Shot a 788 yesterday...

[Three44s]

I have what now amounts to a gathering of 788's .........

222 Rem I bought last summer and have only just begun to work up.

A .22-250 that I finnished the barrel off on coyotes and other vermin (wears the now discontinured Canjar single set trigger)

And enough parts and pieces to cobble together a .243 also in the 788.

A good member of this forum sold me two used barrels for my .22-250 so I may well get it going again.

There is a lot of "bad press" out there about the 788's and a lot of "holy grail" press out there as well.

I shot my .22-250 a lot before the barrel finally went south. And I can certainly tell you these rifles are good work horses but no magic beans!

One thing that sets the series apart from it's peers and even rifles that cost much more at that time is it's LOCK TIME.

While a rifle with slow lock time can shoot well off a very good rest ......... it's only intuitive that a rifle with a faster lock time can overtake more accurate rifles somewhat to fairly well ........... in the field.

I always overlooked the "uglies" as my 788 was first and foremost a tool. I packed it on tractors and farm trucks (with as much respect as I could afford it and still get the "job done").

I also worked around the dreaded bolt compression issues as I use the Lee Collet die (neck sizer die).

I loaded for accuracy for the most part as .22-250 has enough extra gonaads to kick 'ole Freedie way out there!



I think that the tendency for some folks to spend their "life savings" on getting one is missplaced and similarily other folks' desire to run the series into oblivion.

For those of us that don't know it .......... Timney now produces what is said to be a good adjustable trigger for the 788 for about $130.

The American Rifleman article on doing up your own 788 trigger was in my opinion on the whole a great disservice to the shooting fraternity. Many otherwise good 788s died for lack of a safe trigger because of that. That is not to say that many owners followed the instructions properly and came away with much better rifles as a result .......... but across the board, most folks just don't possess enough JuuJuu beans to get that technical and come away unbruised!

One other anomolly I have recently become aware of with 788's is that the trigger has a little "ear" on the bottom of the receiver that the trigger is pinned to. Some folks snap this ear off rendering the receiver useless.

I have conversed with a gunsmith over at the THR forum who has conqueered this and will gladly forward anyone to that has this problem.

I also know from discussions with other 'smiths that the best way to avoid this train wreck is not break it in the first place. As it turns out there is a set screw in the front of the trigger housing that provides tension to stabilize the trigger once it's pinned. It seems that too many folks bent on doing their own work are not loosening this tension screw first and are just driving the roll pin out under tension and snapping it off.

I have a receiver that has this ear snapped off (not my doing). I was thinking of having it fixed until I found a different receiver with matching bolt and barrel but with a bad trigger for less overall money than having it fixed.

Best regards

Three 44s

[Rick Hodges]

I have two 788's. A .308 left hand purchased new in 1971 for $84.95 ($5 more for the left hand model) and a LH 6mm Rem. purchased new in 1976. I have restocked both, the .308 as a Mannlicher with the bbl. cut down to 20". Both are very accurate rifles. The triggers are stock, very crisp right at 4 lbs., a little heavy but very shootable.

The 6mm Rem. is uncanny accurate with 100 gr. Horn. condoms, but very fussy with lighter projectiles. The 6mm is the rifle in my avatar, Antelope taken at 265 yds.

Neither rifles are for sale at any price. I like them a lot.

[gravel]

A .22-250 that I finished the barrel off on coyotes and other vermin (wears the now discontinured Canjar single set trigger)

...

A good member of this forum sold me two used barrels for my .22-250 so I may well get it going again.

if money is no object,.... haha....... you could have that barrel rebored and end up with a 788 in caliber .250-3000 ! that would be cool.

[waco]

i have a 788 in .308 and she is a tack driver with j-words! mine is a carbine version. 165gr hornady & Varget is what shoots best for me. The stock was pretty plain, so i stripped it down and stained it green! looks pretty cool now!

[seabee591]

I also have two 788's One I bought in the late 60's is a 222. I gave $67 dollars for it. At that same time I order a 12X Unertl scope for it.When it came in (9months later) I had to report to the US Navy. I didn't get to use it for a very long time. 20 years later I got in touch with Unertl about the front scope mount. They still make them and I had one on the way.
Now this one of my best guns and it will shoot a 5 shot group under a dime size at a 100 yards any time. I do handload all my rounds.
The other 788 is a wildcat 25-222 actly improve. I will finish it this week. When the weather improves.
I am still looking for a 788 in 30-30. Would love to build a 20 Classic to go with my 6MM Classic.

[Ohio Rusty]

I had a 788 in .308 caliber and that was the worst kicking gun I ever shot !! It was so painful, I only shot 8 rounds and had a bruise bigger than a softball on my shoulder. My shoulder hurt for days. I kept the rifle for a few years after that and finally sold it as it just collected dust in the closet. I was glad to part with that rifle !!
Ohio Rusty ><>