I'm thinking of getting a Winchester M70 Classic Safari Express, and will be having a look at one this week. What potential manufacturing f##kups should I look out for, and what should I have done tuning wise to make it better than the stock gun already is? Are older rifles less prone to manufacture problems than newer? Or vice versa?

Any advice is appreciated!

Erik D.

Erik, the barreled action will need to be bedded. Have the trigger tuned and the sear polished. It will be a good funtional rifle with little modification. Make sure to check the cross bolts, My 375 H&H tended to loosen them during long shooting sessions. I have mine coated with red Loc-Tite to keep them snug.

Joe

Here are a few to look for:



Messed up screws. Screwdriver marks on the bottom metal. Screwdriver marks on the trigger guard. Screwdriver marks on the stock. Screwdriver marks on the sling stud. Unsanded very-rough areas on the stock. Areas of stock finish that look like dried milk. Knot holes that have been filled with a very un-convincing color of wood putty. Vise marks on the barrel band. Missing ejector. Failure to feed (bring some dummies to the gun store). Poor feeding in which the case head jumps out ahead of the extractor instead of actually CRF-ing for you. Damaged bullet noses on fed bullets. Big dents in and shavings taken out of fed cases. Ejected empty cases with D-shaped dented mouths (bring some empty cases to the gun store. A dent in the muzzle crown that was blued over. Rust on the striker where it protrudes from the rear of the bolt shroud. Two-tone bluing. Cottage-cheese metal finish inside the ejection port (like an un-ground casting). Barrel sitting against one side of the barrel channel with a big gap on the other side. Scope mount screw holes that are not drilled all in a row. Sights that are off to one side as if they were installed before the barrel was screwed in. Black Teflon-like finish on the extractor that has been scratched and then touched up with something that looks like black shoe polish and comes off with Hoppes #9.



Not all of these defects were found on my own rifle (and the factory replacement). I got the scope mount screw holes tip from someone else. You can check for this problem by bringing 4 taps with you. You should be able to sight along them and the rifle's sights if they're all in a row.



H. C.

ErikD,

I just picked up my Win 70 Safari Express in 416 Rem Mag. Had it about three weeks now.

First I'll tell you the good things on my rifle, good bedding (including large lug on barrel), good metal and wood finish, good sights(visibility), barrel band and rear inletted sling swivels. The rifle as thus far proven itself as an accurate rifle with open sights at 50 yards basically all the shots are touching, and the recoil in very manageable.

The bad parts are poor checkering many over-runs and flat diamonds of varying shapes, trigger did require polishing (20 minutes with my gunsmith made all the difference at no charge!) The sights are not regulated for the slower loads, on my rifle you must be at 2400 fps with the 400 grain NP in order for the sights to on the bull at 50 yards. This is with the rear sight adjusted to its highest setting. With milder loads the bullets are landing low. Have not tried mounting a scope yet, but nwow that I have the open sights regulated, I am putting Leupold QR rings and bases with a Leupold M8 4X scope.

Overall, I would rate it a B+.

BigBullet

Ditto to what LongShotRX said, I had the same experiences. Mine is a 375 and I tried several factory loads and none would shoot less than about 3"@100yds. I started with handloads with the 270gr. Hornady and the groups got worse. Then I tried the 300gr Nosler and they consistantly give me 7/8 in. groups. and that with a Schmidt&Bender 1 1/4x-4x scope. Not to say the other loads were all bad. My experience with most of the new guns I buy, is that it takes nearly 100 rounds before they start giving me decent groups. I assume this is a bbl. breaking in process and the action seating into the stock. Seems too, that most used guns I buy shoot very well after a thorough cleaning. Guess the other guy did all the breaking in. Maybe I'm all wet but that seems to be my experience. Just don't judge it to critically before you put several rounds thru it.
Doug

For at least a few years they made them with barrel lugs that did not encircle the barrel. The cooling solder on one side drew the barrel down so far that mine could not be put on paper at 100 yards with either iron sights or scope.

I wound up rebarreling after two trips through the Win shop.

I'll never buy another factory rifle.

My Mod. 70 Safari Express in .375 H&H came from the factory with 2 recoil lugs. It has a matte finish. A good rifle and a fine shooter!