i got my eye on another this time a springfield sporter 175$ only

I'd buy it, but that's no Springfield.

it's basically a low grade (as in no frills) 700

that's a 700 lol. id be all over that.

not even remotely similar to an 03. I'd still buy it, its a good deal.

That bolt handle looks more like a Winchester.

Good deal. The Sportsman 78 was a budget 700. Can be very good shooters.

Legionnaire said:

Good deal. The Sportsman 78 was a budget 700. Can be very good shooters.

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Just looked up Sportsman 78, made late 1970s' to early 1980's. I don't remember them. The OP should push a patch down the barrel and make sure there is no corrosion and the interior is all nice and shiny bright. No rust, no rust pits. A pitted or rusted barrel is much too expensive to replace and I would not bother with one. Unless it was free, then I could sell the action, but replacing a barrel is a $300 to $400 project. For $175 a Rem 700 with a good barrel is a deal.

The rifle in your pic is a Remington Sportsman 78, it plain as day on the receiver.
The Sportsman 78 came out about the same time the 870 Express did. It was part of the budget line Remington put out to create sales.

It’s just a Remington 700 with a birch stock and matte finish, so anything you would do to a 700 you can do to this. Look into the safety concerns about Remington 700 triggers of the era.

saiga308 said:

i could read it well, i thought it was 76 and i searched and got hits on the pump remington so i was stump

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Remington did a whole line on budget guns. The Sportsman 74 was the auto and the 76 was the auto. They also had the Sportsman Model 11, which was the same as the model 1100 but with Birch stocks and not as high of a polish blue finish. The Sportsman 12 was an 870.
Remington ended up dropping the line in the early to mid 80’s, because they weren’t making that good of a profit margin. I think is was the cost of the finish they were putting on the guns.
The then came out with the 870 Express. The park finish was much cheaper and you could see tool markings on the receiver.
The Sportsman 78 is a nice rifle. Basically it’s a 700 ADL with a Birch stock.
A good many have been used for custom builds because you could by a used 78 for less then a 700 action.

Slamfire said:

Just looked up Sportsman 78, made late 1970s' to early 1980's. I don't remember them. The OP should push a patch down the barrel and make sure there is no corrosion and the interior is all nice and shiny bright. No rust, no rust pits. A pitted or rusted barrel is much too expensive to replace and I would not bother with one. Unless it was free, then I could sell the action, but replacing a barrel is a $300 to $400 project. For $175 a Rem 700 with a good barrel is a deal.

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I don't remember them either. Maybe they were sold at the discount stores.

It's hard to tell exactly what this rifle is from the photos. A better side view and bottom view would be helpful. I'd say that it's been identified correctly but more info would help. I go along it's all about condition at this point. Name something you can put on a bolt action rifle action and somebody makes it for the 700 action.

I'm nor too sure about going back to the gunsmith who want to heat a 700 bolt handle to change bend.