My M70 safety is hard as hell to flip off, and it's loud as hell. I want to get it worked-over. Any suggestions? I would rather not send my entire rifle out, can I just send the bolt?
Thanks Wolf. A gunsmith recomendation would be appreciated

Wolf,
while changes could be done with either just the bolt or usig anotehr m70, the smith having it would be better served by having it all.

you might give USRAC a call and discuss this with them, as this is a SAFETY issue, and they may be all ears

jeffe

If indeed the rifle is a USRAC then that may be the way to go.

If it's an older M 70 then they won't work on it I hear. I have reworked those M 70 safeties and they can be slicked. The method I use reduces the noise when it reaches the full off postion but some is still there. However this only happens when the safety is pushed off. A slick M 70 safety can be let off easily with just the thumb as it will move with precision.

Some of the safeties on the pre 64 70's are worse than the new ones.

I did just slick a 2002 M 70's safety however and it came out well.

When the M 70 safety is just pushed off I think the noise comes from the sear surfaces coming together? If this is true then letting it off carefully may be the best way to make it silent?

I look forward to any idea's on this topic.

After thinking about this for a little while today during the process of making fixtures, I've decided to kind of rephrase my initial reply to this topic.

It would probably be better to send the entire rifle to whomever you chose to have the work done. This would let the smith working on the safety get the opportunity to inspect the entire function of the rifle, reducing his liability if there was something actually wrong with it. This is something that I would request if I were working on it myself. This would eliminate any potential problems that could arise in the safety of the firearm.
One can never be too careful when dealing with such things.

This doesn't change the cure for the problem, just the method of administering it.

matt,

I polished up the detents on my 2002 SS M70 Classic and it was still difficult to use. So I tried a weaker spring and it made a big difference however then it was not as secure to hold at full safe. That full safe postition has no detent as you know. So I added a small detent there. All I did was hit a few times with a prick punch.

Now the safety is excellent and is easy to operate all the way, back and forth, with the right thumb. However it will still make a noise if it's just pushed off.

So my suggestion to Winchester is that they add a detent to the full safe position and put in a lighter spring.

The other major reason that you would feel that much tension is due to the safety notch that is cut in the cocking piece and firing pin being out of position. This causes undo tension being placed on the safety lever, as well as overcamming the cocking piece and moving the sear engagement too much away from the trigger. What happens in that case is the movement between the trigger and sear becomes excessive, and results in inconsistency in the trigger pull. It ultimately could also cause a safety failure if overdone, likewise if there isn't enough movement to pull the sear off of the trigger properly. This is how someone would not realize that their safety is actually malfunctioning. How many people in the field put their safety on, then pull the trigger, and then release the safety? The answer is not many, but that's exactly how you could have an accidential discharge if the sear does not properly release from the trigger when the safety is in the on position. It is that feature, along with the blocking of the firing pin assembly, that makes the M70 safety the best on the market by far. The problems are the same as any other mechanical device though, failure to manufacture and install the parts correctly will result in the same kind of catostrophic failure as it would with any other safety.