788 Rem

[Minihuntur]

A friend of mine has a Remington Model 788 in .222 Rem with a Weaver KT4 scope on it. When I asked him how accurate it was all he said was," Very accurate." Who owns one and how accurate is it? What are they worth these days?
Minihuntur

[Classicvette63]

I have one in .22-250. It shoots better than I do and I ain't no slouch.:D Seriously, the 788 is one heck of a gun. Might not be the prettiest rifle around but it is an all time underated classic.

Don't have my blue book handy so I can't give you a price.

[Minihuntur]

Boy, that was specific:eek: . What groups do you get with it.
Minihuntur

[skeet]

Have had quite a few from 222 to 308. All were very accurate. One of the reasons that Rem discontinued it was it was embarrassing to them to have a 100 buck rifle that was more accurate than their 700 rifle. It does have a few probs though. The bolts are known to break off and mags can be a bit harder to find..but all in all a good rifle. My 222 will shoot under an inch any time and it's a pretty good coyote rifle. If it is really nice 250 to 300 bucks US

[PJgunner]

I never shot one cuz I thought they were just too butt ugly, and as they say, "Life's too short to hunt with an ungly gun." :D
Seriously though, the comment about the bolt has a lot of truth to it. When I lived in Nevada and was apprenticing to a gunsmith, we made a lot of money rebrazing those bolt handles back on after idiots shot too way hot loads in them and had to pound on the handle to open the bolt. Seems like most of the offenders were in the varmint caliber as I recall. Hunting coyotes was real popluar and the 788s would reach out and touch them. Part of the reason for their great accuracy was thet had an extremely short lock time.
Paul B.

[Classicvette63]

Mini, 1" groups in a 788 should be common. If you reload, I suspect you can do a lot better.

Never having worked up the best load for my .22-250 yet, I can still get groups in the 1/2"- 3/4" range with no problem.

[razmuz]

I had 308 L/H and it was super accurate. But, you folks are right, it had no altruistic appeal. Get rid of it quick, it will give you a Wall Mart complex.

[dakotah]

The real reason Remington stopped selling the 788 was it cost as much to build as the 700 -- machining costs were too high. People wouldn't pay the same price.

[skeet]

Saw one in 223 Saturday at the auction..was a bit rough..bore was ok had a cheap scope on it. Darn thing went for over 500 bucks. Sheesh..people are crazy at auctions..except me!:D :D

[dakotah]

I was at a gun show this week end. Most of the 788's there were 308 or 243. A very nice ??????? one was on the table $450. A scratched up one was on the table for $550. Neither sold over the weekend.

[gorilla10]

My father bought me my 788 back in 1968, I believe it was the year after it came out. It's a 22-250 and it seems to just keep shooting better and better! I just got it back from having the trigger lightened up. I can't wait to get out and shoot it now. that gun put a lot of woodchuck stew on the table, actually catchitori! On a calm day i've put quite a few chucks to sleep out to 400yds. Most of the shooting was done with factory ammo too. If a coyote stops long enough to get of a shot they're in trouble!

[Boarhunter]

I have one in 22-250 I bought about 5 years back on GA. Last time I brought her out with the local shooting club she got 1.25" groups @ 300 yards with Hornady 60 grainers, 2.50" with Core-lokt 55 grainers. As they said earlier, action by Remington, gunstock by Ugly Stick... while on the subject, anyone got an extra clip they want to sell?

-BH

[dakotah]

I have seen those magazines for sale in a recent gun show. They were on the tables for $60 to $80 each.

[Boarhunter]

So they do exist........

[skeet]

Are a bit hard to find. I pick them up occassionally but most I sell on ebay. Have a few at the present but not sure of the cals..except i know one is for 222 and a 22-250 one//May have a 243 but really don't remember. I do have one for 44 mag though...big bucks for certain.:D No it's not for sale yet!

[RagingBullPa]

ugly gun but shoots great its a Remington , but in reality they never should have dropped the old 660 remington that was the first rifle i bought withmy own money had it in a .308 wichester loved the gun, but i loved my wife more sold it to by the diamond and still going strong after 36years

[Ridge Runner]

I can still buy the 243/7/08/308 mags accross the counter, I got 2 new manufacture 6mm mags a lil over a year ago from numrich, so someone is making them.
RR

[Larryjk]

I know that all of the 788s I see are loved by their owners, including the one I own. The one I have is in .222 Rem and I bought it for my grandsons to start in centerfire use. They love it because they can always hit with it.
I think the reason the 788 is so accurate is because they have an abnormally long barrel shank sticking back into a stiff action. No one has ever said a 788 is a light rifle. Look at a 788 action and then look at a benchrest action. Very similar.

[Minihuntur]

Call me blind or stupid or both, but I think the 788 is pretty. I also found it quite light, but thats because my normal hunting rifle is a 10 pound .243.
Minihuntur

[RagingBullPa]

now my 700lss with the grey laminated stock thats pretty , a 788 is a plain jane but functional, my700 mtn rifle in 280 rem with a synthetic stock weighs in at just a tad over 6 lbs thats sweet, my BSA CF2 in 7mm mag is a load weighs in at just over 10lbs , thats a stand gun along with the Lss both are heavy my model 700bdlss synthethic7mmmag comes in at just under 8 lbs thats my pet gun , like the farmer said who kissed the cow to each their own tastes:D

[skeet]

the beauty of a rifle is mostly in how it shoots. I have had a couple of Weatherby rifles. Supposed to be pretty things. I guess in the minds of many they are. One of the reasons they sold so well was pretty. Weatherby wasn't a fool. He was a GOOD marketer. He knew how to reel in the bucks. Were the rifles good. Just as in other rifles..some shot great..others not so great. The calibers were innovative for the time and created a market in and of themselves. Were the velocities as stated in the ads etc?...probably not any more so than the major manufacturers velocities. Now as to the 788. It is a functional rifle. Beautiful?? Not hardly..but the beauty in my eyes is in how they shoot. And almost every one I have had shot great. The one exception was easily fixed as it had a little bedding problem. But it was an 80 buck rifle. It was an embarrasment to Remington to have an 80 dollar rifle out performing the flagship 700 and in some cases the semi custom 40X target rifle they made. I had(have) some ties to Remington...shot with some of their reps and a couple of VP's of the company. When the cost to produce the rifle got up high enough that it wasn't profitable they dropped it...thankfully. The profit margin was wayyy higher with the 700. But the 788 was and still is a good rifle. Wish they still made 'em.:D Buy all you can find in every caliber. If ya find one in 44 mag...I have a magazine for it..30-30 too

[Larryjk]

Skeet, There is a fellow down here who is a 788 collector; not too serious but persistent. He has all but two of the calibers they were mad in. I will have to call him to find out which two calibers those were. When that is done I will pass the information along to you in the event you can help him with that quest.:)

[dakotah]

The machining costs were way to high. The cost to produce was about the same as a 700. Remington could not sell the 788 at the price of the 700 due to ugly. The often quoted Remington dropped it cause they were embarrassed was not quite correct. They dropped it cause of money. However, they probably were embarrassed cause it was supposed to be a cheap rifle, and it was except for the machining costs.

[skeet]

According to one of the former remington VP's.. at the end of production the cost to produce the 788 was approx 40 percent of the cost to produce the 700. The powers that be in the company knew they were competing against their own product. One or the other had to go. The profit margin was much higher on the 700 so they quit making the 788. When they started producing the 788 it was for a very good reason. Cost. It was so much cheaper to make the 788 it was thught to be a good money saving exercise. This was the era of the big cuts in production costs by Winchester in the middle to late 60's -early 70's....remember the post 64 M-70? Remington had started to make the 700 with pressed checkering etc. They were looking for cost cutting measures too. When they quit making the 788 the 700 was fancied up at the same time to make it more appealing. Wonder why? Sure money was a deciding factor...but it always is even if not the only factor. It is really true that they had made an ugly gun that was wayyy too good for their profit margin

[Larryjk]

The 788 wasn't the fanciest rifle around and that is why it sold for less. But its performance was not lacking. Never had one "yet" that lost the bolt handle but I will probably get one tomorrow. I got one in today in 6mm Rem that has a completely cratered extractor. They want it fixed because it is their good coyote rifle.
They wouldn't consider selling it. Darn:(

[skeet]

Can ya still find parts? Is the extractor the same one as the 700?? You work on guns?? Ain't it a great money maker? Oh...bet they want it back tomorrow:D

[Larryjk]

Skeet, Yah, I am getting rich. I hope I can make a 700 extractor work because I think I am out of original 788 extractor. I used to stock up on them. The same fellow also brought in for appraisal a Sako Finnbear in 270 (L61R action) NIB. I figure a grand. Another is a Southgate Weatherby 300 WBY in pristine condition, SN61xx. I'm not sure, $1500 plus. I used to have one, wish I was rich. A S&W Model 14 in very nice shape and three others I am scared to open the cases and see what they are. I would like to beat them out of the Weatherby but, dammit, I am poor but honest.

[skeet]

Teh model 14 I would ber interested in. Have a German Weatherby. Nasty kicking rifle. A friend has it in Alaska. I did buy a 224 weatherby from a lady back east. About like a 22-250 but with ammo that costs 3 times the price.

[dakotah]

Skeet

Your former VP probably wasn't working there in the 60's. I was. He has his facts wrong.

[skeet]

Whatever..he was there in the 70's 80;s and 90's. He was one of the ones who helped to make the decision to stop production of the 788. It was still a good shootin gun. The first one I had was given to me at the old Remington Farms complex in Md. It was the only one I wish I still had.... a 44 mag. For about 10 yrs we hosted the National Hunting and fishing Day at RF. It was really neat. I helped run the trap shooting field. Those kids rreally went through the shells(20 ga) and I got to keep alll the empties:D That was fun times and Remington really believed in spending money to advance the hunting and shooting sports. Those kids got to shoot 4 shells each at those clay targets but they could come back thjrough the line as many times as they wanted. And they did. We were busy shootin and cleanin those 1100's till we closed it down. A real shame that Dupont sold the Comapny. The Farm didn't go with the sale and Remington Farms was no more

[dakotah]

If he was there and helped make the decision, and if he was in Illion, I may have known him, but the managers back then are all in the grave. There were no VP's in engineering/design then, as I recall managers was the highest level. Sooo... then the decision was made by the muckity mucks - outside of engineering.
I agree Dupont was great. I am getting old and I could have remembered it wrong. But this was the situation as I recall:

A new machining process was in the early stages and Remington had planned on using it on the 788. It didn't work out. They had to go to the old tried and true way of machining. The old way of doing it was way more expensive than the way they had planned so the mighty buck spoke as it usually does in situations as this.

I thought that I had the facts right back then and perhaps I remember wrong. My ex accuses me of that all the time.

[skeet]

starting to use the computer or tape controlled machining processes(put workers on the streets too) and they would have to purchase the stuff for the 788 too. The profit margin wasn't high enough and at the time the people were really starting to want pretty. You remember the ol 721-722 guns. They were pretty plain and even that pressed checkering stuff on the earlier 700's was pretty bad. Rem was upgrading all the guns at the time so as the 788 was too good a gun compared to the 700 and the 788 was a bit ugly was not the flagship model and not really contributing to the profit margin..they discontinued it. I didn't get to hobnob with the big guys much. Met most of 'em but when you are "just" an employee they surely don't remember you. And I wasn't a regular employee. i just took people that they sent to the farm "hunting". Met most of the bigger gun writers of the 60's and 70's. Some were nice to talk to..some not so nice. Elmer Keith was a garrulous ol guy that was fun to listen to. His estimation of ranges on geese were a bit exaggerated. When I told those guys to shoot the geese were always inside of 40 yds. We didn't have to worry about the geese. They were gonna come. so we only took the good shots. Ah those days are gone and I seem to have oldtimers and CRS diseases now..but those really were the good ol days.. The good ol days always occur when you are young and impressionable. I started guiding waterfowl hunters at the age of 15. Worked on Remington Farms...and i was a Winchester guy!! I still have an 11-48 410 skeet gun I got from one of the Rem reps. Even has a mag cap weight for it so it'll swing better. Was made by one of the machinists at Ilion. Maybe you. Been shot exactly 7 times and somewhere in all my crap I have the box of shells with 18 left in it. paper shells too.

[Rocky Raab]

Well, I own four of them. In fact, they are my ONLY Remingtons. Tell ya anything?

I got my first 308 at a gun show for $135 with a cheap scope. Picked up three more over the years for under $250 each, but those days are gone.

I put cheap Ram-Line plastic stocks on all of them. Not the best, but usable and indestructible. I have the 308 and another 308 that I customized to my 25-308, a pretty well gunsmith-refined 223 and an unmodified (except for the stock) 223.

The worst shooting of the lot is the original 308, which will stay inside two inches with any ammo, but will crowd inside an inch with some.

The 25-308 stays about a half-inch, as does the tricked-out PD gun. The coyote gun will too, but only with 55 or 60-gr bullets, which is odd, but not a problem as a dog gun.

The PD gun has shot groups as small as .2" and the 25-308 has gone into just over .3" but those aren't averages.

One disadvantage to the design are the nine rear locking lugs, which allow the bolt body to compress a bit on firing. This means that the guns in 308-size bolts won't take hot loads. In fact, mine tops out with loads in the middle of most charge weight spreads. The smaller head diameter of .223 rounds has less bolt thrust, and isn't a problem.

[skeet]

I always wondered about those stoclks. I even saw a 788 that someone had put a TH stock on. Checkered and all. Spent more for the stock than the gun was worth. The 30-30 I had shot really great groups(pointy bullets)...always under an inch which is good for me. I got that gun from a guy that had a stuck bullet in the bbl. with a cleaning rod stuck behind it. Darn thing had a big ol gouge in the bbl after we got it all out. At least he didn't try to shoot the stuck bullet out!:rolleyes: The darn thing still shot great. He sold it to me for 50 bucks. Smoothed the bore up with jewelers rouge on a patch and kept on shooting it. I did have a guy that shot a stuck bullet out. Brought the gun to me cause it had a bulge in the bbl. He finally told me what he had done to get the bulge. It was a 22 Mag bolt gun. It also still shot ok. Most 22 mags never seemed to be the most accurate anyway

[Larryjk]

Skeet, On 3-6 you asked if parts were still available for the 788.
Not much! The extractor is supposed to be the same as the 700. Brownells has after market ones that are okay. I have 6 ordered, but found I still had two in my war chest for Remingtons. I keep some Sako type extractors in the same box and have altered bolts on 700s and 788 for that installation. They are pretty reliable but you want to keep your wits about you and take your own measurements before milling if you want them to work. I had a new bolt made for a fellow and that was a little over $100. Penance for overloads.:)

[skeet]

Yesterday at the gun show I did buy one 788 Mag for 222. Wish I had found more.:D

[dakotah]

There was a 223 788 for $450 at the Sioux Falls show last week end. On the outside it looked to be in perfect shape.

I bought a 700 instead.