Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remington 788

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?