7400 were the 740, followed by the 742 (JQ, the 740 was also a semi-auto, not a pump…I believe you’re thinking of the 7600).
Both the 740 and 742 had major problems with the lugs on the bolts breaking, at least in the .30-06 chambering. I had a neighbor who went through three bolt replacements before he gave up in disgust and sold it. Accuracy was also an issue for a few of the guys I knew who had one; they wouldn’t hold better than about 3 MOA (in ought-six using 180 grain Federal).
Did they do enough of a design change with the 7400 to solve that issue?
The Rem 7400 in .30-06 was sold with a 1 in 18.5 inch twist rate. That barrel can only accurately shoot about 135 gr or lighter bullets. A 180 gr bullet would require a custom barrel with a 1 in 13 twist.
Most .30-06 rifles sold today use a 1 in 11, and can stabilize heavier bullets.
https://www.montanabulletworks.com/resources/twist-tables/
Always measure your twist rate before choosing commercial ammo.
Blackwing,
I knew there were two lines of rifles 740 series and such where the difference was semi auto versus pump. I haven’t followed Remington rifles very much at all. I think I have only owned one Remington and I think it was a 521 Target master or something but I forget the model.
JQ
I inherited a 7400 BDL in 270 from my father-in-law. It stayed in my safe for 12 years until my niece’s husband had his deer rifle stolen. They were newly married and he was in the Navy. I gave him the 7400 with 2 boxes of ammo. It also had a Redfield 3-12×44 scope on it.
He actually had a choice of 270’s. My dad passed the same year my FIL did. I got dad’s 7600 BDL 270 pump. Both rifles were in great shape and my niece’s husband chose the semi-auto over the pump. The 7600 uses the same magazine. I have 10 and 20 round magazines.
$800 is premium pricing? Be still, my beating heart! In Commifornia that is below market!
I have to see about moving to a free state without sitting for all my licenses again. My writing hand won’t make it through another three day battle with an essay examination.
I have owned Remington 7400 (semi auto), 7600 ( pump) and 770 ( bolt) all in 30-06. Here in michigan the lower half of the lower peninsula is shot gun only so most of my deer were harvested with a Mossberg 500. After I retired and moved north the 7400 was my hunting gun. The only reason I bought the bolty and pump was to have a complete set, I bought used and dont remember ever firing them. One of my sons wanted a high power rifle so was given my 7400 and Garand. I dont hunt anymore and any social work I have to do could be accomplished with my AR’s or mini 14’s