Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 788 Remington lovers.

Otter6;
Good afternoon sir, hopefully this finds you well.

Right after we were married in October of '82, my good wife and I wandered down to a local purveyor of rifles and she picked out her own rifle - a carbine length .308.

Honestly I was OK with the cartridge, but didn't like the removable magazine or the overall look of the rifle. Nonetheless I bit my tongue as she really liked the removable mag and the way it handled for her.

It turned out to be one of the most consistently accurate rifles we've ever owned - while I did stock it with a walnut blank a few years after we picked it up - is shot just as well with the old birch stock.

When loaded with 130gr Speer HP and a book max load of 748, I would take the thing to a local turkey shoot to be used as a loaner rifle. In that class we were limited to 6X scopes and shot for closest to center at 100yds.

There is another member who posts here who can attest to the fact that squat, somewhat homely little carbine put them within ¼" of point of aim all day for a number of different shooters.

It got a Timney trigger a few years back, but that was simply because I was working on a left handed .308 that needed a trigger so it got the old one.

Here's my good wife's carbine.


This is the left hand one I was working on for a fellow in Alberta. The fore end tip is done, but the grip cap wasn't shaped yet in the photo. That's a 3 shot group from it too by the way.


Anyway, while not exactly my favorite action for a few reasons, I've yet to run into one that didn't shoot much better than it had any right to.

Thanks for the thread and all the best to you this weekend.

Dwayne

Dwayne,

A fine Valentine's weekend to you and yours sir!

I've owned a bunch of them over the years. All very accurate. Sure wished I hadn't sold the original one I had in 6mm. They bring a premium price nowadays, here in TX.

with all the talk of the locking lugs not bearing properly. I have to wonder, if you have good fit of 3 or 4 fairly evenly dispersed around the circumference of the bolt why would it matter to accuracy? I know it would not give max strength, but that is not the topic spoken of. The Mark V has had the same criticism but they usually shoot fair to very good. Is this real, sort of real, or Bravo Sierra passed down from person to person. After there seem to be too camps, it is not as good(expensive) as mine so it is [bleep], or I bought it cheap and want it to be better than your, more costly, rifle.

Mackay Sagebrush;
All the best to you and your fine family as well sir and thanks for the salutation.

I believe I must be in the good books as I brought home a triple pack of Hershey Kisses and 3 varieties of Aero bars for the girls yesterday.

Low and behold when they went to town today they returned with a very well thought of local u bake pizza and a 6 pack of Stella!

As we tend to say here at our cyber 'Fire - life doesn't suck.

All the best to you folks again sir.

Dwayne

You are very welcome my friend. And thank you for posting the pics. Those are a couple sharp rifles there. I came by my 788 at auction in I believe 1978. A local gun shop was closing,and I knew the 788 was going to the block. I talked my Dad into grub staking the purchase,and brought the 308 home. He and I were just getting started in the home shop gun tinker business. After a couple seasons we decided to take a crack at prettying up the 788. It turned out quite nice for a self taught stock smith. Working in the tool and die biz all his life,Dad was a bit of a fussy guy.

Right before graduating high school (1980),I bought a M70 XTR in 270 with my job proceeds. Dad offered that he would take the 788 off my hands for the price of a scope for the new Winchester. Being perpetually broke I took the deal.

At one point in time he sold the 788 to a close friend of his. I was a little let down that he left it get out of the family,but such is life. Here a couple years ago he shows up here with a hard case and said he picked up a rifle. Wanted me to have a look at it to see if he made a good snag. I opened the case to find my old 788,still just like it was back in 80'. Turns out the fella he sold it to gave up hunting,and returned it to Dad. To return it back to the family. How great is that? I'll tell you what. Hunters are some of the best folks.

Here is a pic or two. I have posted these before,so I apologize for the redundancy.

It might be a nice rig but it won't work as a repeater. The 222/223 magazines are the same, just marked differently. There's a vertical rib on each side that's far enough back to interfere with the .223AI and .204 shoulder. Not by much, but enough to where the case just won't go in.

This is one old write-up I've done before here on 24HCF:






As an homage to Mickey, I'll be taking it to the 24HCF hog hunt in March.

FC

I bought this from a member some time back and it is silly accurate:

Custom full stock bolt action carbine, Remington 308. Full custom and outside my realm of expertise, but here’s what I know. Has a beautifully grained stock with fine checkering- including pistol grip cap, in good shape, oil finish, and European styling especially on comb, full length slim/petite wood with metal cap, 13 7/8” LOP over a Pachmayer Old English rubber pad with black spacer, 17” long barrel from the end of the receiver unknown maker, OAL 38 ½”, what looks like a custom rib with a dovetail and folding rear sight, nicely proportioned ramp front with brass insert/bead, receiver sides machined flat to reduce weight, streamline, and remove model # (which is Remington 788). This machining really made this action look sleek. Inletted custom style sling studs, not sure what you call ‘em, flat/butter knife style bolt handle with checkering on the bottom side. Also comes with a Redfield 1 piece base and rings, and a Leupold Vari X II 2x7 that has some marks should work fine. Has minor handling marks, but would really be an excellent lightweight hunting rifle for the wife (or kid maybe) in old European style, plenty of power for anything up to elk and easy to carry. $700 but missing magazine, available for about $30. Not a huge cash outlay to get into a custom 308 full stock carbine you’ll be proud of.

Where are the 30-30's and 44 Mags????



DMc

What he said!

Speaking of guns that got away and 788's that you wish you still owned.

In 1968 my father bought a Ruger .44 Carbine to use for deer hunting. In those days nearly everyone hunted deer with dogs and most used shotguns loaded with buckshot. That .44 quickly proved it's worth and was more effective, at longer ranges and quicker to get into action than any shotgun.

We weren't as gun smart in those early days and didn't realize that this was NOT a common .44 Carbine, but rather the one called the Sporter with a finger groove forearm and full pistol grip. Try finding one of those even today and you will pay dearly for it.

In the early 70's we got into gun trading and gun shows in a big way. We started with our personal guns before obtaining an FFL and opening a gun shop. At one of those early shows my father traded (or sold....can't remember which) that Carbine thinking he could always pick up another. In those pre-internet days that was easier said than done and it was years before I even SAW another of that model.

This trade caused a MAJOR problem in the family as my mother had claimed this Carbine as her own when she started hunting with a rifle several years earlier. She DEMANDED that my father replace the Ruger.....and that's when we discovered how rare that Sporter model was.

Finally he told her she could choose any rifle she wanted to replace the Carbine. It just happened that she found a Model 788 Carbine at the next show we attended. She claimed it felt more like the Ruger .44 than any other rifle she'd looked at. She really wanted another .44, but the deer season was fast approaching so even though this was chambered in .243.......it went home with us.

For the next 10 years she used the 788 to decimate the local whitetail population including the best three bucks she ever killed. I never could like the looks of the 788 and "hated" the detachable magazine.....but that gun would SHOOT. Over the years we owned and built some VERY accurate rifles, but only a select few would out shoot that "cheap" 788 (and the shooter had to be "on his game" to do it even then).

In the mid-80's we traded into a Winchester Model 100 carbine in .243 that my mother liked even better than the 788 (she always liked semi-auto rifles).

You'd think that we'd have learned our lesson about trading away great rifles (including that early Ruger carbine)....but apparently not. A friend was looking for a first rifle for his young son. The stock of that 788 had been shortened into a perfect "youth" length (my mother was just 5' tall) and the .243 chambering was also perfect for a 10 year old.

My mother did good work with that Model 100 that my brother claimed after her death, but to me the rifle that I will always consider "mother's rifle" is that 788. I'd love to have it back, but the young man who received it wouldn't trade it for it's weight in gold (I know....I've tried to talk him out of it for years).

I guess we all have a list of "those that got away", but I miss none quite so much as my mother's guns...The Ruger Sporter and the 788.

Here is my one and only 788....a "modified" .222 that had a bad barrel (bore was heavily pitted) and I got real cheap. Decided to make it a 6X45 shoots really well! Did put a light contour barrel on it and lightened the action. Tar-jac did the stock.



The turkey I shot in the head last fall with it



PennDog

Is that a domesticated bird? If not my bad.

I had one in 22-250 for a time but sold it to my cousin. He has taken deer with it shooting 64 grain Winchester bullets.

Sherwood

If you insist. Sorry no interesting photos with dead critters but I do need to drag it out and shoot another deer with it this year. Like most 788s, it is a tackdriver with most any given load.

No it was a wild bird.....I had never see one with so much white in the wings - should have probably mounted him!

PennDog

Sweet! I never had the pleasure of owning or operating one of those. I'd sure like to.

My 788 .243 received Christmas '73. Killed bunch of crows, groundhogs& feral dogs but only one whitetail buck. Refinished the stock awhile back and ran it with T1 for Gits and Shiggles.

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Need to kill a deer with it again this season. Gotta figure a new or unassigned optic this spring...

Nice rifle cold case. Looking good.