Time is short. Safari upcoming. Final sight in before the trip. Model 70 375 is throwing bullets all over the paper. Normally a tackdriver. I noticed the screw in the front of the trigger guard could be tightened about a turn. Is this screw supposed to not be tightened all the way, tight as you can go? Hopefully it just needs this tightened and a clean barrel and a shooter with less coffee under his belt to be back under an inch. Ideas? D

I don't have a model 70 but when my very accurate 7x57 mauser suddenly got innacurate the day before a hunting trip I traced it to a loose front action screw that was about half a turn from tight.

My action screws are tightened tight without straining.

I find this sort of thing is bad for confidence so would take a LOT of time to get a really steady setup to test next time.

Normally, the middle screw, the front one in the trigger guard, is left less than tight. I normally snug it then back it off about a turn. Most would agree with me on this. If your groups are bad you may have developed a bedding proglem, maybe even a cracked stock. Take the action out of the stock and check the space between the front guard screw and the magazine well. If not, you may try different tightness on the rear guard screw.

The front action screw should be tight. The middle screw, as Jim said, should not be tight.

IMO, the front screw should be very tight. Mark its position with whiteout so you can see if it moves. The rest of the screws should just be snug. This works for me. CHEERS

Jim is most definitely correct on the middle guard screw not being tight.

If that screw is tight, what happens is you've put the magazine box into a bind between the bottom metal and the receiver. Your groups can go all over the place because of this, with no apparent form of consistency.

You should be able to open the floorplate and reach inside the mag box and be able to wiggle it around a little in there. It has to float.....you don't want it bound up in there.

If there's no float, remove the box and if possible use a belt sander to remove some of the material on the face of the box that rests on the bottom metal side. You should have somewhere around .020"-.040" clearance between the mag box and the bottom metal.

This very reason is why we eliminated the middle guard screw with our one-piece assemblies, as did several other folks making bottom metal.

That middle screw only serves one good purpose and that's to hold the trigger guard on.....It's other purpose is to give you accuracy problems, as you're finding out.

MOdel 70s shoot best with a very tight front screw, and a just snug rear screw..

The middle screw can flat warp the action so I glass a hard wood dowel there and just use a wood screw to hold the front of the trigger housing...Be sure that there is no movement in the rear screw..check this by turning it in an out...it should be snug but no spring in the tang

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