It doesn't want to fire with a round in the chamber. It'll dry fire all day but once the round is in, there's nothing. Not even a click. Then when I touch the bolt to eject the round it fires. A guy at the range thought it could be the sear. I'll be taking it to a gunsmith for the repairs but I just want to see what other people think the problem is.

No idea man, but that sounds really really dangerous. Hope you get it fixed soon. Best of luck to you.

Yeah, i'm going to take it to a guy monday. probably gonna cost 35 -40 dollars though.

I can tell ya one thing, dry firing a gun is never good for it.

Ya but it's the only way to get the chamber clear and relieve the presure off the firing pin. Unless you don't need to get the pressure off of the firing pin.

Sounds to me like it needs a good cleaning! If you don't clean out your trigger mechanism and action real well on occasion, they'll screw up in ways you'd never think possible I think it's the Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber I'm thinking of, but one of the aerosol cleaners/degreasers out there is meant to be used with the gun assembled. Perfect for semi-autos and trigger assemblies. Depending on what kind of gun you have, the bolt may be relatively easy to disassemble. If you get it cleaned up and that doesn't fix the problem, then you may indeed have something broken. My bet is on a gummed up trigger and/or bolt.

Well I called a gunsmith and he basically said that Rem. 788's do this a lot. He also said that he thinks he has the parts to fix it so I'm going to say that it's broke in some way. I'm sure it could use a good cleaning too because I use it a lot and it's pretty old.

I own a Rem. 788 also. Although I've never had this particular problem with mine, I'll remain cautious about it.

Please keep us posted as to what the remedy is.

hook1

Cleaning it would be good. Sounds like the bullet is not seating fully. That's why it goes off when you grab the bolt. Definitely get it looked at, soon!

It's at the gunsmiths and he's going to look through it and see what he can find.

I have a question for anyone who knows about reloading stuff. My dad had a .270 weatherby mag. That he used large rifle magnum primers with. Well when he switched to his model 70 .270, he used the magnum primers and didn't switch. Well when we got the .243 we still used the magnums in the .243. Could that have caused the problems that i'm having? According to my brother the magnum primers have a harder shell the the fireing pin hits. And i'm thinking that those primers could have had a bad effect on the .243.

Magnum primers also fire a hotter charge, which create higher pressures in the chamber. However, your problem is in the trigger assembly, and not likely to have been effected by those high pressures. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but not probable. Regardless, there's a reason powder manufacturers don't list magnum primers as a safe alternative in standard calibers - it isn't safe! It can be done with some careful and attentive load work if $3.50 is just too expensive for some new primers. I just don't understand why. I don't know your Dad - he may very well be a competent reloader and knows what he's doing - but I wouldn't suggest it.

I read up a little bit on the 788s last week, and yours seems to be a relatively common problem. I think Remington may have even had a voluntary recall (on the down low) on your gun a while back for that problem. It was pretty hush hush - not advertised anywhere, but if you sent your gun in for maintenance or repair they sent you back a check for $99 and said "get a new rifle." I think they do it that way not only to avoid publicity, but after so long a time the recall is over and they've fulfilled their legal obligation and can't be sued for not having a recall. Anyway, yours may have been one of the ones that was destined to break anyway, but there's no way to know for sure. You might call Remington and ask about recalls and see what they say.

Well my family isn't the most knowledgeable reloaders but we generally know what we're doing. We reload mostly just because factory ammo can be unreliable and inconsistant so you don't get the accuracy. I didn't think anything of the primers till just about a year ago. After we got some new ones, I never got around to changing my loads and I was about to do some test loads with the right primers but about a week or so before I made my loads my rifle went haywire on me. Oh well, if it was destined to break then there isn't much I could do anyway.

That's pretty much what was wrong with it. The trigger assembly was really dirty with god know's what. It's probably never been cleaned till now. He also said that the trigger guard was bent so the trigger was hitting it. He fixed both for 55 dollars so that's not too bad. Plus he said his work is 100% guarenteed so if it does it again he'll probably do it for free.

Good to hear it was a relatively cheap fix! Guns do tend to work a lot better when they're clean

Ya I know a clean rifle is a happy rifle, but I'm not sure I could have cleaned it myself. It's my only deer rifle and I don't want to mess it up beyond repair. My only complaint now is that the bolt is really hard to open. But i'll probably just have to get used to it.

One way to take the pressure off instead of dry firing is to make sure the chamber is clear. Then move the bolt forward is as you are about to close it. Then point the gun a safe direction as you always should and pull the trigger as you close the bolt slowly. This will allow the pin to extend in a controlled manner.

My first rifle that my dad ever gave me was a 788 .243. Still use it and love it to this day. It'll prolly be my favorite gun for a long time. I have never had a problem with it, but I have always kept it very clean and well maintained. From what has been described to me it seems like its needs a gooooood cleaning.

Hope you got the problems resolved!

Well my .243 is good to go. I've shot it and there are no problems with it. It really just needed a good cleaning. It's a very good and pretty accurate rifle. I'll love it for years to come.

Dude to me it sounds like the ammo you bought either mis fires alot or the =dry firing you did as a check up hurt it mor and more. Let the smith do his wor. If he can't do anything try ne ammo or send it back to the manufacturer.

FWIW,

Dry firing a modern centerfire rifle will not harm it. As long as there is nothing in the chamber nothing else will be harmed either. As a matter of fact I always dry fire quite a bit pre season. Get use to your trigger and when it will release.

Dry firing a rimfire on the other hand is a bad thing.

Did you try a little oil on the bolt. The gunsmith may have cleaned it really good but might not have reoiled the bolt and trigger

Ya I added oil and it was still really hard to work but It seems to be getting better so I won't worry about it.

glad it's fixed! and for 55 bucks that's a good deal! I clean every gun right after shooting it and I don't have many problems at all anymore...it's a good habit to get into!

You have that backwards.. Rimfires are okay to dry fire and center fires will over extend the pin if nothing is in the chamber which is bad.

No, Yeti had it right. Dry firing a rifle is probably the single best way to practice shooting without actually expending any ammo. Many older rifles had brass springs that couldn't take the shock of a dry fire, soft firing pins that would stretch, chip or otherwise break, and the softer steel on the breech face could get wollered out by a loose firing pin rattling around with nothing to dampen the shock. All those problems have been fixed in modern centerfire rifles. Hammer-actuated firing pins (revolvers, single shot rifles) may still enlarge the firing pin hole, as the breech face has to be soft enough to flex with the backpressure of a shot, where a bolt rifle or auto does not. An Encore frame may be hard enough to handle some dry firing, but I wouldn't suggest it with an NEF or Rossi - their frames aren't heat treated to the same strength as the T/Cs. I sheared off the firing pin on an old Savage/Stevens 20ga after dry firing it just 3-4 times. It was made in the '30s though, so I'm sure today's guns would hold up better. Still makes me leery of doing that with a single shot though

Rimfire firing pins strike the edge of the cartridge - when you dry fire one, the pin is free to move around where it wants, and can strike the edge of the chamber and put a ding in the rim. Do it enough times and you won't be able to chamber a round at all. Some rimfire manufacturers factor in enough clearance so that it's safe to do, but I couldn't tell you what all models it's safe to do with.

Either way it's best to check your owner's manual - it should say one way or the other. If it doesn't say, or you just want to be sure you aren't damaging your gun, get some snap caps. They're usually a bright color so you don't mistake them with loaded ammo. They usually have a brass or rubber 'primer', with a spring attached to it to dampen vibrations. If you're just plain cheap (like me ), remove the primer from a spent piece of brass and put a piece of pencil eraser in the hole. Spray paint the brass or somehow mark it so you don't mistake it for a loaded round and vice versa. That's one round that doesn't belong in the chamber on opening day

Thanks for the clarification! I think the waters were beginning to muddy up a bit!
I was always taught never to dryfire any gun, although I was never told why. I just didn't do it.

Thanks for the insight!

Hook1

I'm still only going to dry fire a rifle with snap caps. To me it's better to be safe than sorry.

That's the best way to do it. Firing pins are relatively cheap, but actions aren't