![]() ![]() At 100 yards from a sandbag rest, the old Model 788 easily paid for its freight and then some. Next, I set up targets to see how the Remington’s legendary reputation for accuracy still held up. 30-30 ammo is a heck of a lot easier to find. 308, but from the 22-inch barrel of Doug’s Model 788, it’s reasonably close to the. The Federal averaged 2,380 fps, the Buffalo Bore averaged 2,403 fps and the Hornady averaged 2,466 fps. Before I started shooting groups, I broke out my faithful Shooting Chrony, set it up 10 feet from the muzzle and checked to see what kind of numbers I was getting. Test loads included Federal’s 150-grain Hammer Down, Buffalo Bore’s 150-grain Barnes all-copper TSX and Hornady’s 140-grain LeverEvolution-all premium items above and beyond performance-wise from the traditional 150- or 170-grain roundnose softpoint. In keeping with the vintage aspect of the Model 788, I mounted an old steel Weaver V-7 variable in Weaver mounts. If you ever had any doubt as to the tack-driving potential of this 126-year-old legend, the Model 788 will dispel them. This is particularly so when updated loads like Hornady’s polymer-tipped, “spitzerized” LeverEvolution ammo are part of the equation. 30 WCF becomes something of a different animal. But stick the old saddle gun classic cartridge in the scoped, 22-inch barreled Model 788 with its quicker lock time-a claimed 2.5 milliseconds-and superior trigger, and the old. 30-30 usually stem from its traditional platform: a lever-action carbine with a two-piece stock, capricious barrel band, open “buckhorn” sights and a relatively leisurely lock time. Snide remarks about the limitations of the. 30-30 is one of the Model 788’s rarer chamberings, as it was discontinued five years into the rifle’s production run. It has a hardwood stock, although some early specimens came with walnut. I recently borrowed a very nice specimen in. I asked him if he’d ever thought of selling it and was politely but firmly rebuffed.īut things brightened up several decades later. Model 788 to calibrate the instrumentation when he was working on the 20mm chain gun for Hughes Helicopters back in the day. My lust for one was seriously aggravated back in the early 2000s when G&A reloading guru Bob Forker told me he used a. So painful, in fact, I resolved that someday I’d get my hands on another. 30-06 as well, the choice of which one to keep was fairly obvious, although a painful one. I found it to be a first-rate rifle for California mule deer, but like an idiot, I sold it because I had a new kid and needed the money. I was fortunate enough to own a Model 788 in. Even Elmer Keith- no fan of budget hardware- was impressed by the rifle, which he reviewed after a writer’s seminar the Big Green put on prior to Elmer’s article in the June 1967 Guns & Ammo, “Remington’s Rack of New Guns”: Regardless of whether this was true, the fact remains that the Model 788 was a heck of a shooter for its modest price. Legend has it this proved somewhat of an embarrassment to Remington’s flagship Model 700. An overabundance of steel in the receiver made for exceptionally exceptional strength and rigidity, and the Model 788 quickly gained a reputation for exceptional accuracy. The Model 788’s bolt featured nine rear locking lugs, a 60-degree lift, and an unadorned, plain Jane stock with a Monte Carlo comb and-to the horror of many Mauser 98 and Winchester Model 70 purists- a three-round detachable box magazine. It was the brainchild of Remington designer Wayne Leek and was ultimately offered in nine short-action calibers and in barrel lengths of 22, 24 and, near the end of its production run, 18.5 inches. The Model 788 was a new design, not simply an economy-driven knockoff of an existing Remington platform. ![]() Granted, the horrors of inflation would peg today’s Model 788/Model 700 comparative suggested retails at $654 to $1,138, but the Model 788 had a whole lot more going for it than the hoary ad-copy cliché of “value.” ![]() In comparison, the company’s premium Model 700 BDL started at $155. In 1969, the suggested retail price was $90. “Relatively inexpensive” is a much more accurate-and less disrespectful-description. Actually, the term “cheap” doesn’t do the rifle justice. From the time Remington’s Model 788 was introduced in 1967 until it was discontinued in 1983, this relatively inexpensive sporter made a very credible case for being the best cheap bolt-action rifle ever made. ![]()
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