788 Rem went to the range

AWS

AWS

Custom Accessory Maker & Retired PM Staff
I finally got to the range with this 788 in 222 Rem. It has a pretty short throat so I couldn't use ammo for my other 222's. I loaded 10 of each 45gr Speer SP's and 52gr Speer HP's with AA-2230 and seated some light loads(800X) a little deeper to get it on paper. All three loads were fired with the same scope setting at 100 yards. The results show why the 222 Rem is such a great cartridge, With no load development everything is under and inch and shoot pretty close. The 800X load is something I put together years ago for a light load if I ever get serious about greyfox and to shoot rabbits.

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The 800X loads are from Calhoun bullet site.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/bee.php
 
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Looks like a keeper!

The 222 is a great cartridge; bought my wife a model 340 Savage in the '50's and it was a tack driver w/factory ammo. Should have kept that little rifle.

Regards,
hm
 
I also had one.of the old Stevens 222 Rem and it too was accurate way outmof.proportion to it's cost.
 
I have the same rifle. With 40 gr vmax, lapua brass, CCI 400 and IMR 4198, you can pretty much pick any load from min to max and load them with confidence that they will shoot very well under an inch. My 788 in 22-250 does as good, maybe a touch better. They are a neat little “bargain” rifle. Good shootin!
 
I found a couple pics of targets from my old stevens 840 222 Rem.

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I put a more powerful scope on it and moved back to 300 yards, I had to black out the box to have an aiming point I could see.
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I bought about 100 factory loaded bullets and maybe 50-75 pieces of brass at a small gunshow. Its all Winchester 50 grain soft point bullets. It doesn't shoot quite as good as I would like but I got it cheap....cheap! Its minute of critters accurate but no bugholes but my 788 222 never has been a one holer. Usually 1/2-5/8th is the norm. I really like the 788 but don't seem to shoot it much anymore even with a bunch of ammo laying around. Looks like yours is going to be a shooter. Keep posting groups. I may try some of your loads in my rifle.
 
I picked up a 788 in 22-250 at a gun show about six weeks ago. It looked so nice I thought I would take a chance, with their good reputation.
It shot 1 1/2" groups with Hornady 50gr and 55gr VMax factory loads, (5 shots @100yds), not really what I was hoping for. And yeah, I cleaned the [beeep] out of it, and it was pretty bad.
Factory stock was too nice and original to mess with bedding issues so I ordered in a Boyd's laminate to play with. Tried pillar and action glass bedding with a free float, no luck. Then tried upward pressure on the fore end and showed a little promise at first, but not consistent.
Sprung for a Teslong bore scope, and sure enough, it looks like a pretty rough throat and bore in there.
I guess I have to spring for a rebarrel, don't feel right to stick someone else with a problem child.
 
Be careful with the 788, they don't like hot loads. Even though its never happened to me "they" claim the bolt handles will come off. I've had numerous 788's and never had an issue. If you handload, try some moderate loads in it. Might tighten things up a little.
 
pyscodog said:
Be careful with the 788, they don't like hot loads. Even though its never happened to me "they" claim the bolt handles will come off. I've had numerous 788's and never had an issue. If you handload, try some moderate loads in it. Might tighten things up a little.
Click to expand...
Oh, Ya they break off. Just silver soldered on, take it easy if you have a case that is hard to lift the bolt, do it slowly, don't hit it with the palm of yer hand.
 
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