Curiosity is getting the better of me on this one but I would like to know the particulars of the remington 788 I have seen in a few of John's recent articles. It either has a black synthetic stock or wood that has been painted black, the last article I saw a photo of it in was the article in GUNS about scope mounts. Some details about the rifle would be great, as a 788 fan I am really curious.

Probably sitting in a Ramline synthetic stock, but I bet we'll find out for sure quite soon.

The stock is the factory wood, covered in black wrinkle-paint.

When I bought the rifle it was a beat-to-snot .222 Remington, probably some Montana rancher's truck gun, judging from the wear on the topside of the barrel where it rested on a rear-window rifle rack. It shot OK, but not great, so I had it rebarreled by E.R. Shaw to .223 with a 1-9 twist. I also installed a Timney trigger, a big improvement over the factory trigger. Thought about refinishing the wood stock, but it's just cheap wood (probably birch or beech) so got out the can of wrinkle-paint.

Wish I had $20 for every time somebody's asked the brand of synthetic stock. Could buy another rifle!

I'm wrong. Again. I'm used to it by now after 10.5 years of marriage...

thanks John, I have been wondering about that rifle's pedigree since I first saw a picture of it

What size punch will I need to remove the pin and do the same when my backordered Timney shows up?

Too funny JB, I had a pair of 788's in 222 and the 2nd one's stock was so bad that I broke out the bedliner. Can't seem to find a photo right now. It was the perfect solution to the problem as the wood was not worth refinishing. I sold the pair and haven't missed either of them. I can say "Yeah, I've owned a couple 788's."

edit: the one I didn't give the redneck synthetic to was a heavier barreled model and it would shoot 5 shots just under an inch. The 2nd one with a thinner barrel and the nasty stock would place 5 shots into 0.4" all day long. It even had a rust booger in the bottom front of the chamber area but didn't seem to affect accuracy at all.