New Rifle - Remington 788 .308 for $100!

S

spaceweasel

Inactive
I just ran across a Remington 788 .308, in excellent condition, with a flawless walnut stock, and a like new finish, for $100. What luck!

It has been in a case, and looks like it was never shot. Has the original Tasco Japanese scope on it.

I am very pleased :)
 
I am very pleased
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You should be. What a steal! However, I don't think the stock is made from real walnut (walnut finish applied to birch I think but I could be wrong); not that it should matter much to most if that's the case.
 
CHECK THE BOLT FACE AND EXTRACTOR!!!
They were a bit prone to break out. If you have a bad bolt face you can't repair it so the rifle is only an incomplete set of parts.

If the bolt face is OK the rest of the gun can be repaired if anything were wrong and they were super accurate rifle.
 
It ain't walnut unless it is aftermarket.

I'm a bit leery. Anytime something seems too good to be true it usually is. Magazines for those are prone to break and are next too impossible to find, make sure it works. And when they do they are expensive. I'd proceed with caution if buying. Of course the seller may not know what they have either.

Old scopes are rarely a bargain. Even the best of scopes will have the rubber seals dry rot after about 30 years and unless the manufacturer will repair them are not a bargain. And a $200 scope today is a better scope than a $500 scope from 30 years ago.
 
Well that is just rude, getting the bargain of all time and rubbing it in our faces.

I hope you just really really enjoy that gun.
 
Like jmr40 says, no walnut on a 788. Stained birch.
No "original Tasco scopes" either. Had a 4X Tasco I paid $40 for that I could watch through a bore sighter the reticle bounce back and forth when I open and closed the action.
Still for $100, you did well.
 
I love my 788s. Some of the most accurate rifles I have shot. I have one in 308, 222, & 6mm. Great rifles! You found a dandy.
 
I like the 788...HEAVY...but a great shooter.

I would suggest that you be careful with the safety...some of them can be easily moved to the "fire" position.
 
Congrats; When we first started Matelic Shil Shooting, I bought on (all I could aford at the time, to shoot in matches. I was going to rebarrel it, do something about the trigger, or get a better rifle.

That is until I started shooting it, darn accurate rifle. At the time I was shooting for the guard and had a ton of Ball ammo. It shot the ball better then my match M1A.

Like a real dummy I traded it about 25 years ago for a Saddle. I had one of the Remington Accu Range scopes like the one used on the Marines M24s.

Again, congrats on the find.
 
shooters

The 788's were known as shooters and I hope yours is too. They were the price point rifles of their day, brought into production to eliminate the Mossberg 800/810 series, or so I read. They also would compete with the Savage 110, which sold initially for $110!! The Savage 110 persisted, but the Mossberg 800 did not survive. I've not checked the years of production, but the 788 did not stay around long once Mossberg's centerfire went away.

The .22 centerfire versions of the rifle were thought of as especially accurate,and the short barreled .308' s, ( I'thinking they were 18.5") were well thought of too.

Good luck with yours.
 
"It ain't walnut unless it is aftermarket."

I concur. Never saw a walnut factory stocked 788. All were birch, elm, or ???.
$99 was the advertised price about 40 years ago. Sometime in the early 80's a local general store was going out of business. I bought four 788 rifles @ $75 each.
 
Nice! If it looks like walnut it is probably walnut. There is a complication to that, however, the .308 was introduced in 1969 and according to the others here the walnut may not have been available for that introduction.


the tasco scope may be trash. You can probably buy a far better scope at this point for less than you paid for your rifle. My scopes from those years are just junk. poor optics, uncoated glass, blocky crosshairs, etc.

They are nice guns. When you can buy one for less than a worn out nagant you have a score. I would have bought it without hesitation if it passed my inspection. If nothing else I might have given it away to someone who wanted or needed it.
 
Like jmr40 says, no walnut on a 788. Stained birch.
No "original Tasco scopes" either. Had a 4X Tasco I paid $40 for that I could watch through a bore sighter the reticle bounce back and forth when I open and closed the action.
Still for $100, you did well.
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Does not matter if the reticle bounces, only matters that they cone back to zero after the bounce. Most reticles bounce. The only ones I know of that don't are the accutrack weavers and the Posi lock Burris. I think both of those are discontinued due to durability issues.

I would pay $100 for a decent 788 any day.
 
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I have never been a Remington fan. I also use to sell guns. I sold many 788s most in Varmit
calibers. Anyway I have never herd so many complaints on 788s as in these posts. I don't think I ever had one returned. One guy did break off a bolt handle beating a 22/250 open
from a hot load. Everybody I know with one is happy with them and don't turn loose of them. Had more trouble with 700s than 788s. The ones I sold had birch stocks but I thought the early ones were walnut. I think they were a lot of rifle for the money and $100 for a nice one is a killer deal.
 
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