Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Rem 7400 - Are the forends supposed to split?

GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHG!GHGH!!!!!

Ok, so I'm at the range fighting enemy pop bottles this weekend with my Remington 7400 .30-06 carbine. My LIKE NEW 7400. My BARELY USED 7400. My NEVER EVER EVER ABUSED 7400. Remmy and I finally finish our patriotic duty of defending the Constitution of the United States against all plastic beverage containers foreign and domestic. We leave the bottlefield (<--I'm awesome <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) and head home for a good cleaning.

So I start cleaning, and I notice this HUGE SPLIT in the forend wood, about 3/4 of the way up the length of the underside! Clear through the thickness of the wood (well, make that "thinness of the wood")! It's literally broken to the point that I'd expect it to completely fall off the weapon if I took it out in this condition again.

So to make a long story longer, I guess I have two questions:

1. Has anyone else ever experienced something similar with this model? A quick google search turned up at least two examples for sale that appear to have cracks of some sort in the forend, but from the photos they appear to be nowhere near the extent of the one on my weapon. Again, my weapon has in no way been mistreated, nor has it even seen extensive use. What happened? I simply can't believe that it was there the whole time and I just overlooked it until this last weekend, but then again, cripes, those bottles didn't make me break out the bayonette, or even clobber them with the butt!

2. What do I do now? Obviously I need to check if its still under warranty, but based on extensive experience with the timing of such product failures, I'm 95% certain the warranty will have *just* expired. Brownells seems to want $90+ for just a forend, which I can tell you right now is not going to happen. Yet a bead of Elmer's just seems wrong.

3. Does any company make any product that isn't CRAP?!?!? Because I will buy it, I don't even care what it is. Ok, ok, that's just venting, sorry. The Rem 7400 as a whole has been pretty awesome, but a forend that cracks under not-even-normal use can only be classified as Super Weak.

Thanks,

I'd start with Remington and see if they won't do somethin' for ya. If not, you can probably repair the one you've got, or you can pick up a replacement from Boyds for about $35.00.

Outers seels a synthetic stock for the 7400. I think B&C sells a fiberglass stock for the aformentioned slipshucker....

More than likely, the wood was contacting the sliding action bars and caused the split.

Even Honda, Toyota and Mercedes turn out bad cars now and then.

I'd send it to Remington with a NICE letter telling them how much you love their products and how great their company is and how you've always had such good luck with their wonderful products and how this just has to be a one in a million occurence and please would they be so kind as to make it right?

I've sent back several rifles - Remingtons and Winchesters - with just such a nice and polite note and have gotten stellar responses from both. Remington sent me a brand new rifle once to replace one that had purely cosmetic defects.

Bitching at them and threatening will solve nothing, be nice and I'm sure they will do right by you.

Yep x 3.

Nonono, I'm not the type to bitch or threaten about something like this (well, I'll bitch about it on the boards, but that's different <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />). It's just aggravating as hell, considering the newness of the piece and how careful I've been with it.

I'm certainly considering this option, but I'd rather not ship the rifle off into never-never land considering that:

a) I've never done it before. Is there all kinds of legal BS involved in shipping firearms through the mail/UPS/FedEx?

b) I'd expect the round trip to take a considerable amount of time, and where I live, the clock is ticking on the decent-weather-for-shooting season. It's my only semi-auto, and it's fun as hell. But then again, I really don't think I can use it as-is anyway....

Hmm. Thanks for the advice though. Maybe once winter starts, I can send it in and not have to care about how long it takes.

I checked, but those are labelled "Semi-inlet", which from what I gather means "some woodworking required". I suppose for ~$35 I could just take a chance....

Thanks for the tip,

So this is a semi-known problem? Double grrr. So assuming I get replacement wood on the forend, should I hollow out the inside to give these bars extra clearance?

Checked out the Bell & Carlson stocks (thanks for the tip). Cabelas wants ~$150 for the full set. Elmer's is starting to look more viable all the time... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Didn't find anything on the Outers site at all, anybody have a link handy?

I see Ram-Line has some for cheap.

PS: Not really related, but regarding the B&C stocks. Am I the only person on earth that *doesn't* want two inches of rubber on the butt of their rifles? I can't be the only one who notices the definite difference in "shoulderability" with that mass of sticky rubber getting all hung up in your clothing.

The following are the only two pictures of my 2000 7400/.30-06 Carbine that I have available. This one now wears the full set ( both ends ) of the Bell & Carlson stock.
I also have a 1955 740/.30-06 with the Ram-Line stock on it. It is 'OK' for a cheap stock.
The B&C stock is a high quality replacement.
In the pix, you'll see that the B&C forend is installed, with a CHOATE pisolgrip buttstock for a Remington 870...which I filed down just enough to get a press-fit into the 7400 action. It works and feels great.
My suggestion would be to order one of the CHOATE buttstocks, and the Ram-Line stock set; then install the forend of the Ram-Line unit in conjunction with the pistolgrip buttstock.
This would give you a 'tupperware' set to work with for less than the B&C set, and allow you time to get a replacement piece of wood for your 7400. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
That's the best, cheapest, idea I could come up with for you given your need to get it done quickly.
Good Luck! Have fun!

Side view:


Me and the 7400 in 'Y2K' mode: <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The gun is cool Mike, but the Cyclops glasses from the X-Men is waaaaay cool!

The wood's thin and probably it dried out enough to split it. But Remington ought to make it good.

The checkering on the fore-end looks pretty good, and if you bought a replacement, it wouldn't have that on it.

You can repair it to make it stronger than when new, if you can find a way to clamp it, which is problematical with a round peice of wood. A good, thin epoxy will keep it from falling apart, but it won't guarantee the thing won't split somewhere else.

That's the thing....sounds like the grain of the woood isn't right for the fore end.

Gun Parts catalog may have replacement wood for you, too.

On a): No legal hassles of any kind. Any private citizen may ship a rifle back to the factory (or other repair facility for that matter) and have it shipped straight back to them. For a rifle you can use the US Post Office, UPS, Fedex, whatever. I've used USPS priority mail to ship firearms on several occasions with no problems.

b) Based on my past experience it could very well take 5-8 weeks round trip from Remington so that's a judgement call for you.

OR - in the paperwork that came with the rifle there should be a list of factory authorized repair stations, perhaps there is one near enough to you to drive there? If not one should definitely be close enough to ship it at less cost than sending it all the way back to Remington. They would get the needed part(s) from Remington and it should be at no charge to you, except for the shipping there.

Other fixes mentioned here will definitely work, but it's been my experience that if you send that nice letter (okay, blatantly suck up to them <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> ) the repair departments at the big gun factories will do a very good job of not only fixing your problem but also checking the rifle over for any other problems and fixing them as well. Plus they have always done it for free - they do stand behind their work.