788???

Rem 788

john-brennan said:
I had a 7-08 carbine (18.5" barrel) I believe and it was very accurate, did not fit me great I gave it to my son and he has shot alot of deer with it and still owns it after 17 years. The clip fell apart had to buy a new one but other than that it still shoots amazing.
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+1 on the Rem 788 in general. Have had a couple different .308's over the years & even had one in .30-30 for awhile.

However, my 788 'keeper' is a 18.5" factory barreled one in 7mm-08. Picked it up from, now long closed, "Specialty Guns" in Victoria, B.C. ~ 30 yrs ago. It came with a well used plain-jane factory wood stock which I switched out for an older version black synthetic Ramline , back when they came with a Pachmayr decelerator installed. The action dropped right in & was surprised just how accurate it was just as is, so I've never thought to tinkered with it further.

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NAA.
 

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A fan of the 788 as well. Available in left handed versions, the rear locking lug format, short lock time, and compact action are all wins to me! I got rid of the Flickr/photobucket account but have a rebarrelled CF barrel in a CF stock I built with a strike eagle optic on it.
 
cody c said:
A fan of the 788 as well. Available in left handed versions, the rear locking lug format, short lock time, and compact action are all wins to me! I got rid of the Flickr/photobucket account but have a rebarrelled CF barrel in a CF stock I built with a strike eagle optic on it.
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If you want I could post photos of your 788, just PM me.
 
For various reasons - likely that they were inexpensive and worked very well - was a thing at one time to unscrew that Remington 788 barrel, toss the recoil washer, then have a conventional shouldered barrel screwed to the receiver - to make competitive bench rest type rifles. The 788 has a much longer than normal barrel tenon - so that may have been seen as desirable - a very "stiff" connection between barrel and receiver. I am not sure how the recoil transfer was done - might have been at the time when the receivers were epoxied into the stocks permanently, or perhaps when barrel blocks were used and the receiver floated free of the stock. I believe that similar was done with Remington 700 actions and others like that.
 
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The primary reason the 788 was discontinued was that its production cost increased until it was not much less than that of the 700. It couldn't be offered as an economy rifle any longer.
 
We always thought that the reason it was discontinued was because it was at least as accurate as the 700 at half the price. :dancingbanana: ;)

A lot of guys up here use the 788 to build silhouette competition rifles.

Ted
 
I've owned a half dozen 788s. 222, .223 .22 250, .243 and .308. All shot great to awesome. These are very popular around here, Seems like everyone bought 1 in the 80s.


I do know where 3 788s are with no bolt as well. Have tried every gun store in Ontario trying to find one.

I always wondered why, Were they broke? Lost?

Is it true with the rear locking lugs on the bolt these guns don't like hand loads?
 
No bolt usually means a detached handle and a bubba'd attempt at reattaching - or stored separately for safety and lost. Or even a broken bolt stop allowing the bolt to be lost.
The rear locking system contributes to case stretching. That and stiff loads can cause problems.

A cleanly detached handle can be effectively reattached - but bubba with a buzz box will guarantee a ruined bolt. And sometimes part of the bolt breaks away with the handle and this makes a repair more challenging. At the factory, the handle was installed, and then the threads for the bolt plug were cut. Another complication when a handle is reattached is that the threading for the plug is messed up. I think Brownells used to sell the appropriate taps for cleaning up these threads.
 
My grandpa used to have a 7mm08 18.5" barrel. Ugly looking gun but one of the most accurate, low maintenance guns I've ever seen. Papa figured they stopped making them because they were so good it was hurting the 700 sales.
 
tiriaq said:
No bolt usually means a detached handle and a bubba'd attempt at reattaching - or stored separately for safety and lost. Or even a broken bolt stop allowing the bolt to be lost.
The rear locking system contributes to case stretching. That and stiff loads can cause problems.

A cleanly detached handle can be effectively reattached - but bubba with a buzz box will guarantee a ruined bolt. And sometimes part of the bolt breaks away with the handle and this makes a repair more challenging. At the factory, the handle was installed, and then the threads for the bolt plug were cut. Another complication when a handle is reattached is that the threading for the plug is messed up. I think Brownells used to sell the appropriate taps for cleaning up these threads.
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There are 2 firing pin shroud threads for the Rem 788's
9/16-24tpi
5/8-24tpi.

2 extractor/ejector configurations depending on case head...rimmed being the least produced.

The the reloaders of 788's-
F/L size all brass for ease of chambering.
Of the 9 mid body bolt lugs,only 3 (@3ockcok) that accomplish the battery camming of said bolt.
(above in reference to the RH models)


I've precision TIG welded thousands of Rem 788 bolt handles to date.


Decades later & not in production were the Rem 710,715,770's.
3 lug,floating bolt head.
bolt handle w/ stud for location...induction silver brazed to the body.....and they get "Peelded" off also!!
 
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The 9/16-24 bolts had the slightly backswept handles and inlet magazine plates & trigger guards; the 5/8-24 ones were the earlier version with straight handles and surface mounted plates/guards.

The .30-30 and .44Magnum 788s don't turn up very often. The .30-30s have a following among cast bullet shooters.
 
Dan, I currently have no 788 rifles but have been following this thread. You obviously are the guy to ask about making and then fitting a completely new bolt handle to these rifles.

Would there be any advantage to doing this rather than using the old one? In other words, are there any deficiencies in the original handle that could be addressed with the new handle?

Ted
 
Its a pretty crappy gun overall, its only redeeming quality is that it’s more accurate that it has any right to be.
And it’s wood and steel unlike todays budget guns.
 
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Economy rifle meant something COMPLETELY different 50 years ago. They used great skill and materials but just cut the frills. Now they use poor skills, materials and design. There is no pride just price point now. Heritage items versus disposables. C"est la vie
 
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