Rem 8

[Drm50]

I had a #8 Remington .35 when I was a kid. It was marked from Indiana Prison. Like a idiot I wanted a
742 Rem 30/06 like all the older guys. The 8 & 81 are
twice the gun of 742 series. I like the 35 for woods
deer hunting. I've got a 14 & 141 in 35 cal. I picked up
a 81 in 300 Sav recently. I have always wanted a police model that had detachable magazine and hi cap. Well this one is a Kreiger conversion with detach
mag but they never made hi cap mags. That put me
down in the jaws but I can live with it.


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[mauser9]

Looks awesome Drm. Heard the 742 model had issues with feeding and extraction but never owned one. Did buy a Model Four in .270 Winchester back in 1981 with the different gas and bolt system. So far been dependable but not many round put through it I admit. Thanks for showing that Model 8.

 

[Drm50]

This is a 81, last model off 8 before Rem went to stamped parts
guns. This conversion has excellent machine work and they used
the factory magazine, just converted it to detachable. When I
bought this gun I should have done some research, because if
there is no benifit in capacity there isn't much point in it. As a
deer rifle I have never fired more than two shots per deer.

The 742 series has killed a lot of deer in the eastern woods. The
jamming is a PIA but the big thing was accuracy. When you are
use to BA shooting a 1" at 100yds the 742s just didn't get it.
Me and a buddy got a package deal on ours from our gunsmith.
$112 @. We had to use 180gr bullets at about 2400fps to get
them to shoot to our satisfaction. Which was in 2"-21/2" at 100.
Since most deer are shoot at under a 100yds where we hunt
they were good enough. I didn't keep mine very long and it only
had sight in and a few boxes in deer seasons, 100 at the most.
My brother sold it and the guy had it jam bad enough that he
had to send it back or take it to a smith, I forget which. That
rifle killed me on Remington guns from then on. I have a 870
that I bought about same time. Bought for slugs it still looks
new. I never liked it after I bought it. Typical rattle trap.

 

[DWalt]

Local gun show had a M81 papered to the Texas Rangers. Don't remember the asking price, but beyond my budget. I have a Remington 740 (.308) and Remington 7400 (.270 Win). Never had a bit of reliability problem with either one. And the 7400 shoots excellent groups, like a good bolt action. Not so for the 740. I've played with many different loads and jiggled around with the forearm support to no avail. Best it will do at 100 yards is 3"-4". Good enough for most hunting use I suppose.

 

[Drm50]

We bought some kind of accuracy blocks for the 742s, I don't
remember the name of them but they didn't help. Best we got
was around 3" at 100yds. The deer hunting crew was 9 guys.
All had 742s in 30/06, except one guy who had a 760 in 30/06.
His gun would outshoot the 742s. I don't know why it is basically
same gun. It had to be the lock up of the bolt. If you have ever
jerked one apart the barrels are attached the same way, to same
reciver. Mine was a pretty gun a 742 BDL carbine, everyone else
had rifle version. Maybe I should have kept it, the carbines are
scarce and Rem nuts are looking for them. I had Win 100s and
Brn BARs and they shoot much better than 742s. The 742s were
so finicky we ended up using only factory loads in them. When
the plastic bolt shroud was added in early 70s the quality of them
dropped futher. They would jam so tight closed we would put a
broom stick across bolt handle and two guys would force it open.

 

[DWalt]

I tried making my own accuracy block for the 740, but it didn't help grouping performance. I even tried shooting it with no fore end attached, and I didn't see any improvement from doing that either. So it had to be something to do with the bolt lockup. Having said that, I never had any reliability problems with the 740 (which I remember buying used for around $125 about 15 years ago) and I still have it. I have fired several thousand rounds of M80 GI ball ammo through it.

 

[35Rem]

Be sure to check out The Great Model 8 & 81 and the forums there as well.
Tons of info on these fine old rifles.