Lou, I obtained a complete, but kind of a basket case 783, not sure what the heck happened, gunked up, some spots of rust, would not feed or eject, mag tube was a bit sticky, first round of repairs was cleaning, barrel swage, then a new feedthroat, and ejector. Cleaned and oiled, action was now smooth, barrel swage did not seem to have much to do, maybe something was off, round does chamber just fine. At this point it still would not feed correctly, jams up, so I waited until Numrich Arms (Gun Parts Corp.) had the cartridge lifter spring in stock, I just recently got those parts, but have yet to install, might do it today, being so windy and cold, nice cozy table near my woodstove LOL !
I did not know much about the 783, particularly the micro-groove barrel, one of the guys whom used to work for us, used to deal in antiques on in his off hours, once in awhile he would have inexpensive firearms, he asked $60, said I'll check it out, told him what was wrong with it, he took $30 more off, I'm into it another $25 I suppose, but was really curious about opinions on them, anything else you like or dislike about the 783 ?
It seems this ought to do the trick, I have federal, HP, SP and a box of Remington SP to try in it, have no idea what shoots best out of these, still say its a nice little plinker, .22wmr is not cost prohibitive IMHO