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Coleman enthusiasts call them "Birthday Lanterns" if it has the month and year of your birthday stamped on the bottom. I have my "Birthday Rifle" now. Or birth year anyway. I wanted a proper hunting gun with enough umph to handle SA plains game and I found this one waiting for me to claim. A near mint M70 in 30-06 made the same year I was. Ser# 416xxx The scope looks like a fix 4x Weaver. I have a Burris 2-10 x 42 on the way. Now I have to slog through the winter here in Ukraine, we return in May and my FFL will be one of the first stops. In the meantime I'll be soaking up all the info on hunting loads I can find for the old gal. And maybe I'll figure out how to post a pic some time too.   https://i.imgur.com/L7zVhhR.jp...mgur.com/L7zVhhR.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZVd6TKr.jpg | ||
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Tnic, welcome to R. That's a nice classic rifle, for sure. You'll just need a nice plump Maine Black Bear to stand in front of it :-) | |||
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Thank you sir. Dunno about a bear, but I def want to see a nice kudu turn broadside to it. Going in Dec. | |||
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I can’t wait to see the stories you make with it. | |||
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That rifle gives me a chubbie. GOOGLE HOTLINK FIX FOR BLOCKED PHOTOBUCKET IMAGES https://chrome.google.com/webs...inkfix=1516144253810 | |||
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Looking forward to making many memories before I have to put her on the wall for good. | |||
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Just wait till ya see her lounging alluringly on a big bull kudu. | |||
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Gotta love those guns draped across game pictures.  GOOGLE HOTLINK FIX FOR BLOCKED PHOTOBUCKET IMAGES https://chrome.google.com/webs...inkfix=1516144253810 | |||
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SHWING!!!! <3 <3 <3 | |||
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Nice rifle you'll really enjoy taking game with. Good luck on the Kudu! GOA Life Member NRA Benefactor Member Life Member Dallas Safari Club Westley Richards 450 NE 3 1/4" | |||
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good find. Congrats. If you are interested, I will see if I can locate the American Rifleman article that I used to accurize my pre 64 m70 .308 feather weight when first bought in the 1970s. It worked and reduced 5 shot groups to 5/8 inch. It still shoots that well.  NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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That would be terrific if you can find it. Thank you much! And that's quite the looker you got there. | |||
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Tnic, I have spent three fun hours digging through old mags and filed gun articles and not found the article. I found many interesting things such as four articles on the Model 70, but not the one I want. I have a couple more places to check, but my eyes are tired, so I will think about it and resume tomorrow. However, for what it is worth the three main things were: 1. Float barrel 2. Arkansas stone the trigger (this took an hour or more of honing to reach perfection). 3, Have the rifle MagnaPorted to reduce muzzle jump so as not to lose the sight picture due to recoil. This really helps with a Featherweight model 70. My work was supervised by a gunsmith friend to avoid mistakes. PS Thanks for kind word on my rifle. What you see is the result of a complete refinishing of the metal and wood to remove scratches and dings. The same gunsmith as above did the metal and stock work. He had also helped me pick out the rifle back when I first purchased it in a slightly used condition. NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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I ask in earnest desire for knowledge, not as a jerk, how do you float the barrel on a pre-64 with the barrel boss being screwed into the forearm/forensic? | |||
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Very nice find Tnic, you don't see many without an added recoil pad. Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
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The feather weigh rifles didn't have the barrel boss. | |||
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Those are some nice rifles and would be proud to own them. | |||
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Thank you for that. This rifle(in this thread) does have the boss or island that the rear sight sets. Can this rifle, a spotter be floated, with the barbell boss screwing into the forend. It appears to my pea brain the forend screw channel would have to be eleminatedxand stock seriously addressed. If that is the case, I would leave original and never be concerned with vain group sizes. I think I am seeing the barrel boss in OP pics. | |||
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Thank you so much for the effort CR. Now that you listed the steps, I have to say I plan to keep mine as it is, which as far as I know is from the factory stock. And as mentioned it'd take some work to rework the bbl boss and screw channel. You sound a bit like me tho. "I know its here somewhere and now I can't quit till I find it, but I'm too pooped to keep going."  And thanks to the commentors. I do have a friend who does nice leather work and have asked him to fashion an appropriate butt cuff to accommodate a few tools, bore snake, etc. and spare ammo in loops and provision for padding the cheek piece when afield. I'll see how the new scope sits before deciding, but she'll likely wear a bikini when we go out tho she'll be butt nekid at home. | |||
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Tnic, Progress report for U. I found the original Winchester flyer that accompanied the pre 64 Model 70 rifles and it states that the factory set trigger pull is 4.25 pounds. My Lyman gauge shows 4.1 pounds, so maybe the Arkansas stone and decades of use have slicked it up. For me, this is ideal for a center fire hunting rifle and all mine are in the 4 pound range. As you may have surmised, early on, my Model 70 was tailored to fit me like a custom SxS and it handles that way in the field for me. This included shortening the butt stock and adding the recoil pad to get it back to proper length. In a deer blind last Friday, I had to remove my heavy coat before drawing a bead on the Axis sneaking out of the woods.When all was just right, the old 70 fired itself and the deer hit the ground. So far, this box of Hornady 165 grain Super Performance is half gone and has taken a total of 9 elk,deer,and hogs (shot one hog twice to shut it up). NRA Life Benefactor Member, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center,Android Reloading Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/ | |||
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Sweet CR! Lacking any boxes full of pubs (fit for public viewing anyway) I resorted to everyone's favorite online auction site. Cornell Pubs carries 1000s of catalogs, pamphlets, instruction booklets and on and on. I now have a 1957 Rifle & Shotgun catalog and a manual done by Winchester engineer A. A. Arnold. And so it begins. | |||
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I have a 1953 win. mod. 70 30-06 fwt pre 64, its one of my favorite guns for most hunts up to and including elk. The metal looks like stainless steel as the blue is all but gone, the stock is a perfect match, as it looks more like driftwood..It shoot sub 1/2 inch groups most of the time... I have shot everything from Pronghorn Antelope, small Texas deer to elk, Moose, and all the big and small Plainsgame animals like eland, Kudu to the tiny duiker and such... My favorite bullet for use on large or small is the 200 gr. Nosler Accubond, allthough it likes the 180 Nosler partition and Acccubonds also..But the 200 gr. Accubond is amazing and its all I use these days for about everything. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Hi Ray, Thanks for that ammo info, I've mulling that one over. My SiL says 180 will do the job, but I might want to try a 200 or 220 just for more punch when we go back in Dec. We won't be after Buffs, some real bullet sponges there, but I hear the Eland, Sable and kudu, etc are pretty tough customers too. The quicker they go down the less they suffer. I just got the notice that my 70 arrived at my FFL earlier today. Now I REALLY wanna get back to Maine and see what kind of groups she'll throw for me. | |||
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Yes the 180s will do the job, I shot them for years... Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I have its brother. A 30-06 made in the same year. Mine wears a Leupold 2-7x and is surprisingly heavy. Almost to the point I might take it apart to see if someone might have added some lead to it in the barrel channel or under the but plate...or both. But, its a shooter. | |||
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Sweet! They built em to last in those days, wish I was. I think the books list it at about 8 lbs if I'm not mistaken, add a scope and we're talking about a chunk to lug around. I see so many guys in safari vids carrying their rifles over the shoulder and gripping the bbl and I always think, why don't they get a sling? And then there's all that salty sweat on good gun metal, but that's a whole other kettle of bytong. I stumbled over this video a short time ago and it kind of resonated with me since I used slings like it on my M 16 (yeah, I'm pre M-4) for almost 30 years. I really enjoy his lessons too, the kind of guy I could sit with and sip a frosty one and have a good chat. I figure for about $15 it won't break the bank to find out if its a good fit for me. Worlds Best Sling | |||
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