788 barrel swap?

B

BenKeith

Guest
Will a 700 barrel screw onto a 788 action?

I have an old 788 6mm that's about at the end of it's useful life because the head space has gotten a bit on the extreme side.

I know where I can get a new 260 barrel taken of a 700 action and was wondering if it would screw onto the 788.

I know because of the bolt crush you get with the rear locking lugs, these action are not worth spending the money for a new barrel but I can get this barrel and installed for $165 so I figure if it will work, I don't mind spending that to revive the old thing for a little while longer.
 
No. The 700, 721, 722, and 725 threads are all 1 1/16" 16 TPI, the 788 threads are 1" 20 TPI according to Otteson. I doubt that turning the threads down on a 700 barrel would give a clean shank to rethread too.
 
Headspace???

We all know that 788's are not known for their strength in the locking lug department, but I have never heard of one gaining headspace over a peroid of time.

What kind of loads have you been shooting in that thing:eek:.........jackie
 
Jackie,
I think that he was talking about the bolt compression that is supposed to be a problem because the lugs are at the back, not set back. As to 788s having problems, I have had three, and I never saw any problems of that sort, and I used to load the .223 up till it was common to see a shiny spot on the case head from the brass being pushed back into the extractor hole. (Don't do this. I was a lot younger and a little more stupid.) The only problem that I know of regarding 788s is that they don't have the trigger selection that a 700 has, but as far as that goes, lots of current bolt action rifles suffer from the same problem. The lock time is faster than a 700. The action is about four times stiffer, and it has a lot more bedding area.
 
Ben Keith

Have you checked or had the headspace checked with guages ?
Although it is widely accepted that rear lugs are not ideal, I have never
seen a problem that wasn't related to the sizing die. Rem 788's
have seen use in hunter class and shot well.
 
Interesting to note

that in years gone by, some of the best 6 power Score Shoters used the 788 action with great success and while using the usual HBR cases. Actually, I think one of the all time greats still uses one of his sometimes. I have a 788 and I understand what folks are saying but they have, in the past, proved to be up to the task and not puny or dangerous.
 
Pac Nor shows barrels pre threaded, contoured and chambered for the 788, they will require some work by a qualified smith to button up the job.
Mark
 
It'll work. A 700 thread is larger and needs to be turned or cut off entirely. When they're turned to 1.00" and re-cut they come out ok. Mine has a rethreaded / rechambered 700 barrel. If the 700 barrel is in really good shape it's worth doing.
 
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Thanks for the input. It was just going to be a cheap rebarrel if the factory 700 take-off barrel would screw on and all we had to do was set the head space. If I had to pay for all the extra machining, I would just order a custom barrel. I have another very good shooting 700, 6mm and like the way my granddaughters 260 shoots so I think I'm just going to have a good 260 barrel put on this one and shoot it a while longer.

I bought this rifle new in 1971 and have put a lot of rounds through it. The chamber formed cases were getting hard to full length resize so I compared a new case and a fired case side by side. There is a noticeable difference. I don't have head space guages but I tried several fire formed cases in the chamber and meased with a dial caliper from the back of the reciever to the base of the cases, then tried some new cases in and measured them. The fire formed case all measured almost .020" less than the new cases. This pretty much tells me the case shoulder is being pressed up another .020" and you can see this when the cases are side by side.

It still shoots accurate as hell and load just fine when you neck size only. I was just full length resizing some old brass I was not sure of when I started noticing they were harder to resize than should have been.

This problem is from the lugs forward because the bolt handle still locks into place exactly where it's suppose to. There is only a few thousandths between the front of the handle and the Rx and a lot of clearance between the rear of the handle and the Rx.
 
Ben,

Sounds to me that if the new brass chambers freely in your rifle, then you are fullsizing the cases too much. They only need to be just smaller dimensionally that the chamber.

Try backing off your die .025" - just gap the distance with a feeler gauge, don't bother with the lock ring at this stage & size one case. Keep advancing the die a few thou at a time until the case chambers again without dragging & you've resolved your headspace issue, then reset the lock ring & recheck that you got it set right.

I recently oversizes a block of cases due to hasty setup & the outcome was a sticky bolt lift, the case riviting back quite a few thousanths & the primers coming out flat as a pancake. Adjusting the die properly correctled the problem.

John
 
The real limitations of a 788 are the lack of good triggers for this action, weak camming of the 60 degree bolt rotation, and greater weight of the action.

Timney has a standard trigger for the 788, and Canjar made some set triggers (long gone), but that's about it. I wish a 2oz trigger was available, but it would not be a money maker.

The Otteson book talks about the strength of the 788:

"There are nine rear-positioned locking lugs. Each is very small and narrow, yet they combine for a locking system of exceptional strength. The lug shear area adds up to .38 sq. in., but the big item is bearing, which comes out to .15 sq. in., double that of many other actions."

"The Model 788 is a strong action. On paper, it appears to be even stronger than the Model 700, although Remington engineers claim that in actual tests with pressures exceeding 250,000 psi, the Model 700 came out slightly better."

"The 788 is also bulky. In .308 Winchester it weighs over 43 oz., almost 12 oz. more than the Model 600 and 8 oz. more than the Model 700."

Regards, Ron
 
It will take a lot of work

to make a 700 barrel fit a 788. I recently bought a used 788 barrel. The 788 has a much longer tennan than a 700. Not all of the tennon has threads but it is roughly twiste as long as a 700. I would guess that it may not be worf doing.
 
my dad has an old 788 in 222 Rem. Many moons ago, he had a 700 BDL Varmint Special barrel fitted to it. It would consistently group dime sized groups at 200yds. And this rifle/barrel combo is now 20+ yrs old and groups have increased, but with several thousand 52gr hpbt loads out of it who could ask more. My biggest complaint with the rifle is the damned jingly magazine for hunting.
 
The problem all multiple row interupted thread locking lug bolt share is that you can't garauntee full contact by all the lugs during the firing cycle.
Sometimes an entire row of lugs won't make contact until the seats compress from repeated firings.

I've heard that in order to insure full contact of the 788 lugs they must be carefully lapped, something unlikely to have been part of the manufacturing process of the day.

I owned a .243 Win chambered 788 many years ago, and found it extraordinarily accurate.

I was told by store employees at the time that the store owners had decided that they would not be handling the 788 in .308 because of reported issues with the rifle in that chambering, but it was mostly due to owners firing cheap 7.62 NATO surplus, and they suspected the throat was not suited to Military Ball projectiles.

The reported problems of stuck cases and bolt handles snapping off have pretty much soured me on the idea of getting another 788, but I do wish I still had the one I had years ago.
I traded it for a automobile which had the motor I needed to get my car running to get back and forth to work, and got a pretty good deal money wise, since the 788 was dirt cheap back then.
I thought at the time I could always buy another to replace it, but we know how that goes.
 
I rethreaded a 700 barrel in 223 rem to fit my 223 788. There is just enough meat there to make it work. I was able to use the original chamber.
 
788 trigger work

I have a .250 Ack built on a 788 action, odd for one to do such a thing. My gunsmith reworked the factory trigger and it's outcome is quite nice. :)
 
Many years ago in the American Rifleman mag. there was an how to article on modifying the 788 trigger by the addition of a set screw to adjust the length of the sear engagement. coupled with a different spring it became a very acceptable trigger. I know I have a copy of it, somewhere but it will be a month of Sundays before I could find it.
 
blades said:
Many years ago in the American Rifleman mag. there was an how to article on modifying the 788 trigger by the addition of a set screw to adjust the length of the sear engagement. coupled with a different spring it became a very acceptable trigger. I know I have a copy of it, somewhere but it will be a month of Sundays before I could find it.
Click to expand...


788trig.jpg
 
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