I did get a 740 at a gunshow, with a scope and sling, for $250. It's a fine gun, about 95% blueing, with plain, slightly used wood. I wasn't getting real great groups with it anyway, but a 3" group is minute of whitetail out to 300 yards. I tightened up all of the scope and mount screws, and haven't shot it yet. The scope is a 4x Bushnell, and I don't think that's helping my groups at all. When I top it with a 3-9x Nikon Buckmaster, I susupect that, with the right ammo, I'll be shooting 1-1 1/2" groups at 100 yards. I'm also planning on starting to reload, and I hope that with 125 grain bullets recoil will be less for my grandad. I don't mind the kick at all, and the noise is great, but I know not to creep up on the stock. He, on the other hand, doesn't like the noise, and, after he creeped up on the stock and touched off a hot-loaded 180 grain bullet, wasn't much of a fan of the recoil.
R77