They were Remington's budget rifle. The problem was the 788's shot just as good if not better than the model 700 & a higher price. People still want these rear lockers. Mine in 308 shoots in an inch easy. Don't hot load em though or their bolt will stick & lots of times will pop off the handle.
Bolts are hard to come by & handles can be silver soldered back on if everything still fits good.
These old birch stocked plain rifles are worth about 600-700$ depending.

I had a 22-250 that shot tiny groups but no hot loads. Like you said it would really get a stiff bolt lift. A really clean 788 used be around $500, now they are higher priced. Unless your trying to sell one at a gunshow. They want to buy at bottom dollar so they can sell at top end. Imagine that. LOL

can you get still get replacment barrels for them the one i got not shooting to good anymore has a lot of bullets through it

Gun Parts Corporation might have a factory barrel. They carry a lot of parts. You'll probably still need to head space it. Or send it to Douglas and let them do it for around $500.

I have a 22-250 and a 222. Both bought in the last 2 years. The 22-250 was bought off of a member here or on the campfire (i can’t recall which one) for $525 in excellent condition. The 222 was found at a local hardware store also in excellent condition for $600. Both shoot extremely well. The 222 has shot all loads very well and I can’t recall it shooting over an inch through the load charges. If it did it wasn’t by much. It is still in load development stages with IMR 4198 and 40 gr vmax and that combo seems to be where it shines. Like others mentioned, the 22-250 doesn’t like hot loads. I run H4895 and 52 gr Berger targets in it. It shot best at 33 and 35 gr powder charges, but at 35 the bolt sticks really bad so I settled on the lower charge of 33 gr. When testing the H4895/52 gr and Varget/50 gr NBT, the largest group out of all of them was .71”. Very pleased with with rifle.

A lot of people think they are ugly, but my uncle got me started buying them and we both enjoy them quite a bit. To each their own and they are worth as much as someone is willing to pay for em!

I had a 30-30 and it probably shot the worst of all the ones I had. Its been a while since I owned it and in reality, it probably didn't shoot that bad, just not as good as I was hoping it would. It was an easy sell seeing you don't see them that often.

I currently own 1 of each caliber. I have exactly the same issue with my 30-30. At best its a 2" rifle at a 100 yds. I was able to harvest a nice deer with the 44 mag. this year, the first for me with that one.
The 243 and 30-30 are my reloading projects for next season. I have had the 7mm08 since 1984 and has taken a bunch of deer, but lately the 6mm is my go to.

Back in the day shortly after the 7mm-08 came out, I purchased one. It was extremely accurate, though somewhat on the heavy side despite a short barrel - 20” I think it was. Like I did with so many rifles back then, I kept it a while then traded it off.

Had a 22-250 once, I don't care for the design myself! Bolt Lugs near rear rather than head.

dont,t think i would spend 500 to rebarrel that