Need help finding rifle twist for a Rem 788 22-250

[Khaot1c]

A Remington 788 has been handed down to me from my grandparents. I'd like to find out what the rifle twist is in the barrel.

I don't know when it was purchased - sorry I can't be of any help, and the folks that purchased it aren't alive to ask.....

The barrel doesn't have the twist etched on it, but there is;
Remington Arms Co Inc, IION, NY, Made in USA
and the chamber; 22-250

closer to the receiver are the marks;
9P P 41


Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 

[FrankT]

Cross reference the serial # for the year built then look up the specs, they can change year to year or production runs.

 

[JohnAL]

They only made it in .22-250 in 1967.
http://www.remington.com/products/archived/centerfire/bolt-action/model-788.aspx

I have one but I don't remember the twist. The easiest way is a swivel handle cleaning rod and a tight fitting patch or swab. Make a mark on the rod, push it in the barrel and measure how far it travels to make one revolution.

Caliber/Gauge:
.222 Rem. – 1967 – 1980, 1982
.223 Rem. – 1975
.22-250 Rem. – 1967
.243 Win. 1968; w/ 18 ½" barrel 1980
6mm. Rem. – 1969 – 1980
6mm. Rem. Left Hand – 1969 – 1980
7mm-08 Rem. – 1980 w/ 18 ½" barrel
.308 Win. – 1969
.308 Win. Left Hand – 1969 – 1980; w/ 18 ½" barrel 1980
.30-30 Win. – 1967 – 1970
.44 Rem. Mag. – 1967 – 1970


Serial Number Blocks: 1967 – 010001 to 068460
1968 – 6200000 to 6899999
1974 – A6000000 to A6199999
1978 – B6000000 to B6199999

 

[WILWORK4GUNS]

Put a new cleaning brush on you cleaning rod....so that its good and tight in the bore.
Pick a starting point near one end of the barrel....but engaged in the rifling.
Mark the rod with a marker so that you can tell how far you have moved the rod and how many turns it has made.
If you pull/push the rod by the handle....so that you let the rod turn freely....you should be able to count the inches per turn.
Edit: +1 for what John said while I was typing on this damn iPad.

 

[FrankT]

1-14 says 1 place

 

[JohnAL]

I'm too sorry to get out of the chair and check mine tonight.

It's a sweet shooting gun though. The rumor has always been that Remington dropped the 788 because they shot as good as 700s and were undercutting Model 700 sales.

 

[Khaot1c]

I've read that too about them cutting the 788 line because they were "too good for their price point".

I'm looking to hand load rounds and the rifle twist will help me determine bullet weight (I know it's not an exact conversion but close enough for my current level of vocabulary.)

I'll try the swivel rod method.
I was hoping for a 1/10 barrel but I'm thinking that may be a little presumptuous given the age of the rifle.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wildrider666]

This was from another site years ago said 1 in 14 was the twist rate. It references the Remington Library link but it no longer works via the link provided here.

1895ss
Super Member



Joined: Jul 21, 2005
Posts: 2531
Location: NOT HERE
Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:50 pm Post subject: Re: remington model 788 22-250
The barrel on my model 788 22-250 is 24" and twist rate is 1 in 14
Here's some more info for you.....
www.remington.com/libr...el_788.asp


Last edited by 1895ss on Sun Feb 26, 2006 12:30 pm; edited 2 times in

 

[JohnAL]

I just checked mine. 24" barrel - 1 in 14" twist. Mine will shoot 1 M.O.A. all day with 45 - 55gr bullets. I never found a load with 70 gr. that would shoot under 2 MOA. I have no documentation if I ever tried anything in the 60 gr range. It was a Montana prairie dog gun and I was quite happy to shoot light bullets. For bigger critters or longer ranges I switched to .25-06.

 

[wildrider666]

22-250: Pure magic machine. P'dogs, Chucks, + 22-250= red mist. Yote ÷ 22-250 = 2 halves. Math can be fun!

 

[JohnAL]

LOL
Yep.
Crow - nothing falls - it all floats down.

 

[SAWMAN]

The "haul ass" speed of the 22-250 and the 220Swift will mitigate the super slow twist rate for the .224" bore thing. Keep your speeds up and shoot the bullets these guns were meant to shoot(>56gr)and you will be fine. Remember these heavier than 60gr bullets haven't been out nearly as long as the two chamberings mentioned above. And the solid copper bullets are longer for the weight as compared to the bullets with lead makeup,especially the bullets with the flat base design.

The 1:14 twist rate in these two have been there since the beginning. Shoot the "normal" loadings and the gun should perform just fine. BTW....I have owned two different 788's(243 and 308) and both were tack drivers. --- SAWMAN

 

[gunnerxxx]

you can get the twist rate of any rifle by using your cleaning rod by marking the rod, insert until it makes one continuous turn. mark and measure the distance from the crown of the barrel. example 1 turn in 6 inches = 1 in 6 twist

 

[M.O.A.]

Almost certain its 1:14. Here is an interesting link to relate twist rate to bullet weight. Also a couple neat calculators for ballistics. My personal preference is a light bullet 45 gr or so at 4000 fps. Crows turn into a feather duster.

http://www.realguns.com/calc/riflingtwist

 

[JohnAL]

And the solid copper bullets are longer for the weight as compared to the bullets with lead makeup,especially the bullets with the flat base design.

Yeah, I was looking at them. Kind of a waste for me around here. Shooting a possum at 30 yards I would probably get some back splatter (not bullet splatter, blood and guts splatter).

 

[Khaot1c]

Everyone, thanks for the feedback.

The rifle i have falls into; group A Serial numbers 010001 to 068460. So it was produced in 1967. Safe to assume that's a 1-14"

As for working up loads;
I've got some 50gr Hornady Z-max bullets on hand (No! I'm not on the zombie craze but the price was decent and they were in stock)
I've also got CFE223, H335, H332, Varget, and Win 748 on hand.
The Hornady (9th edition) book has most of those powders (no CFE223 here) listed and all but H335 will achive 3800 fps. I'm using V-max data in place of Z-max. .
The 3800fps mark is shown as a max load, so if I start at 10% less than that, that puts me on the lower side of the chart at around 3400fps. Looks like a very safe starting point to me.

I'll have to look into some places that will let me use this rifle for its intended purpose. I'd hate to belittle it by making it "JUST" a bench gun.
At this point, I was kind of thinking about using it as my 'practice' rifle for 200-300 yard target work at this point. I'd love to get a 7m08 or even a .308 but things just haven't settled down enough yet to make that financially attractive. Supplies for 7m08 are still more decently priced compared to .308 but if that word gets out I'm afraid, that too, will change.

So, along the lines of shooting loads with that velocity, i'm guessing that would really degrade the barrel life. Speaking of, where on earth would i find a repalcement barrel. so far I've only looked on MidwestUSA.com and the only thing they carry are the magazines.


Thanks again! to everyone for the help! It is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[wildrider666]

Yeah, I was looking at them. Kind of a waste for me around here. Shooting a possum at 30 yards I would probably get some back splatter (not bullet splatter, blood and guts splatter).

Is "possum" ever considered a moving target?

 

[SAWMAN]

In the 22-250 if you keep any bullet load down to about 3700 you will not suffer significant bbl wear. The 50gr bullets at that speed is a pretty mild load. Chamberings like the 22-250 and the 220Swift got a bad rep in the prarie dog towns out in the mid-west also,where the weapon was fired time after time without letting the bbl cool.

My normal woodchuck/coyote load with my Swift was a 52gr @ 3850. The bbl still looked great after a whole bunch of rounds downrange. Subtract about 100-150fps off of that and you got yourself a 22-250. --- SAWMAN