Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Model 788 new barrel?

I have a new to me Model 788 Remington, .22-250. It's a first year production rifle (1967) which has a real walnut stock and a bit nicer bluing than what's normally seen on 788s. Came with two stocks, it's wearing a replacement Ramline (glass bedded). Also came with a Cabela's scope, 4-16x, one of the cheaper ones, and a Timney trigger. I expected it to shoot like a typical 788 - under an inch at 100. It won't do that, it's 1.5 to 2 inches mostly, with 50 to 55 gr. Hornady handloads. The barrel seemed very dirty so I've put a lot of patches down it, and some brushing, using copper solvent, as well as other solvents and cleaners. Patches still come out fairly dirty, but the bore looks good (don't have a borescope though). One thing I've noticed is I can feel a definite "bump" in the same spot in the barrel with a tight patch - about 5 inches from the muzzle. It feels like there is a slight expansion or "ring" in the barrel right there, causing the patch to suddenly go a bit loose for maybe half an inch. Nothing is visible to the naked eye, but I can definitely feel it. Possibly it was fired by a previous owner with a slight obstruction.

My question is, would it be worth re-barreling a model 788? If so, who makes barrels that fit and what twist rate would you recommend? The magazine doesn't seem to have a lot of room for long bullets, so I'm thinking 1-12 probably. Stock barrels are 1-14. Thanks!

You will get a lot of different responses so here's just one opinion......NO.....I'd sell the 788 and find a good Remington ADL in .22-250 and if necessary re-barrel that.

Yep rebarrel it - if you have a loose spot in the middle of the barrel it’s toast.

You will have to have it done by a gunsmith to make sure the new barrel is headspaced correctly, matching threads, and tenon length is what a gunsmith does.

Twist rate depends on what bullet weight you want to shoot for your application, If you varmint hunt I’d recommend a fast twist..

Rebarreled a .222 Remington 788 with a toasted factory barrel replaced by Shaw with a faster-twist .223 Remington stainless barrel. It shot VERY well, and didn't cost a vast amount either. Dunno what they charge these days, but it was well worth the price.

I have a 788_action in a McMillan stock with a bartlein 8 twist barrel in 243. It shoots between 1\2 and 3\4 inch at 200 yds. Those actions have a very fast lock time and are well worth rebarelling. Can't go wrong with a bartlein barrel.

Ask yourself if the 788 is worth spending $400-$600 dollars on for a rebarrel, even after the rebarrel it is still a $400 rifle.
Sell or trade the 788 and buy yourself a Rem 700 or Ruger American or any other of a slew of rifles ready to shoot without putting a pile of money into them.
The 788 was a great $69.00 rifle but they have a lousy trigger, the bolt is clunky, the bolt handles have a habit of falling off and parts are becoming difficult to find for them.

drover

If you end up selling the rifle for scrap let me know so I can take it off your hands.

If she shoots good leave it and kill shiit with 50-55's...

fortymile, you asked otherwise I wouldn’t comment.

Obviously some like the 788.

I had one and it didn’t impress me. Drover ^^^^ said in general the same things
I think.

Only you can decide how much you want to put in a $400. Rifle.

Good luck

Jerry

Thanks for the replies. A pard has a 788 in .22-250 and it shoots exceptionally well, so I had high hopes for this one. Based on the feedback so far I think I will spring for a new barrel, but I need to look into the cost. I paid $575 for the rifle with scope and both stocks. Not a good deal in hindsight, but I don't want to peddle a problem rifle to someone else, and I'd like to make a good shooter out of it. I think all the ingredients are there (Timney trigger is amazing, the action seems solid, original stock is in great shape) it just needs a better barrel. Anybody know what an early 788 Walnut stock is worth? I may sell that to help pay for the barrel.

I appreciate your thot process there.

Jerry

I’d go 8 twist on it no matter the mag length myself. Nothing to be lost with the extra twist and they’ll shoot the normal 50-55’s just fine as well. Some good intermediate sorta bullets that would work fine in the confines of a short mag box like the 77 TMK and 75 Swift’s.

I would barrel it in 6BR with a 7.5 inch twist. GD

6BR may not feed as a repeater.......

788 re barrel ? nah......

Just buy a Tikka........

Fwiw 788 magazines are pretty long when compared to many of today's magazine es. This allows for shooting longer heavier bullets if desired. I shoot 105 Berger out of my 243 magazine.

788's were nice budget priced rifles, but tend to be case stretchers if you loaded very warmly. Small base brass rounds ( .222 ) or of moderate pressure (30-30 or .44 mag) were not so bad.. Trading for a .222 or a 700 may be your best move. Shortening the barrel if you can and stay legal might be an economical solution.

If it is the 24 inch barrel it would be a no brainier for me to cut it back to 18 - 19 inches and have a carbine model. I would clean more using JB and a copper solvent then shoot for groups again. If it was still not to your liking I would have the barrel accurately gauged to see if a circumcision would fix it. I would also be tempted to shoot the whole batch of Tubbs final finish bullets since you may replace it any way. This will not do anything if the barrel is ringed but it may smooth out the transition enough to improve accuracy and if the rifle has a high round count you most likely have some throat erosion which it may improve..

Re-barrelling depends on how much you like the rifle. They can be very accurate, you already have a trigger upgrade, and other people are willing to spend a fair amount of money on the 580 series 22 RF version to customize them. Also before re barreling check head space, if the previous owner shot a lot of hot loaded ammo it is possible to get setback. Setback could also throw off accuracy. If this is the case a new barrel is in order or at least a new chamber.

Like others have posted I would go ahead and get a faster twist barrel at least a 1 in 8, then you can shoot most of the bullets available between 40 & 80 grains.

I have friends who have cobbled up rifles with bargain barrels like the S&B or Green Mountain and they ended up with very accurate rifles for under a grand. But that still puts you into Rem 700 or Tikka territory. It exceeds the RAR and others.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Huaqvarna and Tejano, I kinda like your idea of cutting the barrel back (it is 24). Might be a bit loud but if I got the barrel threaded and put a can on it (I'll be back in Utah soon where such things are legal) that would be perfect. Something to think about for sure.

Late seeing this thread, but here goes. First, a .22-250 barrel is one of the two 788 barrels I would be leery of (.243 is the other). They can be shot out pretty easily if used for varmints. As stated above, the 788 can eat cases because of the rear locking lugs allowing bolt compression. I sold mine because it was a right hand action and I am a lefty. I think before I rebarreled I would have the barrel borescoped and if the throat was burned out, I would have a smith cut the barrel back to 22 inches or so if possible.

Like all rear locking actions the 788 bolt will compress but it is not as bad as some with longer bolts. Shot one quite a bit in 6PPC which was loaded pretty hot and did not find stretching to be all that bad. Remington claimed the bolt would compress roughly .001" per 1000lbs of bolt thrust (about 5 or 6 times that of a 700). Other rear locking actions are somewhat worse in this regard. The Steyr Mannlicher and colt Sauer are considerably worse because the bolts are longer. Practically speaking, the amount of stretch in the 788 means, in a 22-250, fl sizing would be required about every fourth firing. My ppc needed to have the shoulders bumped about every fifth loading. GD