Simple question.

Is there a serial number range on pre-64's that the actions are better than others?

Are there some specific serial number ranges one should stay away from?

Pre-war, post war, early 50's late 50"s, last production.

Or is it better to buy a new classic action.

This is for a build, not collecting.

Thanks for your responses.

If you are intending to create a custom rifle from a pre-64 action, then, I do not think you need to be worried about the year of manufacture. I would not want the early pre war actions as the safety is not conducive to scope use. On the other hand many folks think the pre war rifles have smoother actions. In either case, any of the actions will make up into a really fine custom.

many people have have put the pre64 M70 on a pedestal that is much higher than reality dictates. Many M70's are pretty rough, out of square, and need more work that the typical M700 or war time M98's. Later production actions are, as a whole, considerably more rough than the earlier actions. All of this can usually be put right, but it takes time and money.

You can buy aftermarket safeties for the pre-war actions. What you spend on the safety could very well be off-set by by lower polishing costs. The pre-wars are usually pretty nice actions, but each M70 needs to be held in your hands and judged on its own merits.

I like the actions and have one for myself that hopefully will turn into a rifle withing the next 2 years. But it is going to take some serious elbow grease to make it nice.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Marc_Stokeld:
Many M70's are pretty rough. /QUOTE]

You've got that right. I have one in the magnum length that quite rough, or at least rough enough that a very experienced smith actually thought it had been in a fire.

SD......All the pre-64s are pretty good. Out of the dozen or so I own, and shoot regularly, a transition .270 made just after the war, is perhaps finished better than the others. But the smoothest to operate would be my .358 Win, made in the 50s. And surprisingly my late 1963 .300 Win Mag is very nice and smooth for a factory rifle.......As opposed to my fellow Minnesotan Marc; Ive never seen a bad one. Save some that had been abused by their owners. Grant.

I did not say they were "bad," I said they were rough and often out of square. They are fine for most folks, as they have been trained to not expect much in the way of good metal and wood finish, checkering, or whatever. And very, very few people have actually had them apart and put them in a lathe and on a surface plate and start measuering runout and other dimensional differences. Does not mean that will not be accurate or reliable take game in the field.

Again, i like the actions, but they have been made out to be more than what they are. If I did not like them, then I would not be building a personal rifle on a pre-64 magnum action.
What is does mean is that when turing into a custom gun, they require considerable work to make right-often more than a Mauser, Springfield, or whatever.

I have never seen a pre 64 out of square, the new ones are likly to be out of square. Maybe I am just lucky.

It takes a hell of a lot more work to make a full blown custom rifle from a Mauser (my favorite) than it does a M-70 pre 64.