Win 70 Rebarrel

[Dubbo]

I have a early 1990s push feed Win 70 243 that I have had since it was new. It will soon be in need of a new barrel but otherwise is in very good shape. It is bedded in a Mcmillan stock. I think I would rebarrel to 6.5 creedmoor, opinions is it worth it to rebarrel the push feed M70 or best to put money toward something else custom? Also if I do rebarrel is it worth upgrading to a Jewell trigger?
This is a hunting/plinking rifle that I have not used much lately but with it fixed up I would have more use for it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Why not? It's a good rifle and if you'd bring it back from the dead by re-barreling it, I'd say do it. If you were starting from scratch with a build, I'd say go custom, but you already have it in a good stock and the model 70's are good actions. Put a barrel and a Jewell in there and get back to shooting it. JMO.--Mike

 

[Sniper338]

Yes its worth fixing up.

Rebarrel it to a 6.5 creedmoor, or 6.5x47 lapua and run with it!

Jewel trigger is a must. Since youve never had one, it will make you giggle every time. My rifles are set at 6 and 8 ounces.

 

[Hopkins]

while you are at it have the action blue printed. There is a lot of metal to work with.

 

[wi50]

sell me the model 70 real cheap.... but really I love the model 70. Re barrel it in what you wish, I have one in 6.5x47 Lapua that I wouldn't let go of. That push feed action is easy to barrel, the thread tennion is simple. However my experience is with a high pressure chambering like the 6 br, 6.5x47 etc, mine would wash the primer back around the firing pin so I've had a few of them bushed and pin ground for tight clearance to eliminate the problem.

 

[Dubbo]

There is alot of nostalgia in this rifle so rebarrel is sounding even better. So bartlein, jewell, bushed firing pin for the small primers and think about action blue print.
With the new Lapua brass coming out any benefit in going with a 6.5x47 over a 6.5 creedmoor?

 

[John Russell]

There is alot of nostalgia in this rifle so rebarrel is sounding even better. So bartlein, jewell, bushed firing pin for the small primers and think about action blue print.
With the new Lapua brass coming out any benefit in going with a 6.5x47 over a 6.5 creedmoor?

Don't waste your money on a "Blueprint"... you will get nothing from it unless you are building a top-of-the-line benchrest rifle... and M-70s are very hard to "print".

 

[wi50]

To bush the firing pin, there is little more work to do to true the bolt face and lugs. So you really aren't going to spend much more to true the action. I machined a mandrill for mine, then I trued the threads, action face and lugs on one...... the other I sent to Randy Gregory of Accuracy Unlimited in Medford Wi. He's reasonable and well known. I just couldn't justify the time to do it when I'm so busy with other projects. I agree with the nostalgia aspect, I like to use the M70 just to be different and it's what I grew up with and saved my money to buy as a teenager.

 

[FatBoy]

I have built a 6.5x284 and a 6BR off long action M70s. I love them. Absolutely worth it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Don't waste your money on a "Blueprint"... you will get nothing from it unless you are building a top-of-the-line benchrest rifle... and M-70s are very hard to "print".

I don't think they are any harder to print than a Remington..just a little different, being a flat bottom receiver. That said, They don't seem to be as bad as a typical Remington either, in terms of "needing" printed. Also, while others may well have had a different experience, I've not seen the need to bush the firing pin hole on them either.....the fit must be better than most Remages.

If money is a concern, I'd come nearer to just truing the action face and leaving the rest alone than I would on a Remmington, too. Sure...it won't hurt to do it, but it's hard to tell the benefit of completely truing one that may only marginally need it to begin with, even in a full blown BR rig. IME, you can kinda decide how good or bad yours is by how much the action face is off. I've read that Winchesters are machined in a single setup in regard to the action face, inner lugs and threads. So, if the face is true, the lugs and threads should be about the same. I don't know if that's true or not but experience with them leads me to believe that it's at least plausible.

Again, if you get very involved in labor and money spent on the action, then just selling it and building a custom begins to make more and more sense, with every step.

Bottom line, IMHO, is true or check the face...if its far off, then decide which way to go from there. But, unless this is a competition gun, I don't believe you'll see much if any return on your money spent here. There has to be a pretty big issue for it to show in a varmint rifle. The barrel is the heart of a good shooting rifle. Keep in mind that when you true the inner and bolt lugs, you reduce primary extraction. Again, this is another area where Winchesters don't seem to often be plagued with problems like a Remington is...but start cutting the lugs and you may create a problem...and open up another can of worms that cost money to fix.

Can you tell that I kinda like Winchesters? Honestly, they're not bad. If parts availability were equal to a Remington, I'd probably say that they are a better overall platform than a Remington...

A lot of smiths aren't tooled up to work with them and some are just set in their ways, but they're a good gun.

If there's an area that I prefer a Remington over a Winchester it's probably the barrel tenon is 1" on a Winny and 1.0625 on a Remington, but I've built several Winchesters and loaded them hot without issue.

 

[FatBoy]

I had to Bush my 6BR. Blew 60% of the primers from 23gr of Varget up to 30. Bushed it and zero since.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

I had to Bush my 6BR. Blew 60% of the primers from 23gr of Varget up to 30. Bushed it and zero since.

Interesting Chris, but I'm not really surprised. It's certainly very likely that they aren't all equally well fitted. I'm only going from my own experience. I've probably built on 80-100 Winchesters and can only remember one that cratered primers significantly. Granted, not all were 6BR's, but some were. The reason I even mention that is that there seems to be a propensity for cratered primers in a 6BR, specifically shooting Varget and heavy bullets. I don't know why it is but I've shot some heavy loads of other powders in 6BRs that didn't crater...Switch to Varget...craters. I've had customs that cratered with Varget/6BR but wouldn't with virtually anything else. Must be something to do with how the pressure builds or something.

 

[FatBoy]

Maybe it is Varget w/107s. It shot so well with Varget and 450Ms I never tried anything else. This particular action is one of the Ted Williams Specials Sears sold. Safety is like a waffle, not a bar. Maybe they cheaped out?

No matter, I wouldn't let the possibility of needing a bush stop me from building an M70.

 

[K22]

I've taken the path of rebarreling my old rifles once their useable life is expired since I can get exactly what I want in terms of contour, twist, and quality. If you have a good rifle smith you won't be sorry.

I personally am quite fond of the 243. I have four of them and shoot them extensively. I like the mild recoil, excellent accuracy, and flat shooting capabliity. My favorite all around bullet is the Sierra 85 BTHP. This bullet is a hunting bullet but shoots like a match bullet.

Although I've taken a fair number of white tails with the 243; I prefer the 308 for strictly a deer cartridge. A good compromise might be the 260 Remington. If I had it to do all over again I would have went the 260 route but it didn't exist when I started in this game.

I've never see the need for wildcat cartridges - the standard offerings do everything I need done.

 

[johnfred1965]

I don't think they are any harder to print than a Remington..just a little different, being a flat bottom receiver. That said, They don't seem to be as bad as a typical Remington either, in terms of "needing" printed. Also, while others may well have had a different experience, I've not seen the need to bush the firing pin hole on them either.....the fit must be better than most Remages.

+1 for what Mr Ezell said. I bought a M70 action just to build "A Rifleman's Rifle" Talked with John Pierce who told me to put a good barrel on it and it would shoot. He installed a Broughton in 6.5x47L and I am shooting under 1/2 moa with my steadier groups going into .3. Oh, and no primer issues either!

 

[msinc]

I guess if this is all you have to work with then it's all you got, but...I am gonna have to be the odd man out here...let me get this straight...you have a post-64 push feed Model 70 and you want to know if it's a good idea to spend a whole bunch of money on it to end up with the same push feed gun that nobody really wants and you cant begin to ever get close to your money back out of it??????? Is that the actual question????
What is even more amazing is the number of people that are saying, "yeah, dude, go for it!!!!!!!" You can best believe they wouldn't, no matter what they say here.

I think the absolute best advice me or anyone else can possibly give you at this point would be to go post this same question on some other forum where you might have a better chance of it being taken seriously!!!
Sink a bunch of money in a push feed Model 70???? Well, you can drive your car with your feet if you want to, but that don't make it a good idea.

 

[FatBoy]

I have two Barnard, a Tempest, a WTC built Stolle Panda, one off Millsaps(like a stainless stolle), a Stiller Mk13, a Coopermatch AI, amoung others and I still have an M70. If I had another left I would absolutely build another, today. None of the actions above will out shoot that M70 6BR to 600 yards with almost 2000 rounds down the pipe. Had a stock trigger until two years ago.

Ask John Whidden what he shot the first few years he was out winning. Hell, he may still be shooting the one he welded a long handle to.

Don't drink the sniper Kool-Aide. You can go get different advice on other boards but I doubt you'll get better advice than you get here.

I guess if this is all you have to work with then it's all you got, but...I am gonna have to be the odd man out there...let me get this straight...you have a post-64 push feed Model 70 and you want to know if it's a good idea to spend a whole bunch of money on it to end up with the same push feed gun that nobody really wants and you cant begin to ever get close to your money back out of it??????? Is that the actual question????
What is even more amazing is the number of people that are saying, "yeah, dude, go for it!!!!!!!" You can best believe they wouldn't, no matter what they say here.

I think the absolute best advice me or anyone else can possibly give you at this point would be to go post this same question on some other forum where you might have a better chance of it being taken seriously!!!
Sink a bunch of money in a push feed Model 70???? Well, you can drive your car with your feet if you want to, but that don't make it a good idea.

 

[johnfred1965]

I guess if this is all you have to work with then it's all you got, but...I am gonna have to be the odd man out there...let me get this straight...you have a post-64 push feed Model 70 and you want to know if it's a good idea to spend a whole bunch of money on it to end up with the same push feed gun that nobody really wants and you cant begin to ever get close to your money back out of it??????? Is that the actual question????
What is even more amazing is the number of people that are saying, "yeah, dude, go for it!!!!!!!" You can best believe they wouldn't, no matter what they say here.

I think the absolute best advice me or anyone else can possibly give you at this point would be to go post this same question on some other forum where you might have a better chance of it being taken seriously!!!
Sink a bunch of money in a push feed Model 70???? Well, you can drive your car with your feet if you want to, but that don't make it a good idea.

Ok, we get it , you don't like the M70, but for the millions that do, or just happen to have a rifle they want to keep shooting, No matter what I may say here, I'd build one again and twice on Sunday. I am also a Remington fan, even though their more recent offerings seem to have been made by employees with no machining experience whatsoever. If you have a Remington, and you like it, do the work to it it needs and go shoot it. If you have the money up front, buy a custom if that is your thing. Unless you are building them to sell, sink as much money as you want to get a rifle that may go to your children or grand children.

One thing I didn't mention earlier, I don't know about your trigger, but mine has two locknuts to adjust triggle pull. Once I got it down from 6 to about 2.5 lbs, it is great also. No creep or grit either.

 

[johnfred1965]

With the new Lapua brass coming out any benefit in going with a 6.5x47 over a 6.5 creedmoor?

I have the 47L but have researched the creedmoor a lot. One thing I read was that the accuracy difference came down to the better brass of the 47L. Now that that is not a factor, I would say there isn't 2 cents difference between them. take your pick, flip a coin, pull one out of a hat, you can't go wrong either way.

 

[Dubbo]

My trigger is the same way and it is at a crisp 2.75 lbs. I posted the questions to get feedback, liking all the info...