I have a Remington mod 788 in 308 caliber and it shoots great, it picks the cartridge up from the magazine but when I try to close the bolt I have to use a lot of force to close the bolt. Anyone ever have a problem like this? I'm currently trying to find a gunsmith in my area to take it too.

factory loads?

More info needed. Is it hard to push forward after picking up a round? Or hard to close when rotating the handle into locked up position.

Make sure everything is clean, especially the chamber.

As asked above, factory ammo or reloads. If reloads, maybe the shoulder needs to be bumped back a couple thousandths, could be pushing on the shoulder at lock up.

788's were tack drivers.

Or the over all cartridge length is to long and your trying to seat the bullet in the " lands " ?
If these are reloads that is or as mentioned above the shoulder and bullet combination may need to be compressed a bit more .

Has it always been this way? Has something changed regarding the ammo being used?

I had the same problem when brass was reloaded but not resized.

I had the same problem once. Turned out, a piece of brass bristle from my cleaning brush came off and mashed itself in the chamber. Just tightened the cartridge enough to give me a hard time chambering a round, and ejecting the shell. It was a Remington model BDL 700 bolt action 30/06

The Remington 788 that I owned Had an issue with the extractor and rivets. Gunsmith fixed it along with repairing the bolt handle.

It's factory ammo, It's hard to rotate the handle closed, I don't remember having this problem before, I,ve checked the chamber with a light and don't see anyproblem

Seating depth or case length might be a problem. Are you using a heavy bullet that is long?

How does the bolt open on an unfired round?

150 grain Remington Core-Lokt tried several different boxes, Unfired live shell ejection is smooth and easy.

Pull the bolt and reseat it.
Does it have a detachable mag?
Does it do it with just one bullet in the mag or only when full?
Start eliminating one potential issue at a time.
On all my brand new bolts (only have Ruger Americans) I will clean and install bolt and sit on the couch while watching TV and work that bolt for about 10-15 minutes. Nothing crazy, just keep working it. I’ll then load the mag and work the bolt with actual bullets for a few minutes. This seems to take any “new” out of the cycling process. I’m sure the more expensive rifles don’t need this, but it’s just what I do. I want all my bolt guns to be able to shoot as close to semiautomatic as possible. Got to be fast hunting hogs in the woods vs fields if you want to have multiple kills.

My guess the problem may be in the bolt lugs or bolt face then.

I took the bolt out and turned the gun upside down and looked at the chamber again and it looks like there is something powder built up there maybe. I will try cleaning it and see if it comes out and try loading the gun again. I will let you know it turns out

Be sure to scrub the chamber too. A cordless screw gun works good for this.

I'm guessing it's a 308. I've heard some cheap military ammo can have a coating on the brass that can built up in the chamber, even to the point of needing a reamer to remove it.

I've never shot anything Rem. Core-Lokt 308 150gr psp. I cleaned it and can't see anything now but metal and the cloth comes out clean. I tried loading it again but still hard to close the handle with some force. I am able to rotate the handle closed if pushing forward as well as down on it. I have to really have more pressure pushing it forward than I would think is normal. Not sure if theres an adjustment to the spring tension insde the bolt?

Try pulling the bolt out of the rifle and cleaning the locking lugs on the bolt and inside the receiver, it takes very little fouling in these areas to start causing a problem. Also clean the face of the bolt if you haven't already done so paying particular attention to the extractor.

This is a know problem with the .308. It is the gun that the bolt breaks off. To my knowledge it is the only flaw that a 788 ever had.