788 Rem

[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! 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.

[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.