Remington 740 jam o'matic

[CovertGunny]

I need help friends, i got suckered into that conversation at thanksgiving with the relatives, "hey, you run your own gunsmith operation and i hear you know quite a bit about rifles" well this is a trick question as i under my breath say, "ya, I'm known to have a specialty in some things". Well, i have a remington 740 semi-auto that is jamming.

Instantly, i go ahhh nooo as I don't know a ton about this rifle, but the little i do know is that i believe it got the nickname jam o'matic. I dont have the gun yet, but anyone have some suggestions on what to look for or what is most likely causing the jamming. I know it will be dirtier than snot, so step 1 is a white glove cleaning inside and out.

 

[JRS]

There is a well documented problem with the bolt rails battering inside the receiver. It caused the rifles to malfunction at a high percentage rate. Also, the springs in the magazines were too weak.

 

[clowdis]

We don't work on them any more and we're a Remington repair center. A "person" at Remington told us that they were good for about 500 shots and that was it. You'd probably need to replace everything inside the action to finally hit on the 2 or 3 parts that are worn enough to cause feed malfunctions. You can have a go at it and maybe get it to work, but if it doesn't, don't feel too bad, you have a lot of good company.

 

[butchlambert]

They did have problems in the day and had a recall. Recall is long over. Remington let a company take over the parts situation. My friends Dad has the same problem, about a $400+ part.
You can do a google search about this.

 

[Nowhere Man]

With the trigger group out and bolt closed feel up inside on the bolt rail. It'll be all choppy. That will most likely be the problem.

 

[CovertGunny]

More than likely it sounds like i might be telling him to either a. Deal with it or b. Sell it for whatever u can make and get something new. Otherwise you are going to risk spending a good amount of money on parts to "hopefully" solve the problem where that money could've been put away for a new rifle.

 

[okedoke]

First, ask the customer how much money he wants to spend & then ask yourself how much time do you have---that settled ,,,, clean the gas port, all the recoil lugs, debur all the sharp edges, buy a new clip, clean the entire rifle-trigger group included, plus you might as well install a new extractor & recoil spring, plus a little rem oil & put it all back together then test fire & pray for the best. If all things work, you are a lucky man, if not , then you can start troubleshooting;;;;;;;;perhaps a bulge at the top of the chamber that will stick a spent brass almost everytime & this is just the start,,,,,P.S. There's a reason that Remington will not bother working on these jam-o-matics-----they will only give you a small trade-in credit on a new jam-o-matic to keep the customer happy for another 300 shots----- take care & good luck

 

[RobertTX]

From what I have heard and read, most of the rail damage has occurred in 30-06, especially if heavier bullets were shot. I am sure others could have the same damage if fired a lot, but 30-06 seems the be the main problem. I have one in .308 that shoots very nice. I did find that the "gas block" (wrong name for this part but equivalent the the AR part) was all crudded up. As I remember, there is a ball and spring in this assembly, and cleaning these parts seemed to make mine work better.