Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remington 788

I came across two Remington 788’s one in 30-30 and the other one is 7mm-08 carbine. I was wondering which one to buy and the price of them too.

Buy both. I regret letting both of mine go. I'm dickering now on a 30-30 and we are in the $450 range as it doesn't have the original sights.

30-30 for sure.

You want a shooter or something to flip for profit? The 7-08 is the shooter. The .30-30 is a rare bird that commands high to VERY high money. If you can, get both.

They are asking 1100 for the 30-30 and 900 for the 7mm-08 both in good condition.

30-30. without a doubt.

I had a 30-30 788 with a fixed 10X Leupold for a while,..tack driver.

Go easy on the bolt handle of any 788. They're silver soldered on and they'll come off on ya.

I had one come loose. I TIG welded it back on. They should have been TIG welded from the beginning.

That’s too high for the 7-08. And about right for the 30-30, if it’s NIB.

I don't think either of those prices are a "steal" but they are great little rifles. If you have never owned one, you should.

At those prices I wouldn't buy either, for using or flipping. There might be a few bucks to be made on the 30-30, maybe not.

Otherwise if I just wanted to own one, I migh try buying both for a package deal.

Nope. That's a hard pass on both, IMHO.

That’d be too high for me. The 7-08 would be my choice though. I’d be a buyer for $450-500. They are decent but were economy guns back in the day.

I believe 788s chambered in 30/30 and .7mm-08 are among the rarest calibers with the .44 magnum being THE rarest. The correct replacement magazines for those calibers are high dollar items IF you can find any. The magazines do rattle and it doesn't take much of a bump to lose one, either. Got to watch the little plastic safety switch cover, too, as they are prone to loosen / break.

I'm sure they'll get cheaper...

Pretty steep prices, but if you want one real bad, I'd make sure they are in top condition. I think 7 bills tops for either, maybe less.

I have the carbine in 308. Bought when I was 14 sacking grocery money and slinging hay bales. That thing has slayed about 90 deer. 👍

😆 Ain’t that some schidt, My first deer rifle was also a 788 .308 carbine, Bought it with my own money earned hauling hay.

I've had a 308 and a 222. Wish I had both back. Those prices still seem high though.

Fortunately for you gentlemen that like them, I had two, a .222 and a .308, and after a short period testing and so forth, promptly sent them downriver. I think they were designed and built to a specific very low price point, and turned out to be accurate by accident as much as design, they had a massive wall thickness in the receiver and a very fast lock time. But on the downside, many had oversize firing pin holes in the boltface and more than occasionally flowed primer cup material would jam the pin. The safety was very vulnerable to damage, and the stock triggers were difficult to modify. The silver soldered bolt handles have been mentioned. On rifles that I worked on, that got a high volume of rounds fired, headspace increased eventually....of the nine lugs, on a near new rifle, at any given time maybe five would be bearing...eventually all the lugs would wear in, which was never dangerous of course, but silhouette shooters would be alarmed when their pet rifle showed primers backed out a little. It seems IIRC, the trigger pin boss was soldered also.
Personally, I thought they were overpriced at 450 a few years back.

Weird how the 30-30 are priced all over the place. Around here if you found a 30-30 it would be $1200 in any condition. The 7m-08 carbine show up here occasionally. I think I gave under $500 for the one I have and have seen a few going around $700. If you find a 30-30 under $700 it's probably beater. I had one that was rechambered to 219 Zipper. The barrel was as big around as a sewer pipe. The same guy also had an early Remington 760 in 35 Rem. He turned that into a 35 Whelen. I still have that one, I just thought this guy liked destroying rare collectible stuff.

I've owned them in 308 and 243..would like to find a nice one in 6mm for a fair price