Well after reading about the rarity of the 788 in 30-30, I happened upon one here in Canada. Real nice piece of wood, well looked after and accurate/.
Cost me $600.00 canadian dollars

Thanks Greg

I have never owned a 788, but I have shot some of my buddies. All of them shot real good.

In your 30/30 try some Hornady Lever Evolution 160gr ammo. It shoots great in my Heym double.

For BIG big game I would use Federal 170gr Nosler Partitions.

Cool Greg! I've yet to see a 788 that didn't shoot. I'm a fan as you know.
Now, let's figure out what we can turn it into .

About 30+ years ago I bought my sons 788's in 308W, Both shot <MOA out of the box. One cost me $119.00 w/4x Tasco. The other about $30.00 more because son number 2 is left handed. 788's were the best value going but for some unknown reason Remington decided to trash them. You will be more than happy with yours.

BTW, both still shoot <MOA after many, many rounds.

Remington didn't decide to trash 'em. They were out shooting their 700's. Some of the 788's were made up into winning bench rifles. So Rem decided they were too much of a good thing. I seem to recall paying @$80.00 for my first one.
I took one with a Douglas barrel in .222 and a modified trigger to a bench match. Other than that, it was pretty much stock. I didn't win but then, I didn't lose. I finished kinda in the middle which wasn't appreciated by some of the stool shooters.

quote:

Cool Greg! I've yet to see a 788 that didn't shoot.

I'll show you one- got a table leg in .308.

OTOH, I have a blueprinted action that was in 6mm at one time.

Re-post of a recent thread, sorry

I just finished this one this summer. I did the stock. A fella I consider a master smith in Colorado single pointed the action, double sleeved and bushed the bolt and re-barreled it with a Kreiger 1 in 12 twist 6MM barrel chambered in 6X47 Lapua (it was a .22-250).
Here's the rifle (old enough to actually have a Walnut stock).



Here's some of the early load development work. 5 shot 100 yard groups.



As I said, I'm a fan . Hope your shooting it real soon Amigo!

Rem 788's are a little spendy here too. It is not unusual to see them for $600 USD if they look at all good. My first deer rifle was a 788 in .243. I bough it at the rod and gun club at Fort Hood, Texas. The price for this rifle new without a scope was $67.95. I put a cheapo scope and rings and discovered a rifle as accurate as any I have ever owned.

Good rifles, I have them in 22-250, 22-243 Middlestead, 6mm Rem, 6mm-284, and 7mm-08. All are good shooters. - dan

At one time I owned and used a Remington M-788 in .30-30 for hunting Deer here in Ky. I can just KICK myself for letting it get away from me!! Received the best handloaded accuracy using WW-748 powder and 125-150 grainers. I mainly used Winchester's 170 grain factory loads for hunting their 170 grain Silvertip Bullet.

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman:
Remington didn't decide to trash 'em. They were out shooting their 700's. Some of the 788's were made up into winning bench rifles. So Rem decided they were too much of a good thing

this is just a total COS that 788's lovers like to believe...truth is that it became too expensive to run a separate production line for the 788, afterall it was a lower price point rifle built to compete with the Savage 110 of the day as well as other bolt rifles from Mossberg etc....all the fixturing was different than the 700 etc. etc....it was cheaper from an economies of scale perspective to relegate the 788 to the archives and pull 700's off the line before the polishing stage, give them a quick dip in the blueing tanks and stick them in cheap birch stocks...witness the Model 78 Sportsman.

My brother in law had one in a 22-250 and shot everything from groundsquirells to deer to antelope to moose when he moved to Alaska. It was the only rifle he had and shot the moose at 75 yards in the head.

It was super accurate and I've looked around for one in a .223 or 22-250 and have yet to come across one. I think people that have them, know what they have and never sell them.

quote:

Originally posted by TEANCUM:
My brother in law had one in a 22-250 and shot everything from groundsquirells to deer to antelope to moose when he moved to Alaska. It was the only rifle he had and shot the moose at 75 yards in the head.

It was super accurate and I've looked around for one in a .223 or 22-250 and have yet to come across one. I think people that have them, know what they have and never sell them.

You should join the Canadian gunnutz, there have been a few 788's for sale there in recent months. A 788 in 22-250 just sold for $395.00 last week. FS

The Rem 788 is an excellent rifle...almost too good out of the box. Much of the time it would outshine the 700's in accuracy. With a little TLC, they can be made to look nice also. The receiver is nearly `benchrest' in ridgitity like an XP-100.
I've never owned one but my friend has a couple (.223 & and .308) and both are sub-MOA rifles and he's done NO modifications to them.