Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Remington 788

I have a Remington model 788 in .308, it’s a carbine. i have been trying to track down the history on this firearm but have been unsuccessful. I have found that the .308 was made in LH carbine, but nothing for RH carbine. does anyone know the history and can verify the the 788 was made in a RH carbine?

I have seen several 788 with 18 inch barrels, that I'm guessing would be a carbine, and all of them were right handed. I've never seen a left handed 788.

I had two 788s in .308 some years ago; a rifle and a carbine, both right hand bolts. I was unaware these were available in left-handed versions.

They werent really a true lefty action.
Simply a righty action with the bolt handle on the left side.
What we leftys might call the right side. lol
I bought one for my son as his first rifle in 243 in the early 70s.
I often wished i had bought a lefty model for myself back then as well.
About 20 years ago i stood in the rain for several hours at a farm auction waiting for a lefty to be put up for bid.
When the bids reached $600 i took my cold wet self back to my vehicle.
Thank you but ill buy a new Savage or one of the others instead, and enjoy a trigger i can set off with just one hand.

I have a 788 carbine in 243. These were the 18.5" barrel if I remember and it was a RH. I shot a box of bullets through it and it was extremely accurate. I also have a LH 308 too. Never seen a 788 LH carbine though.

thanks for the responses, i appreciate the insight?

1980 they made the 788 LH carbine, only one year for the 18 1/2" barrel, I got 2 of them in LH with 18 1/2" barrels and I'm not even left handed

When Remington was owned by DuPont, DuPont engineers talked Remington into the 788 design. DuPont had a method of shaping the steel that they were perfecting. To start Remington was making the bolt/receiver by machining. The machining process was expensive. The cost for making the 788 in the birch stock was similar to the cost of making the 700 in a walnut stock. The DuPont engineers were unsuccessful in their attempt to form the lugs/recess’s, Remington then made the decision to stop the manufacture of the 788.
There’s a BS story that the reason was because the 788 was more accurate than the 700 that is a BS story started by Remington marketing. However the 788’s were very accurate due to the design and they had a faster lock time. That story makes zero sense: would Chevrolet stop making the Camero if it outperformed then Corvette? Besides I know the reason and have so stated above.
Many people love their 788’s. My brother-in-law bought his wife, my sister-in-law a left handed 6mm before his death. She has only shot it probably less than 20 times. It’s not for sale. It’s sitting in a closet in a house in Deadwood.

First High Powered Rifle my Dad ever bought me was my 788 in 243. Has an old Weaver K6 on it now. I wish it was a lefty. I'll never part with it.

Ron

My Dad and brothers bought 4 788's in March 1981. Consecutive serial numbers. All 308, all 18.5" barrels with iron sights and Tasco 4x32 scopes with aluminum
weaver mounts. I still have mine and my Dads I put mine in a cheapo plastic stock and put a better scope on it. My Dad's is exactly like he bought it. Probably hasn't
had 100 rounds through it. Mine has been shot 1000's of times and killed a lot of game. From ground hogs to moose. We paid $180 each. I have probably 40 rifles that all cost a lot more and that ugly duckling is still
one of the top 2 or 3 most accurate rifles I have ever shot. We never had any of the problems with the bolt handles that some of the earlier ones had.

The M788's did indeed have among the fastest lock time of bolt action rifles. That feature made them in demand among silhouette shooters in the 80's.

Up until 1980 the 308, 243, and 6mm Rem came with 22" bbls, starting in 1980 the 6mm Rem was dropped and the 308, 7mm-08, and 243 had 18.5" bbls.

For a few years they offered a Tasco scope package on some of the rifles.

In 1980 Remington changed the shape of the stock and stained it darker. Improved the appearance quite a bit IMO.

I know that they also made them in a 30-30 cal as well. Back in the early 70's I wanted one so bad I could taste it, never did get it.

I have the 308, 22-250, 6mm, 44 mag, 30-30, 243, 7-08, 222 and 223 all RH. Have a 308 as well RH that is the carbine and the 7-08 that is a carbine. Also a 6br and 20-250 I built off a 788 243 action. All shoot very well. The 788’s are going up in value in my area now. All except the 30-30 and 44 mag were from $275 to $350 price range a few years back. Now I don’t see one under $500 no matter what caliber it is

I’ve owned several of the 308 & 7-08 Carbines over the years.
They were fairly common around here in 308. And very accurate too.

Bought a 22-250 with part of my summer job money, 1975. If i remember correctly it was 129.00. Piss elm stock warped so i relieved it and bedded it, problem fixed. One of the very few i sold that i would really like back.

There a lefty 6mm on long range hunting for sale and think it's also on rimfire central.

The first rifle I ever bought was a new 788 in .308. It shot better than I did for certain. Killed a few deer with it.
Sold that and all my other firearms to finance a divorce a long time ago.... wish I had that 788 back. The ex...not so much.