788 "favorite for br" per j e custom

R

rsmithsr

Well-known member
his actual post in a 788 thread on long range hunting:
" At one time It was the bench rest favorite to build on because of its strength, but due to the minimal caming of the bolt, heavy loads increase the bolt lift."

i'll admit i have not been around actual br for very long, but i have never seen a competitve br rifle built on a 788, much less "favorite" status.
 
Well, I have been around for a long time, and have seen several attempts by shooters to make a competitive Benchrest Rifle based on a 788. The Late Eric Klemitich built a HBR Rifle on one back in the early 2000’s. It was chambered, if I remember, in 30x47.

It shot ok, but bolt lift was a problem with the loads that were the most competitive.

The problem is the action is not that strong, at least where it counts. When subjected to loads that exceed most SAAMI specs, you will experience difficult opening of the bolt due to action stretch.

This is not an old wives tale.
 
thank you Jackie,
but a FAVORITE vs several ??
hope you and your wife get better.

jackie schmidt said:
Well, I have been around for a long time, and have seen several attempts by shooters to make a competitive Benchrest Rifle based on a 788. The Late Eric Klemitich built a HBR Rifle on one back in the early 2000’s. It was chambered, if I remember, in 30x47.

It shot ok, but bolt lift was a problem with the loads that were the most competitive.

The problem is the action is not that strong, at least where it counts. When subjected to loads that exceed most SAAMI specs, you will experience difficult opening of the bolt due to action stretch.

This is not an old wives tale.
Click to expand...
 
I have 788 chambered 30BR, shot good, bolt lift a problem, broke it off one time, but I really did not have good size die. May try again. I have a 22-250 that easily shoots 1/4moa until barrel heats up about 3 shots. The 22-250 was touted as a factory gun that easily shoots crow size target at 200 yards with factory ammo.
 
Frank McKee has a couple

he set some HBR records with a few years back. Frank liked them. They were 30's Aardvark , as I recall. Looks like an Improved 30-30.

Pete
 
Wasn't the popularity of the 788 somehow related to the lock time? I do remember when they were quite popular for building a long range sillouete competition rifle and I believe that is what I was told at the time.
 
They were cheap and accurate, the ones built for the .308 case had bolt flex problems (rear locking lugs).

Single stack removable magazine which feed better than the 700's. None adjustable triggers, yes they could be worked one.

The ones chambered in .222 were really hot with the squirrel shooters. A few years back there were a bunch of used ones on the market with shot out barrels.

Remington stopped making them because at under $200 they out shot the 700's.

Take one apart and check out the firing pin!

Never could see why someone would pay good money to rebarrel one.

Then there is the problem with ejected fired brass hitting the scope and laying back down in the port. Elevation knobs were known to be turned to the 12 o'clock to help part of the problem.

Mine is a great "truck gun" factory .243 with good trigger job. Hasn't been in the truck for 20 years.
 
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I built a LV rifle on a 788 sometime around 1980. Initially, I barreled it in 219 Donaldson Wasp and used 225 Winchester as the parent case. Case forming and quality sucked and performance wasn't as good as I had hoped for (high .3's). I re-barrel to 6ppc and the rifle shot pretty well but vertical stringing was always a problem. This could be tuned out but I ended up having to use different loads at 100 and 200 yds. It shot well enough to win VFS matches but not good enough to win group shoots. As I recall, my best agg was around .2700. I used it in windy conditions where the conditions would mask the rifle's shortcomings. Not a recipe for success!
Cases would stretch somewhat and FL sizing was necessary more often than with a 700 or a Wichita.
I bored out the threads and re-threaded to 1x1 1/16. I lengthened the barrel tenon so that I could counterbore the barrel to support the bolt against lateral deflection (in theory). The rifle was a glue-in and used no recoil lug and the tang floated. The trigger had it's limits.I installed adjustments and moved the fulcrum up to lighten pull weight. The trigger pulled about 6 oz.
All in all, it was a fun project but I became convinced the 788 was not a viable basis for a competitive BR rifle. It was bought by a guy who liked it because it was different; which is really why I built it. Regards, Bill.
 
MilGunsmith said:
If it will work with the M540 XR I might be interested
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it would work for that model. I see the part numbers were different for the factory triggers between the models. None of the parts that make up the triggers are the same on either but the basic design appears to be the same. Anybody know?
 
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