Ive been working pretty hard on my old 788 trying to get its best.. Right now im using 87 grn vmax that preforms well at 400 pluss yards,. I had to do some bedding work and it seems to be comming round on the bedding.. Ive been using alot of 42.3 grains of 4350 and the best group is 5/8 inch and up to a little over an inch using differnt powder weights, ultra dies etc.. I just turned the necks last night and am hopeing that will help some of my problems.. I check coax alignment of seated bullet and i should be doing better with this gun. It shot 100 grain hornady hunting bullets in the past very well .5 and under, until i lent it to my son and either something happened to the bedding or the 85 vmax is too light for the twist, or 4350 is not the powder to use.. Im trying different lenght bullets and some re 19 today.. Wind is blowing constantly and that has been hampering my efforts.. I havent target loaded for many years(15 or so), and that is also causing problems.. any comments welcome.. I dont trust the vmax becouse the bullets themselves are not consistent lenght, giving problems with oal. The gun shoots very well at long range,(that is why ive been working with the vmax) Maybe that is just the new leopould with side focus i dont know.. It just doesnt print well at 100, as id like.. Could short range twist be the problem with that bullet, then it gets well on its way after about 150 yards? Chrono shows about 2900-2970. Its a lightweight gun even with bipod and scope, a repeater, and i have pulled of some very impressive shots, and some impressive long range groups.. Could be wind, loads , bedding, or me.. Maybe im looking for more than i need.. dave

Dave,

I just acquired a Rem 722 in 6mm Rem from Eddie Harren here on AR.
Initial tests show that Reloader 19 with 95 grain Nosler Partitions, and 80 grain Berger bullets shoot very well with this powder. You might want to give RL-19 a whirl.

Don

If you get good groups at longer ranges and not at the shorter ranges, that is an indication that the bullet is not stabelizing right away, you may have to go to a different wheight or length bullet.
Also adjust your stock screw tension, I am not that fimiliar with the Rem. 788 action but if it has the normal 2 action screws, try tightening the front one (don't kill it), then tighten the rear one, but back it off a n 1/8 to 1/4" turn. You may be flexing the action.

Hipshot

my 6mm Rems, perform better with bullet weights in the 70, 75, 80, 85 & 87 weights with mid range burn rate powders..

such as the IMR's 3031, 4895, 4064, 4320, Varget, W 748, RL15

75 is my preferred bullet weight and with 4064, I get that one cruising at an MV of 3650 fps in a 24 inch barrel..

47.5 grains of H 414, with the 75 HP or VMax is also a fantastically accurate load... although MV has a wide deviation spread...

In my 788 6mm my best load is 48.5gr IMR4831 with the 75HP Sierra. With this load I have shot five shot groups of 1/2" or less on more than one occasion.

A gunsmith pointed out my probable end of the line for my 788 in my accuracy quest today.. It explains some very good long shots, some inconsistent accuracy and etc.. I am getting some very impressive three shot groups and some groups with fliers.. This seems to be caused by a crooked chamber as pointed out by a good gun smith in billings... A crooked chamber I am told will fire two split groups.... What a shame, this gun could have been very fine if this problem had not happened by someone asleep at the wheel.. Dave

RL19 is my go to powder in 6mm Rem. Hornady 87gr SP shoot the most accurate out of this rifle but Berger 80 are very close. The Vmax is not the most accurate in this rifle.

I would not give up on the rifle just because of what a smith said. A crooked chamber is hard to measure and I suspect that all production rifles are somewhat crooked. Make sure your rifle is free from metal fouling. Full length side your brass so it only has .001 clearance at the headspace datum.
Try loads a little hotter than the one you mentioned with 4350 or try one of the faster burning extruded powders at medium to max loads.
I had a 788 in 243 for a while. It shot as well as my 700 Varmint rifle and a rechambered 4OX barrel that I have on a 700. But that was so long ago that the long pointy varmint bullet were not available. I used conventional 70 to 87 grain HPs and spitzers. The 87 grain Hornady worked exceptionally well.

If you have a chance, try 47 grains of 7828 with a magnum primer and 100 grain Hornadys. Works very, very well in two 788s here, one left and one right hand gun. Also, for factory loads (there aren't many left) try the light mag from Hornady, it's shot extremely well in my 788s.
Walt

I got lucky, or was persistent, one of those.. I changed primers becouse the rem primers hindered overal lenght . ;changed lots of 87vmax, changed the bedding one more time, and becouse i changed primers redid a full range of powder amounts, with some higher pressure loads thrown in.. 43.5 grains of 4350 gave me 7/16 inch group, and two more in the half inch range with varied loads and bullet lengths..........
The next time out i was busting one gal water jugs at 500 yards (with one or two sighters).. i shoot these in sitting position with harris 25c swivel bipod getting ready for winter coyote hunting.. So the little worn out, dirty, scratched up 788 is back in the stable and plenty proud of itself... dave

Darn- and I was just thinking about offering to buy that old beat up 788! Them 788's are hard to beat. Louis