I don’t know why I like or even love my Remington 7400. It’s a love/hate relationship, to be sure. It’s got enough drama to fill a telenovela slot.
Sometimes we are hot, other times we are cold. It depends on the day, the ammo, and the task. The Remington 7400 is a gas-operated semi-automatic rifle designed for hunters. The semi-auto hunting rifle craze seemed to pick up in the late 1950s and early 1960s when we saw a slate of semi-auto hunting rifles.
Remington had the original 740, Browning released the BAR, Winchester released the Model 100, and I’m probably missing a few. The point is, semi-automatic hunting rifles were the bee’s knees at the time, and everyone was chasing a piece of the pie.
Remington had a fairly successful design with the Remington Model 8 and later 81, but they chose to use the Remington 1100 shotgun as their starting point.
The 740 and 742 used the Woodmaster title, but not much else. They shrugged off the confines of a recoil-operated system for a gas-operating system that could embrace high-powered cartridges like the .30-06. The 742 evolved into the 7400 in 1980. They reduced the 19 small locking lugs to four large lugs. They redesigned the barrel and breech along with the cartridge feed angle to improve reliability.
The Remington 7400 – Why I Love It
There is some appreciation for the aesthetic and design that I like. Most semi-auto rifles these days are uber-tactical in appearance, clad with lightweight, weather-resistant plastic furniture. Modern rifles all largely look the same. The 7400 still embraces wood and steel with a classic layout. The magazine is short and sweet, and the gun is svelte. It admittedly looks good.
Additionally, that classic rifle design is very easy to tote through the brush of Florida swampland, and I can appreciate that. There isn’t much to snag, and even more importantly, there isn’t anything to rattle. Shake a modern semi-auto, and it sounds like a tambourine. If you were trained to duct tape your dog tags, you’ll appreciate the 7400.
It also chambers cartridges like the .270, one of my favorites for whitetail deer and hogs. The gas-operated design reduces recoil and creates a fairly comfortable shooting rifle. Recoil isn’t stiff or rough, but it’s got the snap of a full-powered round. The gun’s four-round magazine offers plenty of follow-up shots to complement the semi-auto action.
Follow-up shots are great. You might miss, or you might come across a pack of hogs and can get off a second shot on a second target. Outside of hunting, I just like shooting the 7400. It’s different and quite enjoyable, even if it’s pricey.
I also like the iron sights. They are low, mounted to the barrel, and perfect for brush hunting. It’s drilled and tapped for a scope, but in a lot of the places we hunt, I don’t need a scope and prefer to keep the gun light and handy.
Problems With the 7400
Oh boy, ask ten different 7400 owners about their problems and you’ll get ten different stories. The 7400 is not a plug-and-play gun, and there are several notable issues with the design. Notably, it’s not going to be the most accurate rifle. It’s a 2 MOA rifle on a good day with good ammo. For some, that’s not acceptable, but I hunt up close due to the terrain, and 2 MOA is fine.
The big problem is that the gun is both sensitive to dirt, debris, carbon, and rust, and is also difficult to properly clean. Taking the gun apart and accessing the inside isn’t easy, and thankfully, the Internet Archive has manuals saved in PDF format. Accessing the gas port is a crap shoot.
In researching the gun, it seems like most reliability issues are tied to maintenance issues. Rusty chambers are common, which cause reliability issues. The chamber and bore need to be cleaned and oiled after those wet fall mornings.
Another common issue with reliability comes down to the magazine. I’m lucky that mine works fine. From what the wise world of 2006-era message boards has taught me, if you get mag issues, toss it and get another.
I’ve heard these guns can be ammo-sensitive, and you have to find the right combination of projectile design and load power to get a properly feeding and properly cycling rifle. Certain soft and hollow point designs can create issues. I use factory 140-grain Hornady American Whitetail through my .270 and don’t have any issues.
Compared to the 742, it’s a much more robust gun. It doesn’t chew up the receiver rails, and it will last a long time if properly maintained.
The Old 7400
My 7400 doesn’t give me many problems. I bought it used, read the manual, and thoroughly cleaned the gun. I keep the chamber oiled, and I don’t abuse the magazine. Like most people, I don’t shoot the 7400 like it’s an AR-15. It gets shot a few times a year at most.
Maybe that’s why I love this gun. I only shoot it every so often, and the gaps between range trips soften my heart to its numerous issues. I do wish there were more classically oriented semi-auto rifles, but it seems like we’re stuck with expensive Brownings and classics like the 7400.
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