IA fog;
Top of the morning to you, I hope the weather is seasonally appropriate and survivable for you all out east and you're well.
With apologies to those who've read and seen these previously from me, I'll say this about that.
Over the years I've tuned 3 different 788 .308's in my shop and when I was shooting a wee bit of hunting rifle bullseye competition lost money to a few more, one in 6mm and one in .7-08 that I recall not wanting to shoot against.
My competition rifle back then was the most consistently accurate rifle in the safe, my wife's 788 carbine in .308 that I'd restocked, bedded and tuned the trigger.
Shooting 130gr Speer HP with a max load of WW748, with a few different shooters it would hold to ½" groups with a 6X scope, which was the maximum magnification for the match.
It used to rankle a few of the other competitors that I'd bring it out as a "club rifle" with a box of 50 handloads so others could borrow it. Of course that meant I lost to the rifle I'd brought to the match fairly regularly.
Years later this one came into the shop in a trade, with a broken trigger which is the weak spot with them in that the bolt stop is a pin in the front of the trigger assembly. When it shears off, unless one can remake the pin from scratch, one is looking at a new trigger. We installed the one from my wife's rifle in this one, put a Timney in hers which was a nice improvement and it shot 3 test rounds into an inch as seen.
An old friend wanted it for his step father who was left handed, so it went to a good home after I'd finished the stock with a walnut grip cap and a brown Decelerator.
Besides the rear lugs which some folks can't get past, it's a reasonably stiff receiver because of the single stack mag and not too large ejection port. They had a fast lock time too as I recall.
Back when as well I recall reading about the odd one that the bolt handle would come out on, it's silver brazed in so surely that could take place if it's not a great job, but I also suspect that hot loads and beating on the bolt handle in some cases were contributing factors.
As to whether it's better or worse than a Mohawk however would be down to a personal call.
They're fine for what they are or were at the time, but they were the Ruger American of the day more or less as I remember them.
Hope that was useful to you or someone out there.
Good luck on your rifle quest whichever way you decide.
Dwayne