Rem 788 Bolt action rifle, the legend continues

[Pappabear]

I have a friend that bought a old old beat up Rem 788 in 308. It sparked my memory of my Riflesmith saying these were the best guns Remington ever made. They only made them in SA rifles, .223-243-7-08-308 stuff. So he said they were outselling and outshooting the more popular 700 so they dropped them. Who knows. But he said they are are crazy accurate and great guns. So I got a bug up my ass and grabbed one off gunbroker in .223 with 24 inch barrel so range report to follow. I'm taking my buddies 308 to sight in for him so Ill report on that s well. Sample of two but I hope to shed some light to this Ole gun!

Oh , I took the 308 to Sportsmans warehouse to grab some rings and there was an old guy behind the counter and told the exact same story my Riflesmith said about these amazing guns...he said if I knew they were going to quit making them I would have bought more. He said its the only gun he ever shot the barrel out of he loved it so much.

Small snippet from Wiki gunnery.

"The Remington 788 has two distinguishing design features. The first is the rear-lugged bolt. The bolt has nine lugs in three rows of three lugs each. They lock into the receiver behind the magazine well. Due to this design, the bolt handle lifts only 60 degrees on opening giving more clearance for scopes compared to the 90 degrees required for the Model 700 and other two-lug rifles. The bolt travel is also reduced because of the rear lugs. The bolt pictured is a pre-1975 locking model from a .308 Winchester caliber rifle. The locking bolt requires the safety to be in the "fire" or "off" position in order to rotate the handle and actuate the bolt. Rifles manufactured from 1975 to 1983 have non-locking bolts which can be actuated while the safety is engaged. The second distinguishing feature is the receiver. It has a smaller ejection port than similar bolt-action rifles, and no bolt lug raceways. The single stack magazine design yields a smaller feed opening in the bottom of the receiver compared to rifles using a double stack magazine well. When machining of these smaller ports is complete there is more steel remaining in the receiver between the ejection port and adjacent feed port, and significantly more steel overall where all receivers have the least strength. These characteristics combined to make the Remington 788 receiver more rigid and stronger than most, if not all, competing designs, including the Remington 700 which shares the same outside receiver diameter. A rifle's accuracy tends to increase slightly as the rigidity of the receiver increases, as this slightly reduces barrel deflection during firing. Thus the Remington 788 has the structural foundation to be a very accurate rifle."

[Straight Shooter]

My first centerfire rifle was a 788 .243 with 24" barrel. LOVED that damn rifle. Now, I was too young & inexperianced and it was the 70's and I didnt have the shooting knowledge I do now, BUT..I took a lot of deer, crows, fox, groundhogs and other stuff with it. One & only complaint was the little 3 round box mag would rattle in the magwell, so I used to jam a stick or straw of hay up in there & be good to go. My shooting guru has a few of them, and amongst the several dozen rifles he shoots weekly, he will tell you right quick today, the 788 will hold its own with about anything else.
In 2005, I was at the NRA Show in Houston TX, and while in the Remington booth..I asked some CEO about the 788, if they had plans to bring it back...NO..an why did they stop making it, was it because it was out-selling & out-shooting the M700..he just said it was to hard to machine and make then. BULLSHIT.
They had the same playing field then as in 70's...it was a good bit cheaper rifle to buy than a M700, so how could they sell it cheaper if it was harder to make? I knew then the "rumor" was probably true...they WERE out-selling & shooting the 700's on the commercial market.
Anyway- Ive seen them in all calibers made, even one in .44 Magnum once. They are just good, solid accurate rifles made when Remington knew how to make good guns, and did.
Thanks PB for bringing back some fine memories.
I sincerely looking forward to your range reports brother- Ill be sick & surprised if both of those guns dont shoot very well, especially the .223. Ive seen what my guru's M788 .223 does with reloads.UNREAL with thousands of rounds thru it.

[ucrt]

.

I've got a 788 in a 308 carbine. The trigger lock-time was part of the reason they were so accurate. Supposed to be one of the fastest ever on an inexpensive rifle.
If I remember correctly, they can develop firing pin or firing pin spring issues. But not hard to replace.
My rifle has been loaned out to probably 5-6 guys and they all killed with it AND they always want to buy it even 20-years after having used it.
Lot of love once you have tried short barrel in a stand.
Congrats

.

[j31968]

Those 788's were darn accurate due to a good solid lock-up of the 9 lug design. Plus the 60 degree bolt throw made them a quick operating SA

[Pappabear]

We took the 308 out and sighted it in and it shot very good. It was sub moa and shot everything good. I used some Federal 180 grain Trophey ammo for the guy to hunt with on his next outing. It would not extract the brass for shit so I'm going to take to the Riflesmith to tweak.

PB

[Straight Shooter]

Good to hear, sux about the extraction. That, as I recall, was another selling point back in the 70's...was it had a strong extractor. i MIGHT be thinking of another rifle tho.
Looking forward to hearing about the .223..thanks for the update.