Got a pretty beat up post64 M70 (circa 69ish) in 375 H&H. Action is quite smooth and feeds/ejects well. Stock was "crunched checkered' 60's poor example with serious cracks. Previous owner had it tapped on left side for some sort of side mount scope. Looks not so great but no problem structurally.

Replaced the trigger guard with nice steel one. Bed it in Bell & Carlson stock. Replaced funky B&C recoil pad with nice KickEze. Placed the sorbathne pad on comb.

So far shoots really well 235g Speer and some 270g Hornady SPRN both with IMR4320. Also worked up very comfortable load with 235g Speer & 5744 at aprox 1700fps. Probably never go to Africa but will have a darn fun & inexpensive "plinking" gun.

Pete A.

that's pretty cool!!

Looks great. Did a good job.

That's hard to beat IMO!

Nice job, but personally I don't do fix me ups as it tends to cost more in parts and time than a new rifle. I did buy new CZ550 9.3mm for cool $500. The only thing I had to do is wipe off the dust from the rifle and the box. Most local homeboys never heard of 9,3x62 and w/o box of ammo on the shelf........Well, you know where I'm going.

I hear you about the "fix ups". Though I've got a bit more that your $500 I am still well well below the asking price of CZ 375's at this time. Plus I do like the fiddling, pidlling portion of the sport. Heck what else do I have to do late in the evenings anyway. Even with a new one I still would prefer to have it bedded and slicked up. A gunsmith who does this sort of work has charge a fair price. That always has to added to a new gun price.

But as I mentioned the fix up part is often part of the fun for many of us. We can fit it in our busy schedules; 15 minutes here and there.

I love M70 actions; yes even push feeds. There's something about the feel of their cycling that is quite different to that of most 'affordable' rifles. CZ's are strong reliable good valued rifles for sure. But do need smoothing and attention for that better feel.

One like your 9.3 is on my sort list of "must haves".

Pete A.

Looks Great! Will be a very useful tool.

I love fine rifles. "Practical build" rifles are also great. I find they actually get to the field more often than the very pretty ones as I find it hard to subject a very pretty one to rain and snow.

Did you use B&C's stock with the aluminum bedding insert or the cheap one? How is it holding up?

The reason I ask is that I have a sporter Springfield in .308 Norma Mag for which I mistakenly bought a standard B&C stock. B&C suggested that the stock should be good through 30-06 but may not hold up to the 30 Mag.

No this is a standard B&C with some internal improvements I added to strengthen for added recoil. IMHO they don't recommend larger as they cannot control if or how the stock is bedded. Thus their conservative approach. Obvious my changes probably negate any warranty. But you pay your money & take your chances.

I used a laminate material call G-10 which has higher compressive and shear strength than Phenolic. It is a laminate that is made similar to fibergalss so works well with most epoxies.

Behind the barrel lug and the action lug I used a "dog bone" piece perpendicular to bore that comes just short of meeting these surface. These are just short of the width of the inside edge of fiberglass stock. These are positioned then held in place with just a bit of superglue to 'stay" before adding the "SteelBed". Then used "SteelBed" to mate these surfaces straight & true. Each is fully encased in the steel bed.

Bedding the action and the barrel lug can be a bit tricky with so many parallel surfaces. I would not suggest a gun with a barrel lug for a first try at bedding. So I did it in three steps. At the rear/tang of the stock I used 0.010" tape to keep the back of tang from bearing directly against the stock. This should keep splits hear from happening.

Barrel is fully bed until just in front of the barrel lug. I used 2 layers of 0.010" tape to give even spacing. Actually this is only for aprox 4" as the barrel recoil lug is directly below rear sight.

IMHO aluminium pillars won't do much more to help. The actions screws should not bear on the hole anyway. I ream the hole bigger and use inletting pins with 0.020" tape around. Use bedding compound in hole for strength. This way the screws have sufficent clearance to keep any side loading on them. Fasteners should really only be in tension.

I let all cure for 2 weeks prior to first shot. So far I have 60+/- 'full house' rounds and 80+/- reduced loads. No sign of problems at all.

Pete A.

PS.: After first 3 rounds of "full house" loads it was clear B&C's recoil pad was not going to stay on the gun. Thus the KickEze. Sure recoil is still there but much of the "bite" is gone.