I recently inherited a .222 from my Grandfather. It was an all original 788 in .222 that he wasn't quite sure where it came from, had spent one year sitting outside, and had never been cleaned. My grandfather has not passed yet but recently had a heart attack and decided he wanted to see my enjoyment in restoring this rifle to shoot.

I started by putting a Butler Creek synthetic stock on it. I was actually quite impressed by how good it looked. I then had the trigger worked on, it had actually fallen off by itself. After a thorough cleaning of the action and barrel I peered thru the bore and wasn't surprised at the amount of pitting.

I was somewhat worried about the pitting but thought that I would shoot it first and then decide what to do. I thru a Tasco world class 3-9x50 I had sitting around and went shooting. At first when sighting in the grouping was about 2". Not impressed yet, but I never have turned in very consistent groupings.

I proceeded to on my way out to a local Prairie dog town and gave the rifle to my uncle to shoot. In his hands the rifle could not do any better than 50%. I then remembered that he liked to jerk the trigger. Four years of Muley hunting came rushing back to me. Specifically spending hours tracking down gut shot bucks.

I was a little unsure of the rifle's potential after this until I broke out the Nosler custom .222's. These little babies were like a laser beam. It didn't seem to matter out to 300yds as long as I held the crosshairs dead center on the chest I could take about 80, 85, even maybe 90% of the dogs I fired at. I even had a few I couldn't believe I made when the head was the only thing visible. I took credit anyways though and proceeded to shoot em up for two days.

Sorry about my long winded post, but this was the first time I was really able to get out and shoot this summer. I am also very impressed with my new little tack driver.

Great rifles that historicaly have shot very well. Be sure and hang on to your original parts as it will be worth more in its original condition.

jimmy,
Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your new aquisition. I own a .222 built on a Sako BR action that shoots like it has eyes. Excellent cartridge, one of the very best.

Stepchild

I bought a lefthanded 788 in 308 in 1975 and still have it.

I have a varmint barrell in 222. Wifey let me buy it on our honeymoon trip. I still have them both!

quote:

Originally posted by 30378:
Great rifles that historicaly have shot very well. Be sure and hang on to your original parts as it will be worth more in its original condition.

I have kept everything just in case. I figure it will never leave my posession though. That is unless it goes to another family member. The rifle itself shoots better than me that's for damn sure.

quote:

I bought a lefthanded 788 in 308 in 1975 and still have it.

fjold, how does it shoot? i have a .308 in righthand that's a table leg- maybe it's me.

I have a blueprinted action, also, that was originally a 6mm.

I've read where the lighter calibers is where the 788 really shines.

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:

quote:

I bought a lefthanded 788 in 308 in 1975 and still have it.

fjold, how does it shoot? i have a .308 in righthand that's a table leg- maybe it's me.

I have a blueprinted action, also, that was originally a 6mm.

I've read where the lighter calibers is where the 788 really shines.

For the first 20 years of its life it was a three shot, one hole rifle using the Hornady 165 grain BTSP and 44.5 grains of IMR4064. Now after probably 5,000 rounds the jump to the lands is over 0.130" but it will still put three rounds into 1" with an 8X scope.

I have a lot of old targets with groups in the 2s and 3s and I used to win a lot of beer money off of guys with fancier guns.

Here's a pic, third lefty from the left:

So I'm thinking of putting a Fullfield II with the Ballistic Plex reticle on this shooter. Would the ballistics for a 223 be close enough to the 222 that I could still use chart given with the scope?

I also inherited my Rem 788 222 from my grandfather 18 years ago. I moved from Idaho to Montana 15 years ago and started prairie dog hunting about 5 years after I moved here. In the past 10 years I would guess I have taken between 8 to 10,000 prairie dogs and ground squirrels with the rifle. I have also taken a handful of deer and Antelope with it. I have worked up numerous loads with a variety of powders and bullets and it is hard to find anything using a 50 to 55 grain bullet that shoots bad. In the last 3 years I have stuck to H335 and 50 grain bullets for rodents and 53gr TSX for small game. I mounted a Nikon Buckmaster 6.5-20x40 on it a couple of years ago and really like what I got for the price.

Well I just bought another one from Capital Sports in Helena. We'll see how it shoots tomorrow.

rutten

What did you use for a deer bullet in the 222? Neck or heart/lung shot?

quote:

What did you use for a deer bullet in the 222?

The Sierra 63 gr. semi-spitzer at 2900fps works very well on these coastal blacktails. Very accurate too.

George, Timney makes a very nice replacement trigger for the 788.

Remington should never have discontinued the 788, they were great little rifles.

quote:

Remington should never have discontinued the 788, they were great little rifles.

as I mentioned above, I have a .308 that shoots MOU (minute of umbrella)- I've read they stretch in the heavier calibers. That said, if you have a shooter in any caliber, hang on to it, they are nice rifles.

Remington 788's were great rifles. I had two; both in .308 Winchester that I purchased @ 1980.

The reason for the purchase of the second was a friend who had a R/H 788 in .243 Winchester so we organized a barrel swap. After that the second Remington 788 L/H had an originally marked Remington 788 Barrel in .243 Winchester on a L/H rifle. Remington only saw fit to make their only L/H 6mm in .244 Remington which isn't bad either, but stayed with the more poular (at least here in Europe, anyway) .243 Win.

The rifles ended up with Bulter Creek Synthtics on them (w/the bolt notches reversed; the right one filled in with Glass Bed, the left re-cut & painted).

Both were originally pretty accurate but as we all know; just can't leave well-enough alone. There was the well-deserved reputation of brass stretching but that came simply due to the (IIRC) 9 locking lugs of which only 4 made complete contact with their mating Bits & Pieces & recesses in the action on my two rifles.

Had the barrels pulled; lapped all 9 locking lugs perfectly into the actions, the barrels re-installed & headspaced.

Wow! Instant Match Grade accuracy - they were REAL Tack Drivers after that and the "stretching" issue ceased! Also think the fairly stiff, medium weight barrels had much to do with their consistancy although that depsite the heavy triggers.

Sold 'em both to a young, passionate L/Hed novice hunter as a "Pair" and he's shooting the heck outa 'em. I certainly hope he has as much fun with them as I did!

So I didn't get out to the range this last weekend but I will make it happen this week.

I was cleaning the newly acquired 788 and noticed that it has a lot of play in the bolt. When you have the bolt open you can move it left and right quite a bit. My first 788 doesn't do this. Its' bolt is actually incredibly smooth and tight. No play whatsoever.

My newly acquired 788 does have a lower serial # than the other, approximately half 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 I believe. Could there have been a change in tolerances at the factory in that length of time?

Also has anybody heard of someone making custom magazines for these. I found a link on snipercountry that refers to someone at sometime somewhere had done this for there .308 788. They increased to capacity of the magazine from 3 to 5 I guess. http://www.snipercountry.com/hottips/Remington788.htm

TCLouis,
I use the 53grain Barnes triple shock and would say 75% have been Heart/Lung shots and 25% Head/Neck shots. I have taken many Deer and Antelope over the years and nothing has proven any better inside of 250 yards as the Rem 788 .222.

788 Remmington in .222
I had one back in the 70's.
It was a TACK DRIVER with 19.0 grains of 4198 or 22 1/2 grains of Ball C-2.
I wish I had the little gun back!

Here is my 788 222 with a boyds thumbhole stock and mueller scope, it shoots good, but i have been considering having a bull barrel put on it, what do you think about building a 788 204 ruger?

quote:

Originally posted by Benwillweit:
what do you think about building a 788 204 ruger?

Not Much roger

What Roger said! Why would you want to rebarrel a .222, unless the barrel is shot out?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The .222 is one of the VERY best 300yd. varmint/bench rest cartridges ever invented and still going strong, near 60 years later.

Stepchild

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:

quote:

Remington should never have discontinued the 788, they were great little rifles.

as I mentioned above, I have a .308 that shoots MOU (minute of umbrella)- I've read they stretch in the heavier calibers. That said, if you have a shooter in any caliber, hang on to it, they are nice rifles.

Parts source for 788 rems http://www.wisnersinc.com

Yeah your probally right, I think ill just keep it a 222

Good Evening. I was wondering if the Rem 788 has the same diameter barrel shank and threads (1 1/16 x 16 tpi) as the Model 700.

I just had a friend call me this evening and tell me that he acquired a 788 in 222 and is interested in re-barreling the rifle to a 17 Rem. If he does re-barrel the rifle and the older barrel is in good shape, I am pretty sure he will sell the 222 barrel.

In my opinion that would be a mistake. I own both and the .222 shoots groups much smaller than the .17 Remington. Granted the .17 is much faster out of the gate but at 200yds.or better, the .222 gets the prize. JMHO.
Knowing what I now know I would have never bought the .17, your opinions may vary but the .222 is one of the VERY best.

Stepchild

quote:

Originally posted by Skinner.:
Remington should never have discontinued the 788, they were great little rifles.

Remington discontinued the 788 because it was discouraging sales of the 700.

Why buy the 700 when a 788 is significantly cheaper and shoots just as good?