My '60's era 788 has always had a seemingly hard bolt lift when
cocking. It's easy to lift once the firing pin is in the cocked
position. The last few years, it seems to be getting worse, even
though there is enough lubrication where needed. Someone
suggested turning the spring 90*, and that helped very little
and for just a few firings.

Any suggestions how to correct this problem?

They were always hard; take out the fp and polish
the cocking cam and sear nose.

Quite a few rem 788 rifle bolts have had their bolt handles come off. If the person re attaching the handle is not aware of the problems from excessive heat in this area he can easily alter the heat treatment and hardness of the cocking cam, causing excess friction. If that is not the problem try a little dab of anti seize grease on the cocking cam and firing pin nose.

My eyes are getting too old. The cocking cam looked good until I
put magnification to it. It appeared that some of the metal had
actually moved, almost like metal in the threads on a partially
stripped bolt. Nothing real deep, but had to be interfering.
Started out with 220 wet/dry and went to 400 grit. There were
also a couple other areas where it appeared friction was a culprit
so they got a polishing job. The bolt handle has never come off
this rifle, but I wonder about the hardness of the metal around
the cam area.

The problem areas are also going to get a treatment with Moly
Fusion (NOT the same as the moly used to coat bullets), but it's
just to darned cold in the reloading room to do that today.

I will also clean the older lubricant out of the bolt as well as
the spring, then use a dry lubricant.....it CAN'T hurt!

Thanks for the suggestions. Will let ya know how it turns out.

If the metal is galled, then the lube won't help, so looks like you are on the right track. Hard cocking was always an issue with these since they are cocking on only 1/3rd of a turn on not so smoothly milled surfaces. I had a .223 that I got in 74 that used to piss off my friend because it out shot his expensive Sako.

Old rumor has it that the 788 pissed off Remington, too, because on
average, they outshot the 700's, thus the reason for Remmy to drop
the 788's.

Yeah, they did, but the receiver and bolt also cost more to make than a 700 so it was not the low budget money maker that it was designed to be.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but my 788/.223 ejects straight up into the scope no matter what and the brass falls back into the loading port, any cures?

Take off scope!

Sorry couldn't help myself.

God Bless, Louis

Yes, that would be a viable solution.
Here is a potentially better one; Turn the scope so the windage knob is the elevation and the old elevation knob is on the left side, now the windage knob. If that doesn't work, get higher rings.

quote:

Originally posted by DannoBoone:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by DannoBoone:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by lee440:
Not trying to hijack the thread, but my 788/.223 ejects straight up into the scope no matter what and the brass falls back into the loading port, any cures?

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Turn the scope so the windage knob is the elevation and the old elevation knob is on the left side, now the windage knob. If that doesn't work, get higher rings.

No problems with that here:

Remove the bolt and insert a spent case into the bolt face. Release it and observe. Your extractor may be damaged on the lower end and causing it to release at the top last.

quote:

Originally posted by lee440:
Not trying to hijack the thread, but my 788/.223 ejects straight up into the scope no matter what and the brass falls back into the loading port, any cures?

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
They were always hard; take out the fp and polish
the cocking cam and sear nose.

UPDATE: Prior to completely assembling everything, I just
put the firing pin assembly in the bolt. Under magnification
I observed the mating surfaces of the sear nose and cocking
cam. The sear nose does not make full contact with the cam.
In fact, it barely touches (.010"?) For it to make full
contact, metal would have to be taken away toward the O.D.
of the bolt. That would increase the angle toward the top of the
cam, which may or may not make the bolt hard to lift just prior
to the nose cocking at the top of the stroke.

What to do? If I do that, there is no turning back!

If you work on it; work on the cheap parts like the cocking piece first; not the bolt body. Another idea; grease it up with some moly and live with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobster:
Remove the bolt and insert a spent case into the bolt face. Release it and observe. Your extractor may be damaged on the lower end and causing it to release at the top last.

quote:

Originally posted by lee440:
Not trying to hijack the thread, but my 788/.223 ejects straight up into the scope no matter what and the brass falls back into the loading port, any cures?

Most likely cause, can also be the extractor C clip may have a crack in it. Also look at the nose of the ejector it may be misshapen.

That tendency for the 788 to eject empties into the scope turret is commonplace if the scope is a low mounted one. The ejection angle is just too steep. The cure, already meantioned, is to rotate the scope counter clockwise 90 degrees. This is not without it's problems, however. I well recall doing this for a customer about 35 years ago. When he picked the rifle up, I took some time to try and explain that the roles of the elevation and windage dials were now switched. Apparently, my explanation was unclear and a couple of days later, the customer returned and told me there was something wrong with his scope. I asked him to describe the problem he was having and it went something like this:
" I fired a shot at the target and it hit about four inches low. I adjusted the scope up four inches and it was still low but it was four inches to the left. I moved it four inches to the right and another four inches up. The next shot was right on for level but it was eight inches to the left. I moved it eight inches to the right and it was still to the left but now it was high. I moved it more to the right and down and I was off the paper and don't know what to do next".
I explained again the his windage turret was now elevation and would move the point of impact up or down. "But it says left on the dial!" He said this with an expression that plainly said I was an idiot.
I gave up and put the scope back the way it was but in high rings so the empties would clear. Never saw him again so I guess that was a satisfactory cure. Regards, Bill.

Some people simply should not own rifles; last month a guy brought me a Ruger 22 that he said could not be adjusted to make it hit at 25 yards; it shot high with the scope cranked all the way down. I took one look at it and saw, that the scope was cranked and jammed all the way UP; of course it shot high. I took it to the range and zeroed it, easily, I wanted to charge him double for being stupid.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
If you work on it; work on the cheap parts like the cocking piece first; not the bolt body. Another idea; grease it up with some moly and live with it.

Finally got the mating surfaces in the cocking area even with
a little improvement. Not satisfied, I did a shotgun approach
to the problem:

Everything was clean, but I cleaned it again, inside receiver
as well as bolt, spring, just everything.

Did an extensive Moly Fustion treatment to all surfaces which
had any wear at all on them. That's pretty tedious since the
metal has to be heated and allowed to cool many times.

Sprayed dry lubricant inside action as well as inside bolt,
spring. Put a film of Moly Fusion oil on all surfaces of the
bolt that showed wear, then reassembled. I plugged the chamber
prior to spraying the lubricant, and also allowed the lube to
dry overnight prior to reassembly.

How long this "fix" will last is anyone's guess, but it now
has a better bolt lift than the first time I ever shot it.

Hope this in some small way can be of help to anyone else
having bolt lift problems in their 788.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Danno

I have used a 788, not mine but reloaded for a friend so shot it a number of times. I don't recall it being any harder to cock than any other rifle, I do know it was a very accurate rifle.

I don't see anyone mentioning it and I have never had the bolt apart on a 788 but it would be worth checking to see that the firing pin is 'free' in the bolt and not binding i.e. not with the spring on as the spring will not allow you to feel the firing pin clearance in the uncocked position. While galling on the cocking surfaces can indicate soft metal it can also indicate either the spring is needlessly too strong or the firing pin collar is binding in the bolt body when in the uncocked position.

The idea of turning the spring 90 degrees which in some cases seems to help, to me indicates the pin is binding?