Hey guys, I bought my father a Remington 742 Woodsmaster chambered in 30/06 for his birthday last Friday. The rifle itself appeared to be in good condition as far as a visual inspection went, but fast forward to today when we attempted to shoot it. It had a failure to feed on the first round out of the brand new magazine, After clearing that I had another failure to feed. I finally got the round into the chamber, lined up on my target, squeezed the trigger, "Click", Nothing. No dent in the primer, Tried again and had the same issue. Im thinking the firing pin is either broken or non existent. but that still doesnt help my failure to feed problems. Any advice would be appreciated as I've heard him blabber on non stop about wanting a 30/06 for years.

Factory ammo?

Yes. Remington CoreLokt 180 Grain Pointed Soft Points.

edit: better advice follows from others.

Often failure to feed on a 742 is caused by a rusty action tube, action spring, or both. You said you have a new mag; that's the other big culprit. I'd check the bolt and the bolt latch assembly and make sure all those parts are OK. Sometimes the get messed up by the barrel extension. See if you can get the bolt to lock into the barrel extension without the action spring. Does it feel smooth? Check the entire bolt carrier assembly, firing pin and everything. 742's had a firing pin spring, but later models did not. Make sure it isn't interfering. The ejection port cover can crack or deform and increase friction on the action also. Brownells sells a reproduction replacement.



 

Have sent back 5 different 742's to Remington. Most of them have magazine fitting issues, with one having bolt issues. Call Remington and get them to send you a return shipping tag, box it up and get it to them. These guns are notorious for having feed and fail to fire issues. Had to send one gun back 3x, they finally replaced it with a new gun. Customers all using the "recommended" Remington Core lock ammo. All of the guns did get repaired and have been working since. Remington will warrantee all of the work. Do Not bring it to a gunsmith, it will void warrantee. They want the guns back to correct the problems with new, updated parts.

How long ago did you send in the last 742 for factory service? (curious if Remington is still fixing these guns today)

Since this sounds like a used rifle, you'll have to pay to ship it back to Remington.
Fortunately, it's a lot cheaper to ship a rifle then it is a pistol.
You can even mail it through the US Post office.

Remington likely still repairs these and Remington would be my first choice since they know more about it than anyone and have parts.  Here's Remington's info on the procedure for returns:

http://www.remington.com/pages/support/repair-services.aspx

If a good cleaning or new magazine does not fix the issue you can give Remington a call but don’t be surprised when they tell you they no longer service, or have parts for, the 742. They will refer you to Mann and Sons or Ahlmans as a potential source of help.

Here is the 742 info I collected from Remington Customer Service a few years back.

Remington discontinued the Model 742 in 1980. Though the 1990’s Remington offered an exchange program in which you could send in your old 742 and $325 and receive a new 7400, This program ended in 1999. Remington no longer has parts nor do they offer factory service for the 742. After years of warranty work, replacement rebates and parts support Remington will tell you (and rightfully so in most cases) “its just worn out”.

(This info per Remington's Customer Service)

Thanks for all your input and info guys!

I've got 3 of them, never any failure to feed/eject issues.

I did have a failure to fire issue one range trip.  That firing pin return spring had broken.  About 3 or 4 coils broke off up front, it turned sideways inside the bolt and jammed the firing pin and kept it from moving forward far enough to strike the primer.

It's sort of a bear to take apart, but can be done.

It's pretty easy to knock the two plastic pins out of the receiver and drop the whole trigger housing/assembly out of the gut so you can examine the insides and clean/lube the inside of the receiver and the trigger housing/assembly.  You can take the screw out of the front of the forend and remove the forend to get a look at the action spring and gas tube to see if they need any corrosion/rust removal and lube.

The ones I have are pretty accurate.  At least as accurate as my (aggravating) M1A.  They only hold 4 rounds though....

I have a 742 I've owned since new back in the early 70's.  Never had any issues with it.  Accurate rifle especially with hand loaded ammo.    However......as has been mentioned this is a relic rifle.   The gas system is the biggest issue with corrosion.  One it's toast it's toast.  I suppose you may be able to find someone to work on things.   The newer 750s are supposed to have fixed some of the issues with the older 742s.   Many users have actually converted their 742s to pump action.

I had a customer several months ago who bought a used one and had a scope mounted and bore sighted.  He couldn't get it to shoot well.  Brought it back in.  At first I suspected a bad scope.  Upon further inspection found the barrel nut was loose in the receiver.   Enough to see noticeable free play/wobble between barrel and receiver.  We don't work on them so not sure what the customer did after that.