Remington 7400 accuracy?

[Hi Speed]

A buddy that shoots rarely, brought me his old 7400 to clean and sight in. He'll only be shooting at smallish S.C. deer at ranges under 200 yards. I was curious as to how accurate this rifle should be.

I told him to by 130's, 140's, and 150's from various manufacturers because feeding a rifle what it likes has a lot to do with accuracy. It has an old simmons pro 50 4x12 with weaver rings. He has never heard of buying numerous boxes of bullets for sighting in a rifle or the fact that less than desirable rings can affect accuracy. Not to mention that a scope that fogs up in the humidity of the southern deer season can piss you off to no end.

I'm hoping this rifle will be well within minute of deer but I'm not holding my breath. he missed two last year and wants to see if it's the gun or shooter. my guess is it's both and by the looks of the rings I think some warne maximas for $30 and a good base would do wonders. We'll go to the range tommorow and see.

Any ideas on what to expect?

 

[krw]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

Rem 7400 are excellent deer rifles. Keep it clean and well lubed with RemOil and it will be good to go. Try the Rem 180gr Soft Point round nose, excellent deer bullets. Mine has the bbl cut off at 18" to make a carbine. Mine will hold 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" group which for deer hunting is plenty good. I had an older 742 that was a shooter, but too many hot handloads took care of it. krw

 

[ORD]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

The 7400 rifles I have shot (couple different .30-06s and a .243...all owned by friends/family) were all easily Minute of Deer. They each liked different factory ammo and, of course, reloads were the best out of all. All of them were capable of 2MOA or better with the right ammo which is more than adequate for deer out to 200yds (and much further). They aren't going to win any accuracy contests by a long shot, but they'll work great for thinning herds of SC whitetails.

I consider them adequate game rifles, so sub-MOA is hardly necessary unless you are talking about looong shots or small game. The old "pie-plate" accuracy rule comes into effect. The gun is accuracy enough for deer-size game out ot the distance where you can keep five rounds within the diameter of a pie-plate (8" or less). Once you are off the plate...it isn't safe or ethical to take any shots on game beyond that range in the field.

As for the scope...Simmons scopes are hit and miss from my experience (pun intended). At a minimum, get the cheap wally world base/rings off the gun and run something like the Warnes you mentioned. Make sure the rings and base are torqued down adequately and give it a whirl. He may need a replacement scope, but you can get a decent Nikon or similar scope for fairly cheap if it needs replaced (and your buddy will spring for a new one that is). I use McNett Op Drops on all my scopes/optics to keep fogging, dirt, etc. eliminated. It is good stuff, but there are plenty of other options out there. Here's a link to McNett:

http://www.mcnett.com/Op-Drops-Anti-Fog-Lens-Cleaning-System-P127.aspx

 

[texrifleman]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

I have one in 270 win. It has been my go to rifle for years. Mine likes remington 130 g corelokts. Groups around 1-1.5 inchs at 100 yards. But I went through alot of differant bullet types and manufacture to find the one it likes. And it only likes the 130 corelokts. I have not had a deer walk away from an encounter with it. Its a fast hog gun with the iron sights at night, I was always abel to keep up with the guys hunting with shotguns.

I did have a gunsmith do a trigger job on it. breaks around 3# now. Before it was breaking at more than a 12# trigger gauge would measure. I found them on the net, can't remember their name. They also do Ruger mini 14 work.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hi Speed]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

This rifle has too many weak links to list, most of which is the lack of maintenance and barrel @#$%^. I think he would be better off getting a savage 10 or a similar rifle with known accuracy at a decent price and get a " last year model closeout" scope with some rings made here in S.C..$750 for a sub MOA is obtainable with some bedding and load testing.

I told him to get a decent scope and rings and have it professionally cleaned. The trigger sucks and a 10" group was the best out of 6 different loads. Unacceptable in my book for humane kills.

 

[ORD]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Hi Speed</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> This rifle has too many weak links to list, most of which is the lack of maintenance and barrel @#$%^. I think he would be better off getting a savage 10 or a similar rifle with known accuracy at a decent price and get a " last year model closeout" scope with some rings made here in S.C..$750 for a sub MOA is obtainable with some bedding and load testing.

I told him to get a decent scope and rings and have it professionally cleaned. The trigger sucks and a 10" group was the best out of 6 different loads. Unacceptable in my book for humane kills. </div></div>

That's a damn shame. Sounds like years of use/abuse and a lack of any meaningful maintenace/upkeep have left it in miserable shape. 10" is definitely SHITE for accuracy and nowhere even close to acceptable for a humane hunting rifle (unless broadsides of barns are your intended game).

Yeah, you could probably get a pawnshop Remington 700 or similar rifle for next to nothing, then put some time into a decent base/rings/scope set for well under $750. Ditch the 7400 to offset the cost of its replacement and you are probably in and done for a few hundred bucks and you'll have a much more capable rifle that you can confidently hunt with.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

The 7400's upgraded descendant, the 750 (At least I think it's the descendant), has reputedly resolved most if not all of the outstanding issues it's predecessors had.

Greg

 

[texrifleman]

Re: Remington 7400 accuracy?

One of the problems with the rifle is its accuarcy degrades as it heats up. For shooting groups and sighting in a scope I shoot only on a cool barrel. If I shoot a string more than 3 rounds, they spread out big time.