Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remington 788

I came across two Remington 788’s one in 30-30 and the other one is 7mm-08 carbine. I was wondering which one to buy and the price of them too.

Buy both. I regret letting both of mine go. I'm dickering now on a 30-30 and we are in the $450 range as it doesn't have the original sights.

30-30 for sure.

You want a shooter or something to flip for profit? The 7-08 is the shooter. The .30-30 is a rare bird that commands high to VERY high money. If you can, get both.

They are asking 1100 for the 30-30 and 900 for the 7mm-08 both in good condition.

30-30. without a doubt.

I had a 30-30 788 with a fixed 10X Leupold for a while,..tack driver.

Go easy on the bolt handle of any 788. They're silver soldered on and they'll come off on ya.

I had one come loose. I TIG welded it back on. They should have been TIG welded from the beginning.

That’s too high for the 7-08. And about right for the 30-30, if it’s NIB.

I don't think either of those prices are a "steal" but they are great little rifles. If you have never owned one, you should.

At those prices I wouldn't buy either, for using or flipping. There might be a few bucks to be made on the 30-30, maybe not.

Otherwise if I just wanted to own one, I migh try buying both for a package deal.

Nope. That's a hard pass on both, IMHO.

That’d be too high for me. The 7-08 would be my choice though. I’d be a buyer for $450-500. They are decent but were economy guns back in the day.

I believe 788s chambered in 30/30 and .7mm-08 are among the rarest calibers with the .44 magnum being THE rarest. The correct replacement magazines for those calibers are high dollar items IF you can find any. The magazines do rattle and it doesn't take much of a bump to lose one, either. Got to watch the little plastic safety switch cover, too, as they are prone to loosen / break.

I'm sure they'll get cheaper...

Pretty steep prices, but if you want one real bad, I'd make sure they are in top condition. I think 7 bills tops for either, maybe less.

I have the carbine in 308. Bought when I was 14 sacking grocery money and slinging hay bales. That thing has slayed about 90 deer. 👍

😆 Ain’t that some schidt, My first deer rifle was also a 788 .308 carbine, Bought it with my own money earned hauling hay.

I've had a 308 and a 222. Wish I had both back. Those prices still seem high though.

Fortunately for you gentlemen that like them, I had two, a .222 and a .308, and after a short period testing and so forth, promptly sent them downriver. I think they were designed and built to a specific very low price point, and turned out to be accurate by accident as much as design, they had a massive wall thickness in the receiver and a very fast lock time. But on the downside, many had oversize firing pin holes in the boltface and more than occasionally flowed primer cup material would jam the pin. The safety was very vulnerable to damage, and the stock triggers were difficult to modify. The silver soldered bolt handles have been mentioned. On rifles that I worked on, that got a high volume of rounds fired, headspace increased eventually....of the nine lugs, on a near new rifle, at any given time maybe five would be bearing...eventually all the lugs would wear in, which was never dangerous of course, but silhouette shooters would be alarmed when their pet rifle showed primers backed out a little. It seems IIRC, the trigger pin boss was soldered also.
Personally, I thought they were overpriced at 450 a few years back.

Weird how the 30-30 are priced all over the place. Around here if you found a 30-30 it would be $1200 in any condition. The 7m-08 carbine show up here occasionally. I think I gave under $500 for the one I have and have seen a few going around $700. If you find a 30-30 under $700 it's probably beater. I had one that was rechambered to 219 Zipper. The barrel was as big around as a sewer pipe. The same guy also had an early Remington 760 in 35 Rem. He turned that into a 35 Whelen. I still have that one, I just thought this guy liked destroying rare collectible stuff.

I've owned them in 308 and 243..would like to find a nice one in 6mm for a fair price

I have owned four, and still have three. Two each .308 and .223. Customized one of them into a .25-308 and gave one of the .223s to a friend. While they have their faults, I like them very much.

Bought the first one at a gun show back in the mid-70s. A .308 with a cheap scope and two magazines for $130. Never paid more than $200 for any of them, and always bought every magazine I stumbled across. My remaining .223 has a custom trigger, is ported, and sports a 6-24 Pentax scope. Prairie dog killer. The original .308 has claimed quite a few deer, pigs, and such. Built the .25 because I just had to have a .25. I don't load that one or the .308 as hot as I could because of the lugs, but both are accurate and deadly. All three will probably be in my safe when I die.

The Amish like 'em.

They may very well be worth those prices to the right person.

Offer $1,500 for the pair and see what happens.

I have the 44 & 30-30. No issues with either. 788’s are very accurate. BTW. Clips on both are tight. Neither rattles.

Strange, my 30-30 magazine does not rattle at all.. Must be because it hasn't been used much? Or maybe you are thinking of a different rifle???

You could buy 2 nice rifles for those prices

My Dad bought a 788 .243 for me for getting good grades when I was 14 or 15. Never shot any big game with it, but I have shot a truck load of groundhogs with it. 43 grains of IMR 4350 and a Sierra 85 grain spitzer. Can’t believe they’re asking around $1000 bones for one now.

Ron

Weird anyone would be asking that kind of money for a 243, but I've seen the 30-30's selling for over a grand. I sold a left hand 6mm rem about 5 years ago, that guys were getting into a bidding war over that damn thing. Sold for $700.00, which I thought was high..

Interesting guns but at those prices you better be a collector. The triggers suck bigly. They were usually good shooters though. For me, both would be a hard pass at those prices.

My 308 came from a gunshow because it had the most beautiful wood on it for a rifle that old. Got it home and cleaned it up and discovered pits in the bore from chamber to muzzle.
Still makes a one inch pattern at a hundred yards.

Rem90T: First of all - buy them BOTH! Worry about the prices next decade.
Second of all - worry about the prices next decade!
Third of all - welcome to the CampFire.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Had one in 22-250. No thanks.

I had one in 7mm-08, was a great shooter, one I regret letting go of.

I had a 6mm some yrs ago, sold it. Shouldn't have. Had plenty of marks on the stock but shot very well and killed a bunch of deer with it.

Now have a near mint 7mm-08 carbine picked up a few yrs ago, paid $600 even IIRC.

Yr or so back I picked up a nice 308 carbine. I'm into that one for $450. Both shoot very well as every 788 I've run into has.

I also had one in 22-250, even thought it was vey accurate, I never liked that rifle!

I gave my 7-08 Carbine to one of my nephews.
Accurate SOB. Still have my 6mm. Even more accurate, if that’s possible.

I had a .223 that I shot the tar out of before getting rid of it. It was a very good shooting gun after bedding it. I still have a 22-250 that I’ll never get rid of.

I think I paid $79 New at the local sporting goods store, for the last one I bought new about 1979 or 1980.

Had 7 of them at one time including the .308 carbine that was my first deer rifle. Lost it in a bad inlaw deal, but that's another story . Thinned the herd a few years back and kept these two. The bottom one I put together for my son when he turned 16, It's a .308, Fajen stock and Timney trigger. The carbine is a .243 and will go to my Grandson. Both are pillared & glassbedded by me and with a competent shooter on the trigger both will put the first two shots from a cold bore through the same hole at 100yds.

The 7-08 I put a scope on and got it on paper and promptly put 5 shots just under 3/4" on it's first trip to the range with a known good load in 2 other 7mm-08's. HEAVY trigger on that one, it's been sitting in the safe, gotta work on that. The 308 is easier to shoot, but only because the trigger is a lot better. They aren't the end all be all rifle, but they do seem to be consistently good shooters.

I can’t say as to the value on the market.
But it you’re looking for a good shooting rifle, it’s hard to beat a 788.
I’ve got a .308, .243, and a 22/250 and I’ll tell you those rifles have a cult following of collectors because they’re all great shooters!
If you can swing it, I’d buy them both in a heartbeat!
Reon

I think I am going to hold off on this two. Thanks for the advice.

I asked my brother what he paid for his 788 in .308 before I got mine. He paid less than $100 for his in 1974ish. I think my Dad paid $109 for mine at a local hardware store. If someone offered me $2000 for it I still wouldn’t sell it. I’ll leave it to one of my grandkids when I get too old and feeble to shoot. Hope you enjoy both 788’s.

Ron

Have one left a 222 it's allways been a good shooter. Traded a Remington clip fed 22lr nylon 77 for it and $50. Had that 77 for about 1/2 an hr bought it with 2 mags for 65. Kept 1 mag ( same one used in the 581). So I have about a 115 in it, pretty good rifle for a 115 gotta find me one of those collector guys who will pay 500+ for it. I like the 222 Rem so when I traded into a 700 adl in 222 rem couple springs back the 788 just got redundant. Never had a bolt handle problem..mb

The only reason they discontinued is they out shot the 700's, faster lock time too. BR's love to build them. I've never had a bolt handle issue , have heard it, but I think its a case by case and not systemic.
You can loose a magazine pretty easily in the woods if your not careful, and mag rattle can make for some unwanted noise to. Found that one cleanly applied layer of electrical tape around mag. to stop metal to metal contact with floor plate helps without restricting operation.

Over the years I have had several 788's. The longest shot I have ever made on a WT deer was with a 788 carbine in 243. Close to 300yds. Around here, the 788 will bring stupid money or at least the ones selling are asking stupid money for them. Seems there are a lot of 308's and 223's, a few 22-250's. Rarely ever see a 30-30, 44 mag or 7MM08. A lady at the Wanamacher had several in most every caliber and many with original box's. She had a nice 44 mag for $2600. If you find one's with the walnut stock, that's a plus. $1100 for the 30-30 sounds high tome but not surprising and it will probably bring that when the right person comes by. The 788 has a cult following. I know as I'm a member, LOL. Its hard to pass them up when I see them. I have a 222 right now that I've spent a bunch of money on. Its hard to believe what they bring in todays world when back then they were $139.00.

I found one in .300 Savage at a pawnshop, in pretty decent condition, priced at $400.00. When I brought in a laptop with a borescope to inspect the rifling, the asking price started to tumble. I think I ended up paying $275.00 including the background check. Never even had to turn on the computer! BTW, the rifling was almost pristine when I got it home and did a thorough cleaning.

In 300 Savage it would've been re-barreled far as I know. Never heard of a 788 in 300 Savage, and never seen them listed as a chambering. If actually legit you got a real rarety.

Here's my 7-08 carbine. There wasn't a spot of bluing worn anywhere on the bolt lugs when I got it. Barely fired if at all, maybe should've kept it that way but I've fired it enough now that you can see bluing worn some on the bolt lugs. Didn't take long.





My 308 carbine. Trying to remember what scope this was that was came on it, and where it is now. It currently wears a Nikon pro- staff 3-9.

44 & 30-30



44 Mag Drop Chart


..and a Ruger 44 Carbine.

I've owned 2--a .308 carbine and a 30-30. Both of them were accurate. But the 30-30 would shoot bug holes with about any load you put through it. For a long time I've been keeping an eye out for a left hand 788. Right handed, left eye dominant) But about all you find in left hand is 6mm Remington. There's nothing wrong with the 6mm Remington. It's just not my preferred chambering. I'd really like to have a left hand in either .222 or .223. But I don't know if they even made lefty versions of those.

I would suspect that there's some lefty .222s out there but I don't know about the lefty .223s.

I had a 788 in 308 about 1985. It shot OK and I killed a couple of deer and one red fox with it. The little bastard had just raided the hen house and was running straight away with a young hen in his mouth. He made the mistake of stopping to look back, about 250 yards from the Minneapolis Jetstar I'd rested the 788 over. A 150 grain Federal landed between his shoulders and put them both out of their misery. That fox had his full coat and it was the prettiest thing I ever killed.

Never chambered in .300 sav. Rebarreled probably 720 barrel. Interesting as the shorter Savage could be built on the "short action" and tweak a 22-250 magazine.

I’d rather slam Mr. Winkey in a car door than pay those prices for those cheap old rifles, unless I had a hot buyer all lined up. Yeah they usually shoot well according to legend, but they’re cheaply made and oogly, and have that clunky mag hanging down. I wanted one back when they were still in production, and even later when you could pick them up cheap, but that was all about price. I did buy a 600 back then, which was $99.95 instead of $84.95, but it was kinda crappy too.

Great rifle if you’ve had one since Hector was a pup and it’s worked well for you, but otherwise, nah.

Good Lord I didn't see that asking price, The sad part is somebody will pay it and the next one will be $1250.

I might have paid $125 for the 308 mentioned above. I got 150 trade in on a nice used 700 ADL 30-06, felt like I swapped a Chevette for a Silverado.

Nothing cheap about the action. Stiffer than a Priest's dick at a Summer Boys camp. Sheet metal lower and later beech stocks was where they cut costs..

Some of you need to get out more. Things you bought 50 years ago have gone up in price just a little. Your Remington BDL you paid $350 for 30yrs ago will cost you twice or more than that today.

Then you would never own them.

No Sheit, you mean prices have gone up in 40 years? Thanks for that great financial tip!

Do 788s command more money than 700s in similar condition?

Not around here. Not of that vintage. They are high compared to what they were initially sold as, a cheap rifle. But still don't bring the money a nice 700 does of the same yrs.

OOPS! It looks like my "oldtimers' disease" is kicking in. I just dug the rifle out of storage, and it's a 722, not a 788. I did remember the chambering accurately, though! Got a hundred brand new .300 Savage cases, so I might try to work up a load for it. It's got a very nice Lyman micrometer peep sight on it instead of the original rear sight.

Ha! Not hard to do on rifles you haven't handled in a while. That makes more sense, the 300 Savage and the 257 Roberts were pretty regular chamberings in the 722. Nice rifles in their day, and still are.

The other day, I was at a LGS, and my buddy there offered me a first year (1962) model 700 for $350.00. It was also chambered in a first year cartridge for the 700: 7mm Rem mag. I almost bought it.

Probably a wise decision, unless you really want the 30-30. It's pretty collectible and desirable. Those also generally have the walnut stock, which is a huge upgrade over the beech stock they used. At the price you quoted, you won't be making any money off of that rifle, so that is something you need to be aware of. If it were $650-$800, that would be a different story. These rifles generally bring over $1,000.00 on online sales. The 44 magnum is also one that is pretty desirable. I bought a 30-30 at the beginning of this year, and I'm pretty happy with it. I still need to wring it out, and see how good it can really shoot, but as it is, it puts 5 shots into an inch.



The one thing I do not like about the 30-30 is you are very limited to seating depth because of the magazine. I believe with my rifle, pointy bullets like the ones pictured, are about .090" off the lands. I could load them to single feed, and would probably get some damn good accuracy, but since this is a "hunting" rifle, I load them to slightly less than mag box length for reliability.



It's a fun little rifle to play around with though.


If I were more into 30-30, I'd go and snag the cute little Savage/Stevens bolt action that has been tormenting me for $275.00...

I had a 788 in .243 - early one with the long barrel. Never should have gotten rid of it, but it seems that bit of idiocy is pretty much a requirement for firearm ownership. It was extremely accurate, and when held upside-down, the front sight came in very handy for plowing the garden.

Would work very well as a rudder on a boat too...

I bought a 788 in .222 the first week they were on the market in 1967. The M1 carbine I'd had for a few months just wasn't cutting it as a woodchuck gun and on a Saturday morning I took it to the LGS to see what I could swap it in on. He'd received four that morning, two .22-250's and two .222's. By the time I got there, the .22-250's were gone and only the .222's remained. At first they were only made in those two calibers, .30-30 and .44 magnum. $79.95, msrp (which is what most small town lgs's sold stuff for in those days.) In short order I came up with mounts and a 6X Tasco scope (a brand I'd never heard of at that time) and I believe that I had my first, real, center-fire varmint rifle for under $100. That rifle shot lights out with Norma 50 grain ammo.

The early ones, like mine, actually had walnut stocks. My brother's .243, purchased new for Christmas in 1973, has a "hardwood" stock.

I'd love to find one in .30-30 or .44 magnum but, being an accumulator, not a collector, I wouldn't pay collector prices for one. I would just want it as a cool, blast from the past, short-range deer killer.

I still have my .222, I'm thinking it might go to a grandson pretty soon.

I still remember reading an article you wrote about the 25/308. After reading that I always wanted one but never got around to having one made. Settled on a .257 Roberts instead.

Jim

Other than better brass availability, is there any advantage to rechambering the 300 Savage to .308/7.62?

That’s probably the nicest I’ve ever seen. Not bad at all. Good snag, as long as you didn’t have to sell the baby’s shoes to get it….

Ammo availability is an issue as well....

Several years ago I saw a custom M788 in 6X45MM in a local gun shop. Went back three hours later and it was gone. The shop had a target stapled to the price tag, 100 yard groups the size of nickel shot by that 6X45MM

What are people's thoughts on Remington 580s? I have one that I might convert into a 32 sw rook rifle. It still shoot reasonable well. I traded six boxes of 9MM for it during the ammo crisis.

788’s are neat old guns for us old timers but the trigger and magazine were never much to get excited about. I have a 222 I bought in the early 80’s from a local shop. It shoots very well but a 700 of the same vintage is a better (quality) rifle and worth more. The 30-30 and 44 mag’s bring crazy money because of the low numbers made but it’s hard to get too excited about either as shooters compared to the other chamberings it came in.

Mine has a “Hardwood” stock. It had some skins and scratches on it, so my brother sanded it down an refinished it for me. Looks better than the original finish by far.

Ron