I recently purchased a used stainless Win 70 "classic" in 375 H&H and am having a bit of a problem with the safety.

When I work the bolt, it is relatively easy to engage the safety......however, if the safety lever is moved to the fire position, it is VERY difficult to move the lever back to the safe position....(trigger not pulled, still cocked)

Any ideas???

are you putting your thumb against the firing pin at the rear of the bolt?

Mine is tight to get on to the middle position all the time. Years ago a gunsmith sold me
a M70 and said "the safety still works, that's
amazing".
John L.

The safety has a cam that turns into a slot in the cocking piece. The slot has an angled face that the cam turns against. That angled face needs to have a little bit of metal removed to allow the cam to engage more easily. I bought a new M70 in the mid-80's that had that problem out of the box. Wear on the bolt lugs will cause the problem too.