I did own a 7400(.270 Win), I do own a 760(.30-06 Sprg), and
a BAR(.308 Win). As the poster mentioned, he is a fan of
semi-autos, I to am a big fan of auto loading rifles.
I have a number of bolt action rifles, and one bolt action
pistol, too.
I sold the 7400, which was 1.5 MOA accurate, with handloads,
and it never failed to cycle or fire. It was sold because of the
issue where the gun slowly beats itself into unreliable
cycling. My brother, who loved the gun, purchased it from
me, as I was about to trade it. He is a hunter,
and only shoots a few Zero checking rounds a year,
and is in no danger of "wearing out" the 7400.
I would have killed it in 5 years, with my shooting
habits. I like to shoot my guns!
So to my recommendation. First of the two mentioned,
I would opt for the 7600. My 760 is at least MOA accurate
with the factory ammo I have tried(Fed. Premium).
My first attempt at handloads was under 1 MOA, and
that is as far as I went with load development. I
inherited this gun, when my Father died in an accident,
and I don't hunt the rifle very often, so a vast array of
ammo is not necessary. It is ultra reliable,
easy on the eyes, and plenty accurate for hunting
anything from fat groundhogs on up to big game.
But someone mentioned BAR, and that would be
my recommendation, over a 7600, especially for
someone that prefers semi-auto rifles. It always
takes a second or two to remind myself to complete
the pump action, that was started by the recoil of
the rifle, with the 760. I prefer to not have to think
that hard when under the pressure of shooting a
trophy. My BAR handles that for me, and so far
under some nasty hunting conditions, it has
never failed cycle in a fresh round. The semi-auto
brings a couple of other attributes to the table,
superior to the pump rifle. First is noise. If the
first round fails to find it's mark, and the mark
doesn't know where the shot came from, the noise
of pumping the next round in the chamber, may
give the shooter away. Second is if the animal
now kicks in the go fast drive, swinging on a running
animal, is much more fluid, with an semi-auto,
than if the swing has to accomodate the pumping
action. Some folks do not have a problem maintaining
good swing, and pumping the action, and others do.
I am one of the later. As for accuracy, my BAR LW Stalker,
in .308 Win, puts several handloads, and at least one
premium factory load, into sub MOA groups.
Both are fine repeating hunting rifles, that I would
trust my life to. The choice would boil down to
preferences for pumps or semi-autos, and possibly
budget. I think the 7600 is about 50% to 60% the cost
of a BAR.
Squeeze