My First Deer Rifle: Remington 760

[Splitear]

So, I'm back in Illinois visiting family over the next couple of weeks. Yesterday I stopped by to see my mom at work (she takes care of a local old couple, the wife has pretty severe dementia). The old man, John, is a heck of a guy, a local old farmer, and just the quintessential 80 year old story teller. Needless to say, any chance I get to sit down with him for a little bit, I take it. Yesterday, we got on the topic of guns, and he started bringing out some of his stuff. He has a lot of guns, which is surprising, since he never was much of a hunter outside of shooting farm pests and stuff. However, a lot of his guns have been shot very little, and just stored in closets, in the basement, on the back porch, and are not in great condition. In fact, we pulled out an old Winchester 12 with most of the bluing gone and literally covered in cobwebs (a shame to see). 

Anyways, I asked if he had anything that would work as a deer rifle (Illinois is shotgun only) and he said he might have something. We ended up pulling out an old Remington 760 Gamemaster in 300 Savage. It's not in collector condition, but doesn't look to bad, just some scuffs and dings on the wood and bluing issues. I didn't have my bore light, so I couldn't check that. It also has an old J. Unertl "Hawk" 4x scope on it, and it looks pretty clear to my eyes. He said he bought it back in the '60's, shot it a few times and put it up because it was too powerful for anything he needed. I asked if he might want to sell it, and he said "Tell you what, take it home with you and see if you can kill a deer with it. I'll let you know if I ever want it back."

So, it will be coming home with me, along with a Savage 24 in .22/20 that my dad is giving me. I can't wait to tear into both of them and get the cleaned and oiled. I'll try to take some before and after pictures of both. I think the biggest challenge on the 760 is going to be finding ammo  Regardless, I'm looking forward to getting that old gun back in action. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Splitear

[SpacemanSpiff]

I love those old pumps. Cool old caliber to boot! Enjoy. Does it still retain the iron sites?

[Splitear]

Just now, SpacemanSpiff said:

I love those old pumps. Cool old caliber to boot! Enjoy. Does it still retain the iron sites?

Thanks!

Yes, still has the flip down buckhorn sight. The scope mount on it is really unique as well, but I didn't have a chance to look at it much. It's some kind of funky old side mount. I left the gun with him since I didn't bring a case down with me. I'll try to get some pictures when I pick it up tomorrow. 

[Grouse]

Congratulations on the 760.  That's a classic deer pump gun in a classic chambering.  The .300 Savage round is old, but still popular enough to find ammo pretty easily, since many guns were chambered for it and demand for the ammo is still pretty good.  It's pretty close to the .308 Win in power so it will not have any trouble taking whitetail or bear.  Clean it up and enjoy it in good health for many years to come.

[Shoots100]

Nice to be able to bring a rifle out of retirement.

Plenty of new production 300 Sav Ammo($$) out there and reloading supplies too.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of it.

 

[ny hunter]

Awesome.... Enjoy

[grampy]

Gotta love "old guys" like that...... You have a fine, classic, deer thumper with that Rem 760. It will serve you well for a lifetime. Be sure to send the old man pictures of the deer you kill with his old rifle. And also stop by, to tell him all the details when ya can. Bet he'd really like that.

Looking forward to the pictures! The optics of today, are so much nicer than they were even a couple of decades ago. But if you like what's on there, by all means use it!!! 

[Nomad]

Congrats !

Buds Guns online ( they do ship ammo to NY ) currently has Remington ammo in that caliber,for $45 a box which seems the going rate online . I’d jump on a couple boxes . That’s a limited production ammo grab it when you see it .

Edited May 29, 2021 by Nomad

[Splitear]

1 hour ago, Nomad said:

Congrats !

Buds Guns online ( they do ship ammo to NY ) currently has Remington ammo in that caliber,for $45 a box which seems the going rate online . I’d jump on a couple boxes . That’s a limited production ammo grab it when you see it .

Thanks for the advice on ammo Nomad. I bought one box, just incase I get it home and can't get it to function. I'd rather be stuck with one box of ammo that I can't use than two

[Farflung]

The 760's are pretty reliable and straight forward, so I bet it will function alright. When sighting it  in give it plenty of time between shots as some of  them have a tendency to have the group wander as the  barrell heats up. And watch  out about dropping the clip. If it  lands on the top, sometimes just  a little bend affects it from feeding. Our group has several of them, and most guys have bought spare clips. We had one 760 and one 742 that got some rust in the chamber and that kept them from cycling.

[Splitear]

I actually just called the LGS in my hometown to see if he had any ammo (I didn’t expect him to). He said he had several boxes at $26 each, so I’m going to grab a bunch before we head back to NY.  It’s a bonus that I can put a few rounds through it here. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Splitear

[Nomad]

22 minutes ago, Splitear said:

I actually just called the LGS in my hometown to see if he had any ammo (I didn’t expect him to). He said he had several boxes at $26 each, so I’m going to grab a bunch before we head back to NY.  It’s a bonus that I can put a few rounds through it here. 

Wow that’s awesome ! It’s nice to see some showing up on store shelves again . 

[eaglemountainman]

I have my Gramp's old 760 in .300 Sav and my Dad's in .35 Rem. Both are 5 diamond models. Every deer season in NY, I take each of them for a walk on the mountain. Both shoot very well to 100 yds with the factory irons.

[Splitear]

Here it is in the rough. I did get a chance to run a brush and patch through it, and was able to light the bore. The first couple of passes with and brush pulled out what I thought was rust, but I think it was just dirt and dust. The bore is nice and shiny, and what I originally thought was bluing issues actually looks like surface rust, which a little steel wool should make easy work of. I bought all of the ammo the shop had today (5 boxes) and am going to try to run a couple through it tonight at my brother in law’s house tonight. I can’t wait to get back home with it so I can really tear it down and give it a good cleaning. 
I was also able to date it at April of 1952, so first year of production in this caliber  

Edited May 31, 2021 by Splitear

[ny hunter]

Looks pretty decent no doubt... I am sure it shoots just fine.....Enjoy

[Splitear]

I was able to spend a few hours with this old rifle, bringing it back to life. It really cleaned up well. I took some steel wool to some of the surface rust, and got a good bit of it cleaned off. I took the action out and soaked it in parts cleaner. It was pretty gunky, but nothing more than dirty old oil, it came right of. I gave everything a liberal oiling and then wiped it down thoroughly. I took some nitro polish from my guitars to the wood, and the finish that is left on it seemed to soak up the effort. I’m really very happy with it. It was really fun to revive a gun that will turn 70 years old in less than a year. 
The scope mount is an old swing top Pachmayr, which is a pretty cool piece. As long as I can get the scope to sight in, I’m going to leave everything “as-is”. 
I did shoot it last week, and it handled the three rounds I put through it flawlessly. I’m looking forward to getting it sighted in. 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Splitear

[ny hunter]

Nice ....Let us know how it shoots...,

[grampy]

A diamond in the rough! You got it sparkling now!

Can't wait to see the old girl lying next to a deer this fall!

[Bolt action]

Nice job cleaning her up and cool story to go with it.

[Grouse]

Looks great.  That old boy is just itching to shoot a nice buck now.

[mowin]

Wow, great job cleaning her up. Looks fantastic. 

[rob-c]

Very nice , the story is the cherry on top of a nice fire arm. My dad gave me my granddads 300 savage 99 , and every time I carry it I think of them both. I’ll never forget when  my dad gave it to me , he say’s  if that rifle could talk the amount of deer it’s killed legal and illegal . 

[First-light]

Great story just love it!

[dbHunterNY]

i have my grandfather's 742 woodsmaster and growing up my dad's go to gun is a 7600 pump, which i ended up borrowing for a point in time before i got my own rifle. heck with the pump i doubled up on coyotes, 2 shots for 2 yotes. i have some nice guns but they'll never be sold. Good luck with it.

[suburbanfarmer]

1 hour ago, dbHunterNY said:

i have my grandfather's 742 woodsmaster and growing up my dad's go to gun is a 7600 pump, which i ended up borrowing for a point in time before i got my own rifle. heck with the pump i doubled up on coyotes, 2 shots for 2 yotes. i have some nice guns but they'll never be sold. Good luck with it.

I have 742 myself that has been passed down but I could never get it to function reliably, in essence it is a single shot for me