Model 70 center screw pillar mod

[AlNyhus]

Whenever doing a pillar bedding job on these Model 70's, my standard practice is to eliminate the center action screw and inlet a pillar into the stock so the front trigger guard screw tightens to that rather than into the action.

This one was a bit different as it came to me with a pillar bedding job already done. The bedding job was actually pretty decent. Unfortunately, center screw had been retained and when tightened enough to hold the trigger guard in place, accuracy was spotty at best showing a lot of vertical, which is typical. Loosened up, it would shoot but the center screw would eventually back out and the trigger guard would get loose.

Here it is initially. Dial indicator zeroed:

Crack the front screw loose and it shows .027 barrel movement due to the stress the center screw is putting on the action:

Pillar inletted and epoxied in. A short 10-32 stainless flat head Allen cap screw takes the place of the center action screw:

After the work, the indicator is again zero'ed:

Loosening the front screw now, it shows .003 movement...about as good as a Model 70 gets:

Anyway, this is a worthwhile and easy upgrade for a Model 70 if you're doing one.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[LVLAaron]

That's not insignificant.

 

[B Nettesheim]

Nice

 

[Bill Score]

Very interesting. Could you take some pictures of your work and show the materials? I’d like to try this.

 

[AlNyhus]

Very interesting. Could you take some pictures of your work and show the materials? I’d like to try this.

Sure thing, Bill. This is on a factory Winchester laminated stock rather than a McMillan...but the approach is the same.

A piece of aluminum round is tapped 10-32. You can also find these threaded aluminum spacers at Ace Hardware, etc. Just make sure that the screw head style you want to use is available in the same thread the spacer is. The pillar is drilled and a piece of brass rod inserted as an anchor and epoxied into the pillar. The set screw is there to hold the brass anchor pin into position:

Screwed to the trigger guard. This is just mocking it up before the pillar is epoxied into the stock:

The cutout where the action screw passes through is enlarged for the pillar and an adequate thickness of epoxy. Again, this is during the fit up. The hole in the stock for the anchor is filled with epoxy and the pillar is then expoxied into the stock:

Here's what it looks like finished up. This was a short action for the WSM cases so the mag mox gets really close in the back to the pillar. Because of this, I cut a flat on the front of the pillar to give .020 clearance between the mag box and the pillar. You can just do this with a flat file. The non-WSM actions don't usually need this done. But in the Wonky World Of Winchester...the only thing written in stone is that there's nothing written in stone. The trigger guard was also bedded. The trigger guard had a low spot so that's why there's an open section. If you mill the trigger guard flat, you can run into issues with the floor plate latching correctly that aren't easily corrected short of machining a new latch pin.

This one was a real challenge and needed a lot of love, including a stepped rear pillar, to bring it around. It's a significant rifle for a lot of reasons and deserved whatever effort it took to get it up and running again. It was a good project to be involved with. As original, it showed .026 movement:

After pillar bedding it was right at .003:

Stepped rear pillar and fitting:

Finished and ready to whack some elk, big mule deer or any moose-sized critters.

Hope this helps. -Al

 

[Bill Score]

Awesome work and great explanation. Thank you!

 

[AlNyhus]

Once a CRF M-70 is setup it is super reliable. That said, they are more of a pain to work on.

My Model 70 dislike is pretty strong.

 

[3Sigma]

Why not just move to a 1 piece floorplate and eliminate the need for the middle screw altogether?

I was lucky in that my 70 PF was a blind mag, so I just moved to a 1 piece when I upgraded the stock.

I need to get that measuring tool, though I am a bit worried what it will show

 

[AlNyhus]

Why not just move to a 1 piece floorplate and eliminate the need for the middle screw altogether?

That's certainly an option on the post '64's. On the pre '64's, it can be a bit problematic.

If the factory bottom metal is warped or tweaked on a post '64, a PTG one piece setup is my advice. But they're not drop-ins...most stocks need some reinletting so the floor plate doesn't bind.

The pillar setup offers the advantage of being able to tweak both pieces for better latching of the floor plate and to eliminate binding of the forward part of the swinging bottom metal against the stock.

 

[paperpuncher]

Tagged for future use

 

[Will Henry]

I have a few model 70's, three of which are target rifles. I utilize the center screw in two of these and all of them show .002 or less of movement when any screw is cracked and tightened. The Model 54, a hunting rifle, shows right at .002. The model 54 has been modified to utilize Model 70 bottom metal and is in a McMillan stock. The other hunting rifle, a pre-war 70, shows zero.
Now, one of the target rifles, while it does use the center screw, has a soldered-in solid bottom and the tang is floated, so the center screw is actually the rear screw. It is bedded on top of a machined block, so it is not typical. The others are unaltered with conventional bedding. I bob the front tang on the sear a little to allow more room for the center pillar. I always felt the center screw added some integrity to the bed. This is probably not the case, however. One of the rifles is bedded into three different stocks. Two of these use the center screw; one does not. There is no significant difference in performance amongst the three, taking into account the intended purpose of each one (silhouette, hi power prone, and hunter class BR). Ultimately, eliminating the center screw makes bedding easier and the method you show is a good one. Also usable on Ruger 77's. WH