I cannot work the saftey on my model 70 winchester, it is in the off position and will not pivot, working it through the reciever to cock and fire does nothing. have just purchased this rifle, used. can someone help me coorect this

You need to have some work done on the safety lever/cocking piece engagement. I could do it for you but you would have to ship me the barreled action.

BTW- You may want to rethink your User Name.

There is already a poster on here that has the name of Stubblejumper (one word) and your name may add some confusion, at least in the short term. Other than that, welcome as a new member!

quote:

Originally posted by CanadianLefty:
BTW- You may want to rethink your User Name.

There is already a poster on here that has the name of Stubblejumper (one word) and your name may add some confusion, at least in the short term. Other than that, welcome as a new member!

Concurr


also Mr. Kobes comment is pot on.....and he's done work for me.....first class guy there.

Jim, could my problem be that I have set the trigger to light, therefore not making proper contact/engagement? stubble jumper

BTW,
you should/must think about changing your poster name out of due respect to stubblejumper who I or many other respect his opinion and advices. But anyway, welcome to Accuratereloading.com and "please" change your user name to save us the confusion,
thank you.

Welcome to AR New SJ.

I have a new classic M70 that had the detents cut so rough I could harly get the thing back "on" safe. I diassembled the bolt and did some clean-up with a Dremel. Mine works fine now. I'm not a gunsmith so Jim Kobes is quite possibly more correct. I just know it's hard to diagnose a problem via the 'net. Nate

HELLO THE CAMPFIRE:
Any competent gunsmith should be able to fix a Mod. 70 safety. The parts are avalible from Brownell's, It is a simple fix if you don't mind mucking around with the bolt. Just take the bolt apart, see what is not moving properly, relpace everything dealing with the safety. and put it back to gether. Also, until you get it looked at, try pressing down on the lever as you move ti. This worked on mine until I had the time to put it right.
Good Luck
Judge Sharpe
PS. I don't know what kind of poster i am, not fast, not slow, just sort of half fast.

note to all concerned, stubble jumper is now lookout

I am curious as to your choice of a "handle"; were you or are you an actual "lookoutman" or "towerperson"? I have seven seasons on the hill with both the B.C.F.S. and the A.F.S. and am always interested in others who are, or may be, members of a pretty special group.

Having had the same problem as you, I think I am correct in stating that setting the trigger lighter by uncompressing the spring will not change the relationship between the cocking piece and the safety, which is what your problem most likely is.

I fixed mine by taking it apart and very very carefully stoned the surface on the safety that contacts the cocking piece. I went extremely slow and constantly kept trying it until it worked. then a very light polish and I quit. You really don't want to take metal off. All you are doing is making the relationship between the two parts smoothly mate in such a way that the safety catches and then easily cams the cocking piece backward.

By all means have someone with experience look at it.

quote:

Originally posted by kutenay:
I am curious as to your choice of a "handle"; were you or are you an actual "lookoutman" or "towerperson"? .

Well I'm more curious as to what a stubble jumper does.?
JL

a stubble jumper is one from the prairies, what a stubble jumper does, depends on the stubble jumper. as for the name lookout, I used it as I wanted a name know where close to anyone elses.

how did you take the bolt apart, manual shows the safety has to be in the middle saftey position, before attempting to remove the guts.

quote:

and am always interested in others who are, or may be, members of a pretty special group.

Come on Kutenay, admit it, your a cantankerous cuss! There's lot's of us in that group

I just returned from a scouting trip and was up at an old "lookout" site. The forest service removed the tower long ago, but the view is still there...

What a place to watch the sun go down on a long summer night.

Lookout,
I own a couple of Model 70's chambered in 338 Win Mag. Welcome to the site.

you may have already sorted this out by now, but I recently had a similar problem with a M70, except my safety was frozen in the "fire" setting. I took it by Hill Country Rifles, and they pointed out to me that there was extensive rust around the inside of the cocking piece area at the rear of the bolt shroud- the safety had rusted into place. They said that they had seen several of these problems and although Wincehster didn't think so, HCR's diagnosis was that the original factory bluing was poor, giving rise to the rust. HCR stripped and re-blued my bolt and it works fine (they also offered to teflon it, as a more permanent fix, by I declined). You might check that area

Kutenay, I am a member of a special group, accuratereloading, other than than I am just a gun nut

22WRF, how do you take the bolt apart when the saftey is in fire position, manual says it will not come apart. or am I reading it wrong.

quote:

how do you take the bolt apart when the saftey is in fire position, manual says it will not come apart. or am I reading it wrong

You are reading it correctly, but it can be done.

I'm holding a M70 Classic bolt and walking through this...bear with me. This is sorta Bubba-ish, but I've done it a couple of times with M70 and Mauser bolts. It works the same on both.

You have to pretty much be willing to gorilla it...basically with the safety off the firing pin is forward under spring pressure, and the sear is pressing into the back of the bolt shank, into a small notch to hold it from rotating. It's harder to get back together, IIRC, so be sure you really want to try this.

Follow your manual for disassembly by pushing in the button on the side, but you have to take the pressure off the firing pin. Normally locking the firing pin with the safety does this...you will have to press the sear against the edge of a hard wooden surface, then push back enough to push the firing spring back a fraction. While holding this, begin to unscrew the shroud. It's tough to master, and the next step is harder.

Whoops, you probably just slipped, and the sear is now in the deep notch in the base of the bolt shaft...right where it is when fired, BTW. Repeat the 'press into edge of wooden bench and push firing pin back', now waaay back, until you can continue to unscrew the shroud.

Once you clear the deep cutout for the SECOND time, you are home free, and you will be able to unscrew the rest of the way. Reverse directions to reassemble. You have to get it all the way back screwed together or it won't go back into your rifle.

Now are you sure you want to try it?

Be sure you don't scratch/score the sear...use only a hardwood bench (nothing harder!) to press against!

Good luck!

Oh, I forgot. If you are REALLY CAREFUL, and ahve the safety working, you can shortcut the reassembly.

Get a medium hard board..not soft pine, but not ironwood. You don't want to be able to embed the firing pin into it easily. Hold the firing pin/safety/shroud assembly vertically above the board, pin tip into it. Press down hard while holding only the shroud. You should be able to compress the firing spring with heavy pressure. At some point you will be able to move the safety into the mid position, allowing normal reassembly of the bolt.

BE CAREFUL to not damage the firing pin!!!

Good luck!

there are few reasons why a Model 70 safety won't engage. Try lifting the bolt handle slightly while working the lever, sometimes the hole in the rear of the bolt is slightly out of position.

think I will try suggestion from rembo first, if that does the trick great, if not I guess I will take the plunge and try to take it apart. will keep you posted on the results thanks, Earl

A big thank you to Rembo, my M70 safety went from almost unuseable to good as new.
A nice little trick to know.
John L>

rembo, you were right! lifting the bolt handle and then working the saftey, did the trick. saftey will go on in both positions. now how do I correct the problem of having to lift the bolt in order to engage the saftey. its going to be a pain in the butt, having to do it the way it is now. not as lucky as our friend from Australia. look forward to yours and anyones help on this new problem. Lookout

JAL, did yours saftey work properly afterwards, or do you still have to lift the bolt handle to engage?

Yep still have to lift the bolt a little bit, but a nice handy trick though.
John L.

JAL, do you plan on doing anything more with your bolt or are you going to live with it as is. thanks for the reply lookout

I don't use the safety much, nor the rifle for that matter, and as the safety goes off ok I think I'll put up with it for a while.
My main working rifle even has the safety removed altogeather as it was no good anyway.
Have the chamber empty or bolt handle up.(unlocked.)
John L.