As far as automatic rifles go their are really only four options.
Remington 750 woodmaster- a new version of the 7400
Browning BAR
Benelli R-1
Winchester- don't remember the name of it.

My dad was in the market for a new rifle after shooting a 7400 for 20 years. He never had problems with it. Niether my dad or me though that the BAR or Winchester fit us well. The R-1 is about twice the price of a 750, but my dad was considering it. We talked with a guy at Reed's and he said every R-1 he has sold has got brought back to him with problems, so my dad went with a 750 woodmaster with a synthetic stock. I don't know if their are any that you can buy with a stainless barrel.

OK 30-06 shooters. got a question for ya all. i have an 06. i like to shoot the 220 grain because i dont seem to have to trial deer far, and by the way the furthest i tracked a bear is 50 yards. so are they not making them anymore becuase they are hard to find. at least places like fleet farm etc.

Why would you want a auto???
Trust me (as a 7400 owner for 15 yrs.) I would NEVER buy a auto deer rifle again! I see the guys at the range with bolts. They can do <1" groups at 100 yards. I can do a pop can group on my best day. The tightness of the forearm screw matters on my point of impact too!!! That being said It has never failed to kill every deer I shot.

You should be practicing for a 1 shot 1 kill mentality. Not well if I miss I got 4 more to back it up!!! Who wants to be flinging 30-06 rounds all over the place?

I was young and dumb when I bought this and now I don't want to shell out $700+ for a nice bolt and scope. If I ever went out west I would not bring this auto! For MN and <100 yard shots no problem so far.

It just gives you more options for long open field or mountain shots with a bolt. You could still take the shorter deer/bear shots.

FYI deer hunting buddy changed to 7MM Mag and has not had to track anything since! At least on the 3 deer he has shot so far. It makes a pop can entrance and exit wound with Federal Premiums. Quite impressive to say the least.

Ferny.

I owned a Rem Model 742 semi auto in .30-06 for 40 years & shot numerous deer, moose and bear with it. The jamming issues have finally got to me and she killed her last buck for me 2 weeks ago (jammed after 2 shots as usual). I have bought a BAR in 7mm/08 Rem.I have never hunted big game witout my .06 & I love that shell but I couldn't turn down the mint used BAR.I have had it with Remington semi-autos although 4 other guys in camp have not had issues but I think they are ticking bombs. Any thoughts on the 7MM-08 Rem shell ?

Sounds like several people use this gun here's a good TIP:

Remington 742/7400 jamming issue. Time for a complete tear-down and good cleaning. Remove the forearm stock and scrape all the carbon off of the gas port. I use a bunch of foaming bore cleaner and let it soak. Take a pipe cleaner and ream it out.
Look at the mating surface that pushes the bolt back and scrape off all the carbon. Mine has NEVER jammed on me...yet

Sorry this doesn't relate to your question, just trying to help.

Ferny.

180's will still tip them over quite well.

I shoot a Weatherby Vanguard 30.06 with 180 grain ammo. I have shot 4 deer with it, 3 dropped in their tracks, one was never found. Even though there was lots of blood, it still made off. If you make a good shot, it shouldn't go far, no matter what the grain ammo. In fact, after seeing the meat destroyed on several of those deer, next year I am considering going to some ammo with a little less power (150-160).

Faster, I'm with ya 100% on goin to a lighter bullet weight with the .06. I shoot handloaded 150 grain Sierra boatails and have taken several deer in the 300+ yard range. I would drop down to a 130 but, I've never been able to get them to MOA. I see what damage those big bullets do to carcasses. But, on the other hand, it's less work for me after I trim away several pounds of hydrostatic shooked meat. Those Vanguards are nice shooting guns. I've got a '83 model Smith & Wesson 1500 which is the same action.

"OK 30-06 shooters. got a question for ya all. i have an 06. i like to shoot the 220 grain because i don't seem to have to trial deer far, and by the way the furthest i tracked a bear is 50 yards. so are they not making them anymore because they are hard to find. at least places like fleet farm etc."

I do now Gander mountain caries the 220 you are looking for.

I agree with other posters above - the best way to reduce recoil is change ammuntion, not guns.

If you shoot 220s great, I have in the past, just be ready for a wallop. I noticed a difference when I started 180s and a friend said when you go to a 150 it feels (almost) like a 22.

Just another opinion.

DD

I guess that is reason why I feel there is very little kick with my 30.06 is I have always shot 165 grain and have no problems dropping a deer BUT I can't take a long shot ( over 100 yards )even if I wanted. ( Too many trees )

Why would anyone want a stainless automatic 30-06?

I would never buy stainless in anything but a bolt, the whole idea being to build a gun to hunt in the worst possible weather conditions at the edge of the civilized world. That rules out autos, even reliable ones.

Then again, I can't imagine buying an '06. I shoot a .270, a beautiful Winchester Model 70 Featherweight with a straight six Leopold, but I wouldn't even go that way right now.

Do yourself a favor. Look at bolt actions with short actions and go for all the stainless and synthetic you can get, even in the scope. Consider all the calibers carefully, including the short mags, and then buy a Ruger Model 77 in 7mm08.

That is, in my opinion, the best all around deer gun in production right now.

That's what I've always shot. I've got 12 deer on 12 shots from my Remington 700 and I've never had to track any of those.

Maybe if i switch to 7mm they'd be deader?

A 7mm08 is smaller than a 30-06, not bigger. It uses the shorter casing of a .308, necked down to accept a bullet that is a little over a half a millimeter narrower. Another way to look at it is to say it's a .243 with the neck expanded enough to take a bullet that is one millimeter broader at the shoulder.

Essentially, you are shooting, out of your '06, a 165 grain bullet at a little over 2800 feet per second. A 7mm08 shoots a 140 grain bullet at about the same speed. Both could (and should, in my opinion) be hand-loaded up to a Horandy SST (139 in the 7mm)at about 3000 feet per second, and both would be perfectly capable of cleanly killing an elk, let alone a whitetail. The 7mm08, however, takes full advantage of the leaps we have made in firearms tech over the last century. It's incredibly stable, even when fired from a short barrel, making the caliber virtually synonymous with tack-driving accuracy, and the shorter receiver allows the overall rifle to be shorter. It also kicks a whole lot less.

The original poster was asking about an automatic 30-06 in stainless, and somebody asked about 220 grain bullets. None of this makes sense. Stainless and synthetic are tough, and don't need the kind of carefull care that fine wood and blued steel do -- fine -- but automatics need that kind of care anyway. A 30-06 reciever is long, and putting it in an automatic only makes it longer, causing a shorter barrel if you need to swing the thing, and thereby reducing accuracy. It's far better suited in a bolt, especially in a beefy model like your 700. And it certainly doesn't need a 220 grain bullet. Holy Moly. That 220 can't be pushing much more than 2000 feet per second, and that with knocking the snot out of you every time you look at the rifle. What that essentially does is take the beautiful 30-06, near undisputed king of the 20th century (rivaled only by it's step-child, the .270), and turn it into a 19th century firearm, and not a very good one at that.

I shoot a Remington 700 mountain (featherweight model) bolt action. Stainless barrel. Laminate stock. Love the gun. Have had good success with 150 grain hornady. I'm a firm believer in a small, fast bullet. I rarely shoot very far, but might weigh some other bullet options when I start hunting more out west. The light gun does kick a bit more, but you really don't notice it much when you're shooting the critters.