I have a mod 54 .270 carbine that does not have an original stock and the bluing is about 35% on the BBL (i.e. its not really of interest to a collector) So I'm working with a gunsmith to tune it up a bit. I read where in the '30's and 40's Winchester took to drilling a gas relief port in the bolt to vent any gas from comming back through the bolt to the left side raceway. Does anyone have any specifics on where on the bolt body this was done? Same book (The Riflemans Rifle) mentioned that Winchester starting putting model 70 style safeties on rifles sent in for work when they ran out of parts for the '54- Does anybody know whats involved with putting a 3-pos safety and shroud on the '54?

Shortly after the advent of the M-70, you could send your 54 back to the factory and they would install a -70 safty, trigger, and whatever and re-stamp the 54 with a 70. don't recall them drilling a gas port..........These were pretty nice guns..I have owned a couple of them...

You can install a mod-70 safty on your gun...

A better solution would be to get a Mod 54 stock an return it to original, if the barrel is good..
Doing any work on it other than replacing the stock with an original is like trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear..These modifications run into more money than the gun is worth....

If you abandon the project, I will buy the gun from you if the price is right, and replace the stock with an old orginal, and hang it in my den..????????

I've pondered the "restore" vs "tune" option. It's currently at the gun smiths place getting evaluated. The stock I have is not original, I think it was checkered with a hack saw and inletted with a pocket knife, it had a bunch of gobs of wood putty to tighten up the fit around the action- that stuff all turned to dust- and its split from the rear sight lug to the grip checkering. I've built, or at least I'm building, another stock for it out of a model 70 blank I had.

Somewhere in its past "Bubba" worked on the gun. He got the trigger/sear assembly, aargh! he tapped for a scope- but got the rear mount off center and out of alignment. He fit a band around the barrel just in front of the forearm and tapped the band for a sling- managed to drill point the barrel in the process- maybe to keep the band in place? Ya gotta love bubba.

I am hoping to hear today if the headspace is ok- that may make a difference in where I go from here. I'm concerned because the last time I shot it, I polished up some brass really bright and clean and then shot a few groups- Everything looks ok, except there is a bright ring about 1/2" above the base on the polished brass.

The gun originally belonged to my fathers hunting partner, who left it to dad when he passed on. So it has some history that I know- I'm just not sure its hunting days are over :-)

that polished ring on the brass is a sure sign of excessive headspace. The rifle will have to have the barrel set back a turn & be rechambered. I can't say I blame you for wanting to keep it up though, mod 54 had about the smoothest action there was.

The 'smith said headspace is fine. He's going to fix or replace the trigger and reset the scope mounts. He's going to look into the model 70 safety but he thinks that the 54 firing pin is shorter than the 70 which will make it difficult to change (?)

You will find three types of M54 bolts.

From 1925 - 1929 the old sltye slow lock with a cocking cam like the 1903 Sprfld.

Then then the speed lock from 1929 - 1935, this one has the short firing pin fall like the M70.
The factory would replace the old bolts with the speedlock bolts.

Then every once in a while you will find a M54 with a factory fitted M70 bolt. I have seen two factory rifles this way. After the factory ran out of M54 bolts then they modified M70 bolts.

The sears are different between the slowlock and the speed lock versions.

Fitting a M70 sleeve to a M54.
Yes it can be done on the speedlock versions. The sleeve threads indexing are the same. The BIG problem is the cocking piece vs the sear. The sear face on the cocking piece is totally in the wrong place and you will have to go slow to get the correct fit. Also a half moon cut for the safety plunger will have to be machined into the rear of the bolt.
If you modify the M54 firing pin to fit the M70 safety, then you also have to cut the pin for the retaining screw the M70 has that the M54 does not have.

Jim Wisner
Custome Metalsmith

Mr Wisner, I have been pondering about doing the reverse, i.e., putting a 54 sleeve on a 70, I have a very elegant Marble-Goss bolt sleeve micrometer sight for a 54 which would look good on a 70. Years back had one for 70 but the incorporated safety catch was disastrous and I sold it to someone in Alaska. The 54 Marble Goss seems better.

A M54 saftey can be fitted to a M70.

The safety shaft for the M54 is on top dead center and .250 in dia. A matching cut for the end of this shaft will have to be made in the rear of the bolt.

Then the cam surface of the M54 safety is again top dead center of the cocking piece. A cut will have to be made there to clear the diameter of the safey. However the rear vertical surface of this cut is the camming surface, so care must be taken in its placement

When Norren was selling his actions I had to make up several bolts with M54 safeties on them for a overseas order he had.

Jim Wisner
Custom Metalsmith

My '54 must be a slow lock system- the bbl is proof marked in '26. The s/n is something like 87xx- IIRC the SN indicates an early '27 DOM.

jh

You can compare the striker fall - if it is about the same length as a 1903 Springfield, you have the slow lock. If about like an M70, it is the speedlock.

At one time someone make a M-70 safty of sorts for a Mod. 54...I had a couple of these at one time...It was the same outfit that made a Mod. 70 safty for a pre war M-70 that had the backwards safty.

John H, If you have a 2 piece fire-pin set up like the M 1903 Springfield, Winch. considered them dangerous and even after WW-II we Warantee 'Smiths were supposed to temporarily confiscate the rifle and send it to the big red W .By then you got an altered M-70 bolt- complete. If the carbine indeed does have the 2 piece fire pin assembly it would be even more rare than a carbine. Collectors might be interested in a sample for their personal museums. They also changed the extractor for some reason, and of course had to mess with the trigger because it is different for a "speed lock".

It has a two-piece firing pin and a long stroke. The bolt appears to not have been modified at all- I understand the Winchester took to adding gas ports to the left side of the bolt - that hasn't been done. I'm thinking it is a slow lock, two piece firing pin setup. Someone in years gone by has tried to slick the system or something though - because the trigger/sear interface has been altered.

jh