There was an article about 5 years ago in one of the rifle rags about a model 70 SS/synthetic that Claire Reese was putting together as an Alaskan brown bear rig. It was done up by Lex Webernek of Rifles Inc. 21 inch Shillen match grade barrel with a muzzle break, synthetic stock and lightened up to about 6 # bare. It seemed to be an ideal all weather go anywhere hunting gun. I had just bought a SS/S 375 and was not satisfied with it's fit etc and called up Lex. I had him make me one that was Claire Reese's rifle's twin. It is my favorite go to gun. I use it for almost all my hunting. Whitetails up. I would highly recommend Lex if you intend to upgrade a model 70. Good hunting. "D"

MLG,

Between me and my mates we have 2 1/2 M70 Stainless Classic in 375 H&H. The 1/2 is mine cause it was a 375H&H but I rechambered to a 375RUM. The stock is pretty shitty but it works OK. The barrel contour is good for a 375 & they are generally very accurate - 3 shots in less than an inch without fail with handloads & factory ammo not far behind. Only thing needed in all of them was a trigger job.

As to feeding, if you can find an older run of the M70 Stainless Classic without the scallop in the follower, these IMHO feed better. The one I got about 1 1/2 yrs ago was on special at the gunshop for A$1200 as Win discovered they had a batch of old rifles all in 375 H&H. The owner of the shop let me have my pick of the OLD or the NEW production at the same price. The NEW one, with the scallop you had to work the bolt pretty firmly to get it to feed. The OLD one fed at any speed fast or slow. It even fed empty cases.

I seem to recall having read that they may be changing over to the pictureframe floorplate on the stainless thus far reserved for the Supergrade & Safari Express models. If so these bottom metals are much better & worth waiting for.(It becomes a 2 screw floorplate instead of a 3 screw)

Sights are el cheapo but again they work. Watch out the front sight can have sharp edges and cut your hands.

If you do the things that you have written you'll have a top rig at a reasonable price.

Regards
JohnT

JohnT,

What does the scallop in the follower look like? The reason I am asking is that I have a new M70 Safari Express in 375 H&H that feeds very poorly; the last round in the magazine pops free when ejecting the round before it. How does your follower look? The old-style follower from the stainless model may be any easy fix to my problem...

-Jon

John,

My M-70 is the older type. I have had the same experience with the new style (READ cheapened piece of crap)USRAC makes me so mad in their attempts to cheapen this rifle! It's really a shame to see what's happening in regards to quality control over at Winchester..

But there is a quick fix you can get the old style follower and captured magazine spring from www.Brownells.com

I have just bought one of these. I went out shooting the other day at the range, I was very pleased to see my handloads with Swift AF 270 group nicely at about one inch from 100 meters. All well so long, then it started to rain.. I packed my wet m70 into my wet rifle case and went home. I unpacked the rifle the day ater and found small dents of rust on the floorplate as well as on the barrel. The dents were rather small, about 1-2mm but clearly visible to my eye. I could remove most of them by just polishing with a towel..

Is this really normal? It is supposed to be stainless steel! Shall I return the rifle to the shop?

Apart from the rust issue I really like it so far..

Regards
/Johan

Johan,
I had a stainless 70 in .375 that I sold to a friend after I bought my .416 Remington Magnum Model 70. I never had a problem with exterior rust but I was unhappy to see that a number of the interior parts were blue and rusted easily. I think if you had the whole rifle redone in a good finsh like Robar's NP3 you would be set. I have been thinking about buying another stainless .375 and doing just that...
Jason

Johan,



Keep in mind that stainless steel will rust....Stainless is rust resistant not rust proof. So you still have to wipe the metal down when it gets wet. Usually what you are seeing is finger prints or other materials that will show a little rust on your steel but the metal will not pit nearly as quickly regular blued steel.



I've had mine since the first year they came out and it's been thourghly soaked on more than one occasion. Simply wipe her down and you won't have any problems. Don't ever leave a wet gun in a gun case that's a sure way to rust a gun as you pick up all of the dirt and grime from the case which rusts and sticks to the gun metal. Once again on stainless just wipe it off and it shouldn't leave any pitting.



What I don't get though is the small dents you spoke of. Are they like a seris of machining flaws or has the rifle been abused? Nothing I see in way of poor quality control surprises me over a USRAC now days. They are doing their level best to cheapen and cheese their way right out of business as far as I can tell.