788 Frankengun

[JDHasty]

This is a Remington 788 308 Winchester action that I was given that didn't have a bolt. So I grabbed a 788 22-250 stock that was laying around and rasped down the sides of the fore end then laid a couple pieces of Maple tight up against it and glued them on with epoxy. Then I screwed the whole thing to a piece of scrap wood and ran it through my table saw and evened it up and fitted it to a Protektor front bag. I happened to have a Winchester Heavy Varmint barrel in 22-250 Rem in what I call my bag of tricks (which is all of the stuff that is laying around here) and a Timney trigger so I says to myself: I bet that since the 788 magazine hangs from a bar a 22-250 magazine will feed fine and/or the 22-250 will feed fine from a 308 magazine. I was right on both accounts.

So off comes the 308 barrel (easier said than done) and we fitted and chambered the 22-250 barrel to the action and sold the take off 308 barrel on eBay for enough to fund the entire project.

It is a good shooter, it shoots well under a half inch at a hundred yards, but the reason the almost new barrel was taken off was soon apparent (I got it from the guy that did Winchester factory warranty work). You can't get anywhere near max loads out of it before you start seeing pressure signs.

[JDHasty]

It’s a good gun as is, but I am going to tear it down next winter and rebarrel it to 243. It is pillar bedded, which on a 788 is a bit tricky because the trigger crowds the rear action screw and it has a boss on the action that has to be sunk in the rear pillar.

I am always kind of amused by some of the advice I get when I have a project going. I had people suggesting I clamp the two pieces of maple to the fore end instead of just buddying them up nice and tight and letting it cure with a couple bags of sand keeping everything in place while it cured. That would introduce stresses whereby having all of the wood relaxed is a much better idea.

I have found that if the sling swivel is centered that it can be assumed that the factory action holes in the stock are centered to the action and the stock can be screwed down through them to a piece of scrap plywood that is straight on one side. Then the whole assembly can go through the table saw and the side opposite can be cut parallel to the centerline of the stock so long as you made certain it was parallel to the straight side of the scrap when you screwed it down. Then you can double check how far the first cut is from the center of the stock and double that, set your fence and run the other side through and your barreled action will be dead center of the fore end. A new recoil lug mortise and front action pillar hole were cut out and drilled and the old recoil mortise and front action screw hole were filled with Devcon Steel wehn the action and barrel channel were bedded.

Once that is done you can clean it up and shape it any way you like. On this one I wanted it to have about an eighth inch clearance on a Protektor front bag. I left it blocky on purpose. I’ve done others that are similar and rasped and sanded them to resemble a Sako Varmint fore-end too.

It has a huge Nitrex TR1 6-20x50 on it now, I wanted that VX3 6.5-20 for a hornet instead and this gun is already heavy so I really didn’t care if it is heavier.

[Hippy]

JD I like your project rifle over the years I have owned many 788's in different calibers . In most EVERY case the cartridge with the LARGE AKA 308 bolt face would NOT except any load but a WARM load .
I believe it is the Nature of the beast as the rear locking lugs contribute to the issue.

They are truly accurate far beyond their price range

Jim

[JDHasty]

Always nice to hear from other 788 fans.

I haven’t experienced that in any of our others that take a large diameter case.

My first Varmint rifle is a 788 in 22-250 that I bought at Big 5 for $99 and got a 5-20 Bushnell scope for $65 from a place called Prairie Shooting Supply. They are not around any longer. It shot hell for stout loads and very accurately until I burned out the throat shooting prairie dogs in Montana. If it was good enough for Rick Jameson it was good enough for me is what I said when I bought it.

My first real upgrade was a Canjar. I shot smallbore silhouette in days gone by and high power and did fairly well, but in those days I was a AA Class trap shooter and while I won or placed high in local events I shot in I didn’t put enough into the rifle events to be among the best around. Trap was where the money was and I was in the money and only shot silhouette and high power on weekends when there wasn’t a decent size trap shoot to go to.

I had a saying that other guys who I shot against still remember: I would give up accuracy before I would give up any trigger quality. The only time I would spend one thin dime to get my rifles to shoot better was after I already had the best trigger I could get. Almost any decent rifle will shoot a good enough group to win until you get to the very top classes, and barely anyone alive can win anything with even the most accurate rifle if it doesn’t have a really good or great trigger in it. Same goes for Varmint shooting.

By then the barrel was already starting to go, but I didn’t have much money and preferred the best trigger to getting a new barrel for it since it would still hold an inch and a quarter at a hundred yards. Then a year or so later I had the local bench rest guy’s favorite smith put a 26 inch factory 788 taper 1:14 Lilja on it. The following year I sent it down to Portland for an MPI stock. I still have it and it’s on its second Lilja barrel and shoots very close to 1/4 inch five shot groups. I like it a lot.

I have another that is in 243 that has a Timney trigger and is in an MPI stock. It gets neglected. It is a solid hunting rifle that shoots 3/4 inch groups on a good day. It just doesn’t get used much. Some day I will get it really going good for one of my kids. My oldest is right handed, but left eye dominant so the TC Contender/Encore is what she has and thoroughly loves them. I have pictures of her looking through rifle scopes that were taken before she turned one year old and always with her left eye. The 70 grain Ballistic Tip load for it is 42 grains of Varget. That is a stout load and it shows no pressure signs.

I have another in 223 that is very, very accurate that is all factory except Timney trigger. It’s another that gets neglected though.

The factory triggers can actually be every bit as good as a Timney by replacing the single spring with separate sear and trigger return springs and adding an over travel stop. All it takes is drilling and tapping two holes in the trigger housing. We do that on 580 series rimfires all the time and it is the same exact trigger.

We had bolts and stocks laying around when I was given that 308 barreled action so this was a really inexpensive project. I have a couple more bolts and the barreled actions w/o bolt show up at gun shows all the time for cheap. I will probably do some more in the future. I think I have a 308 and a 22-250 bolt downstairs. People keep trying to buy them from me, but they are not for sale.

[moorepower]

I have two in .243 and as long as I use book loads, they are fine. I wish I had kept the Ramline stock I had for one of them. A long time ago, everyone told me they were junk so I sold it. It shot just as good with it, "5/8" x 5 with 87bthp and H414 as it did with a bedded stock. I know that they suck, but I can live with that kind of suck. I bought the first one in 1978 or 79, "I was still in HS, for around $125 at Coast to Coast in my home town, and inherited the other.