My Mod. 70 Super Express .375 barrel didn't shoot well so I replaced the barrel with a .458 take off barrel from another Mod.70 along with a shorter magazine box and follower. It feeds OK from the right side of the magazine, but the left side jams the bullet into the right edge of the chamber. It's not the particular bullet, it happens with all bullets. The follower in the short magazine box is identical to the long box follower except it's shorter. Any suggestions for a fix? Also, how come the .375 barrel has a secondary recoil lug and the .458 doesn't? Thanks in advance!

I had a .458 M98 that was having feeding problems and a gunsmith beveled a 45 degree slant into the top of the follower. That caused the cartridges to stack just enough differently that everything fed great.

You need to do ramp and rail adjustments. Use a swiss file for any rail work. This is basically a intuitively obvious process. Watch exactly where the round begins to offset to the right. File along there till it straightens out. Is the case rim coming smoothly up into the extractor? If not fix it. When its going straight watch where the bullet nose first impacts the ramp. USE a dremel tool with a abrasive cylidrical toool bit to deepen the left side. Get the bullet nose to track as straight as possible. Polish it when your done. Be careful and do this a little at a time and check feeding with THREE dummy rounds. Take your time and take a little metal off and keep checking and watching and thinking.
Finally first check your mag box by taking three rounds and holding them together with a rubber band. Measure the width. Your box must be that width plus .030 min. Finally make sure you have a follower and spring for a .458.Usually when the left side feeds poorly, its not the follower as Dan suggests, but I do know that by watching things happen you can get a real good idea of just what will fix it. Its not tough to do and will probably take 30 minutes of your time. I've made some of the worst feeders in the world work by the process I just outlined. Sorry but I don't do gunsmithing for folks unless they want to personally bring it out to LV. -Rob

I had a feeding problem with a .375 M70 that was cured with a stronger magazine spring .

Thanks for the input. I think I'd best find a good Model 70/ dangerous game rifle mechanic as my skills are limited and reliability is essential for big critter hunting. Suggestions are welcome!