Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remington 788

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