Remington 788 .308 Upgrade Question

[ridgerunner88]

I acquired an old Remington 788 .308 from a late family member. From what I have read they are pretty good rifles.

 

My brother repainted the stock in a dark walnut and is going to seal it in the bowling pin style soon.

 

The scope is trash and in need of an upgrade. I want to put a Leupold VX-5HD 3x15x44 on it. I found a compatible rail shown below.

 

 

 

My question is what size rings do I need to buy?

 

Also opinions on switching out the trigger for this bad boy.

 

 

 

I think after it is all said and done I will have a pretty sweet little rifle.

 

 

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[Dinsdale]

Surprised no one has commented on this....

Personally i would shoot it first, make sure it has some potential accuracy beforeci dumped money in it, but thats me. Thats a good piece of glass, shame to drop the coin on something that might be iffy.

But I have installed more then a few Timney triggers and its worth and they are a solid choice. Fairly strait forward install almost all of the time. I have had to make small adjustments to inletting, but not much.

EGW makes good stuff. Id rather have conventional rings on bases; as i dont like narrowing loading or ejection, but thats just me too. But i needed a rail to mount short red dot on one gun.

Rings all depend on preference. I like a scope to mount low as possible, just letting bell clear barrel. Web will give you exact numbers on scope diameter, rail and rings to calculate clearance. Some buy scope and bases( in your case rail) and measure h needed.

I dont know bowling pin means? Example please?

[ridgerunner88]

Surprised no one has commented on this....
Personally i would shoot it first, make sure it has some potential accuracy beforeci dumped money in it, but thats me. Thats a good piece of glass, shame to drop the coin on something that might be iffy.
But I have installed more then a few Timney triggers and its worth and they are a solid choice. Fairly strait forward install almost all of the time. I have had to make small adjustments to inletting, but not much.
EGW makes good stuff. Id rather have conventional rings on bases; as i dont like narrowing loading or ejection, but thats just me too. But i needed a rail to mount short red dot on one gun.
Rings all depend on preference. I like a scope to mount low as possible, just letting bell clear barrel. Web will give you exact numbers on scope diameter, rail and rings to calculate clearance. Some buy scope and bases( in your case rail) and measure h needed.
I dont know bowling pin means? Example please?

Bowling Pin finish is a technique Remington did back in the day to waterproof seal their stocks, also brings out the grain nicely.

Here is my grandpas old Ithaca 12 gauge my brother just did.




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[airedale]

I once owned a Remington 788 chambered in 243, it was one of the early models with a beautiful figured walnut stock, in later years they were stocked with walnut stained Birch. I had two hunting partners that also owned and hunted with 788s, one a 243 and the other a 22-250. All three produced superb accuracy and would easily print sub one minute 100 yard groups.

Produced and sold as an entry level modest priced rifle it had some novel engineering features that made for high accuracy. Multiple rows of locking lugs like Weatherby uses on their Marks but they were on the rear end of the bolt instead of the front. The lock time on those rifles was about as fast as could be made and still fire reliably. 

Remington also used a mini size rear lug design for their rimfire 580 series and 540 series. I have a Remington 541S sporter 22 with rear locking lugs, this 22 will shoot with just about anything and one of my favorite rifles.

As for rings, medium height will clear most 44mm bell scopes and prefer the Weaver style two piece bases.

Remington's tough Dupont RKW finish they used on some of their firearm stocks was supposed to be the same as what Bowling pin manufacturers used on their pins.

All and all I believe the Remington 788 rifle to be one of the most accurate out of the box hunting rifles ever made and it was bargain priced.

Al

Edited August 31, 2022 by airedale