PA: Bolt Serial Won't Match Receiver Serial on Winchester M70

SteelFlint

SteelFlint

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A recent EE deal led to an interesting discovery re: Winchesters, specifically the Model 70. The buyer is, understandably, quite upset that he received a new rifle but the serial on the bolt does not match up with the serial on the receiver. I know for a fact that nothing nefarious nor misplacements occurred as the rifle in question is the first and only Model 70 that I've ever owned, a 2023 with CRF that was bought retail new. So decided to explore this a bit and went to my local gun store today for a quick visit. The guys gladly pulled no fewer than 4 rifles off their rack. Guess what 3 of them did NOT have bolt numbers matching the receiver, and the one that did was a stainless all weather. Here's one of the maple woods:

6JvigXi.jpeg


I've never actually bothered to check myself; the Rifleman's Rifle is just not for me. The store was equally as surprised. There appears to be some validation for this (link).

Indeed I too always thought bolts are to match receivers for proper head spacing. Very interesting phenomenon as I haven't come across this from other manufacturers.

Has anyone else seen/encountered/own this on newer Model 70s?
 
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SteelFlint said:
A recent EE deal led to an interesting discovery re: Winchesters, specifically the Model 70. The buyer is, understandably, quite upset that he received a new rifle but the serial on the bolt does not match up with the serial on the receiver. I know for a fact that nothing nefarious nor misplacements occurred as the rifle in question is the first and only Model 70 that I've ever owned, a 2023 with CRF. So decided to explore this a bit and went to my local gun store today for a quick visit. The guys gladly pulled no fewer than 4 rifles off their rack. Guess what 3 of them did NOT have bolt numbers matching the receiver, and the one that did was a stainless all weather. Here's one of the maple woods:

6JvigXi.jpeg


I've never actually bothered to check myself; the Rifleman's Rifle is just not for me. The store was equally as surprised. There appears to be some validation for this, perhaps from 2020 onward:

https://www.ifish.net/threads/new-model-70-winchester-changes.1652564/

Indeed I too always thought bolts are to match receivers for proper head spacing. Very interesting phenomenon as I haven't come across this from other manufacturers.

Has anyone else seen/encountered/own this on newer Model 70s?
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Your statement about a matching number on the bolt might be a British, therefore, Canadian thing?? I had read that since WWI, or maybe before, any USA military owned bolt rifles did NOT have a serial number on their bolt - Springfield 1903's, M1917's. etc. - yet when they were "gifted" or sold to Canada, we got busy and stamped numbers onto the bolt handles? I have no clue how the USA kept track of which bolt went with which receiver - or perhaps they did not care? So far as headspace - unless you actually check that with gauges, now, I do not think numbers applied at some time in the past assures you of anything - except that someone thought they "matched", back then. To verify headspace, I think you need the bolt, the receiver and the installed and chambered barrel - not just two out of those three.
 
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For an entirely different purpose, I was dismantling a Zastava LK M70 rifle this morning - I thought the OP might want to see a picture. I bought the rifle new from a store in 2013 - they are not showing as a "sponsor" on CGN, but they do have a website still going - so my purchase was like 12 years ago.

The serial number on the receiver ends in XX434. That is NOT the number that is stamped on the bolt handle.

54EA092C-8BDA-4677-82CE-89DE635D5BCA_1_201_a.jpeg

Inside the cocking piece slot is another number - THAT is the number that was stamped on the original bolt handle. That is not a Zastava factory trigger sear, poking up - I did swap out that trigger, back whenever. So the serial number on the receiver, and the number stamped on the bolt handle, were not the same number, in 2013.
 
Very Interesting !! I thought the same thing...rifles were bolt specific for the final fittings, head space etc ! I have a buddy just bought a new mod 70 FW in 308 last year...I'm gonna message him to see if his is different #'s or the same.
 
I've never seen a new gun that has ser# on bolt and receiver not match.
At least not in a gun made in the last 50+ years .
Possable factory referb??
 
Thx for the pics Potashminer. I feel this issue is to do with new production firearms, and more specifically the Winchester Model 70s (I don't expect milsurps to match, and if they did that's actually a bit of a red flag in my opinion). That Zastava is interesting though, and perhaps your assertion of different practices between old world vs new world manufacturing holds some relevance!
 
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Here's an update: a phone call into a Winchester supervisor confirmed what we are seeing. Since the move of the Model 70 to Portugal by FN, they do not stamp the bolt with the rifle's serial, but rather a manufacturing code. The move from South Carolina to Portugal would have happened around 2014, but not certain when this coding practice started to actually take effect. This is interesting as the Portugal production runs are supposed to be some of the best Model 70s ever made. It now makes me wonder if any bolt fitting/headspace calibration is actually happening; or has FN gotten the manufacturing process down so tightly that every bolt and rifle is now absolutely precision tolerance made....

Not crapping on Winchester but this was the most expensive Supergrade French Walnut version with ebony cap. Very surprised by this new found knowledge. Sharing with the CGN community. Best.
 
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I know my older FN SC made rifles have matching bolts. I have a newer Portuguese made french walnut supergrade that I'll have to check.

This is mildly concerning, as I remove my bolts to cram as many into the safe as possible, and usually verify that I'm installing the correct one by matching serial numbers.
 
SteelFlint said:
Here's an update: a phone call into a Winchester supervisor confirmed what we are seeing. Since the move of the Model 70 to Portugal by FN, they do not stamp the bolt with the rifle's serial, but rather a manufacturing code. The move from South Carolina to Portugal would have happened around 2014, but not certain when this coding practice started to actually take effect. This is interesting as the Portugal production runs are supposed to be some of the best Model 70s ever made. It now makes me wonder if any bolt fitting/headspace calibration is actually happening; or has FN gotten the manufacturing process down so tightly that every bolt and rifle is now absolutely precision tolerance made....

Not crapping on Winchester but this was the most expensive Supergrade French Walnut version with ebony cap. Very surprised by this new found knowledge. Sharing with the CGN community. Best.
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Production code makes sense, stuff nowadays should be interchangeable. Close enough tolerances allow pre fit barrels for many brands/models and that’s stuff built by outside companies.

Tha same should apply to bolts built I. House
 
I once bought a used Winchester SS 375H&H from Epps. It came with a SS 30-06 bolt. They had to do some scrambling to get that sorted out. The fellow who traded them in, got them mixed up.
 
kevin g said:
Very Interesting !! I thought the same thing...rifles were bolt specific for the final fittings, head space etc ! I have a buddy just bought a new mod 70 FW in 308 last year...I'm gonna message him to see if his is different #'s or the same.
Click to expand...
I think your thought that bolts are fitted to specific receivers and chambers is correct - however, it is an assumption that the serial number on the receiver is the only way possible to keep track of which goes with which.
 
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