Anyone rebarreled a 788?

tiriaq said:
Factory 788s tend to be excellent shooters.
They are a quirky design with numerous warts.
Personally, I would not invest much money in a 788 project.
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MilitaryCollectorMark said:
Oh? Do tell.
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The bolt handle attachment is poor. I have reattached at least 18. Never, ever, use force when trying to open the action. The later actions with a slightly backswept handle are better, but still inferior.
The bolt stop is weak. Often broken.
Try getting extra magazines - and you cannot reload the magazine unless it is out of the rifle.
The rear locking system results in cartridge cases stretching. This contributes to hard bolt handle uplift. See objection #1. Cases can be kept trimmed and full length sized to reduce the risk. Don't load hot. Hard opening will result, see objection #1.
The plastic parts - safety thumbpiece, magazine catch thumbpiece tend to break.
The action is clunky to cycle. This is because of the camming system and the pin which prevents the bolt from rotating.
The trigger guard system is totally lacking in style, being stamped steel pieces.
It is possible to alter the triggers to improve the pull.

The rifles were marketed as economy rifles. They shoot very well. Turned out the receivers were more expensive to make that Model 700 receivers. Everything else had to be really economical to make to try to keep the price down. Didn't work commercially.

Put a custom barrel on a 788 and you will have an accurate rifle with an investment that will be hard to recover.
The fact that you were considering .25-06 or 6.5x55 suggests that you have never had a really good look at a 788.

I, too, have a take-off 788 barrel in .308. Nice condition, the carbine length. Paid $25 for it. If I were to pick up a 788 with poor barrel in the correct action length, I'd twist it on. Would make a cheap, good shooting rifle. But it would cost me next to nothing to do it, because I would not be paying someone else.
 
Sounds like a real piece of ####.
Too bad they outshoot most guns regardless of cost. The cherry on top would be if they came with a self firing walker trigger.
Better go make sure the bolt handles haven’t fallen off while I was typing this...
 
tiriaq said:
The bolt handle attachment is poor. I have reattached at least 18. Never, ever, use force when trying to open the action. The later actions with a slightly backswept handle are better, but still inferior.
The bolt stop is weak. Often broken.
Try getting extra magazines - and you cannot reload the magazine unless it is out of the rifle.
The rear locking system results in cartridge cases stretching. This contributes to hard bolt handle uplift. See objection #1. Cases can be kept trimmed and full length sized to reduce the risk. Don't load hot. Hard opening will result, see objection #1.
The plastic parts - safety thumbpiece, magazine catch thumbpiece tend to break.
The action is clunky to cycle. This is because of the camming system and the pin which prevents the bolt from rotating.
The trigger guard system is totally lacking in style, being stamped steel pieces.
It is possible to alter the triggers to improve the pull.

The rifles were marketed as economy rifles. They shoot very well. Turned out the receivers were more expensive to make that Model 700 receivers. Everything else had to be really economical to make to try to keep the price down. Didn't work commercially.

Put a custom barrel on a 788 and you will have an accurate rifle with an investment that will be hard to recover.
The fact that you were considering .25-06 or 6.5x55 suggests that you have never had a really good look at a 788.

I, too, have a take-off 788 barrel in .308. Nice condition, the carbine length. Paid $25 for it. If I were to pick up a 788 with poor barrel in the correct action length, I'd twist it on. Would make a cheap, good shooting rifle. But it would cost me next to nothing to do it, because I would not be paying someone else.
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Thank you, very good to know!
 
The action and magazine likely suited to similar to what it is now - same case head, same over all length. The barrel bore size / chamber is pretty much anything within those parameters - any bore size, if you want to get one made - and then "wildcat" for making or loading cases. If staying with factory barrels, pretty much "stuck" with whatever was originally offered by Remington.

In first instance - custom made barrel - and original rifle of 308 Win length - I would consider a 260 Rem or similar, or perhaps a 358 Win, depending what you found inadequate with the original 308 Win. If second case, I would consider a 7mm-08, simply because I have never owned one, but apparently very similar performance to 7x57, of which I have had some experience. A custom barrel - contoured, threaded, installed, chambered, and then blued - is likely 2x or 3x the price of a used Rem 788 rifle.

I have a McGowen barrel on order for a large ring Mauser - to be "pre-chambered" (long chambered ? some amount ?) in 257 Roberts. Apparently will show up as blued. My first time to buy a "custom made" barrel, not a factory take-off. Invoice was for $776 - to be several months wait for it, I expect. My intention is to fuss with it, in my lathe, to peel length off rear of barrel to establish bolt face clearance, then head space, which might require peeling on the barrel shoulder or the receiver ring face. Looking forward to that project - is not something that I have tried before, from "new".
 
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One other design feature which is a potentially major issue:
The trigger mechanism is attached to the receiver by a small roll pin that passes through a little stud on the bottom of the receiver. This little stud is induction brazed to the receiver.
If this joint fails, the trigger mechanism falls off.
Reattaching the little stud is a major pain. The lug is small and must be clamped in place in exactly the right spot. Red heat is necessary. The lug is small, the receiver massive in comparison. Lots of fun with an o/a torch. The area of the receiver that must be heated is close to the locking abutments.
 
And for what it's worth !! My experiences with removing the factory barrels on 788's have never been fun. Every one has been on so tight that clamping tools had to be very close tolerances and sucked up extra snug. D.H.
 
Yes, removing a 788 barrel can be more challenging than a 700 or other sporting rifle's barrel. Cutting a relief groove in the barrel can help.

788s tend to be very good shooting rifles, but I think best left as is. As economy rifles go, a 783 has real potential as a basis for a project; a 788 not so much.
 
David Henry said:
And for what it's worth !! My experiences with removing the factory barrels on 788's have never been fun. Every one has been on so tight that clamping tools had to be very close tolerances and sucked up extra snug. D.H.
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I found the tooling for grabbing the 788 barrel is not a lot of different than other barrels - inserts that fit, paper shims, rosin powder - make barrel vice "gudentight" - my "big" torque wrench goes to 200 ft lbs - I go more than that, now. The wrench for the receiver a bit convoluted - want to hold the recoil lug in place, and have a hole for a 1/4" NF bolt through bottom into action hole. If you have tried to unscrew WWI or WWII milsurp barrels, would not consider unusually "tight" to do a Rem 788 - but I have not done many sporter barrels, so I do not know what is "normal". Depending on action wrench, for me, is either a four foot snipe or an 8 pound hammer - have had barrels spin in vice because not "gudentight" enough, but never been beat yet by the threads...
 
I had a 788 carbine rebarreled to .358 Win by Ron Smith. In an absolute moment of stupidity I sold it here on CGN. I wish I had had it back....
 
tiriaq said:
One other design feature which is a potentially major issue:
The trigger mechanism is attached to the receiver by a small roll pin that passes through a little stud on the bottom of the receiver. This little stud is induction brazed to the receiver.
If this joint fails, the trigger mechanism falls off.
Reattaching the little stud is a major pain. The lug is small and must be clamped in place in exactly the right spot. Red heat is necessary. The lug is small, the receiver massive in comparison. Lots of fun with an o/a torch. The area of the receiver that must be heated is close to the locking abutments.
Click to expand...

Yep been there I parted out a tack driver of a gun because of that fail
223 barrel is all I have left
 
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tiriaq said:
One other design feature which is a potentially major issue:
The trigger mechanism is attached to the receiver by a small roll pin that passes through a little stud on the bottom of the receiver. This little stud is induction brazed to the receiver.
If this joint fails, the trigger mechanism falls off.
Reattaching the little stud is a major pain. The lug is small and must be clamped in place in exactly the right spot. Red heat is necessary. The lug is small, the receiver massive in comparison. Lots of fun with an o/a torch. The area of the receiver that must be heated is close to the locking abutments.
Click to expand...

I discovered on a Schutz and Larsen rifle that they approached same issue differently - the receiver is sort of like a Rem 788 - receiver is heavy round tube - rear locking bolt lugs. For attaching trigger and bolt stop, the receiver has drilled and tapped holes. The studs thread in. Because they are clocked so well, I presume that the stud is spun in and tightened to spec, then the machining is done to create the "eye". Never had to replace any, but appears do-able.
 
I have seen bolt handles broken off the bolts of a Shultz and Larsen rifle too... rear locking lugs have spring in the action with over loads and lead to problems, even with heavy actions.
 
Is hard to imagine, but who knows what hand loaders can do? I read that Roy Weatherby chose the Schultz and Larsen action for his first "boomers" - led me to believe they might have been well built. I had a Weatherby Mark V in here for a while - is front locking, but remarkably similar design to the S&L - oversize bolt body and very snug fit between bolt body and the receiver bore. Bolt locking lugs on both were same size (diameter) as the bolt body.
 
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