Author Topic: Remington 742 jam problem (Read 2113 times)

Spot Shooter · « **on:** December 06, 2004, 12:51:44 PM »

Hey guy's,

My hunting buddy has a old BDL like Remington 742 in 30-06.
Last weekend he fired it and the piece of plastic that normally guards junk from getting behind the bolt jammed in the bolt handle groove.

I pulled it out with some pliers but now you can see behind the bolt really easy (lots of room for junk to get down in there). Is this piece part a quick and easy thing to replace and what the heck is is called.

Thanks,
Spot

smoji · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2004, 03:37:36 PM »

The part is called the "ejection port cover" and is an obsolete part. Brownell's offers an aftermarket cover for $5.25 (stock#331-740-000).
It isn't very difficult to install but it is easy to break while installing if you aren't careful. Probably worth it to take the gun to the 'smith.
Make sure you have all the bits of the old one out first since those little pieces can jam up the trigger pretty easily.

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #2 on:** December 07, 2004, 03:11:03 PM »

smoji,

I ordered a couple of them just incase.

I'll give installing it a shot and see what happens, I can pull the action appart pretty easy.

I was just wondering if it was screwed down to anything, but is sounds like it floats in the grooves of the action some how. I should get the parts later this week and will see if I can make heads or tails out of it.

Thanks,
Spot

smoji · « **Reply #3 on:** December 07, 2004, 03:26:17 PM »

You can install it from the top without any disassembly. To make it a little less stressful, remove the action spring and action spring tube so as to give better control over the bolt movement.

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #4 on:** December 10, 2004, 12:17:05 PM »

smoji,

What is the "resting position" this thing is supposed to be in. I did what you said with the spring and the action and managed to get it in place.

The way I put it in it seemed to fit normally but when I test fired it the dern thing jumped out of the groove at the bottom and jammed. What position is it supposed to rest in. I guess the best way to describe that is where is the bolt handle in the plastic groove.

Thanks,
Spot

smoji · « **Reply #5 on:** December 10, 2004, 01:41:11 PM »

The dust cover rides in a couple of grooves inside the receiver. There is a wide spot in the slot of the dust cover. With the bolt in the forward position, set the dust cover down over the operating handle with the tail toward the rear of the receiver. The wide spot should be at the operating handle. Now, set the tail of the dust cover and the top edge of the cover into the receiver opening and begin to move the bolt to the rear. As you move the bolt, gently encourage the lower edge of the dust cover to enter the receiver opening. It should go in without much effort and once it pops in, it will be where it belongs and you should be able to move the bolt back and forth easily. Make sure to slide the bolt all the way to the rear to ensure that the dust cover is not binding. Reassemble the spring and tube and you should be good to go.

KHoupt · « **Reply #6 on:** December 15, 2004, 03:42:30 PM »

I have encountered this problem several times. Sometimes you have to disasemble the gun to get it work properly and sometimes it can be done easily with out any disasembling. And I have run into a few that the grooves that hold it in place were worn so badly that they wouldn't stay in place no matter what. On those particular ones.....

.....in the junk pile you go. This isn't any help at all and I know that, but I just wanted to let you know what you were dealing with. Thanks, Kenney

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2004, 04:37:48 PM »

Smoji,

Before I got your directions I installed it by putting the tab in first then popping the bottom section in. I oiled it up and worked the action until it seemed to freely move back with the bolt then took it to the range.

Of course I wasn't able to check the grooves to see if they were free of piece parts so i'll have to do that now, but on the first firing it twisted the cover out of the groove and it got pinned in the slot where the bolt handle gots and jammed her up tight again. (DOH)

I'm hoping it's not a piece of junk but this gun's seen it's better days, and old KHoupt might just be right.

Is there a way to tell that she's had it, or do I just give her a try again before taking it to a smith. Luckily I bought two of those pieces. I could reuse the one that I fired - it didn't get damaged just bent her a bit.

What do you guy's suggest.
Thanks,
Spot

KHoupt · « **Reply #8 on:** December 18, 2004, 03:09:12 AM »

If I were in your shoes I would take it to a smith. We only charge about $15 to put one in and that includes shells, labor and parts. And we always test fire before it leaves our possesion so if there is still a problem we can determin what it is. :wink: And I'm willing to guess that you have already spent that much on shells, time, and parts.

The best way to tell if the gun is worn out is to look on the inside of the receiver on the opposite side of the ejection port. See if the inside groves are badderd up from the recoil off the gun slamming the bolt back. (if it looks like teeth marks on those grooves she's probly all washed up) :cry: I have seen a few that would still shoot after they got that bad but they are few and far between. I hope this helps Thanks,Kenney

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #9 on:** December 27, 2004, 02:55:20 PM »

Well being courious I took the gun apart to look for those teeth marks.

Sure enough in the top groove that the cover travels there seem to be teeth marks or grooves, however I can't figure out how the heck they got there. The bolt doesn't touch this part of the receiver so how could they be produced by the plastic cover.

http://home.comcast.net/~talisman7/742close.jpg

I re-fit the last good piece and everything seems to be working again. I'll test fire it at the range and if it fails it's going to a smith for sure. I'm wondering if the things not junk already. I may email remington about it.

Thanks,
Spot

gunnut69 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 27, 2004, 09:26:39 PM »

The 742's wear out the cam grooves in the tail of the bolthead. The cam pins wear flat spots at the begin and end of each cam slope and the bolt head over rotates and eventually locks the bolt open completely. There is no fix that I'm aware of although I am working on a possible fix.. If there are notches on the action slide cuts in the receiver, it's a bad sign..

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #11 on:** December 30, 2004, 08:41:30 AM »

Gunnut,

Yep, exactly what you said. I exchanged emails with Remington for a while and asked them if this gun was still safe, they referred me to a smith who I called and he walked me through it.

He had me pull the trigger groups and inspect the top of the receiver for 4 or 5 cuts. I saw them on the closed side of the top of the action, he said they are where the lugs are hitting, and that (just as you said) it wears down the action lugs and that sooner or later the action would stick wide open. However Remy isn't replacing them anymore, they did a decade ago but not now.

The other thing he said was that the dust cover was not critical to the rifles operation but is there for a reason. He recommeded trying to smooth out the marks in the cover groove with a dremil so it's stay in line.

To bad really, this gun is on it's way to the scrap heap.

Spot

gunnut69 · « **Reply #12 on:** December 31, 2004, 08:03:57 PM »

The 742 has a lot of problems but that is the worst. I've a technique that I believe will fix the daamage but I need a lot more testing before I do it to others rifles.

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2005, 08:38:54 AM »

Gunnut,

If I end up concluding that this one goes in the trash I can always bring it over to you and we can play with it abit (an experimental piece).

I live in Kansas City so we're not too far off if your still in Central Missouri.

Thanks,
Spot

gunnut69 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 01, 2005, 10:13:01 AM »

Absolutely.. I live a bit south of Jefferson City and while I have 2 or three to work on right now would love another.. If this works I expect to get pretty busy!..