Hey gents, I'm wondering i this is actually an issue.

I have a mod 70 safari express, very nice, one piece bottom metal blah blah blah. only problem is that the last round, or only round if you will, doesn't come fully into the bolt face under the claw when feeding. once far enough into chamber of course it comes up.

I went ahead and put the stiffer spring from Wisner in there, but don't see a difference. when there are rounds in the mag they all come up fully no problem, from either side.

I wondering if this is how they function, if it's normal and no problem I can forget it and move on. further, if I'm at the last round in the magazine, might I not have bigger problems than the case head not popping up all the way into the bolt face?

Red

This can easily be resolved by slight modification of the follower. I have modified my Model 70's so. I borrowed the modification from David Miller. Grind the central ridge of the follower down to allow the round to shift slightly to the left so that it is more centrally aligned with the bolt and it will pop up under the extractor smartly. You basically just start the removal at the same position on the follower as the widest position on the right rail. I think this is about 1/3 the way from the rear of the follower. I think some of the last Model 70's followers were so shaped from the factory. I use a flexible shaft grinder (a Foredom) and and small stone or rubber arbor and abrasive sleeves. Ten minute job.

i would almost think there should beenough follower spring pressure to push the cartridge up into the claw once the cartridge starts moving toward the chamber.
you might check the fit of the case head in between the extractor claw and the opposite bolt face shoulder. if it has to open the extractor too far to get in it over takes the follower spring's upward pressure untill the case is forced up into place on the bolt face by the breech. a touch off of the extractor claw will reduce how much the case has to push the extractor aside to get up in there. it shouldn't have to push aside much at all.
take the bolt out and with a fired case push a round in ,onto the bolt face, the extraxtor should only have to move over a few thousanths, if any at all. ideally it should just fit with no moving it aside, as it doesn't need any side pressure to to keep the case in place, it can't really go anywhere but down and the cases in the mag or the follower stop that from happening.

it slips up without the claw needing to move. seems to fit great, I'll look at it saturday and look at the ridge. thanks for the input guys.

That will solve the problem. The follower just pushes the round over to the side so that it does not straighten before it is released by the rail on that side. Read Duane Weibe's thread with pictures on feeding. It's a superbly done instructional on the subject.