They get a bad rap

[Wiley]

and a lot of people hate 'em...... BUT, this afternoon I made a run to the west a little ways and picked up a brand new, in the box from 1978 Remington 742 in .308. Still has cosmoline in the works and I've only wiped down the outside. A good cleaning is to be had Sunday.

These rifles acquired the monicker of "Jam-O-Matic" during their years of production but it is my humble opinion (from owning 2 that worked flawlessly) that owner error had a LOT to do with malfunctions. Too much oil, grease, lack of cleaning, dirty/rusty chamber and the list goes on. My experience was that these rifles liked to be almost completely dry. There are still folks that think if a little oil or grease is good then a big squirt should be just incredibly good. Some of the 742s that I saw and handled back in the day were crudded up with that stuff and didn't have a chance to be reliable.

Anyway, this one will be gifted on a special day and my old lessons learned on maintaining it will be passed along with it.

 

[knightrider]

To much oil made to much grit and then the jams started

 

[TNTreeman]

and a lot of people hate 'em...... BUT, this afternoon I made a run to the west a little ways and picked up a brand new, in the box from 1978 Remington 742 in .308. Still has cosmoline in the works and I've only wiped down the outside. A good cleaning is to be had Sunday.

These rifles acquired the monicker of "Jam-O-Matic" during their years of production but it is my humble opinion (from owning 2 that worked flawlessly) that owner error had a LOT to do with malfunctions. Too much oil, grease, lack of cleaning, dirty/rusty chamber and the list goes on. My experience was that these rifles liked to be almost completely dry. There are still folks that think if a little oil or grease is good then a big squirt should be just incredibly good. Some of the 742s that I saw and handled back in the day were crudded up with that stuff and didn't have a chance to be reliable.

Anyway, this one will be gifted on a special day and my old lessons learned on maintaining it will be passed along with it.

Picture if you don't mind… love those guns.

 

[Wiley]

To much oil made to much grit and then the jams started

Absolutely! And back in the day THE next move was to squirt more oil into the already over-oiled action

 

[ImThere]

Wow. Fantastic find. I love them. I think I have had 10 or so over the years. Some jam some don't. You just got to figure out why. I have had several I would shoot and it would jam. I would take the mag out of my son's gun and it would run flawlessly. My son's 3006 you could stomp it in the mud and it never misses a beat. My daughter has a 270 and is reliable with soft point ammo. I would love to find a 308 for a good price. Heck you used to be able to get them for practically nothing.

 

[knightrider]

Wow. Fantastic find. I love them. I think I have had 10 or so over the years. Some jam some don't. You just got to figure out why. I have had several I would shoot and it would jam. I would take the mag out of my son's gun and it would run flawlessly. My son's 3006 you could stomp it in the mud and it never misses a beat. My daughter has a 270 and is reliable with soft point ammo. I would love to find a 308 for a good price. Heck you used to be able to get them for practically nothing.

Wish i would have held onto the ones ive owned over the years, used to buy them for 200 bucks

 

[Wiley]

Here she is with some adjustments to the pics to try and show her as close to in person as I can get a pic to show.....but, I over did some exposure or something..... And I can assure you that I didn't get it for $250 I'll get better pics soon....

 

[ImThere]

Wish i would have held onto the ones ive owned over the years, used to buy them for 200 bucks

Yeah I had a beautiful 3006 had a whitetail engraved in to the receiver. Beautiful montecarlo stock. Bought for $250. Even had an era correct Leupold scope on it. A buddy wanted it so I sold it to him for what I had in it, $250. I wish I would have kept that one. It was probably the nicest one I have ever seen.