Remington 788 in .243 for coyotes......

mic214

mic214

New member
I just traded into a Rem 788 in .243 from a hunting buddy of mine. Anyone know anything about these rifles? It has a 22" barrel and came with a Simmons 2.5x10x50 scope and two mags. The stock and action appear to be in great shape and the bore is very clean and sharp looking. There is a little wear in the blueing towards the muzzle.

I am planning on using it for coyote hunting out at the ranch, so I would be curious to know what would be the proper loads for that? From what little research I have done on these rifles, they are supposed to be fairly accurate for a bare bones "Budget" rifle.

 
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.243 is a good all around round. Just hope you aren't shooting them for the fur cause it sure tears them up pretty good.
 
I have owned that same rifle for years and love it. Has killed many whitetails. I shoot 100 gr. through mine. The 100 gr. is not fur friendly.

I did just read this on here this morning , might help you out :


243 loads


#1193821 - 01/24/09 09:24 AM Re: Re-thinking my calling rifle caliber, 243 to 204? [Re: huntsman22]
ruger243223
Die Hard Member

Registered: 01/22/09
Posts: 702
Loc: Nebraska
I have been reloading for me and my brother in law for many many yrs. We both shoot 243s and have for most of our coyote calling life. As I said if you hit major bone you will have a hole and a big one, I've seen legs blown off at the shoulder. But also I have see just what I usually see one .75 size hole going in and nothing coming out. I would not post something that is false so someone will have a bad experience, we have had very few bad experiences and yotes don't run off ever, after a 55gr hits them. That is why we shoot them. Many people think the 243s are too big and not fur friendly but if they would give it a try they would find out differently. Many at 24hourcampfire use them and have great success. There have been 4 different 243s I have shot and all have shot the 55s very well. I am now running a custom 788 243 with a Broughton #6, 26inch and it shoots extremely well. I urge you to give it a try as you won't be dissapointed. HAPPY HUNTING

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Thanks for the load info.....

I am not intending to save the fur. My ranch property is located between a large cattle ranch and two sheep ranches, so I am figuring on trying my hand at predator control. We get quite a few coyotes running through our place.
 
I have had a number of the 788s over the years, they are all tack drivers.

Before you ever fire the gun, you should free float the barrel and skim coat bed the action, and the result will be very tiny groups.

60g Sierra Hp
46.5-48.5g of win 760
Fed 210

70g Nosler B.T.
44.5g of Win 760
Fed 210

70g Nosler
39g of IMR 4064
Fed 210

60g Sierra with the win 760 load was my main bullet for the 788's, and the 60g Sierra is a tough bullet, will NEVER blow up on the surface and will break legs and joints.

check the crown on that rifle with a magnifying glass to see if it needs touching up
 
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Looks like a good rifle to me. Love the 243.
I use the Hornady 95 grain SST factory loads in mine.
Will definitely get the job done.
 
Remington 788's shoot great, often really really great. It's a solid old rifle that will serve you well. If you look around in the archives there has been plenty of discussion about .243 loads. Pretty hard to go wrong with any of them, the .243 is a coyote hammer.
 
I am pondering purchasing that same rifle right now from a local classified add. I already own two 788 ' s one in 22-250 and one in 6mm Rem. They are one of my favorite rifles ever made. The two I own will shoot anything I put in them into under an inch at 100 yds. If you reload they shoot even better, mine will both do 3/8" @ 100 with loads tailored to them. I would feel very good about that rifle being your coyote rifle. If you are buying factory ammo try some of the lighter 58gr hornady stuff and see how it likes those
 
Thanks for all the info!

I know I have a bit of research to do for this rifle & cartridge combo. I am going to check out the local ammo situation and see what is available to see how she shoots. I do handload, so a set of dies will be in order in the near future. I like the Nikon scopes, so I will most likely swap out the Simmons for one of those.
 
Kjsguns: I too have one in 250 that is very accurate with the right load but mine is very picky. Do you have a favorite load for it.
 
Like I said it shoots just about anything good but it is very partial to the berger 52 gr varmint bullets backed by RL-15 (I believe 34.9gr but of course work up your load). The COL is of course limited to the length of the magazine. Performs well on coyotes and cats both, let me know if you try this load and how your rifle likes it
 
Had one years ago; wish I'd never let it go! Youth model carbine, 18" barrel, had a cheap Armsport (made by Tasco) scope on it. Can't say that any mods could have improved it. Shot over the counter 100 grain almost exclusively, and it was very very rare that it missed anything it was pointed at. I'd give it a few boxes of ammo before I contemplated doing anything with it.
 
I like the color on that one. Mine is lighter, but I had good luck with 58 grain vmax in the Hornady varmint express. Mine has the shorter 17 inch barrel.

CoyoteDouble11-06.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: mic214Thanks for the load info.....

I am not intending to save the fur. My ranch property is located between a large cattle ranch and two sheep ranches, so I am figuring on trying my hand at predator control. We get quite a few coyotes running through our place.



Try reloading some speer 75 gr HPs with 760 or H 414 powder.for coyotes you ll love them....Rusty
 
My first rifle was a 788 in .243.
Worked my butt off for it washing dishes in a restaurant at 16 in 1972.
Paid $102.97 (tax included) for it with a factory included 4x scope.
Service Merchandise on May Avenue, just North of NW Highway in Oklahoma City.
How I can remember all that 43 years later is mystery.
Oh, the serial number is 6150666.

Killed a lot of stuff with it. I loaded the Hornady 75 grain Spire HP.
 
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I picked up a couple of boxes of Federal 100 grain SP's just to she how she shoots. I know that is a little heavy for coyotes, but we just finished up deer season here, so ammo is in short supply.

I also bought a set of reloading dies from another member here on the board, so I will be trying different loads to see which one she likes the best....
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I am going to try my 788 out for deer this season. I got it dialed in with Federal 100 grain SP's:

 
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Ask Randy Anderson's buddy Glen zink how well that rifle works on coyotes. LOL. My favorite 243 coyote load is Win brass, WLR primer, 40.5 grains of Varget, and a 70 grain NBT. You won't find anything that kills them any deader! Most of the time they don't even twitch. Lol. Extremely fur friendly with well placed shots. Don't recall ever getting an exit on a frontal shot and i usually can't find the entrance until I hold them upside down and some blood comes out.
 
The 788's are extremely accurate rifles. Only down side at all is weight.

A 243, or some variation of it, is about as good an all around rifle as you can carry.
 
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