# Firearms and Shooting > Projects and Home Builds >  Remington 788 Restoration

## ebf

Some "before" pics of the lefty Remmy 788 I got on TM.

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## Wildman

What cal.?  Looks like fun.

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## ebf

308, the superior caliber  :Psmiley: 

Stock is getting stripped, will shave the sides to get rid of the ding on the left. The rear sling stud is held in with insulation tape  :Wtfsmilie: , and there is a second hole just in front of it. Planning on cutting the stock by about an inch, fit a limbsaver, and then using the offcut to make some wooden plugs to repair the sling stud holes. Will probably stain it darker brown, and then oil it.

Blueing on action is fine, barrel needs a good sand and re-blue.

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## kimjon

Cool, keep it coming.

kj

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## Toby

Just a thought, how about making your own stock?

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## ebf

Toby, it's on the to-do list, I have pretty much given up on getting a Boyds laminate stock for the Marlin into NZ.

Going to have a go at making a custom plywood stock for it, but it is around position 245 on the list ! If I start another woodworking project without finishing the coffee table legs, my wife is going to staple my nutsack to the workshop door...

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## Toby

Bloody woman, if a man says hes going to do something there is no need to remind him every 6 months about ffs.

How would you make it out of ply wood?

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## ebf

Buy a single sheet of good quality ply. Cut it into rifle stock sized pieces, and glue several together until you get the desired thickness. Then bandsaw the general shape, use your favorite stock as a template. Rout a roundover on the edges, or go to town with a rasp. Use a handheld router to rout a chanel for the barrel and the inletting for the action, recoil lug etc.

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## Toby

Can you get colored die for wood like a stain but so you can see the grain. So you could make it look like a laminte stock

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## Bill999

im having a play with just a plain piece of pine to test the water in stock making, just copying my sako 75 stock as much as possible 
the shaping isnt hard, just takes time with a bastard file 
ill either inlet it for a 22 with a broken stock I have or get real carried away and fit my brno 600

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## greghud

if you REEEEEALY want a boyds, it can be done. 
may I suggest you don't waste your time with pine, you will just end up investing a bunch of time and end up with a unusable piece of wood.
I made a ply stock for my daughter and it worked out real good.















there is a lot of time invested in making a stock from scratch. don't waste it on shit wood.
greg

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## Toby

I find the hard part is inletting. Think thats the right word.

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## greghud

yep, the tip is to do the inletting first, then if you fluff it you don't toss away hours of work shaping.
greg

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## Toby

Heres a silly question but how do you router out a hole right through for a mag and trigger to go in? I haven't used a router much. Or do you drill it out amd chisle the rest out?

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## greghud

I started out with just hand tools, rasp, chisels, hand saw, sand paper and a drill.
I have a few more toys now days but they just make things quicker.
greg

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## kimjon

Toby, flip it over and do it from both sides (yes a lot of innuendo was used in that sentence - insert Beavis & Butthead laugh)

kj

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## Gibo

> if you REEEEEALY want a boyds, it can be done. 
> may I suggest you don't waste your time with pine, you will just end up investing a bunch of time and end up with a unusable piece of wood.
> I made a ply stock for my daughter and it worked out real good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice job. You could have made her a leftie ya meanie!!

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## Bill999

Im just using pine to test the water, see what acually is involved before I commit myself to too much $s 
its h4 if that makes any difference haha. 

Iv got a couple of laminated 8x2'' planks Iv been carefully looking at as donors if i decide to go for it

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## ebf

Made some progress with the stock...


Used a cabinet scraper to get all the old varnish and crap off. Spokeshave to clean up the sides - got a bit of tear-out, but still looks a lot better. Re-shaped the grip part of the stock with a rasp, made it a bit thinner and more comfortable for my hand. Cut 3/4 inch section off the back to make space for the limbsaver, and to use for plugs.


The old buttplate holes. Used a carving chisel to slightly concave the butt, so that the limbsaver plate mounts nice and flush. The previous buttplate holes were drilled out to 6mm for plugs.


The previous sling stud holes, drilled out to 8mm for plugs


All old holes plugged, new holes drilled for the limbsaver.

Bit of sanding left, then stain & oil.

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## puku

Very nice so far. What kinda wood are they? The old mans 788 is exactly the same grain pattern, I re-stained while at school at did the blueing. Quite soft wood from memory

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## ebf

Puku, this one is maple, it's pretty hard.

I've read some of the 788 stocks were also made from birch.

Going to use a Mirotone stain, a friend of mine made it up to some secret recipe, he uses it to make Macrocarpa look like Rimu  :Grin:

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## kiwi39

> If I start another woodworking project without finishing the coffee table legs, my wife is going to staple my nutsack to the workshop door...


I know Mrs EBF, I do believe she would too !!


Tim

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## ebf

Righto, done with the stock for now. Next time you see it, all the bits and pieces will be attached  :Thumbsup: 





Detail of the plug repairs on the previous sling stud holes. Matching the grain with end-grain is a breeze, with long grain it is a hit-and-miss thing - the rear plug matches ok, the front one is a bit light. Did a bit of research on optimal placement for toe-end stud. Seems like 2.5 to 3 inches from the toe is about right. Had a look at my other rifles and kinda went for the average of those. If it is right at the toe, I guess it makes the toe swing forward once it is slung on your shoulder.

Also did the grinding of the limbsaver. RTFM does have some benefits ... the trick about freezing the pad and then using 240-grit sandpaper lubricated with WD-40 to smooth the outside of the recoil pad works like a treat. Will definitely do that to my limbsaver on my Omark as well, looks real nice.

So several more coats of oil, then install the sling studs and recoil pad.

Next: sanding the barrel.

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## ebf

Flying along today...



Barrel sanded. Used cloth backed 180, 240, 320 and 400. Then wet-and-dry 600 and 1000. The initial 180 was lengthways, rest across (shoe shine).

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## kimjon

Looking good. Well done

kj

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## tui_man2

Stock has come up nice.

Adds to its value of it to you when you put the hard work into it

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk 2

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## ebf

Abe, when you sand/polish barrels, what grit do you normally go up to ?

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## tui_man2

> Abe, when you sand/polish barrels, what grit do you normally go up to ?


1200 if going to blue, but in no expert in that side my results are mix an match so I job that out mate to save me the hair pulling hassle  :X X:

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## Spanners

Talking about wood, got a bunch of rimu from the house renos that would be big enough to make a stock. Got some matai too. If you want to score some let me know and come get it before someone chops it up for firewood

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## PerazziSC3

i have filled up 6 skip bins with rimu from a house we are working on over the last two weeks, seems such a waste

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## veitnamcam

As nice as rimu is its pretty bloody soft.

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## ebf

> Talking about wood, got a bunch of rimu from the house renos that would be big enough to make a stock. Got some matai too. If you want to score some let me know and come get it before someone chops it up for firewood


Must be I'll, coz I can't believe I am passing on free wood. But I've got wet Tassie Blackwood all over, and some Rewa Rewa and Matai arriving on Tue, so no storage  :Oh Noes:  Agree with VC about Rimu being too soft for a stock.




> 1200 if going to blue


Ta abe, still some minor scratches, round 2 of the sanding tomorrow

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## ebf

Had another go at sanding the barrel. This time I alternated between lengthways and across with successive grits.

Also filed the crown and used the brass screw head & honing compound trick from the Larry Potterfield video.

Two applications of Birchwood Casey Paste Blue, pretty happy with the results... Cold blueing is apparently not much of a rust preventor, I did read about heating up the barrel with boiling water before applying it. Will see how it goes, might end up being a paint project down the line.

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## Toby

Looking forward to seeing the final product

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## ebf

All done and back together  :Thumbsup:  Sling studs and limbsaver installed.

When I sanded the stock, I cleared out a bit of material so that the barrel does not touch anywhere.

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## Bryan

That came up mint ebf!  :Cool:

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## Spanners

You put it together wrong. 
The back handley thing is on the wrong side  :Grin:

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## Toby

Are ya going to blue the trigger guard and that?

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## ebf

> That came up mint ebf!


Ta, was a fun project. Not too shabby for a $400 TM bargain and a bit of elbow grease.




> You put it together wrong. 
> The back handley thing is on the wrong side


yada yada, it is so that only "special" people can shoot with it  :Wink: 




> Are ya going to blue the trigger guard and that?


not for the moment, i'm leaving the trigger guard and bolt as is.

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## Spanners

> yada yada, it is so that only "special" people can shoot with it


Spesssschii..  :Have A Nice Day:

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## Bushrash

Bloody good stuff mate ,as a lefty myself good to see an old remmy brought back to its former glory :Thumbsup:

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## veitnamcam

Looks good to me ebf. :thumbup:
While no blueing is much of a rust protector in my experience with cold blue some are better than others in this respect .

As a right handed shooter I actually find left handed bolt actions better to shoot off a bench.
Right hand stays on grip and supports rifle/holds on target and left works bolt.

But other than that they are gay  :Grin: 

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## ebf

> As a right handed shooter I actually find left handed bolt actions better to shoot off a bench.
> Right hand stays on grip and supports rifle/holds on target and left works bolt.


Same for me VC, my target rifle is right-handed, only ever shoot it prone, left hand stays on grip.

But for hunting/off-hand, I prefer left-handed

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## puku

ebf, you have inspired me to.......

Go collect the old 788 from the old man and bring it back home.To.........


Send to you to tidy up. :Thumbsup: 

But seriously you've done an awesome job there.  How does it shoot?

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## ebf

Took it to the range before starting all the work. Kicked like a mule, and did 2moa with Highland SP. Will have another go next week, and see what difference the stock work and DIY crowning makes.

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## Beavis

I like old guns. They really don't make 'em like they used to.

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## Ryan

Jasssis... was in a bit of a toestand in the first pictures but you did really well on this EBF, looks good.  :Have A Nice Day:

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## Bill999

what are your thaughts on the old corncob bolt rifles? I like the history behind them and believe they are quite accurate, but think that people love to talk them up because they are the underdogs to the brother rifle the Model 700?
curious, Iv allways wanted to buy one just to have a look at it. are they a lighter action than the 700?

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## Scouser

Beautiful EBF..... awesome mate!

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## ebf

> what are your thaughts on the old corncob bolt rifles? I like the history behind them and believe they are quite accurate, but think that people love to talk them up because they are the underdogs to the brother rifle the Model 700?
> curious, Iv allways wanted to buy one just to have a look at it. are they a lighter action than the 700?


nope, heavier than 700

very happy with it after load development, shoots real nice for an old clunker  :Cool:

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## Mac

Nice work mate!

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## Dundee

Beautiful EBF nice work. :Cool:

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## deepsouthaussie

> Are ya going to blue the trigger guard and that?


'I think' the trigger guard and mag floor plate are alloy therefore better to paint rather than blue anywho. 

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