Winchester action for long range
- Thread starter trda
- Start date
Very few people use the Winchester M70 actions in Canada. A few still use them in the US. I have three M70 based target rifles and all three shoot well.
A well set up M70 will work as well as a Remington 700 but will give up a bit to a custom single shot bolt action IMO.
The later M70 actions have one major shortcoming. Their firing pin tip diameter is too large. This is a problem when the actions are used to build a 6BR since the small rifle primers have a tendency to blank. Bushing the bolt face and reducing tip diameter cures this problem.
The M70 bedding surface is more complex the the 700 which makes bedding a bit of a chalenge but many feel the flat surface will stay bedded better.
The M70 trigger has the potential to be a very good trigger but is limited to a weight of pull greater than one pound.
My 6BR is based on a 1965 M70 (ugly +) I have never fired an entire match with it but have fired several targets at 300 meter matches with it. It has never fired all X's but has also not fired a "9". So it is a pretty good shooter.
The other two M70's I use are a 308 based on a newer pushfeed short action and a 6.5x55 based on a pre-war action. I have not shot enough in competition with either to have established their real capabilities but, in general, they seem just fine.
The bottom line is this; A Model 70 will work as well as any other open bottomed repeater action if the rifle is well built. I am happy to shooting those I have in competitions I enter for fun. However, if I want to win a match or am serious about a competitoin, I will use a solid bottomed action built without compromise. Regards, Bill.
A well set up M70 will work as well as a Remington 700 but will give up a bit to a custom single shot bolt action IMO.
The later M70 actions have one major shortcoming. Their firing pin tip diameter is too large. This is a problem when the actions are used to build a 6BR since the small rifle primers have a tendency to blank. Bushing the bolt face and reducing tip diameter cures this problem.
The M70 bedding surface is more complex the the 700 which makes bedding a bit of a chalenge but many feel the flat surface will stay bedded better.
The M70 trigger has the potential to be a very good trigger but is limited to a weight of pull greater than one pound.
My 6BR is based on a 1965 M70 (ugly +) I have never fired an entire match with it but have fired several targets at 300 meter matches with it. It has never fired all X's but has also not fired a "9". So it is a pretty good shooter.
The other two M70's I use are a 308 based on a newer pushfeed short action and a 6.5x55 based on a pre-war action. I have not shot enough in competition with either to have established their real capabilities but, in general, they seem just fine.
The bottom line is this; A Model 70 will work as well as any other open bottomed repeater action if the rifle is well built. I am happy to shooting those I have in competitions I enter for fun. However, if I want to win a match or am serious about a competitoin, I will use a solid bottomed action built without compromise. Regards, Bill.
Leeper is absolutely right. Can be made to work as well as any standard factory action. Their popularity for target shooting in the US is based upon their superiority over the Remington in the use of chargers for the rapid fire phase of the US National Match course.
Which, if you find a early 700, is a moot point. I own a number of 70s, including a couple of precision rifles. They are more expensive to set up initially, generally requiring more machining then a Rem, at least in my experience. I prefer to use them as hunting rifles, but if you're willing to invest the time and money, they will shoot as well as any customized factory rifle. - dan
The M70 had a true clip charger slot. The notch in the early Remington 700s was not a clip charger slot but was a notch which was used as a locator for subsequent machining operations. Later on, the fixturing was changed and the need for the notch was eliminated.
The M70 is a bit more of a challenge to work with than the M700 but, in reality it is more a matter of perception than fact. Regards, Bill.
The M70 is a bit more of a challenge to work with than the M700 but, in reality it is more a matter of perception than fact. Regards, Bill.
I love model 70's exellent safety, trigger and lots more room to feed rounds than a rem. Flat bottom reciever and integrated recoil lug and CRF availability are a plus. CDI precision is now making DM bottom metal that takes AI mags. If you find a Stealth they are a great platform to build from. Have a look at FN they use Model 70 actions. This summer CDNN was selling FN barreled actions for $399 too bad they are in the US.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Blackcloud has an ATRS M70 that shoots like a hot damn at things far, far away. I have one too but haven't done much work with it yet. I have no doubt that it will perform just as well.
No experience, but I'd build a rifle off a pre64 model 70 just to be different. Long action? Lots of great calibers to pick from, depending on what you want to use it for.
I would have snapped up one of those FN barreled actions in a heartbeat if anyone had brought any into Canada.
I would have snapped up one of those FN barreled actions in a heartbeat if anyone had brought any into Canada.
As a long range rifle for hunting I would always choose a Winchester pre 64 or post Classic but for precision shooting I would invest in a custom action and be done with it, I would never look back and would end up with a finer finished product and maybe cheaper in the long run. A good barrel and chamber job with a properly chosen reamer and dies along with a good trigger will provide you with more gains in accuracy than your choice of actions.
IMHO
bigbull
IMHO
bigbull
rnbra-shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Brunswick
I built my first target rifle on a $300 .30-06 M70 from Canadian Tire. I put on a 30" MacLennan barrel, chambered in .308, bedded it into a target stock, and used both iron sights (Central) and a scope. Still have the rifle, last weekend a newbie was using it to shoot 600m for the first time, with a scope off a bipod.
Overall, it's a decent commercial action to use, but I wouldn't rate it any better or any worse than other quality commercial actions such as a Rem 700 or a Savage 110.
My M70 has always been a good shooter, though it has never been as great as a purpose-built target rifle (e.g. a Musgrave, an RPA, a Barnard, etc). I have always been able to count on it shooting better than 5/8" 5-shot groups at 100 yards, though a 5-shot group under 1/2" is quite rare. And at 1,000 yards, it seems to always shoot 1.25 MOA 15-shot groups. Both of these are very good performances, arguably good enough to win a national championship with, but they can be _somewhat_ improved upon with one of the above-mentioned purpose-built target rifles.
If you are looking for a semi-defensible excuse to spend money, you might consider that the _only_ difference (and therefore the only cost savings) between a Barnard-actioned target rifle and an M70-actioned one is the action itself. Everything else will be the same, and will cost the same - barrel, stock, sights, etc. You would arguably be saving no more than $700 by building on an M70 (call it $500 for the trigger plus action) rather a Barnard ($1200 for the action plus trigger, IIRC). Some of this savings might be used up if the M70 needed any accurizing - some times they do, sometimes they don't (the Barnard won't need accurizing, it already has been).
If you are looking to save money and are wondering if you can build a decent rifle with your M70, then the answer is certainly "yes!".
(FWIW one of the first things I did when I built my M70 was to remove the factory trigger and install a Timney, because hey everybody knows that factory triggers are no good, right? Well I never was happy with the Timney, so I ended up buying a Jewell ($$), and while it was OK, it never was as wonderful as I imagined it ought to be. I eventually tried putting the factory trigger back on, and am still using it. I have shot many different kinds of triggers, and am quite happy to shoot this factory M70 trigger in a national competition)
