reviving grandpa's 740 Woodsmaster

[600RemGuy]

If she were mine, I would remove all the wood and get a new can of spray gun scrubber or brake cleaner. Its easy enuff to disassemble the action spring and set it aside. Not much you can do to hurt anything. This makes the rifle essentially into a pump action you can control easier. Remove the trigger group and spray the bee-jesus out of the bolt and chamber area, cleaning the bolt head and mating area at the chamber, cycling the bolt often. Clean inside the bolt as well when its open and get anything that may be in there out. Then do it all again. Really! Its kinda fun. Makes a nice mess, so try to do it outside. Cycle the action often. You should feel things loosen up and see the engagement of the bolt head get better as you do. Keeping the chamber clean clean clean is also mandatory with these rifles. See if you can find a chamber brush made just for this purpose. With the trigger group out, inspect the area in which the action bars slide back and forth. Look for any burring in the receiver or on the bars. Make sure everything move easily and there if no abnormal wear. If there is, you should be able to detect it upon inspection. After everything is dry, lube lightly with a Teflon or a dry lube made for firearms.